I LOVE literary—literally. I have sacrificed a lot of time and energy into this, and often sit on my bed or couch wondering What for? I neglected family and friends for what I believed I was destined to do. I wrote my first book “And Even if I Did” to simply rid my brain of these characters that were often there. I didn’t want to call myself crazy, so I simply assumed it was best that I wrote a book; that or go talk to licensed professional. *smile*

It has been a lot of work. I have met a lot of people; some of them are still here and some of them couldn’t take the heat and decided to keep their day job and leave literary to Judy Blume, James Patterson, or even Terry McMillan for that matter.

After making some mistakes of my own in the pursuit to being a literary superstar, I had to sit down and just chill. I made a list of reasons why I wanted to write my first book and why I wanted to publish others on my anthologies. Mainly, that what was my goal period.

It was rough because during that time friends became foes and foes became friends. I saw that association with the wrong type can be a very tragic thing. I was guilty by association. We must remember that we live in a very judgmental society; and even though you might have your own brain and thoughts, it really doesn’t matter since you spend a lot of your online presence around the wrong people. Who are those wrong people? Those posing as concerned colleagues so eager to help you because they simply “know it all”. At least that’s the way they appeared. They often had suggestions on how to take my career to the next level; but after it was all said and done, I was the one doing all the work and they were taking all of the credit.

After this happening several times, (and I do mean several), I just decided to do me; and that meant keeping to myself and turning into “Anti- Social Annie.” I was comfortable with this because I had to learn my lesson that everyone doesn’t have my best interest in their heart. During this time, I researched the literary business and decided it was time for me to take control of my goals and stop depending on everyone for everything.

I decided if I was going to be successful, I had to get my feet wet and network—and I had to be effectively networking. I wasn’t going to go for the okey doke any more. Enter social networking; this was a good place to start, BUT there are some “special” types that frequent social networking sites.

There are three popular types-

-The deaf, dumb, and blind: They are so eager, wanting information and very thirsty for knowledge; but no matter how much you assist them, they still end up doing the complete opposite of what you advise them to do, only to come back saying they should have listened to you.

-The “know-it-alls”: Those that think they know the answer to any and every question. Those types of people are starved for attention, so you have to be careful. No matter the subject, they have to comment and, even if they have nothing to say, they will disagree just for the sake of argument.

-The sideline watches: Those that are like sponges. They will absorb everything you and every other person says regarding jumpstarting his or her career, but can’t ever offer any help—ALWAYS having their hand out for assistance.

So, at times, attempting to network was indeed a full-time job since I was dealing with all types of people, but what I did was simple. I closed my mouth and opened my ears. This is very simple to do, but we, as humans, get it confused. *smile* So I say this to say, do what works for you and only YOU. There is only going to be one person looking back at you in the mirror, so make sure you can face the reflection that appear before you. I will leave this with you—when you learn better, you do better.

Kisha Green

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Kisha Green is no stranger to the literary world. She is the well-informed, knowledgeable publisher of DivaBooksInc.(www.divabooksinconline.com). Green is a senior writer and founder of the Writer’s Vibe (www.writers-vibe.com) a literary site to help promote artists.

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