We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Pat Wahler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Pat, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I’ve given this a lot of thought over the years. One could list a number of qualities. It helps to have financial backing. It helps to have the support of your family and friends. It helps to have at least a thimbleful of talent in whatever direction you choose; and certainly a great deal of interest in it.

Yet all these advantages come to naught if you aren’t persistent. There are many challenges and roadblocks on every career path. Often enough to make you question your choice and your sanity. Clearly, the people who make it are the ones who – as Winston Churchill once famously said – never, never, never give up.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

After spending decades working with troubled youth, I retired from my day job to take on a second career as a writer. At this point in my journey, I’ve been published in a number of magazines, anthologies, and online venues. Nearly two dozen of my stories have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul books and I’ve authored five novels in addition to a Christmas collection and a children’s picture book. If I’m not in front of my computer or reading, I hang out with my family and my rescue critters: Winston, a spoiled peke-a-poo, and Bogey, one highly opinionated tabby cat.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media could easily be a full time job. At the beginning, I felt the need to jump on every platform that seemed to work well for authors. You name the place, I peeked in. It didn’t take long for me to realize that a scattershot approach to social media is not effective. Nor is it possible. Each platform requires more time and nurturing than a brand new garden in spring. Getting people to follow you means a lot more than posting an occasional pretty picture or sharing an article. Posts must be regular, with content relevant to the audience you hope to cultivate.

Nope, I’m sorry to say you’ll never be all things to all people. The goal is to find the platforms you enjoy. The ones where your tribe hangs out. Then speak to them. I’m on Twitter and Instagram, but I’m most active on Facebook, as this is where most of my audience is found. My Facebook author page focuses specifically on items of interest to people who love to read and write. You won’t find me posting about any other topics. I intersperse my general posts with occasional promotion of my own books or the books of other authors. I never use my platform to overpromote. A constant stream of “buy my book” does only one thing – drive away followers.

Finding content isn’t always easy. Original stuff is great, but sharing is good too, and I always tag my source. I’ve noticed engagement is significantly higher for funny posts. People love to laugh, so the bulk of my posts contain humor. When readers comment, it’s critical to interact with them. Interaction pleases your followers and also helps the algorithms show your posts to more people, so win-win.

Above all, be cautious with social media as it’s a double-edged sword. I try (really hard) to limit the time I spend online because it’s a huge time suck. After all, you can’t research or write when you’re scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. It’s far too easy to let hours slip by. Set a timer, if that’s what it takes to rein yourself in.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Writing is such a solitary pursuit, it may come as a surprise to learn that one of the things I love best about it is the connections I’ve made with other writers. I meet them at conferences and workshops. I joined a weekly critique group as well as a monthly writer support group. I’ve even come to know a fair number of writers who have become fast friends through social media platforms. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without my “team”.

The bottom line is, if you’re a writer, you need other people with whom to share your successes and your disappointments. They understand what you’re going through. I simply can’t imagine walking this path without the support, encouragement, and advice of my friends. Even an introvert like me needs to get out of my office cave once in a while. I’m not sure I could I keep this crazy wonderful world of writing in perspective any other way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://patwahler.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patwahler/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PatWahlerAuthor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pat-wahler-0a81a5151/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PatWahlerAuthor

Image Credits
I own rights to all images.