A Message for Those Who Follow My Facebook Page



When I made the decision to admin my Facebook page, I had envisioned myself regularly providing my followers with updates on my current writing projects and ideas for future writing projects. I thought it would be great if those who enjoy my books could follow along the writing process of each new book I put out into the world. They would be able to track the progress of each manuscript as it made its way from being just an idea in my head to a published work.

If you do follow my Facebook page, however, then you already know that I haven’t done that at all. The Elemental Equilibrium took maybe a year to write. During that time, I didn’t really provide my readers with regular updates on how the manuscript was coming along. Currently, I’m working on two more books, but have yet to mention these projects on my Facebook page. I believe I owe my followers and fans an explanation for why I have been so silent about my projects. After all, I frequently mention that I value the support of my readers, but how can they support me if I don’t tell them about my projects and provide them with periodic updates? How can they offer support if they don’t know what they are even supporting?

Laziness is not the reason I have been so taciturn about my projects. The reason actually centers on a certain phenomenon. There are several articles on the internet that describe this phenomenon. This one gives a decent overview of it. In essence, researchers have found that discussing your projects with others dissipates your enthusiasm for those projects and weakens the motivation you feel to complete them. On a side note, I believe this phenomenon is one of the keys to understanding the fourth power of the sphinx – “To Keep Silence.” However, because this post is not about magic but about writing, this isn’t the place to elaborate on that.

Everyone is different. I notice that there are a lot of people who are able to discuss their projects and goals with others and still manage to complete/achieve them. That’s not really the case for me. I do notice that when I discuss my projects with others, I feel less enthusiastic about them and less motivated to complete them.

When I realized that this phenomenon made it unwise to post frequent updates about whatever manuscripts I was working on, I tried other ways to keep my page active. For example, for a long period of time, I tried posting esoteric images and memes frequently. The problem with that approach to keeping an active page is that looking at images and memes on Facebook is really not the best use of anyone’s time, even if they are esoteric/spiritual in nature. One of the most important lessons the student of magic learns during her training is just how valuable time truly is.

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that I probably won’t be posting frequently from now on. Posting about my writing projects dissipates my enthusiasm for those projects. Posting esoteric images and memes causes my followers to use their time in a less-than-ideal manner. I’ll still write blog posts here and post the links to my page so my followers know whenever I have written a new one. That’ll probably be the sum total of my posts to my page from now on.

That said, I do get an email whenever my page receives a message, so feel free to message me if you have a question about my books, the Bardon system, or magic in general. I will respond as soon as I am able to.

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 10, 2019 at 7:52 PM

    What is your Facebook page?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VirgilMarch 10, 2019 at 7:58 PM

      I have two now. The one I was referring to in this blog post can be found at the following link.

      https://www.facebook.com/Virgil-Esoteric-Author-382391812099036/

      Delete
    2. UnknownMarch 11, 2019 at 3:23 AM

      Thanks! Is the other one more active? What is it?

      Delete
    3. VirgilMarch 11, 2019 at 7:54 PM

      The other page is for this blog. It can be found here.

      https://www.facebook.com/Awake-in-the-Starlight-280200715931901/

      I'm slightly more active on that one, but respond to messages sent to both.

      Delete

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