I guess it feels weird because I was out-of-town for the first 6 days of it, add seven more and here we are. That’s not that much, I suppose. I started out the year at MAGfest, which is a video game and music convention. It was awesome, but the last part of the trip was so stressful and taxing that I was burned out in general afterwards. I’m still feeling a little traumaburn from it, honestly. There was some major drama and then a car ride over a sheet of ice that nearly got me killed… fun story… The rest of MAGfest was extremely fun, but man… that last bit took it out of me.
the push
I’ve been trying to force myself back into the groove ever since that vacation. I haven’t worked on my writing / editing / etc. very much since being back. I was also sick, to top it off. I spent an entire day sleeping, just to recover all the sleep I missed. I haven’t felt very artistic.
What little art I have been making has been going into my new YouTube channel. It’s actually a pretty cool thing I’m working on, and I hope that it helps me promote myself as an author. I’m dedicating myself to making a new video every single day. Sometimes it’s a vlog, sometimes a musical poem or a Let’s Draw.
What little art I have been making has been going into my new YouTube channel. It’s actually a pretty cool thing I’m working on, and I hope that it helps me promote myself as an author. I’m dedicating myself to making a new video every single day. Sometimes it’s a vlog, sometimes a musical poem or a Let’s Draw.
Here’s a few examples from “oxyborb2”:
I also own “oxyborb” without the 2, but that channel is my higher-quality, less quantity channel.
Selling personality AND my book
Making a video every day has forced me to come up with creative ways to think about film. I set out to start video blogging because some of my favorite authors do them, and I really like the way they sell their personalities along with their books. I want to be that kind of author. I want to be personable. I know it’ll help me when it comes time to promote my novel, but I really enjoy talking with people about art.
I’ve always been a good public speaker, but I’ve never felt entirely comfortable in front of a camera. As someone who wants to be in the public eye with his writing, this daily video/vlog thing should help me perfect my camera personality when the time comes.
I’ve always been a good public speaker, but I’ve never felt entirely comfortable in front of a camera. As someone who wants to be in the public eye with his writing, this daily video/vlog thing should help me perfect my camera personality when the time comes.
Think creative
But I’ve been doing other cool things on my new channel. Shorter videos, that I might have otherwise never posted, are getting put up on my second channel. I’m making stop-motion. Doing animation. Reciting my poems and short songs. Learning how to edit film—which might teach me a bit about crafting dialogue! I am enjoying it, for now. I hope I keep it up.
Other than that
I’ve got to get pushing myself. I think one thing about this whole process is how lonely it is to be an unpublished, unknown writer trying to make his first novel a reality. Nobody has read my book, so I have nobody to talk about it with yet. All my friends just think I’m crazy for being so dedicated to something, and I don’t want to pester them with links to my blog and stuff. That’s one thing—I wish more of my friends were readers. I can’t really get my friends to read my book, because none of them really make reading a priority. That just makes writing all the lonelier, I suppose. There will be no gratification or validation for the insane amount of hard work I’m doing until I get an agent and get published… but that’s the way of it, I suppose. You just have to keep pushing. Keep believing.
Belief
That’s what we’ve all got to do, right? Believe in our novels, ourselves. Nobody else is going to believe in you until you’ve proven yourself, sadly. The only way to prove yourself is to get published. Ahhh… Alright, I guess writing this all out has made me feel better. I just needed a reminder that writing will be lonely until I break through into the business and gain actual readers.
One last thing!
I’m still looking for a critique partner. Are you out there? Do you like fantasy for teens? (Big bonus is you happen to live in the St. Louis-area!) Well, I’m looking for a critique partner. Here’s a link to a post all about that: http://unravelreads.blogspot.com/2013/12/now-accepting-applications-for-critique.html
Take care! Drive safe on icy roads! Pussssh!
Take care! Drive safe on icy roads! Pussssh!
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