um, excuse you, this journal isn't pink.

Small update to announce that I've changed the layout here at the Blogger port of my blog.  The pink was starting to get to me (and the birds just, you know, didn't jive). Definitely feeling the neutral dark orange, brown and white now. Probably will change the Livejournal version eventually as well.

Also, new entry in the works.  There's a lot of swearing in it, I swear.

"But, like, why?"

This picture is amazing.

Since posting my intentions last week I've received some queries from friends / random strangers (don't you love how blogs work?) asking me why I plan to self-publish first before even trying to get published the old fashioned way...which is submitting my works to various (fantasy) publishers and crossing my fingers that they want to make me the next Big Seller.  I've already explained myself to most of those people, but overall it didn't seem like a bad blog topic idea.

I never really considered self-publishing as a foothold into the publishing industry until a few years ago when I attended a conference seminar that was all about tips for self-publishing (mostly, how to market yourself because it's all on you, bro.) I originally took it as a filler, but it ended up being the most informative seminar I attended that whole day. Since then I've thought about it off and on in terms of my long term goals for writing, and within the past year decided it's probably the most feasible option for me. Of course, as a kid and as a teen, I had fantasies about mailing off my manuscript to some huge publisher and having the editor go "YES. THIS. FOREVER!" and still do in a tiny little part of my ego.  But I am a huge realist, and in today's writing economy, the odds of me being picked up, even if a publisher does like my book, are slim to none.  Mainstream publishing is a fickle thing:  it's based around the current tastes of the public, including what is selling now and what the market wants to be selling.  So unless you happen to writing exactly what's up and hip at the very moment, you can expect a swift rejection or the request for a multitude of changes (...If I hear "how about some vampires?" one more time...) that you probably don't want to make.

Self-publishing, which is also sometimes called "vanity" publishing, gets a lot of flack, and for semi-good reason.  Basically, all it takes is money to get published, and then you can publish pretty much any dreck you want.  But it has its logical merits as well.  With most print on demand self-publishing, the author controls just about everything that goes on behind the production of the book, from cover to typos.  It does not take fancy companies to register with the Library of Congress or ISBN, which actually done on one's own without even the self-publisher can be cheaper.  And, most of all, the author retains all rights to the novel, including being able to have it published elsewhere later on if he/she so chooses.

It's pretty much all those things that attract me to self-publishing my first novel, if not more.  I like control, especially over my creative endeavors. I've had cover patterns and ideas for my novels since I first came up with them that I would love to see brought to life, and, damnit, you bet your face I want to retain all the rights for as long as I can. 

There is also the allure of building my own fanbase and gaining the support for my novels as they are, in case they are picked up by larger publishers one day.  I am a stubborn woman.  While I am definitely open to suggestions on ways to improve my novels, I do not appreciate being told to stick in a vampire because that's what sells (can you tell this has happened a lot?)  I like the idea of building my own fanbase on the web to prove to any future publisher that my works can sell with the main plot and idea as is, structural edits aside. I've met quite a few successful authors (from my po-dunk community, even) who started off self-publishing and now enjoy a solid career with their homegrown fanbase.  While I do not indulge in the delusion that that could be me tomorrow, it is comforting to know that it has worked for many others and I'm not just making up wild ideas about the process.

Money will be an issue up front, but I have spent more money on even more ridiculous endeavors.  As it is I do not plan to do too many bells and whistles - the most extreme I'll probably get is hardcovers because hardcovers are cool.  And as I said in my last entry, I really need something for me to save up for.  This is as much about me fulfilling a goal and a dream as it is satisfying my silly ego.

The hardest part will be choosing which self-publisher to go with.  Everyday I do more research, and it reminds me of when I was researching for the day job I have now - which company to apply to, who will give me the best deal/experience, etc.  In the end  I feel like I made the best possible choice there, so hopefully I can repeat that with publishing.  I'm still looking for experiences from other authors who have self-published, mostly based on what companies they went with and the goods and bads they had.  As I learned from researching my day job, it's easy to look things up on the internet - but you have no idea who is being paid off/sponsored/trolling/etc.  Everything conflicts to both extremes, so I always prefer hearing from people I know exactly exist and are not being fed dollars into their pockets to say whatever.

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As for actual writing, preliminary editing is still coming along, and the short story I've been promising is almost done.  Thanks to all who have been and continue to support me in my writing endeavors - you have no idea how much it means to me.

One Month Later, And Other Pertinent Announcements

Well it's been about a month since I've come to Japan.  The first two weeks were so intensely busy with training for my new job that there was absolutely no time to write / edit / etc! Not even on the short story I'm working on! Meh! Then two weeks ago I moved into my apartment and things have slowed down considerably, much to my blissful satisfaction.  Work still eats up a lot of my time, but my downtime is mine again and that means I've been able to get back to ~real work~ in the evenings. Editing on CROSS//Rebirth is coming along, but due to a brain-meltdown on where to put some info, I have not been able to put up any of the new revised chapters yet.

However, that's not the entire purpose of this entry (aside from letting you all know that I am -still- alive!)  I've been thinking a lot lately about what I want to do with my ~future~, as it were.  It's been a rough two or three years, so I've lost a lot of focus on long-term goals and what I would generally like to accomplish before I die. That said, one of the things I've been thinking about is what I want to do with my life when I move back home to America.  (As it is, I mostly came to work in Japan to make some much-needed money thanks to the great economy back in Oregon.)  Currently I have no great career goals (outside of writing, of course), a desire to go back to school, a place I just have to live in, or anything like that, so it's hard for me to think of what I have to look forward to - basically, I'm not really saving my money for anything other than to have something to live off while I look for a job back in America. That's not very fun.  Then it dawned on me while I was editing the other night...why don't I publish when I get back?  I've been talking about it for a long time, but real life stuff has always gotten in the way of me being able to actually finish my projects.  The reason why I need to save my money for this is because I've had it on my mind for quite a while now to self-publish, at least in the beginning.

If nothing else, it gives me some purpose to working other than "make money".  It makes working a little more bearable when you know you have this ultimate goal, doesn't it?  Publishing would also be very good for me mentally as well:  it would be nice to know that all my hard work has finally paid off!

This is all still at least over a year away before I start moving on it, and hopefully by then I hope to have CROSS///Rebirth edited to death.  Yes, that's right.  For the longest time I've had my heart set on publishing Nagnomei first, but it's not ready, and CROSS// more or less is (editing aside).  Until that time, however, I still have to finish editing it to death, having it proofread by others, finalizing cover designs (any bored graphic artists out there?) and researching publishers.  If anybody has any experience in self-publishing and can recommend (to use or avoid) who they went with, that would help greatly!

Meanwhile, I'll be over here with my fingers to the keyboard, as always.  I'm currently polishing a short story that I've recently written so expect to see that up soon! (Hopefully sooner than later ^^;).

A Traveling Author~

Hello all, pardon my absence once again, but I have good reason!  You see, I am moving tomorrow, and not just across town, across state, or across country.  For those who do not follow my personal sites, I am moving to Japan for a year or more to start my first post-grad job in teaching English. Yay money! Boo interrupting writing time!

First, though, did y'all see me in the newspaper? That's right, that article I interviewed for in January made its appearance in the Port Orford News last week! Sadly, I do not have a scanner, nor is the paper online, so Ican't share it with you.  I'd take a picture, but I've already packed up my camera! Oh well. Just take my word on it ;)

Editing has begun on CROSS//Rebirth.  A new version of chapter one is up.  Not too many changes so it's not necessary to download it again if you've already read it - just some typos and cleaning up a few sentences.  Chapter 2 is where the real editing begins. 


To be honest, I am rather excited about traveling this week!  You see, I am working on a short story compilation that revolves around airports, including topping off one that I've been working on for about a month now.  I am hoping to use my five hour layover in Vancouver to work on it.  Its current title is "Men in Uniform", and about halfway through it took a different direction that I intended, but I always consider that a good thing!  Keeps it fresh for myself, ha.  I'm hoping to complete it before I board the plane for Tokyo!


So next time you hear from me, readers, I will be in and hopefully settled in my new home in Japan.  I will definitely be keeping my eye out for new writing/reading spots and hopefully can be inspired on my current (and new) works there.  Environment is very important to me when I write so I'm sure there will be a big entry on that when I start finding some places.


Wish me luck, guys.  Actually, the thing I'm worried about the most is making all my flights! So wish me luck on that! ^_^

Important announcement~

It's been a couple weeks since I last posted, but that's because I have big news now! That's right, the first full draft of CROSS//Rebirth is complete after lots of all nighters and a drive to get this done before I move in a couple of weeks. You can read it at the LJ version of my blog.

Final numbers are 633 pages and 365,535 words. That's the longest thing I've ever written!

It's always a great feeling to be done with drafts. Now the inevitable pain of editing begins!

Steal And Die.

"How would you react if you found out someone plagiarized your work and published it?"

If you follow my personal journal, you've already seen my uncouth response in gif form to this question.  (Hint: it involved Jon Stewart and a choir, and some very bad words.)  But I decided that I should probably answer this here too, because 1) I have blog writer's block and 2) I'll take every instance LJ throws at me to make a writing blog entry.

Well you know what, I'd be really angry. And hurt. And probably cry a whole lot.  Odds are they took something I'd spent a decade working on.  But at this point the whole joke would be on them because I have nothing publishable at this point, so HA.

But seriously, this is part of the reasons why I take a lot precautions as it is.  It's not enough just to smear your name all over your stuff (although that's good too).  One tactic I always read about was mailing yourself your own manuscripts (of course this could be very expensive.) The key is to NOT open the package, however, when you receive it.  This way if your things are plagiarized, you at least have something to back you up in court (because the package would have a date stamp on it.)

I'm lucky enough that I've never had any writing stolen from me yet, that I know of. I've been accused of plagiarism by a college professor though, but then he tried to turn it into a horrible backwards compliment by saying "I just had to google your paper because I couldn't BELIEVE you'd be smart enough to write something like that" (more or less) but haven't had anyone steal something from me. I've had people claim HTML coding as their own, but that I didn't really care about at all.  I think I'd go through a lot of denial, then anger, then "HOW DO I FIX THIS SHIT" mode until by god that person was brought to justice.  Having something plagiarized that means that much to you is basically like having your innermost thoughts stolen, having your voice stolen. 

In other words, how would I react? I'd flip my freakin' shit.

In other news, packing officially commences for my big move next month.  I'm still taking time to write when the mood hits though, so I'm not totally behind.  It's still a goal to make sure Rebirth is finished before I leave.

South Coast Writers Conference: Report

I said a couple days ago that I would attend and report on the 16th Annual South Coast Writers Conference in Gold Beach, Oregon.  Started the day late and got there just as the first session was starting (and I got lost, of course) but I still made everything aaaand took notes.

Session 1: Publishing Short Fiction
Presented by Bruce Holland Rogers

The selection for session 1 did not appeal to me much (mostly poetry and memoir stuff) so I ended up signing up for publishing short fiction even though I don't usually write short stories thinking that maybe anything I learned could apply to other things as well.  Originally the session was supposed to be taught by someone else, but she canceled due to a family emergency and Bruce was brought in instead. 

The session mostly dealt with the obvious:  tips and facts about submitting short fiction to journals and anthologies for publication.  For anyone looking to perhaps do something like this one day this was pretty invaluable information, especially coming from a man who has had dozens of works published over the years (ie, he knows a thing or two about getting it done.)  Not only did he go over "journal shopping" to find one that most matches your work, but he also talked about the ethics of multiple and simultaneous submissions, handling rejection, and how to write effective cover letters.  I found the cover letter part pretty amusing and even wrote down something he said about backing off on puffing  yourself up that I just had to share with everyone:

"Even though your manuscriptis going to a job interview, you're no.  You're just writing it a letter of recommendation."

As someone who's been job hunting for the past year or so, definitely appreciated the analogy.  Actually, that's probably why I found it so funny.

Session 2: Nail the Ending
Presented by Jessica Page Morrell

This was the session I was looking forward to the most, especially since I'm in the midst of writing the climax to CROSS//Rebirth at the moment and am sort of struggling with some things.  First though, I'd like to say that this is where I know absolutely nothing about The Wizard of Oz, apparently.  Then again I've never read it nor watched it, so uuuuuuh.  HEY, pop culture only teaches you so much about these things.  Off that tangent, this was another pretty helpful session.   Jessica Morrell is a professional free-lance editor as well as author so she effectively knew what she was talking about.  Can't really reproduce any of the discussion here since it mostly included graphs and flow charts depicting the structure of a novel, but I will say that I was quite pleased with a couple breakthroughs it helped me have.  Although at the beginning she asked us how many of us were unhappy with our endings and I raised my hand essentially going "MEMEME LOL" and she said I was brave. /trollface.

THEN LUNCH. Mom got me chicken for lunch.  It delicious.  I binged on soda to help me keep awake in the afternoon.  Didn't really work.  Like at all. (I only slept 2 hours the night before, okay.)

Session 3: Editing Your Own Fiction 
Presented by Sheila Simonson

If you've ever been to college, you probably spent a majority of a writing class grading/checking other paper's in the professor's efforts to make U WRITE MOAR BETTER.  That's pretty much what we did for the first hour.  We were given a few pages of texts from real, printed works and asked to find out what was wrong with them.  Most of it was point of view issues.  The lesson in this was that  in this day and age we have to rely more on ourselves to edit our own stuff.  Oh, and make sure you know what your tics are.   It's okay, I already know:  my characters are notorious for always furrowing their eyebrows.


Session 4: Making Readers Swoon 
Presented by Naseem Rakha

I hear stuff happened in this session, but by that time the soda had worn off and my body/brain was shutting down.  I took everything I learned in college about appearing awake in class when you're really asleep and put it to good use here. 

I didn't stick around for the door prizes so I grabbed my mom afterwards and headed home. And then slept for like 12 hours.  And then wrote this. Productive!