Your First Novel by Ann Rittenburg and Laura Whitcomb

"Your First Novel" was the first entire book about writing and publishing that I've read. It came recommended through Writer's Digest and I thought I'd give it a try. This book was great for two reasons. It came with some great, well written advice, and it covered both writing and publishing in depth (and everything in between).

The first half of the book was written by Laura Whitcomb, who is an established author. She wrote the writing half and covered everything from generating ideas and encouraging creativity, to actually going through the editing and rewriting process.

Does Vampire Academy encourage teen sexuality?

For those of you who have not read the Vampire Academy series, you may be hesitant toward starting it because it seems like “another vampire romance.” It’s not. YES there are vampires, YES there is romance, YES the main character is a woman. Other than that, there are few similarities (not that Twilight was bad, I read the entire series in college and barely left my room when a new one came out).

Vampire Academy has a completely different premise. Vampires are not beautiful and romantic creatures and there are different types of vampire (Moroi – the good, Strigoi – the bad) and vampire slayers (dhampirs, a vampire and human mix). See? Already they are nothing alike.

Why do I recommend this book? Because it’s unique (at least I’ve never read anything like it), and it has a strong woman as the main character.  “But Hunger Games had a strong woman lead…” I KNOW, but this came out first. Richelle Mead went out on a limb and told her story from a perspective that others could respect, if not relate to. (ALSO, I’d like to point out here that the preceding paragraph makes me sound like a feminist. I’m not. I think it’s annoying. I think it’s silly to expect special opportunities and treatment in order to get equal treatment…)

Teen attracting blog, or not?

I received some very good advice on my first blogging assignment from the Blogging 101 professor. Essentially, the feedback was that what I'm currently blogging about is not directed toward my ideal audience.

I identified that I am starting a blog to build my author platform and attract potential readers. The books I am writing are YA, so my ideal audience is teens (in my case, late teens, early twenties). Thus far my blog has mostly been about my journey to becoming a writer, including learning how to blog - and it has been SUCH A BLAST! What I thought would feel like homework has grown to be my favorite hobby!

SO I have a dilemma. My ideal audience for this blog should be the people that will most likely buy my book (and, as the professor pointed out, my current blog is directed toward aspiring writers who may buy my book out of support but will most likely not be fans of my work). So I have a choice here with a few different options.

1. Continue the blog as I have been, because I really really like what I've been writing about and it has been incredibly satisfying and FUN. BUT, I may not gain much of a relevant audience, amounting to not a whole lot of help to my author platform.

Happy anniversary to me! :)

Today is my sixth anniversary with the wonderful Eric. Every day I am a better person than the last because of him.

As an embarrassing (for both of us) present, I have written him a corny poem:

Supportive you've been for me through and through

My life would not be the same without you

And when the moments come that we must fight

Know that I will still be by your side holding you tight

For, through thick and through thin you're a constant in my life

And I am so happy to one day be your wife

 

 

Hug your loved one right now <3

Blog Class

YAY!! I'm so excited that yesterday was the first day of my Bogging 101 class. I have been researching the topic like crazy over the past several weeks, researching myself down a little blogging rabbit hole of sorts.

I think I really just need an organized way to think about blogging and this should help. I will be researching the basics of blogging and notice that the writer already assumes I have followers. WRONG! So then I research how to increase traffic to your blog.

When researching how to increase traffic, all this talk about RSS feed was popping up, so I had to research what exactly RSS feed was and how I should use it. Then, of course, I got sucked into a tornado of all the cool widgets offered for blogs. After I spent some time pimping out my blog, I was ready to start back where I left off. Which was where again? Oh yeah, generating traffic.

One of the major things you're supposed to do is be present to other relevant bloggers. Many new bloggers will leave relevant comments and links on blogs in the hopes of getting a link back from the big blogger to their small blog (sending all their traffic to you!). So I then have to read a few blogs to find something that I can give valid input to, I don't just want to go throwing my name on something meaningless.

So I end up getting in to writing a Flash Fiction of about 1,000 words. Now this flash fiction was a subgenre smash and took quite a bit of research for me to understand what my two subgenres were (Weird West and Haunted House). 

Then I think, I wonder if I could sell this flash fiction? And I get into another downward spiral of researching how to find magazines that buy these sorts of stories. How much do they pay? What's the submission etiquette? PLEASE HELP! I'M STUCK IN THIS HOLE!

And on, and on, and on...

So I'm really hoping that this course will not only teach me enough about blogging to really get me going, but I'm also hoping it will organize the little ambitious gremlins in my head that just want to know more NOW!

The first course is already calming my nerves, asking me questions about my blog that I should have asked months ago. I have been struggling with what to write about. I think I can attribute this to not really knowing who my desired audience was.

I have two desired audiences (I think). I really want to blog about my journey to becoming a writer, sharing what I've learned, both the easy and hard way, and also what I learn about blogging on the way. Then I have the real purpose of my blog, to establish a platform of potential readers. But the novel I'm writing is YA. I don't really want to blog about the interests of typical teens. I wasn't a typical teen, whatever I have to say would come off as forced, I think.

So, I'm really just hoping that my scatter-brained posts will resonate with someone, somewhere and we can get this show on the road!

A day in the life of an amateur writer

I'm am, little-by-little, realizing all the hard work that goes into being a writer. I'm not even talking about the big stuff here, like the actual writing and getting published part. Everything else is what's stressing me out. I could write, revise, and submit queries like it's my job (or just a really cool hobby).

Maybe I'm struggling so much because I don't have a set routine, or because I'm still learning a lot of the basics. In this post, I'm going to write about just how much stuff I'm still trying to learn, and how hard it is for me to do that with so much available information!

4PM I have just gotten back from a long day at work and all I want to do is relax and put my brain on silent for awhile, but ALAS! I have goals, so silence need wait for another day!

4:15PM My computer is booted up and I am getting online. Or am I? No, because the hotel I've been staying at for the last several weeks has terrible internet unless you're down in the breakfast nook. So...

4:30PM A have lugged all of my essentials down to the breakfast nook. I'm not sure if the other fellow internet users down here appreciate my Canadian pajama pants tucked into my wool socks. But no one asked them, did they?

4:45PM I pull up so many pages that I've convinced myself I need to read everyday. I'm still one vote behind the first place holder on the latest Writer's Digest competition I entered. Nothing new on Facebook except invites for games. I check the traffic from my blog and sigh in disappointment as I realize the 11 new page views are all SPAM. Hmph. I check some of my favorite blogs. (Usually in this time period I would be hammering out a few hundred words, but right now I have a break because I'm letting it fester for a few weeks so I can prepare for the revision slaughter I'm going to give it).

5:15PM Eric calls me and I talk to him on his drive home from work

6:00PM Oh my goodness. It's already 6PM, I need to go downstairs and meet my group for dinner. There are 8 of us, so...

8:00PM Yep, it was a 2 hour dinner. And now I'm ready to get to work, right after I call Eric

8:20PM NOW I'm ready to get to work, right after I shower...

8:35PM But seriously, I'm going to get to work now. Hmmm...I wonder if I got a message back from Critique Corner on the critique I just gave? Yes? Well I better write a reply...

9:00PM It's almost time for bed and I haven't written my blog post for the day! Quick! Pump something out about some book I read recently! Woo. That was close. Ooh, already one page view! Vampirestat, dammit!

MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche

This is my first book review, so I'll give you a quick run down of how I'm going to do book reviews.

First off, I won't be reviewing books that we all know everyone loves and have been reviewed to death. Harry Potter, for example, I will not review. Actually here's a mini-review (I'm a rebel): everyone loves Harry Potter, and if you don't...well...I just can't deal with that, okay? Everyone loves Harry Potter, I have to believe that or the world is no longer a good place.

So the first book I'm going to OFFICIALLY review is MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche. In the review I'll include what I liked about the book, what I didn't like, links for book club info, and anything else that I think would be fun or helpful.

What I liked:
There is so much in this book that I liked. It was a very easy read and had some really relatable stories in it. Rachel basically documents her journey of finding a best friend in Chicago, where she has recently moved. She was a New Yorker her whole life and all of her friends are there. After a few months of not making a whole lot of headway making friends (would go out to lunch with coworkers and do couples nights with her husband's friends but didn't have a great female companion), she decided to do something about it, and write about it along the way.

Along with some hilarious stories of girl-dates gone bad, she also has a lot of research sprinkled throughout the book about friendship and health benefits it brings. Also, she was vulnerable. Who wants to write about how they can't make friends? Not me, but she put herself out there and it was refreshing to see that we're not alone.

Props to Rachel for writing this and make us all feel like less of losers :)

What I didn't like:
Yeah, I get that it's emotionally beneficial to have a best friend and that surrounding yourself with even a few decent friends can provide an incredible support structure...but not everyone needs 5 best friends. Honestly, even having two can be hard to keep up with. AND she says that family and significant others don't count. I actually consider my sister and my boyfriend to be my two best friends, so I guess I have to demote them.

 After a day at work, coming home and doing dinner, talking to my boyfriend, and writing -- I have no more time left to cultivate a relationship. Just do it on the weekend? That shit's hard too. The weekend is my time to relax and get stuff done around the house. After talking to my mom, dad, and sister, I really have time for one more person (if I'm lucky). I know that she forced herself to make time for it, but do I really want the other things in my life to suffer? Not really.

I give it a 7. I really like the fact that she wrote in relatable humor, but I question the feasibility of some of the things she did/suggested to make friends.

Actually, I would like to bump this up to an 8, because she'll actually call in or Skype in for your book club meeting if you coordinate with her, how many authors would do that?