Am I doing this right? (& other writerisms)

How many times I’ve asked myself this as a writer - only to decide that it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s authentic to who I am in that moment, the answer is always yes. I’m bringing that same energy to my writing website. It’s a task I’ve put off for so long that only having the empty domain unintentionally promoted on someone else’s podcast (more on that later) could have gotten me to do it. Now the first version is up, and I’m left wondering: Why? Why did it take me years to do this?

Well, if you’re a writer, you definitely know this- perfect can often be the enemy of good. I’ve certainly found that in my novel… I don’t want to advance in the story if I feel like the previous scene isn’t working. But, I’ve learned that’s exactly what you need to do. The time for editing, for perfecting is later. When momentum is on your side, you have to grab on - or risk losing it. So, here is my “good” v1.0 of my writing website, born from the momentum of being invited as a guest and having one of my poems featured on the new podcast, Expressions & Definitions hosted by Nicole Renee (on Twitter and Spotify here).

Last night, she read and discussed my poem, “The Velvet Rope,” which is also featured as the inaugural Poem of the Month on my Writing page. Tonight, we sat down - well… over the phone using this very cool podcasting app, anchor.fm - and she interviewed me about my relationship with writing, my aspirations, my process and of course, my poetry. We ended with my reading “The Velvet Rope” and one other original poem “A Spider’s Song” for her listeners. Not only was it my first podcast and first time being interviewed as a writer (VERY fun), but it was also my first time reading my original poetry aloud to another person. You can see how I was building momentum...

As part of my intro last night, she read my website domain name (rshopson.com) as a way to contact me, rather than the email I had provided (contact@rshopson.com). “But… if people go to that URL, they’ll find… NOTHING! [head exploding emoji]!” Following a minor panic attack (“tell her to take the episode down!!”), I decided I had to ride the wave and finally get the website up.

Is it perfect? Absolutely not. I have big dreams for this site, including a whole Wiki for The Drop universe, which is currently living in Google Docs. Is it good? I think so. Am I doing this right? Oh, yes.*

So welcome to my journey to becoming a published novelist and an artist whose work impacts people across multiple formats, and thanks for joining. If you like what you see, follow me, sign up for the newsletter or just come back. If you don’t, drop me some feedback at - you guessed it - contact@rshopson.com.

- RSH

* I reserve the right to lose all of this emotional maturity and confidence when I begin querying. :)