- I already have a Google Site, a Facebook Fan Page, a defunct Twitter account that went nowhere, and all my posting on the Eternal Press Yahoo groups. I don't want to annoy people with yammering.
- The Twitter account failed to become useful because I couldn't think of enough things I wanted to say open to the general public, though with my friends it's chatterchatter.
- I have books to edit and write, college classes/summer jobs, and the first really active social life of my late-blooming youth. Would I update enough to keep the blog viable?
HOWEVER, it's in my contract that I must overstep the bounds of modesty and shyness and promote like I'm being pummeled with hotcakes until I can sell books in a similar manner. Also I am vain enough to suppose, just a little, that my nonfiction musings away from the mask of story could actually be interesting for someone out there.
So this is a test. Stand by. This is only a test.
If you've come upon this tentative, experimental post, you are probably a fan of one of my published novels - Halloween Romance and Bite Me - or one of my many, many posted online works under various aliases, and followed a link. Or you could be someone who knows my private self, in which case I'm flattered, but please don't post anything too revealing in comments or otherwise.
Dad, I'd really prefer you give me professional space - Facebook friends is enough. More than that and I feel crowded, no matter how good buds we are and how great a parent you've been (Mom I know would find so much English reading tedious).
(Raises metaphorical eyebrow.) There are many advantages to signing your first book contract at eighteen and having a third book on the way at nineteen, such as extra attention from your peers and professors, the feeling that there is potential for even greater things, and looking really cute in the publicity photo. The drawback, though, is that I feel like everything I write has to answer to my parents. Love my parents. Don't want to disappoint them. Don't want to alarm them.
Another drawback is that I feel a bit out of place among the other EP writers, with their talk of children and careers and aging parents and other adult things. I don't post to either the Authors' or Readers' loops very often. I don't discuss writing very well with people my age either, as they feel intimidated or I can't quash feelings of detestable arrogance. It sickens me when I catch myself looking down on them because I find their characters weak or plots formulaic.
I'm taking creative writing classes next semester. My plan is to keep "Donaya Haymond", the writer, a secret identity, just as I like to maintain about 70 Facebook friends and not post openly where I live. I feel like I should have a cape.
This could be a good outlet for my writing persona. Even if no one reads this. There's a friendliness to a composition box and the dance of telling enough of your heart to the expanse without exposing it dangerously. Also I'll get to write the way I think, which is different from how I speak or tell stories. The stories have shape and filter. The speech with all but a few is watered down because my words tend to be too big for a lot of people - precocity is a real killer on communication.
Okay. Trial run. Let's see where this goes.
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