Writer On Board

Tags

memoir, On Writing

I recently returned from a two-and-a-half-week trip, a little more than half of which was on board a small cruising yacht around the Iberian Peninsula. You can read about that trip here. It turns out I was also the resident “writer on board.”

Planning ahead, I had brought my laptop. I had just returned from a long road trip around New England and, with only two days at home before boarding the plane, wanted to make some headway on new writing I had in mind. The first few days of the trip were crammed with non-stop touristing in Lisbon, but the first day of the cruise was an “at sea” day, perfect to jump-start my writing project. And so I did.

I had set up in the yacht club of the ship on my last cruise, but since those pre-covid days the shipping line (Windstar) had expanded their three star-class ships (yachts) by literally cutting them down the middle and inserting a new section. The ship still only had a maximum passenger capacity of 312 (previously it had been about 250, which is actually all we had on board for this trip). They also did some tweaking to the yacht club to replace laptop-height tables with lower tables more convenient for socializing than working. So my cabin suite became my writer’s garret.

About 100 passengers had made “the crossing,” that is, were on board as the ship relocated from its Caribbean winter quarters to its Mediterranean summer quarters. About half of those continued on the Lisbon to Barcelona portion, along with others like me joining the ship in the Portuguese capital. With no ports for nearly 14 days on the crossing, I started wondering if it might make a great writer’s retreat option. As it was, other than the first and last days “at sea,” each day of the cruise was filled with excursions in the various ports, meals, socializing with other travelers, and other entertainment. It took some discipline (not my strong point) to carve out writing time. But that time I did carve out was remarkably productive. I was able to punch out between 1000 and 2000 words a day, which is quite an achievement for a nonfiction book. It helps that the book is a blended travel memoir/history.

But that wasn’t the only writer on board experience.

The first question whenever meeting someone new is inevitably “what do you do for a living” (or “what did you do for a living” since some of the passengers are retired). My answer is usually some variation of “I write books,” sometimes prefaced with “I’m a former scientist and now a full-time Abraham Lincoln historian.” That led to a particularly interesting conversation on one occasion that led to an almost unbelievable “small world” type coincidence.

One night we were eating in the new Cuadro 44 restaurant, one of the additions made possible by the expansion of the ship. We sat at a table for four and began our meal. About halfway through, the maitre d’ seated a couple from California, and we began to talk. When I mentioned that I write books on Abraham Lincoln the man’s ears perked up. It turns out their son-in-law is a history geek and has a rambunctiously irreverent podcast about the presidents, at least from Washington up to Andrew Jackson. We had a great talk and chatted again off and on the rest of the cruise.

I had intentionally avoided internet service on the ship, but a couple of days later in a port I did get Wi-Fi and checked my email. To my surprise I had received an email from my colleague in the Lincoln Group forwarding a message he had received from one of his long-time colleagues in his field of profession. In short, the guy from the ship had emailed several people that were part of his book group back in California. One of their members had known my colleague for decades and asked if he had ever heard of me. Of course, this colleague just happens to be on my Lincoln Group board, the organization of which I am president. As the guy on the ship said when he found out: Small world.

I had also brought on board a copy of my latest book, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, with the intention of donating it to the ship’s small library. I left it in the library, which had shrunk to make room for the new restaurant and moved to the yacht club, on the first day at sea. By the next night it had disappeared, and I never saw it again, which means either someone is a slow reader or decided to take it with them. I wished I had brought a second copy to repopulate the library but my luggage was already pushing the limits of weight and breadth.

It’s getting close to a week since I’ve been home from the trip and so far haven’t been able to recapture the writing momentum I had on the ship. Not only was there close to a month of catch up to do (including the road trip time I was away for over four of five weeks), but I managed to snag the flu or something (not covid) within a day of my return that I’m just now scraping my way out of. But hey, tomorrow it’s supposed to rain.

That sounds like a good excuse for a “sea day.”

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is available for purchase at all bookseller outlets. Limited signed copies are available here. The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. If you read the book, please leave a review and/or rating.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

Lincoln Legacy Award Winner

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Abraham Lincoln, Award, On Writing

Several months ago I wrote a post called “[Award Winning] Writer!” And now I am one. I received the Lincoln Legacy Award, ironically perhaps, on the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s death.

The “[Award Winning] Writer!” post talked about how you can forever carry that qualifier once you win a writing award, especially if the award is one of those big-name ones that everyone will recognize (e.g., Pulitzer, Oscar, Nobel). I mentioned how the honorific could be milked to excess, but overall, it’s a wonderful experience to be recognized both for the achievement and the effort that went into it. Which gets me to the Lincoln Legacy Award.

I wrote briefly on my author website about my recent tour of West Point and visit with the Lincoln Society of Peekskill. Here’s what I wrote about receiving the award:

It seemed altogether fitting and proper that I should follow Lincoln’s footsteps through New England and to West Point. I could feel his presence. I was even more honored that the Lincoln Society of Peekskill presented me with their Lincoln Legacy Award at the banquet following my presentation. In presenting the award, Tony Czarnecki and outgoing Society president Michael Macedonia mentioned my service as president of the Lincoln Group of DC, my efforts to organize and emcee the Lincoln Memorial Centennial program on the Memorial steps in May 2022, and of course, the success of my book, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius (of which I signed many copies at the banquet). The award itself is a beautiful bronze of the Daniel Chester French seated Lincoln from the Lincoln Memorial.

The Lincoln Legacy Award brings me into good company. Previous recipients include Harold Holzer, Eric Foner, David Blight, James Oakes, Edna Greene Medford, Martha Hodes, Ted Widmer, and James McPherson. Most may not be known to the general public, but these people are all huge names in the Lincoln and history fields, with quite a few Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prizes, Bancroft Prizes, and even a few Pulitzer Prizes. Perhaps their aura will shine on me as well.

With the Lincoln Legacy Award now on my shelf, that Pulitzer seems just a little bit closer.

On to the next book!

[Photos by author]

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is available for purchase at all bookseller outlets. Limited signed copies are available here. The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. If you read the book, please leave a review and/or rating.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

Of Reading Milestones and Spreadsheets

Tags

Abraham Lincoln, books

Like any writer, I read a lot. I write an annual “Reading Time” post, the most recent cataloging the 85 books I read in 2022. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the time I stopped reading for several years, even though I had started up again with a vengeance. This week I hit a milestone that I happened to notice when entering the latest read into my spreadsheet.

Yes, spreadsheet. I mentioned last time that I track my reading on Goodreads, where I can list my reading goals, note the books as I finish them, and write book reviews (or simply leave ratings). I noted that keeping track wasn’t any ego thing; it was an OCD thing. That OCD-ishness extends to a full-on Excel spreadsheet of all the books I’ve read in my lifetime. More or less.

The list started as a handwritten list. At some point I typed it, as in on a typewriter. I don’t recall if it was an electric typewriter or the “portable” monstrosity I used as a kid that weighed 30 pounds. Eventually it migrated to a Word table (or more likely, a WordPerfect table, then a Word table). Finally, after obsessing enough to jump it from one technology to another, including a short stint as a PDF, it ended up in a spreadsheet. Since its initial creation – exactly when I don’t remember but the first dated entry is 1991 – I’ve diligently added to it every book I’ve read from cover to cover. Books or chapters examined as research sources don’t count, and I’m not even going to think about the number of pages read from journal and magazine articles, plus letters and documents from the LOC and other libraries. This list is just books that I’ve read through.

The spreadsheet itself is rather simple. Columns are author name, book title, year read, notes I thought important (usually a word or two or ten), and category. The latter column is a relatively new addition, with a handful of categorizations like “Lincoln,” “Science,” “Writing,” and mostly sits empty because I haven’t bothered to backfill it or include categories like “fiction” or “science fiction” or whatever. Rows are listed alphabetically by author last name. If I read the book more than once, I’ll include both dates (year only) in that column. About thirty percent of the dates are blank. As mentioned, the first entry date is 1991, which is either the date I started keeping the table, or more likely, the date I started keeping track of the year I read the books. All the blank dates were books read before I started keeping track. Most of those obviously predated the list, so I had to backfill to include books I had read in my teen years, high school, college, and real life prior to my reading gap years mentioned last time.

Which means I almost certainly missed a lot. More on that in a moment. But first the milestone. As I was adding my most recent book, I happened to look at the bottom of the spreadsheet, to the very last row. The book listed was called Management Ideas That Work by Mark Zweig. Surprisingly, at least to me, it was one of sixteen different books by authors whose last name starts with “Z.” I’m almost certain every letter of the alphabet is covered, including “X” (When Red is Black by Qui Xiaolong).

More importantly, the Zweig listing is row 2000 (at least until the next book is added). I have no idea how that number compares to the rest of humanity, but by sheer force of being a round number it seems a lot to me.

And as I said, I likely missed a lot. Much of the earlier reads on the list were added much later from memory, or in some cases a written record from literature class or something. I also went through a couple of those books with titles like “1000 Books to Read in Your Lifetime,” plus a list or two of “127 Books You Must Read to be Literate” (or, “Before You Die”). If I found a title where I couldn’t remember if it was something I read or saw in a movie, I assumed it was the movie (although there were plenty of times I read the book AND saw the movie). In any case, if I wasn’t sure I read the book, I left it off the list. I also didn’t include books that were purely textbooks since most people don’t actually read the whole book (and yet, I likely took voluminous notes). Needless to say, none of the billions (okay, hundreds?) of children’s books I read are on the list even though I likely read them dozens of times each. I have no idea how many books would be added if I could miraculously determine every tome I read, but unfortunately my obsessions didn’t kick in until after many books had been traded with public libraries for many years.

One other interesting thing about the spreadsheet I recently noticed. There are fifteen rows in which I have more than one date, meaning I read the book more than once. Usually that means twice, but a couple show I read the book three times for whatever reason, usually with a decade or so in between. But even this is misleading as I know I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy five times (each) when I was in college, then at least once soon after entering the real world, and then again more recently. Those multiple readings are lost to a single recent date read. Then there are books like 1984, Animal Farm, Brave New World, and others that I read long before I started keeping the list and then read again more recently (for some reason after 2016, dystopian books seemed relevant again). Those books would have the date field blank and only show the most recent reading.

Then there are my own books, i.e., the ones I’ve written. I count these only once after each has been formally published. I don’t count the re-reads and re-writes during the editing phase, and even though I probably re-read them a few times after publication to refresh my memory ahead of presentations, I don’t count those again.

Which means that the 2000 rows, one book per row, are really much more than 2000 books read.

With 2000 books in the bank, the idea of reading 2001: A Space Odyssey suddenly seems like a good idea.

Now my OCD is starting to think about the next round number milestone. At my current average of about 85 books a year, I would need about 12 more years to reach 3000 books read. If I can bump up that average or suddenly identify a bunch of books I previous read that weren’t yet catalogued, I could do it in 10 years.

Except I should be writing. They do say that sleep is overrated.

[Photo is screenshot of a portion of my read book spreadsheet]

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is available for purchase at all bookseller outlets. Limited signed copies are available here. The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. If you read the book, please leave a review and/or rating.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

The Day I Stopped Reading

Tags

books, memoir

As anyone who has seen my Goodreads reading challenge knows, I’m an avid reader. I set an annual goal of reading 75 books, which I normally surpass. But there was a time when I stopped reading entirely.

For those who keep score of these things (BTW, this isn’t an ego thing as much as an OCD thing for me), most people don’t even come close to reading that many books. The exact number is hard to pin down, but Pew Research does polls on these things and concludes that most Americans (about 72%) read at least one book a year. That’s not a particularly useful number other than it shows that about 28% of Americans don’t even read that one book. In a year. Every year. That may explain a lot. In any case, Pew says that the average number of books read by Americans in a year is about 12 books.

Stop for a second and think about this. Twelve books doesn’t sound too bad – that’s one a month, right? But remember that 28% of Americans don’t read any books. My 75 (or 100) is way more than 12. And the way averages work can be misleading. A few massively high income values (think Jeff Bezos) would skew the average income calculation when interested in how much income is made by normal people. A better statistic than “average” is the “median,” which is simply the middle value if you put all the values in order. Pew says the median number of books Americans read in a year is 4. Given that romance books dominate reading (Romances sold $1.44 billion in 2022; crime fiction, the next closest genre, was half that), we have to admit that Americans are not a particularly literary crowd.

Okay, so we’ve established that I read quite a bit more than the average American. That’s not surprising since I’m college educated, worked professional jobs, and have no social life. Most of the people in that demographic are reading way above the average (and the median). We’re kind of like Jeff Bezos in that regard (but probably only in that regard). As I’ve written here before, most of my reading is nonfiction, although my fiction load has increased. No Harlequins for me; much of the fiction is on the more demanding side but not exclusively so (sometimes I need fluff to clear my brain). Reading brings me pleasure, but it also plays another role I’ll go into in a later post.

But there was a time I stopped reading for pleasure. I can’t identify the exact start date or duration, but somewhere around the family/work/Masters/doctoral years I was so inundated with reading for work/study that the last thing I wanted to do was pick up a book that wasn’t necessary. A lot of the work reading was technical – reports, scientific papers, legal briefs, mind-numbingly abstruse government guidance, all filled with jargon other scientists had trouble understanding, never mind the general public. Academic work wasn’t any better, especially when you toss in the statistical gyrations that only make sense if you’re a math nut (Spoiler: I wasn’t).

It wasn’t just the work/study/family distractions and burdens, of course. I was also doing interesting things, sometimes with interesting people. But my life course was also careening from one crisis to another and that kept me uninterested, or incapable, of parking myself in front of a book. For a while I would drag myself home from work/study (the two blended together so much it was hard to tell the difference), where I would be so mentally exhausted, I would turn on the TV “just for a minute” while preparing dinner, turning it off hours later as I fell into bed, only to do it all over again the next day/week/month/year. While I can’t recall how many years, the reading banishment was, in fact, measured in years.

Then it came back. With a passion.

Like everything in my life, the reasons are way too complicated to put into words. But there were two factors that definitely influenced my reading resurrection. One was travel. My now former company had re-settled me in Belgium for three years, which necessitated a handful of long flights back and forth between there and the main office in the U.S. I also started taking longer trips, where a 14-hour flight is just one leg of a multi-leg flight suite. I rarely sleep on a plane and given the quality of most flight movies; I’ve had a lot of time to read. Sure, I would also use the flight time to read for work, write reports, and later, write book proposals and sample chapters, but the long flights were also a chance to read some novel I picked up at Hudson News while waiting for boarding. The second factor was meeting someone who liked to read and who was as obsessive about keeping lists as I was. That got me started on the Goodreads Challenge thing. Having a place to record my reading is as much an inspiration to read as it is a distraction from the other things I should be doing, such as writing. That part is a problem, but such is life.

Actually, there is a third factor. I read a lot about Abraham Lincoln as part of my responsibilities in various Lincoln groups. I may read a bunch of books to help determine the winner of a book award or seem knowledgeable in a discussion group or to write reviews for various journals. That’s sort of like the work/study burden, but many of these I would have read anyway so I’ll give them a pass.

Bottom line: I’m back to reading a lot. I may actually be reading more now than before the gap because I don’t have the work/study burdens as I once had, although I’ve certainly acquired many more time-sucking responsibilities that are just as consuming, if not as profitable. After the barren COVID years I’m back to long-distance traveling and it’s amazing how many pages you can blow through on non-stop flight to Ethiopia. I do often berate myself for reading when I should be writing (distraction is a powerful force), but the irony is that I read more when I’m under contract for writing. It’s a form of hyperactivity. Like I said, it’s complicated.

At some point I’ll delve into my history of reading – the genres that seem to ebb and flow with my interests. I hardly read today some genres that used to obsess me. I’m sure there’s a reason for that.

[Photo from me, a portion of my library annex (not to be confused with my office/library)]

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is available for purchase at all bookseller outlets. Limited signed copies are available here. The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. If you read the book, please leave a review and/or rating.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

A Walk to Respect…and Remember Lincoln and Douglass

Tags

Abraham Lincoln, memoir

Last night I attended a reading of the play called “A Walk to Respect.” Ostensibly about conversations between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, the play was much more. It was also a remembrance, as the actor who was to play Lincoln passed away unexpectedly a few weeks before the performance. I’ll come back to that in a moment.

“A Walk to Respect” is produced by The Patterson Foundation,” a philanthropic organization whose focus”strengthens the efforts of people, organizations, and communities by focusing on issues that address common aspirations, foster wide participation, and encourage learning and sharing.” It’s founder, Jim Patterson, was the great-grandson of Joseph Medill, the owner and editor of the Chicago Tribune. Lincoln historians will recall that Medill’s Tribune helped create the Republican Party and get Abraham Lincoln elected to the presidency. Thus, it is altogether fitting and proper the Foundation was involved in creating this play.

Three tall wooden bar stools with simple backdrops make up the entirety of the set. Beth Duda comes on stage to explain that while she is listed as the playwright, she is actually the play compiler. All the words spoken by the two actors are those either spoken or written by Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. As the play unfolds, it is clear (at least to Lincoln and Douglass scholars) that she has compiled words taken from various speeches and blended them into a cohesive narrative. Sometimes there is banter between the two actors, other times they trade monologues. Jeffrey Atherton reconstructs Lincoln’s manner and voice, while Joel PE King does the same for Douglass. Both actors bring the passion of their subjects into their portrayals: Lincoln more subdued as was his nature, the political necessity of the times, and indeed, his white privilege; Douglass more fervent, in line with his more proximal association with slavery. The play seeks to show how Lincoln, while unburdened by personal slavery himself, could work through the system in order to put slavery on a path to its ultimate extinction…while Douglass, escaped from the brutality of slavery on his own family and person, questions why those held in bondage have to wait until white people get around to allowing them the freedom due all Americans by the Constitution.

But there is a third stool on stage, appropriately placed in between the two protagonists. Cedric Hameed serves as an on-stage narrator of the play. But he is more than a narrator. Hameed places the readings of Lincoln and Douglass in the greater context while providing a historical flow for the audience to follow. Nowhere is this more evident than in one short section in which Hameed calls out a year and each actor responds. “1831” he calls. Lincoln responds, “store clerk;” Douglass, “slave.” “1833.” Lincoln proudly, “postmaster;” Douglass disgustingly, “slave.” “1834.” Lincoln, again proudly, “elected to Illinois state legislature;” Douglass, more animated, “slave.” While both largely self-educated, their circumstances were vastly different. The audience perhaps starts to see how this applies still today. A skilled poet, Hameed also offers some verse of his own creation, connecting not only Lincoln and Douglass but their time with our time.

Following the performance, the actors and playwright took questions from the audience, further illuminating the similarities and contrasts between Lincoln and Douglass. As the title suggests, while coming at slavery from different perspectives and different time scales for its extinction, the two men found a common bond and respect for each other’s role in the drama.

All three men on the stage were wonderful in their performances. Jeffrey Atherton and Joel PE King portrayed their characters with the appropriate moods and passions. While I was impressed with all three men, Atherton’s was somewhat bittersweet. He stepped into the role on extremely short notice and played it heroically. But I couldn’t help but think of who he was replacing.

The play has been in the works for several years, and Lincoln portrayer Michael Krebs was intimately involved in its creation. Michael died suddenly on January 29th. Through my own Lincoln connections, I actually found out before the Foundation and most others had heard the sad news. Michael had portrayed Lincoln for the Lincoln Group of DC in 2011 and 2015 for our reenactments of Lincoln’s first and second inaugurations. He was considered one of the best Lincoln actors in the country, often touring with the acclaimed Deb Miller as Mrs. Lincoln. Karen Needles, president of the Lincoln Group of DC during the time of the reenactments, offered her heartfelt memories of Michael in a recent post on the Lincolnian.org website. He will be missed.

[Photo from the program. Note that the actor playing Lincoln in the photo is the late Michael Krebs.]

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is available for purchase at all bookseller outlets. Limited signed copies are available here. The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. If you read the book, please leave a review and/or rating.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

A Writer’s Guide to Social Media

Tags

On Writing, Social Media

Social media. You know; that part of your platform that involves discovering, mastering, and maximizing your outreach to readers via all those new media that didn’t exist when you were born. Because writers write for readers (we certainly don’t do it to pay the rent) and without social media we can’t find each other. Right? So we need a guide.

Well, not really. Social media might not be as important for some writers as it is for others. It also seems to benefit fiction writers more than non-fiction writers. Truth is, there is no guide to social media for writers. What works for me might not work for you.

I’ll start with where I am on social media. First off is Facebook. Yeah, I know. That means I’m old. Given that “old” seems to start around age 30, I’ll accept that (ironically, when I was 20, I also thought 30+ was old). Kids these days (saying “kids these days” when you mean anyone under 30, or maybe 40, or even 50, definitely puts you in the “old” category) …where was I? Right, kids these days have moved on to other social media and largely left Facebook (because it’s full of old people, duh).

So, Facebook. In addition to a personal page for photos of your dog, your family vacations, and your weekend barbecue recipes, writers need to have an author page. Here’s mine: https://www.facebook.com/DavidJKentWriter The goal of an author page is to highlight your writing. That could be your new book, your back list (all your previous books), any writer’s life activities, and general information related to the topics you write about, whether that be new content, memes, or sharing writing guidance (e.g. about social media).

Twitter is also still largely a necessity. Again, younger folks have migrated to newer platforms, but Twitter still has the largest reach for pithy statements, memes, short videos, etc. Here’s my Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidJKentWrite That’s my author account. I also have a general account for whatever isn’t author related, plus control the account for the Lincoln Group of DC. Twitter can be useful, but admittedly it has taken a hit in recent months as a result of general dissatisfaction with its takeover by Elon Musk (which has also hit Tesla’s stock price). There was a mad dash off the platform, although it remains to be seen whether one of the alternatives catches on to the same extent. For those who want an alternative, they include some that may sound familiar (Clubhouse, LinkedIn, Reddit) and some newer (e.g., Mastadon). Read about more options here: https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/Best-Twitter-alternatives

LinkedIn: LinkedIn is Facebook for professionals, more or less. Here’s mine: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjkent/ Over the years, LinkedIn has morphed into a Facebook lookalike (without the cat photos) in the sense that there is an activity wall where you can post articles, job (or writing) updates, and share the work of others. It remains the go-to place for professional development, which for writers includes the impressive background needed to give prospective publishers and agents confidence you can deliver. Publications? Awards? Head of State? Make sure it’s there.

Instagram: The picture version. People post photos and short videos to capture the attention of those who gravitate to photos and short videos. Mine is here: https://www.instagram.com/davidjkentwrite/ Instagram has a hashtag (#bookstagram) where “influencers” (if I have to define it, you aren’t one) can boost new books.

YouTube: The video version. Okay, the long video version since many of the other social media let you do short videos (or reels, depending on the source). My YouTube is: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidJKent

A quick, but critical, note: Writers have to actually interact with other writers and readers on these social media platforms or they aren’t worth the time. Conversely, any or all of these can become a huge time-suck if you don’t keep it under control. It’s easy to get lost chasing down proverbial rabbit holes in the name of “research” or “platform-building.” Set limits and stick to them. That starts with not jumping on every social media fad in the first place. I’m more active on some media (e.g., Facebook) and not so active on others because of my own personality proclivities. You’ll need to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t. Don’t try to do it all because 1) you’ll go crazy, and 2) you won’t actually write or do anything worth putting on social media.

Which gets me to TikTok. A lot of the younger set (Gen-X, Y, Z, Millennial, or whatever are the current code words to categorize people these days) have left the social media listed above to the old folks (aka, the 30+ crowd) and hopped onto social media that I’ll likely never be on, and in some cases, never even know exist. TikTok is all the fad right now, apparently for teens and 20-somethings to show off their dance moves (shuffle-dance anyone?). Given my apparent advanced age, lack of photogenicity, and three left feet, I don’t expect to be on TikTok. That said, there is a hashtag (#booktalk) where people promote books they like. It seems to be mostly about fiction, but it might work for some nonfiction as well.

There are tons of other social media platforms. Some are actually for writing (Medium, Substack, Tumblr) while others are for promotion. Pick what you like.

One more social media I’ll mention is Goodreads. Originally independent but now owned by Amazon, Goodreads is a great place to find new books to read, make (and receive) recommendations between friends, and track your reading. Like other social media, you can interact with other readers. You can also enter giveaways for a chance to receive free books. And, of course, it’s where you can leave ratings and reviews to opine on your favorite books (copy and paste any reviews on both Goodreads and Amazon because they don’t do so automatically). I use Goodreads for my annual Reading Challenge, where I set a goal for the number of books I read and keep track of what I’ve read. My Goodreads is https://www.goodreads.com/davidjkentwriter I highly recommend it.

The bottom line on social media is that one size does not fit all. The bigger the media network the more opportunities writers have to interact with potential readers (not to mention agents, publishers, writing coaches, book cover designers, editors, etc.). Used poorly, they can suck you into oblivion and leave no time for writing. Used wisely (with limits), they can greatly enhance your writing career.

To quote Abraham Lincoln (on a totally different topic):

“And now, beware of rashness…but with energy, and sleepless vigilance, go forward, and give us victories.”

Time to write!

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is available for purchase at all bookseller outlets. Limited signed copies are available here. The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. If you read the book, please leave a review and/or rating.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.