Why Being a Writer is Fun

This week is a reminder of all the reasons I'm glad to be a writer and hope to do it for a living someday. And none of them are that I hate my day job!

First of all, I got the opportunity to be interviewed by a terrific guy named Eric Douglas, who has a show called "Writer's Block" on a web radio station named Voices of Appalachia. Last week he posted that he had some slots open for interviews and anyone who was interested should message him. I almost didn't do it because, after all, I'm just a tiny little nobody writer who's probably spent more money on this job than he's actually made through sales. Last week's interview was with our state's poet laureate. Why in the world would he take me? Well, take me he did, and I had a blast. Eric is a great interviewer who immediately set me at ease. He also taught me some things. I hope I didn't sound like a complete moron. We'll find out Monday evening at 7pm. If you're interested in hearing it, go to this link: http://voicesofappalachia.com. If you miss it Monday, it will be available as a podcast by going to the Writer's Block page of the site.

Next, and directly related to something Eric Douglas told me, I now have a new domain name for my website. I am made happy by such silly little things. One of them is that my name is a website domain now. The site itself hasn't changed, but you can now access it by going to joestephenswrites.com. The choosing of the name was an epic unto itself. Some of my AP English students helped me. I went through several possibilities: joestephensauthor.com, authorjoestephens.com, joestephenswriter.com, josephusbohunkus.com, and josephdstephens.com. The only one I tried that wasn't available was just plain joestephens.com. We all went back and forth on the merits of my given name versus the less formal yet more informative joestephens along with my job. And when we decided I should be Joe and not Joseph, what to go with it? Author? Writer? Writes? We all finally agreed that writes sounded the most comfortable. I sat with my finger on the mouse button for a full two minutes before I could bring myself to click the button, though. This was a big decision. Hopefully, this was going to be the link to my site for a long time, so I needed to choose wisely. I finally bought the domain and felt not an iota of buyer's remorse.

And finally, today I get to meet some people and tell them about my books. I enjoy book signings because it gives me a chance to do something I do well--talk. I like it when people I know come out to support me, but I really hope to meet several new folks and let them know who I am and what I do. I hope I can convince them to give my writing a try. Who knows--maybe they'll become fans. Even better, maybe they'll become friends.

So you have lots of ways to be in touch with me this week. You can listen to my interview, you can go to my website with its shiny new domain name, and you can come see me at the Vienna Public Library today (March 21) from 2pm to 3pm. While you're at my website, by the way, don't forget to sign up to be on my mailing list! Everyone on my list will soon receive a free preview of the first four chapters of my upcoming new title, Kisses and Lies. And other freebies will appear in your inbox from time to time, such as short stories and maybe even a discount or two.