Or is it could have, would have, should have?

I thought I’d write about biographies because for an independent author they are possibly more mystifying than for a traditionally published author. (I lie, it was a work colleague who made me think about this topic.) By mystifying I mean I want to connect to my readers but I want to keep my private life private and I’m not sure of why I want to do either of those.

Anyway, I’ve recently narrowed the ‘private’ and ‘public’ image by using my real name but still I balk a little at providing a bio.

So, this post is about would, could and should.

Firstly, what is ‘bio’? My first thought was when I studied biology – study of living organisms. The root (prefix) bio- means, and correct me if I’m wrong, ‘life’. The suffix ‘-graphy’ means, let me look it up, writing or drawing (rough explanation). So, life writing would fit my interests best. Give me a break – I’m a creative writer! But here’s my references :p

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bio-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-graphy

How do I go about deciding how much or how little to include? How do I connect without giving away my soul? Or secrets? Or secret soul? I don’t have a publisher deciding these things (I don’t have someone else painting a money making picture of myself). Nor do I aim to be mysterious, living in a virtual seclusion, on purpose (though I guess that works for some authors).

Nuts

Here are some things I need to nut out.

Question 1 – do I keep it about writing?

Question 2 – how much do I share?

Question 3 – how do I protect myself but connect to people?

Nutted out exhaustion. It is after exercise and work.

Biography in Progress

The guarded bio (cagey, restrained, protected, box head closed):-

Would include – my name

Could include – an interest

Should include – titles I’ve written

Result – mysterious or blah?

The candid bio (accessible, amendable, frank, box head opened):-

Would include – my name, my passions, my dreams, my hopes (okay, shut up)

Could include – interests, sports, images, family and friends bits, videos of me commenting on food (more likely alcoholic drinks)

Should include – why I’ve written things, where I’ve come from, where I’m going

Yep, run out of ideas.

Will update when I’ve come to a resolution and I suspect it’ll be somewhere between guarded and candid. Did you notice how I didn’t actually share anything of myself in this post and that even the image is non-revealing?

Image © Can Stock Photo / focalpoint