If you were given a “do over” in your career, is there anything you’d do differently?

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Back in 2002, author JK Rowling donated the chair she had used while writing the first two Harry Potter books to a children’s charity. Instead of donating the humble chair in its original condition (Rowling reportedly described the chair as something that could have been “purchased from a junk shop for a tenner”), she hand painted it in rose, gold, and green paints, infusing it with a bit of literary magic.

Do you gravitate to a special author’s chair while writing? If so, what is it about that particular chair (or couch, or coffee shop booth) that helps get your creative engine running?

Update: Sorry for delays in responding to folks: I’m away helping the family celebrate my father’s 90th birthday, too busy celebrating!

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Are there any words, phrases, character types, or other things you keep falling back on in your writing? What are the things you love to write a little too much?

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When did you decide that you were going to become a writer? Had there been anything holding you back before you made that decision?

What was the first story you ever wrote? Did it foreshadow something about the writer you would eventually become?

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What is your biggest challenge right now, in relation to your development as a writer?

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Are there any subjects you avoid completely in your writing? For example, is there anything you avoid writing about because it might be too disturbing to readers?

What new things are you doing this year to build your strength as a writer? Going to a conference? Taking a class? Sticking to your New Year’s resolution? (What was that resolution, by the way?)

Please share your experiences in the Comments.

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What’s the oldest thing in your house? What kind of story would it tell?

Note: This post erroneously made a brief, premature appearance before its scheduled due date. Re-upping it for today.

By Kathryn Lilley

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Recently the dynamics on commercial social media have become…a tad weird. So about a fortnight ago, after one too many hacking episodes, privacy scares, and nasty encounters with online trolls, I took the plunge and deactivated my Facebook account. I’ll miss the ease of staying in touch with certain folks (and of course I’ll miss “Yoga with Baby Goats” and other video gems), but it was long past time to cut my ties with advertising-supported social media.

I started feeling conflicted about commercial social media as far back as 2013, when I wrote Is Social Media Developing a Personality Disorder?  

Five years later, the answer (for me, anyway) is an emphatic “Yes.”

Here at TKZ we made a firm decision at the outset not to go down the commercial advertising route. It’s wonderful that out little corner of the cyber sphere continues to serve as a little oasis of calm amidst the winds of the social media Furies.

I’ll miss seeing my friends and family on Facebook, of course. (And I’ll really miss my daily dose of baby goats.)

How about you? Is anyone else rethinking their relationship to social media these days?

Postscript: it’s been two weeks since I cut the cord with Facebook; I’ve been surprised by how much I haven’t missed it. I think what Facebook actually provided was simply that endorphin rush one feels as one frequently checks for Likes, posts, and messages. It does feel a bit like kicking a habit, but not nearly as difficult as I’d imagined.