Truth time, authors. I know you’ve done it, so fess up. It’s a horrible, embarrassing addiction. Set yourselves free and just admit it.

You google yourself, don’t you?

It’s okay, we’ve all been there. I certainly have. Yes, I’ll say it out loud. When no one was looking, I googled myself. Many, many, many times. Checking for reviews, event postings, or comments from readers—just searching for your general pats on the head or kicks in the teeth.

Writers aren’t typically from sturdy stock. Most of us bear rather fragile self-esteems once you scratch the surface. Our egos can easily be crushed by a bad rating on GoodReads.com or when we find a personalized, autographed copy of our book on the shelves at the used bookstore. (~Ahem~ Not that EITHER of those things have ever happened to me.) Google, as fantastically useful as it can be, can also become an author’s whip for self-flagellation.

Obsessively checking my Amazon ranking would be another addiction. (Yesterday, my book was ranked 166, 898. Woohoo! Today it’s 244, 126. Uh, oh. Last month it hovered around the one million mark. Ouch.) Other embarrassing behaviors I’ll fess up to: checking my book listings with SILO, the Iowa library database, and WorldCat, the national library database (which shows my book is shelved in the Library of Congress AND the Harvard University Library, as I vainly fan my peacock feathers), checking the number of hits my website has logged, moving copies of my book in front of others on the shelves at bookstores, and taking a moment to look up my own book pretty much any time I stop at a library, hoping to discover a waiting list (which there was, but only once.) My most egregious offense? Sneaking backstage at a national trade show to frantically stuff advanced reader’s copies of my book into the boxes of unsuspecting book buyers. ~Sigh~ Somebody stage an intervention, please.

So there. I’ve admitted my bad behaviors. One step down, eleven more to go.

Really, it’s quite amazing I manage to get any actual writing done with all the time I spend cyber-stalking myself.

All together now. I will not google myself today…

What I’m reading right now: Mudbound by Hillary Jordan (and loving it!)

Words I wish everyone lived by: “If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague. “–Jerry Seinfeld

Event Alert: Iowa Center for the Book Author Fair

Wednesday, Oct. 21  6-8pm

Downtown Des Moines Public Library