First, an update on re-formatting. You may notice that there are a bunch of beautiful new tabs in a neat row along the top of this blog as well as a nice little list of links in the right sidebar beneath my muse. If you haven't noticed them yet, feel free to take a moment and look them up and down. I am hoping they will make navigation through this blog and its attached projects a bit simpler. Here's a list of what they do and why they're special:
Home - You are here. This is where posts like this one are filed and you'll find the most recent updates.
Upcoming Projects - This tab contains a tentative list of, you guessed it, my upcoming projects.
Companion Project - This links directly to this blog's twin. I won't be able to put the entirety of each individual novel on this blog, only excerpts, however, all (or almost all) of them will appear in this WEbook project.
Muses - This tab is an archive of things that inspire me. As the quotation in the sidebar changes, the removed quotation will appear beneath this tab. I am also compiling a playlist of writing music which will take up residence here as well.
Current Project - Right now this tab links directly to my WEbook project The Plague Master because that is the project which is my highest priority at the moment. As that changes, the tab will link to whatever project takes its place.
And basically everything that isn't included directly in those tabs is present in the sidebar linklist - my NaNo profile, my 2010 NaNo project, my WEbook profile, etc.
Second, something to look forward to: I've decided to introduce a project the month before I officially begin work on it which means you may expect and introduction to Reah on August first. These introductions will include a tagline and synopsis (such as you would find on a dust jacket) as well as any notes I have on the origins of the idea and/or any character or setting sketches I have done in preparation for the project.
And finally, I have to thank my mom really quickly. I know that she likes blogs that showcase crafters and creatives, but I really appreciate her taking the time to follow mine as well as recommending it to all her friends. Thank you for your support, Mom. I know I don't usually seem to be grateful for it, or to even like it, but I really am. Thanks for all you do.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
This is Me Going Whole Hog
So I've resisted all social networks except Facebook, WEbook and YouTube (which I don't think counts anyway) up to this point. I'm not sure why exactly . . . Maybe because I feel technology-illiterate some days. Maybe because I'm pretty sure my life isn't interesting enough to sustain more than one website at a time. Maybe because I got some sort of self-righteous satisfaction from believing that I didn't believe I was interesting enough to sustain multiple websites. Who knows, really?
But I really want this blog to get a little attention. The point is to produce some work that I can really be proud of, that I can really submit with the label "My Best Work" attached to it, and for that I need feedback (or at least encouragement). So, with that goal in mind, I have created a Twitter account to serve this blog/me/my WEbook AND I added a little "Follow" button under my "About Me" which I think means I have more than fulfilled my technology quota for the day.
The Twitter account will (should) be useful for anyone who wants to be notified about what's coming up and what's been served up. So if that applies to you, you'd best get yourself over to Twitter because the first Tweet is up.
But I really want this blog to get a little attention. The point is to produce some work that I can really be proud of, that I can really submit with the label "My Best Work" attached to it, and for that I need feedback (or at least encouragement). So, with that goal in mind, I have created a Twitter account to serve this blog/me/my WEbook AND I added a little "Follow" button under my "About Me" which I think means I have more than fulfilled my technology quota for the day.
The Twitter account will (should) be useful for anyone who wants to be notified about what's coming up and what's been served up. So if that applies to you, you'd best get yourself over to Twitter because the first Tweet is up.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
This is Where I Toot My Own Horn
Here's the deal: I'm currently working on my Bachelor's Degree in English with a minor in Creative Writing and hopefully I'll be finishing within a year to a year and a half. That means - fanfare, please - I need to start looking into Master's Programs. Holy scary, no?
So I started looking into Creative Writing Master's Programs and happened upon the Iowa Writer's Workshop (cue link: http://www.uiowa.edu/~iww/about.htm). The Workshop is exactly what I want out of my Master's Degree - I mean, coming out at the end of two years with a novel-thesis that is polished and publishable, plus being qualified to teach Creative Writing at a university level (aka, the ideal job for a person, such as myself, who is working on a PhD. and whose final goal is teaching English at a university).
The issue I've run into is that I don't have a manuscript that I feel comfortable applying to University of Iowa with. I've written a lot of short pieces, but I feel that my only current manuscript which meets the length required for the application process is not quite up to par. That thought is what prompted this novel idea of mine.
I participated in NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month for the uninitiated) for the first time last November. The goal with NaNo is to complete a 50,000 word novel in thirty days. My novel (my longest manuscript to date) was 65,000+ words on November 30th. From that experience I know that I have the drive and ability to churn out word count.
Thus, I have decided to give my best effort toward turning out as many manuscripts as possible in the next year in order to give myself the best opportunity to produce a novel worth submitting to the Iowa Writer's Workshop. As NaNo is the most strenuous schedule for this process and I will be taking 18 credits during the upcoming semester (including two English Literature classes and a Creative Writing course), I have decided to allot two months to each project. As novels are generally 50,000-100,000 words apiece which means I'll be writing approximately 834 to 1667 words a day. This blog will serve the purpose of keeping anyone who would like to be updated updated. I will post sections of the novels on this blog, but they will be available in their entirety at http://www.webook.com/project/My-Novel-Idea.
All this craziness will begin on September 1, 2011. Until then, updates will consist of work on completing two of my current projects, found here: http://www.webook.com/project/The-Plague-Master and my NaNo, http://www.webook.com/project/Iron-Shoes.
If you're interesting in keeping up, keeping tabs, or just poking around, my next six tentative novel projects are outlined on the "upcoming projects" page (tab at the top). You can also follow this blog by clicking through the "join this site" link at the bottom of the right hand sidebar or, if you don't have a blogger account, you can email subscribe using the box at the top of the right sidebar.
There, I've done my tooting, now I guess I had better get to writing.
So I started looking into Creative Writing Master's Programs and happened upon the Iowa Writer's Workshop (cue link: http://www.uiowa.edu/~iww/about.htm). The Workshop is exactly what I want out of my Master's Degree - I mean, coming out at the end of two years with a novel-thesis that is polished and publishable, plus being qualified to teach Creative Writing at a university level (aka, the ideal job for a person, such as myself, who is working on a PhD. and whose final goal is teaching English at a university).
The issue I've run into is that I don't have a manuscript that I feel comfortable applying to University of Iowa with. I've written a lot of short pieces, but I feel that my only current manuscript which meets the length required for the application process is not quite up to par. That thought is what prompted this novel idea of mine.
I participated in NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month for the uninitiated) for the first time last November. The goal with NaNo is to complete a 50,000 word novel in thirty days. My novel (my longest manuscript to date) was 65,000+ words on November 30th. From that experience I know that I have the drive and ability to churn out word count.
Thus, I have decided to give my best effort toward turning out as many manuscripts as possible in the next year in order to give myself the best opportunity to produce a novel worth submitting to the Iowa Writer's Workshop. As NaNo is the most strenuous schedule for this process and I will be taking 18 credits during the upcoming semester (including two English Literature classes and a Creative Writing course), I have decided to allot two months to each project. As novels are generally 50,000-100,000 words apiece which means I'll be writing approximately 834 to 1667 words a day. This blog will serve the purpose of keeping anyone who would like to be updated updated. I will post sections of the novels on this blog, but they will be available in their entirety at http://www.webook.com/project/My-Novel-Idea.
All this craziness will begin on September 1, 2011. Until then, updates will consist of work on completing two of my current projects, found here: http://www.webook.com/project/The-Plague-Master and my NaNo, http://www.webook.com/project/Iron-Shoes.
If you're interesting in keeping up, keeping tabs, or just poking around, my next six tentative novel projects are outlined on the "upcoming projects" page (tab at the top). You can also follow this blog by clicking through the "join this site" link at the bottom of the right hand sidebar or, if you don't have a blogger account, you can email subscribe using the box at the top of the right sidebar.
There, I've done my tooting, now I guess I had better get to writing.
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