Over the past three days, I believe I have spent 20+ hours working on rebuilding my website, all at the expense of my family and my writing. I realize that, these days, an author needs to be concerned with “platform,” but what’s the point of a platform (in this case, online presence) if you spend so much time building it that you lose focus on your most important roles…not marketing yourself, but being who you are first and foremost–a writer.

Where is that delicate balancing point in my daily routine between the craft and the salesmanship? I believe it’s time to pull out my notes from the Northwest Writers Retreat last October and review Marsha Ward’s counsel.

In the meantime, I’m giving myself till the end of the day on Tuesday to add all the content I can to my website (with, or without, images on the home page). If any of you out there have any answers as to how to size your images correctly so as to fit them in a widget in the side bar (using HTML code, I believe)…PLEASE get in touch with me by email. Or even leave a comment here.

After Tuesday, I’m doing a final polish on Laps (taking into account the feedback I’ve gotten), taking a few deep breaths, and sending out my first batch of queries by Friday. It’s time I got offline and started living again!

Originally posted 2010-05-16 19:54:12.