Agonies of a Young Author

It seems that the universe is able to smash in with massive irony every time I get a little bit excited about a new project. My Sekret Poetry Blog just started on Monday, and already I have reason to rue my decision. Yesterday I posted on how I was feeling insecure about my writing at the local level. I have decided that the main issue is that I am only getting published at the student level-- and worse, only at the local student level (read: campus magazines). These magazines were truly beneficial to me. I got published when I was starting out, I got confidence when I felt none, and I got established as a writer when I had little claim to the name. Now, however, I have reached the point when student publications cannot offer me anything. So I am moving on. I am now seeking undergraduate journals (these are different because they are run by the English department of the affiliated school, and is reviewed by the professors/professionals to some degree)

And I have done so. I have found two new venues that fit me very well. Both seem to publish my sort of poetry, and I feel that the match would be a good one. So I have been going through my work, picking out pieces to submit. But I have come up against a contract that highlights a very important issue that I, personally, and other bloggers need to be aware of:

Any work that has been posted on a blog, even a personal one, is considered "published" and is not acceptable for use.

This, in terms of my poetry blog, is a very important thing to consider. I really like several pieces, and would like to submit them. For these two venues (Poetry, and Everyday Poets) however, this is not an option. Somewhere else, these poems would still be viable, but one does have to be careful now that definition of publication is changing in the internet world.

I have been lucky in that I never publish anything to my public blog, and rarely to the personal blog. Everything I have, has gone to a publication that does not include similar restrictions in their contracts.

My private poetry blog, however, is now another story. I still use it, because it gives me a freedom and universality when a notebook is not always available, but I am consciously more careful of how I use it. My writing has definitely dropped off. I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing. I might have more things available for publication, but I'm also NOT WRITING.

And we all know which one is more important in the long run.

Right Now:
What I'm listening to: "Just for Now" by Imogen Heap
What I want most: poetry prompts! Send me some? =)

So everyone has heard about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month.) But have you heard about the other one?

NaBloPoMo is National Blog Posting Month, where the challenge is to post every day from a month! It operates in a similar way to Nanowrimo, where the website is the basis of support. And guess what? Today starts both October and NaBloPoMo!

I've been poking around the site, and apparently there are also themes to each of the months, (October is Haunted, of course) but I don't really understand the concept in relation to blog posting quite yet. However, I'm going to try to participate this year, and I'm really excited! I also thought this would be a cool (and gentle) training exercise to get me in shape for next month's Nanowrimo, plus I get a shiny widget!


Visit NaBloPoMo

See? Shiny, shiny!

Anyways, I'm going to cheat a little- just a little- and continue my previous policing of posting only on the weekdays. I need my weekends to remain sacrosanct- I have too much homework for my piece of mind to voluntarily add on more responsibilites. So, sorry, no weekend posts!

(I would like to imagine groans from the readership at this point, but alas, I know the truth.)

So watch for all the upcoming blog posts, and I hope to see you over at NaBloPoMo!

Right Now:
What am I listening to: "Je suis jalouse" by Emily Loizeau
What I want most: more time!

I believe that I have mentioned before (several times) that my goal is to really become a daily resource for all writers out there. I remember, quite vividly, a time when all I had to look forward to was the daily posting by some of my favorite authors. My day revolved around those posts, and if they were late, or delayed in any way, I was devastated. When they reappeared, I was beyond ecstatic. I counted days and marked my calender for special events... sometimes just as simple as an author interview, or an intriguing topic, or a contest deadline. But those dates mattered to me, which gave me something to look forward to in a period of my life when there not many happy things to look forward to. And I resolved then, as I resolve now, to provide the same sort of service to other writers, and other teenagers, and to other people no matter their situation in life, who need a little something special to look forward to daily.

So I present "Wordsworth Station," my newest blog. It is merely a place to find daily writing prompts, but I hope and pray that someday someone will find it as special and meaningful in their life as I have been privileged to have it in mine.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the nature of my blog, and the purpose that I want it to serve, both for myself and for my readers. Now that I actually have readers (a fact that I still giggle madly at in giddy happiness), the dynamic has changed. When I started it over a year ago, I didn't even understand what a blog really was. It was more of a whim, an action made more for my own satisfaction than anything else. It, like my website, was something that I understood would help me as an author, but I arrived at this logic only through imitation of other authors. They have a website/blog, therefore, so should I, I thought. I didn't realize what my blog would come to mean to me as a person, beyond what it meant to me as a writer.

But I digress. That's subject for another post.

The point I am trying to make is that my blog has evolved into something different than I orginally envisioned, and as such, I need to revisit the purpose of this blog. Lately, I have been posting on my progress in writing, telling of such and such assignment completed, or brief posts mentioning how hard I worked that day. In short, it's all ego-stroking. I've realized all this, but only today did I find someone who wrote what I've been thinking much better than I. Lilith Saintcrow wrote in her blog today:

* Your primary job is to provide content, not market yourself. Yes, a website and a Facebook account will help your fans find you. They are marketing tools, but their primary purpose cannot be marketing. That will turn your fans off because it makes you look desperate and pushy. It turns what should be a conversation into you constantly pushing other people to buy your sh!t. It’s inappropriate at a party or a grocery store, and it’s inappropriate online.

You need to be a content provider. Post links to things you think are cool, new blog posts that are fresh content, things that make you go “hmmm” or interest you. Yes, you can also post book releases, short story releases, and contests. But those things cannot be ALL you post if you expect to have an interactive relationship with your fans. You do need to provide content or you’re just an empty noise. Empty noise grates on the nerves. 98% of your posts, tweets, whatever, need to be ACTUAL CONTENT. The rest is naturally marketing–book announcements, contest announcements, etc.

Your job in interacting in social media like Twitter and MySpace is to enrich your fans’ experience and help them feel an emotional connection to your books.

(Bold is originall Ms. Saintcrow, but italics are my emphasis)

So I'm going to try to re-direct this blog in a manner that fulfills Ms. Saintcrow's advice. I've noticed that my posts bore myself, therefore I know these posts bore YOU, the reader. And we can't have that, now can we? Therefore, a new direction. I can't promise a sudden, sweeping change, but I can promise that the intention will fuel my post to come.

Right Now:
What I'm listening to: Coldplay (concert tomorrow! Yay!)
What I want most: A rich and diverse blog

Happy Monday everyone!

Since last week's HTML adventures went on so well, I thought I'd mess around with some more. And look what I found? On Debbie Ridpath Ohi's website (go check it out! Her comics are hilarious) I found this!



So I decided to participate. I'm already doing my own 500 words a day challenge, but with no accountability I usually forget. Therefore, I'm stepping it up! 1000 words, every weekday (weekends are great, but optional) and I have to post to the blog. If I make the thousand words, I get to post the big shiny badge. If not, I get nothing (actually, I should find a HTML add-in with a big fat fail or something. hmmmmmm)

And look for more shiny shiny updates to the blog and website. I've got the summer now to read and research and plan, so I'm determined to go further and further!

Right Now:
What I'm listening to: Nothing.
What I want most: To be professional.

Hey everyone! Today is a series of posts as I mess around with templates and other bloggy things. There might be a regular post, there might not be (I know I promised a real one in the last post, but it just might not happen today. Sorry)

Anyways, this is a trial run for a New and Shiny that I got from my CP! Yay!

Current Project:
Untitled short story. =(
Blurred genre: Fantasy/Crime

3648 / 7000 words. 52% done!

I know right? Shocker. You have to write to be a writer, you have to work to be an author, and you have to sit your butt down to even think about getting close to a book deal. Sigh. Apparently, my Muse and I missed that memo the, oh .... first 3,867 times it came around?

So I was browsing around the interwebs, bored because my roommate is gone and I don't have to keep up the semblance that I'm a civilized creature (*waves* Hi, Michelle! I swear, the room will be clean by the time you get back...I'll even do dishes and laundry for you) and stumbled across Devon Monk's LJ where she is hosting a search for beta readers and crit partners. I've been thinking about this a lot, trying to figure out how to keep improving my writing (it's an excellent method of procrastination- strategic plan your way out of writing), buying books and joining online communities and do various time-suck things. I thought a conference might be the way to go (which it still is) but I do really want the sort of writing relationship that a beta/ CP gives. I read about the professionals that have them and whine that I want one tooooooooo...

So I signed up. I sent a little intro to a few gals and told them to come here.

And then I went "OMGOODNESS WHAT DID I JUST DO?"

Because of course, I took a break, haven't updated the blogs (any of them, sigh *epicfail*) and now I'm scrambling to pull the I'm-a-professional-and-a-big-girl-panties on. Not to mention that many of the beta searchers out there were looking to exchange sample chapters. I had to laugh hysterically and slightly manically at that one. "Ahaha, WHAT chapters? ahaha.... "

Sigh. Not my best professional moment. (*headdesk, pause, headdesk, headdesk, headdesk, headdesk*)

So I'm off to the trenches. I need to update, update, update, write a little, take a break to think.. nah forget that, more writing, more updating, more writing...

Right Now:
What I'm listening to: "Poison" by Alkaline Trio
What I want most: oof. let's skip this today.

Writing Challenge Number Two of the Week: Showing the Blog to Your Friends

Yep. Family yesterday. Friends today. I am just all full of the challenges this week.

So I told my best friend today. I told a couple college best friends. I sent out invitations. I sent out emails with links. I sent out whatever I could think off.

And here we are today.

I have nothing to talk about. I'm still all a-shiver with nerves and anticipation. I can't believe how attached I've become to my blog. At first it was whimsy- a lark that I wanted to try out because others did the same. Now I really ... revel in what I'm doing. I'm proud of what I do. I'm proud of the work that I'm producing. I'm proud of the topics that I search out, and the results that I get- whether a link for you guys or a personal link. Or a new website. A new service. A cool new development in writing. Something. Anything. I'm proud of it all. And I'm self-confidant -- confidant as me the writer, and as me the person. Blogging has really changed the way I view and approach writing. So my blog is my baby, my creation, just as much as any novel or other work. And I'm opening that part up for all and sundry to read.
My. Goodness. I'm. A. Nervous. Wreck.

So I'm going to go do something that doesn't require thinking.

Right Now:
What I'm listening to: Ugh, I don't even know.
What I want most: Oh, I couldn't even articulate what I want right now.

Yesterday's blog was on how I want to expand. Today, I had one of my first tests- showing the blog to my parents.

GULP.

Big ole' double Adam's apple gulp.

I read a few entries out loud to my father. Weird, and scary, and too many emotions to be named. But in the end, I got complimented. Isn't that great?

Now I just have to keep that momentum up- I've sent out some invitations to various friends and family, as well as other students and now even some professors (triple swallow and bob gulp.) Right now, I'm so nerved up that I really can't stand myself. I've shared a few pieces of creative writing around... a few. Maybe. Certainly limited to one hand. And certainly limited to five people. But I've never shared something I've been so intensely proud of before. Certainly never shared something I've worked on longterm. Nothing I've worked so hard on. And now I want nameless, faceless masses to come and read my blog?

Ah, shiver, shiver. Gulp.

So this is the week of the big tests. Getting the word out- to intimates and strangers alike. I'm not quite sure what will happen, but I'm crossing fingers and toes at the moment!

Right Now:
What I'm listening to: "Sometimes I Can't Make It Alone" by Mae
What I want most right now: Sleep?