Networking fool.

I'm realizing that I can't be a loner for 40 years and then suddenly try to build "Team Duncan."

I pretty much do everything on my own (with Linda, of course.)  My store is my store.  My books are my books.  I don't spend much time on image or promotion or building connections with other people.

Funnily enough, I'm probably more networked now than at any point in my life -- if you count Twitter and Facebook and such.  Even Facebook connections were almost an accident.  I got drunk one night and started "Friending" everyone in sight. 

I'm glad I did.  I like the connections with old friends and classmates and such.

But it might never have happened.

Anyway, I can spend months and years all by myself writing my books, but then find after I'm done that I have very few networking skills to get the books out there.  I need publishers because they can give me objective validation and at least have their own networking platforms.

Ironically, it's the very lonerhood that allows me to succeed in my business and writing.  I get a lot done through individual persistence and time.  But without a network, the success is always going to be somewhat limited.

I'm O.K. with that, mostly.

There's always some luck involved, too.  So networking could still happen without me being the one to institute it.  It's just a lot less likely...