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Taking the Next Step–

Thanks for the feedback on my entry about what I should do to self-promote for my writings/novels. For those of you who follow my Twitter, you may have noticed my Tweet about what I plan to do within the next couple of weeks or so:

  • New email account – I would set up my official email through this new account, just so I won’t be receiving a huge amount of mail at my two existing (personal) email accounts. All writing related mail would go to this account.
  • Set up a Facebook Page – I have been researching ways I can get around creating a personal profile on Facebook again (as you can see, I am really trying hard to avoid that option); apparently, I can just create a “Business” account and I could create a Page for myself. However, I’m hesitant in doing this right away, since I’m not sure I would qualify for a Page; Facebook states that they do not usually check the Pages that are created (unless they infringe upon copyright or privacy issues).
  • Writing Blog – Along with the new email account, I would create another blog specifically for my writing and thoughts about writing. I will probably post short stories and maybe some excerpts from longer works. However, I have heard from a friend that if I intend on getting published through agencies, I cannot post any of my novels online since that would be considered “self-publishing”.
  • Domain? – I’m still questioning this option. For the longest time (well, ever since I began using the Internet as a tween/young teenager), I had wanted to buy my own domain. Of course, back-in-the-day, I didn’t really have real use for a domain, it just seemed cool. Now that I am actually presented with the opportunity to have my own domain to establish myself online as a writer….well, I am a little scared at the thought. Do I want my real name plastered around the Internet? I suppose I could go for a pen name, but I don’t really fancy that idea right now (plus, I was mildly traumatized in the past with having pen names and having family members embarrass me with how ridiculous the names were). Anyway, I am also a little stuck on which domain registration service to go with–GoDaddy or Dreamhost? Any other suggestions?
  • Twitter – I’m already on Twitter obviously, but I suppose it would be helpful to have a separate Twitter for my writing updates…right?

These are all tentative plans of course; even though I want to get started on everything right away, I also want to make sure I am making the right decisions as to where I would launch my presence.

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In other news, I have begun looking over Novel 1 and outlining the chapters. I notice that many of the scenes so far have moved too fast, and some of the chapters have been too short. However, I still feel amazed that I was able to write this whole novel last November; at that point in time, I hadn’t written anything creative in quite awhile. It had been so long since I actually wrote anything that even my closest friends were surprised to hear that I was writing a novel.

Anyway, I still feel surprised and impressed at the prose that I did manage to write during that point in my life; if I compare the two works I completed this year with Novel 1, I feel like they pale in comparison with that novel. Well, then again, all three novels are still first drafts, so…there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Plus, Novel 2 and 3 were written from guys’ standpoints, which is difficult for me right now since I am a woman.

Well, it just takes practice.

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#amwriting NaNoWriMo Novel 3

The Start of NaNoWriMo 2008.

Well, it is now November, and it’s hard to believe that already another NaNoWriMo is upon me. I remember last year, when I stumbled upon a blog entry one of my friends had made about participating in NaNoWriMo. It was late October, and I just suddenly thought, “Well, why not?”

So I proceeded to register for NaNoWriMo and then just jumped right in without even looking. I read the book that founder/creator Chris Baty wrote, and just clicked away on my laptop with whatever thoughts I wanted to fit into my novel. It was my first time actually embarking on writing a novel, and I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out.

In the end, I did manage to reach that 50K word-count goal, and then some. It felt exhilarating and wonderful to know that I had completed a novel. It was also a much more important victory for me since, at that point in time, I didn’t have much going for me in terms of work/jobs. It was a semi-traumatic time in my life, and I suppose NaNoWriMo saved me at that point.

This year, I am participating in NaNoWriMo again, but of course under different circumstances. Now with a somewhat stable job and a little wiser (I would hope so, anyway), I wonder about how this novel will turn out this time. I had attempted to write a second novel beginning in early January of this year, but I still have not completed that novel. I guess I feel more motivated/set on finishing a novel when I am aware that there are millions of others doing the same task as I am. It’s more comforting in some ways.

Well, onward to 30 days of insanity.

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#amwriting

Metaphor.

Nobody wants the piece of fruit that has fallen from the branch.

Everybody wants the fruit that is still intact on the branch, ripe and ready to be plucked.