Weekly Writing Check-In: IT'S LIKE RAAAAIIIIN~ ON YOUR WEDDING DAY~

(No, I am not getting married, before the OMFG U STR8 NOW? comments start flooding in~) This week is a rather silly, ironic week. Mainly that this is the week I will officially attempt to reenter the work force in order to pay my monthly loan bills for this degree I just had to have, (That's gotten me super far in life. Mm-hmm. Lost generations, and all that.) I have to do this because, while I'm not making chump change at self-publishing, it's still not enough, and I'm almost all out of savings. I could make thousands of dollars overnight but wouldn't be able to pay bills next month because of the way Amazon delays payments. BUT today I DID wake up to find more sales in the past three days than I ever made in one month last year. Amazon has been nice to me today. Not only did it finally set ROUMAN to perma-free, but it also finally linked up the DAISUKI paperback and kindle versions. Yay! Still, this is Amazon. I don't expect it to last long.

This will also be the week I launch a new (lesbian erotica) pen name, focusing on short and to the point works as opposed to my plot and character driven heavy erotic romances I write under my real name. More on that later as I get closer to the release date of the first work. I still have some tax stuff to talk over with my trust tax lady.

Tomorrow, or possibly Tuesday, I will be unveiling the SUPER SECRET PROJECT I've been working on since December. Ren'Ai Rensai fans should get a huge kick out of it. But that's all I'll say about that for now!

Now excuse me, I have a resume to go brush up.

"DAISUKI." Blog Tour Day 6: Coming to a Close At Home

For the final day of the blog tour (is it that time already??) I really wanted to present you with a V-log. You know, something a little more personal than just my written words on the screen. (Like, my face and voice? Gasp!) But, come to find out, my webcam doesn't seem to understand HOW DO SOUNDS WORK anymore, so not V-log for now. Oh well! Nobody wants to see what happens to my face after I gain 30 pounds anyway. (Guess where it goes first!)

So in lieu of that, y'all will just have to settle for a super boring text post.

When I moved home from Japan late last April, I really had no idea what more I was going to do with my life. I had no other job, not even a nibble of a lead, and I live way out here in Oregon wilderness with nobody to talk to besides my immediate family and my cat. I've gained thirty pounds (wait, did I mention that already?) thanks to the wonderful American diet, and I pay about 1,000 dollars a month in student loans. Why am I going on and on about this? Because one thing I DID know I was going to do to keep myself going was publish a novel by the end of the year. Originally I wanted to publish my fantasy story CROSS//Rebirth, but it quickly went into editing hell until I figure out what to do with its massive length. Halfway through June Camp I got really sick and tired of the tone of the novel I was writing then, and decided to switch gears to something nicer, maybe sweeter. It had been what felt years since I got to stretch my romance muscles, let alone the lesbian ones! Thus I took a small story idea I'd had for a year and turned it into "DAISUKI.", a short story that quickly turned into a novel. I enjoyed writing it so much that I decided I would publish it if I felt it was up for it.

That idea turned into an entire series, what I now call the "REN'AI RENSAI" series. I managed to, in three months, write a novella, edit it to death (with the best betas and editors out there, of course!), get great cover art, and even brainstorm an entire series I hope will launch me out there and help cover my bills.

I would never have been able to do this without the great help and support of you all. (And the fact that I'm unemployed and thus can dedicate 12 hours of my day to nothing but writing/editing.) I was rather surprised to see how many people from my past contacted me after I announced the upcoming release of "DAISUKI.", showing their support and admiration. I was even more touched by the amount of people who have thus far bought the novella (although it would be nice if Amazon would give me complete, non-glitchy reports!) and told me how much they love it, that it was just what they were looking for, and how strongly they connected to my characters. Of course, I've gotten great constructive feedback too, and am excited to implement everything into future Ren'Ai Rensai installments.

If you had told me even six months ago that I would be publishing two lesbian romance novels and one short by the end of the year, I would have been surprised, but certainly excited! While I haven't made quite enough funds yet to start paying off the loans, or to pay for a trip to Japan next year, or to, gasp, move out of my parents' house, I know I will get there. Maybe even by this time next year I'll be making that author living. And as somebody who has dreamed of nothing more than that her entire life, it's amazing to have it in my reach.

I wouldn't be able to have this opportunity if it weren't for the DIY atmosphere on vendors these days, my parents putting a roof over my head and feeding my enlarging American ass, and of course, all you great Internet people who have been cheering me on. Onward!

PS. Since I couldn't bring you the V-log of me and my cat saying all of the above, have a pic of me and my cat from a few months back! Also, you can see why my webcam sucks. Woo!

She's so happy to help me~

 

Hubpages Wednesday: Or, Whatever Happened to That Thing

You may or may not have noticed a severe lack of Hub updating from my end of the Internet. I have a pretty dang good reason for this:  I got Google sandboxed early last month.

What the heckity heck is the "Google Sandbox"? Succinctly, it's when Google's algorithm decides it's not going to send your website traffic anymore. There's a number of reasons this may happen, but the short of it is that it happened to me, and I stopped making money. Any money.

July actually started very, very excitingly. By the end of the first week I had made almost six dollars! I know, right? Up until that point my traffic had been steadily increasing, and I put out a huge effort to write as many quality hubs as I could to keep the hits coming. Somewhere at the end of June my hits TRIPLED and I started raking in some money. By the end of the first week of July I was pretty sure I would hit my very first payout the end of that month.

Then I logged on one day to see that my hits had tanked to ten.

And they never got better.

I went from making sometimes up to two dollars a day to barely making four cents a day. All I could figure, as it never improved no matter what I did, was that I had been sandboxed, and it was time to move on. So I did. I stopped hubbing mid-July and focused on my noveling.

Today I logged into HP to see what was going on hits wise. It had been over a month since I last checked it, too disgusted to even bother. Shockingly, I made a whole daughter this month. Woohoo. But what actually WAS nice? My hits were back up in the hundreds! That is, they were about June's average, right before my trafficked tripled.

So what does this mean? I think when I have some downtime I'll go through and start updating some of the older hubs and start advertising them again. Apparently, Google is liking me enough to give me hits again, so why not? But I'm not gonna wear myself out writing new articles if I don't feel like it. I have a couple unpublished ones languishing that I might as well get out. If things improve again? I'll let you know.

When Family Just Doesn't "Get It".

I am not shocked my family loves this show and buys into it.

First, the exciting news! My novella I've been working on for about a month now is officially FINISHED, first draft wise. It's a cool 70 pages, 40-somethingk of two women angsting about their relationship and attempting to fix their problems with sex. In Japan. BUT MOVING ON.

Gonna let it sit a couple days before tackling my edits by the end of the week. Feels weird to not have to be WRITING today. (Taking a total break from writing fiction until I start editing again. Articles / blog posts still total fair game though.)

Anyway, when I (foolishly) announced to my family that I had finished the first draft of this novella, and intend to spruce it up for publication, I immediately got a "Yay! Is it up for sale yet?" Well, no, family, because I have to edit it first. See, that's a good thing. There's so much out there that we have to give ourselves the biggest edges possible by editing, which includes slashing, rewriting, and eventually, some great polishing. This takes time. Again, that's a GOOD thing. And assuming, family,that I don't get a meltdown during edits, I should still meet my target publication date of "this autumn". As you keep reminding me, family, I am currently "unemployed" and spend most of my day working on the computer.

But nope. "Well what's the point of writing it if it's not out there?" "Who cares? I read shit all the time. And I still read it. Nobody really cares how good it is." "Did you put vampires in it? Vampires are really in right now!" "ARE YOU RICH ENOUGH TO MOVE OUT AGAIN YET?"

Yeah. Family doesn't "get it". It's a point of contention between me and them at times. I have to explain repeatedly that no, you don't just run a typo check and then throw stuff out there. Of course, part of it is kind of flattering - they think I'm so ~smart and creative~ that I shouldn't have to work hard on stuff before just crappin' it out there. Well, thanks guys, but that's still not how it works.

I think the thing that gets so frustrating though is that, ultimately, they only care about my writing so far as it makes me money. My family is all self-employed, hands-on goods and services based people. (Stepfather is a commercial fisherman, mother...well mother sells sex toys both in real life and on the Internet. And was a librarian for a while. Grand.) So not only do we argue about me "working" on the computer (because it's not real work, see) but they don't see the point in it if I'm not making a living wage out the gate. I get it. They want me to be able to take care of myself and not rely on them for forever. But that's the point. That's why I'm doing this. That's why I spend 10 hours a day doing pre-marketing when I'm not writing or editing. And if I want to stand a change at all in the self-pub world, I need to make these stories the BEST they can be so I'm not swept under the proverbial rug.

But I still write about the stories I care about. I'm not the type who can just write about what "sells" and have it be of any quality. That means you won't be seeing any (straight) paranormal romances in the young adult world from me any time...ever. Probably. More likely to write a type of dystopian, but it would still star 30-40yo lesbians. So until I do start making ~those paychecks~, my family isn't gonna care and we're still gonna argue about my "working".

So dear readers, commiserate with me. Ever butt heads over your writing life with your own family? Anything they don't "get"? I know I'm not the only one.

A Life In Which Writing Is ALWAYS A Priority!

On Saturday I wrote a post about what my life would be like if writing wasn't a priority, ie if I knew I would never be published. In that post I talked about how I treat writing as my career and thus depend on it for my future and even financial security. When money and happiness are on the line, you bet writing is a priority!

Thus, it's also important for me to think and consider what my long term goals are on this career-end of the business. What do I want from this writing that I spend over 10 hours a day (yup) doing? Well, obviously, money. I need money to move out of my natal home (pressure's mounting, guys) and to live the lifestyle I want. In order to accomplish that, you're supposed to outline your goals, right? Okay.

What I do want my writing to bring me? What is the end-game, to say, of my writing career?

It's pretty simple, but will be a long road full of long hours (I'm excited!), some shorter term than others. But I'm the type of person who always needs something in my control to look forward to, so these big goals that probably won't happen for another 10 years are good for me.

Let's see what my writing's gonna get me. (Yes, it will, this is non-negotiable. Hear that writing? I own you.)

1. Making enough to cover my monthly loan bills so my savings are not depleting. This will be about $300 a month.
2. Making a living wage. This will vary, of course. It could mean just making more than the 300 so I save up some money, to being able to afford to move out of here to the valley and start a proper ~adult life~, where I can eat what I want, live in a nice apartment (or home?), get around (no dreams for a car, so to afford public transport) and pretty much being able to go out and do what I want while still continuing to save.
3. Making enough to travel at least once a year. Trust me - traveling is expensive. My ultimate dream in this regard is being able to stay for a month in Japan once a year because I can.

WHELP it's 11pm, I have 1000 words to write before midnight, a chapter to completely edit, and another 1k to write before sleep. And I want to get some Sims 3 in there. I GOTTA GO.

What are your long term writing goals? Are they financially related?

Hubpages Wednesday: Orange! WEAR IT!

I love orange, but I wouldn't wear these~

...I have no idea why I'm a day behind on all my posts. Except for the fact it's still "Japan" in my head. See, I always posted Hubpages Wednesday on Thursday mornings in Japan because...well, I could! Guess I still could, but it's actually Friday in most places now. Lol. Oh well.

Anyway, this week we're focusing on How to Incorporate Orange Into Your Fashion and Wardrobe. I'm kind of an expert on all things orange, you know. That includes wearing it. Wearing orange is something everyone should do. DO IT. Do it.

Now I want to talk about a little something else that's been going on at HP. A couple days ago, this happened:

All those red arrows (well dots, according to this small pic) indicate a rise in traffic! See, on Tuesday, my traffic across the BOARD tripled! Woah! I have no idea what caused this but I was so excited! Because my income that day more than tripled as well! Sadly, it only last a day. :( I hope to recreate it in the longterm but I have no idea what cause it to begin with...

But yes. Orange. What color do you most often wear?

A Very Special Hubpages Monday: What the heck is it anyway?

c. Hubpages

Seeing as how it's Monday and I can post whatever I damn well please on Mondays, I've decided to sit and squee about how much money I'm making on Hubpages lately. No, I'm not making hundreds, even dozens of dollars a day. But so far for the month of March I've made $2.02. Last month I made $0.82. The month before that? About 30 cents.

You see what I'm getting at here.

While I don't hold any delusions that I'll keep doubling my income on the site every month (payout is $50), there's a few things to keep in mind.

1) I wrote my first hub the day after Christmas.
2) It's been three months now.
3) I'm making money that actually adds up.

My goal is to hit monthly payout (that's $50 a month) by the end of the year. Will I make it? We'll find out. Right now I'm focusing on putting out more (quality) hubs and continuing to research SEO.

Well this is all well and good, but I'm sure by now most of your eyes are glazing over and going "wait, what?"

If you've been following me for a while, you know that every Wednesday I post an ad for my latest hubs. I mostly write about music, video games, and living in Japan. Right now my most acclaimed hub is one about the Legend of Zelda Timeline (which today became the highest ranking hub in the Adventure Video Games category!) and my most popular one by views is the first installment of my J-pop Oldies Idols series. There are people who are making more than me by this point, but there are way more people making less or nothing.

Hubpages is a freelance writing website. You sign up, write articles, and get paid by either ad clicks (Google Adsense) or ad views (Hubpages Ad Program). You can write about anything you want with the stipulation that it falls under specific guidelines (Hubpages is actively family friendly~) and that it's *original content*...you can write about the same topic as somebody else, but it has to be "original". As in, you can't just copy and paste from somewhere...including your own works! Anything you post at HP has to be there only. If you want to transfer, say, relevant blog posts, you'll have to delete them off Blogger first.

Writing articles is only half the battle though. You have to make sure they're appealing, well-researched, formatted nicely, and use the right keywords to attract a good Google ranking (you mostly get paid via visitors from Google searches). This includes building backlinks and generally advertising your hubs in relevant places. Not only do they give you more exposure, but they can help you rank higher as well.

Obviously like anything else, it's not a get rich quick scheme. You have to actually enjoy writing about things you love to eventually start to see earnings. =P And while I can't buy more than a couple candy bars a month with my earnings, that's still two more candy bars than I had at Christmas. And now I finally have a place to post my music reviews and video game ramblings and make a profit off them without much work.

My eventual goal is to hopefully make some decent passive income off this site. If I could even pay one bill from my monthly earnings, then I say it's an investment well done.

Anybody else on HP? Thinking about joining?

Hubpages Wednesday: Getting Grub in Japan

You'd never guess I was in Japan.

Only one hub this week, but I'm sure it's bound to be helpful to SOMEBODY out there! Going to Japan? Just curious? Well now you can find out the etiquette and helpful words and phrases of eating out! From family restaurants to smaller eateries, you too can now eat in Japan. You're welcome~

In related news, I'm now making about two dollars a month from writing at Hubpages. Considering I just started around Christmas, and have "only" published 18 hubs so far, I think I'm doing pretty damn good. My goal is to be making payout ($50) every month by the end of the year. Kinda farfetched, but it's a goal nonetheless!

Anybody else write (or tried writing) at HP? Anybody wanna know what's up with it?

Release the dogs, somebdoy's making money off writing.

...and that somebody is me.

Today I made the first official cent of my writing career. One cent does not mean much in the realm of the world, especially considering it costs more to make a penny than it's worth now, but still, everyone starts with one cent, and from there capital can only rise.

So, suffice to say, this put a smile on my face.

Yay money! Yay writing! Yay possibly getting paid to write! That happens?

Dipping ones toes into freelancing, or, passive income would be cool!

Earlier this month I contemplated joining Hubpages and writing silly articles about Asian pop music to see if I could make any money through AdSense. Obviously, not going to be the main source of income in my life, nor do I want it to be. I'm cool with that. It would just be kinda cool to make some passive income.

Well, yesterday I launched my first hubs, and woke up today to find most of them bahleeted for "duplicate content". Oh. That's nice. Thanks guys. I had two more waiting to be finished and published, and so far so good. These are opinion pieces, so I damn well dare them to tell me that they're not ~okay~. (Although funnily enough, one of them has been losing points. This site, I swear. I may get too frustrated to continue much longer as it is.)

Anyway, my first two "real" hubs apparently are The Top 10 Ayumi Hamasaki Songs and Top 10 J-pop Female Idols of the 70s and 80s. If you're into music and curious at all about Japanese pop music (and you are, trust me, you are) you should definitely check them out. ;)