So after thinking it over for a while I decided to create a new primary site for myself (yes, I love wordpress.com. but I wanted something that would give me both a bit more freedom in terms of plugins and customization, and the ability to monetize my site). Anyway, you can find the new site here: http://witha2ist.com
Oh yes, and as if that weren’t enough I also have a new book out. It is Of Shards and Shadows, the revised version/ sequel of The Shadow Walker.
Hi guys. Okay, so it’s been ages since I last updated this site, and yes, I’m still around, and I’m still writing. It’s just that I had little to say about my writing. There were no new releases, and I was afraid this blog was getting a little too disorganized.
Anyway right now I’m putting the finishing touches on a book that’s having a bit of an identity crisis. What happened was that I decided to write a sequel to The Shadow Walker, only writing a 16,000 word sequel to what was a 24,000 word novella to begin with felt wrong. In fact it felt almost like a scam, so in the end I decided to rewrite The Shadow Walker outright, and incorporate the sequel into that one. Unfortunately that has caused a bit of an issue when it comes to the new book’s title, and I’m not sure whether I will stick with The Shadow Walker -a title I actually like- or come up with an alternative that combines both that title and the one I had originally intended for the sequel, even if that title feels kind of off. Oh yes, and as if that weren’t enough there is also the fact that while I will be taking the original version off the market once the new one is released, the Spanish translation is not being revised, a fact that may lead to some confusion.
As I said, I’m currently struggling with the whole naming thing. I also have a couple of additional projects in the work, but more about those in a future post (who knows? maybe that way I won’t go so long between updates).
Okay, so my last post was an anti-facebook rant. Now let’s turn to the brighter side of technology… at least from where I stand. To begin with let me get one personal detail out of the way: I am dyslexic, and that means that I basically owe my life to my computer… or at least my lifestyle, why?
Well, to begin there’s the fact that without a keyboard I can’t write, full stop, and yet I’ve been able to become a writer. That’s about as big a shift as there can be, and the very notion of being unable to get the words out is one that fills me with a sense of dread. I realize that to an outsider that may sound like I’m exaggerating, but I’m not, and I am almost painfully aware of the fact that I was only a generation away from finding myself in exactly that position.
When it comes to reading I was lucky to overcome most of the challenges at a fairly early age (politically incorrect, and cringe worthy as it may sound, I have to give Enid Blyton a lot of credit for that one, as her books made reading fun) but even there I have to admit that I find reading on a screen, where I can actually modify the layout to suit my needs, so much easier. In fact my favorite device in that regard is an iPod touch. Yes, I realize that it’s an odd choice, and that most people cringe at the thought of reading on such a tiny screen, but from my perspective that’s by far its best feature (and I’m still grumbling about the fact that some moron saw it fit to increase the size of the display some three years ago)… and from a more general perspective there is the internet. We can’t forget about that one.
No, I’m not a digital native, and I suspect that that gives me both a better perspective to appreciate the benefits the internet has brought about, and a greater awareness of what the price we’ve had to pay has been, but that’s a subject for another post.
No, I don’t have a facebook account. At first I didn’t really see the point, then it became almost a matter of principle. Simply put, I am fond of my privacy, and I find their policies terribly intrusive, but my main gripe has to do with the way in which having a facebook account has become almost a requirement.
In a world in which facebook likes have become a sort of digital currency there are sites in which you can’t even access the content unless you ‘like’ them first (i.e. sight unseen), and that’s without taking into account the fact that your facebook login has become a sort of universal id, to the point that trying to interact with the rest of the web without one becomes something of a nightmare.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I know the thing has its advantages, but I miss the days when a friend was some one you knew and cared for, when liking something meant more than clicking on a button, and I certainly don’t appreciate the way in which facebook has become the gatekeeper to our digital lives, or the fact that trying to do without it turns you into a sort of outcast. Believe me, as a struggling author trying to attract an audience I am reminded on a daily basis of the price I have to pay to maintain that particular bit of independence (in fact I’m not even sure how much longer that policy will remain viable, and I’m already trying to formulate a contingency plan for the day it effectively stops being an option), but the price I would have to pay to join that ‘free’ service is so much steeper.
A little over a week ago I posted a poll asking whether I should try to keep this blog focused exclusively on my writing, or if I should expand the focus in order to keep the updates coming. Seeing how the blog is fairly new, and I’m not too good at promoting it, the response was understandably muted… okay, let’s be honest, it was almost non-existent. I fact there was only one reply, and that one was for the ‘whatever floats your boat’ option, so while I’ll try to keep from going too fat overboard, I will be expanding the focus of this thing.
I don’t know what happened earlier today, but when I logged into my wordpress account I came across one of the funniest bugs I have ever encountered: for whatever reason the ‘i’s were missing throughout the interface. Yes, it’s a silly thing, and it didn’t really extend to the posts themselves, so its impact was fairly limited, but it still left me scratching my head. The good news is that the ‘i’s are back, because the one th ng that became nstantly apparent when was deal ng w th that bug was that t s k nd of d ff cult to do w thout them!
I’m currently working on a story I’m not sure will ever see the light. The world in which its set… well, that one’s pretty much set. It is the plot that’s currently giving me a hard time, as I’m still struggling to find one that actually works. That means that the world in question runs the risk of finding itself consigned to the ‘half-forgotten worlds’ drawer (or folder), and I hate the idea of doing that. What can I say, building that one from scratch hasn’t been easy. From the get-go I set out to create a hard SF alien world that was as unlike out own as I could possibly make it. The problem? I seem to have succeeded a little better than I hoped, and I’m having a hard time creating characters that can a) function in that world, and b) come across as remotely relatable.
Still, even though writing hard SF has its challenges, I have to say that it is a lot of fun.
Okay, when I first started this blog I was determined to keep things focused, then a friend dropped by, and pointed out to me that, if I restrict the stuff I’m willing to include too much, updates will be too infrequent, and that will make it impossible for the blog to gain any real traction, not to mention that having two separate blogs that share a common menu is likely to be more trouble than it’s worth, so what do you think?
As you may have noticed, I just published three books. That’s the good news. The bad news is that that means that I’m out of works in progress, and back to square one, to that dreadful stage that can probably be described as ‘pre-production’. Fair enough, that’s part of the game, and I do have an idea stuck between my ears that I’m currently trying to develop. The problem is that I usually try to maintain a certain routine when it comes to my writing habits, and at this stage the line between working and wasting my time has an annoying tendency to get more than a little blurry, why? Well, because in order to work out a story I have to give my mind a kind of freedom, but if I give it that freedom it tends to wander. If I try to drag it back to what it should be doing -usually kicking and screaming- it just sits there and sulks. If I allow it to go wandering along it doesn’t sulk, but I still don’t get much done.
So here I am, allowing my mind to go where it pleases… and wondering whether I am working or merely wasting my time.
As you may have noticed, I decided to stick with a cheap-sounding, free, URL for this site, rather than paying for a domain of my own. I do realize that that does not come across as all that professional, but in the end I figured that the pros outweighed the cons, why? Well, there are a couple of reasons.
First of all there is the fact that I am leaning towards having a couple of separate blogs for different purposes, and integrating them as best I can via their menus. This one will focus on my books and maybe on some of my experiences as a writer struggling to get the word out about the fact that, even though my refusal to sign up for a facebook account would seem to suggest otherwise, I do exist.
That means that there will be no posts about politics, pets or pet peeves here (and also that posts may be few and far between).
The second reason has to do with the fact that, if for whatever reason I fail to renew my domain, all links to my site/blog would immediately become dead ends. By choosing the free option I’m hoping to add a measure of stability to the whole thing. I don’t know if this bet will pay off, and as usual I reserve the right to change my mind, but at least for the time being that’s where I stand.
Clea Saal 