I know I said I'd be taking a break in July, too, but this is the only place where I can get my thoughts out in more than 150 words, so I thought I'd drop by to think.
My Blog:
I want to revamp my blog topics. My current schedule is:
Tuesdays (blog hop)
Wednesdays (what I'm reading/IWSG)
Fridays (blog hop/potpurri).
I might condense it to:
Tuesdays (what I'm reading/something writing related)
First Wednesdays (IWSG)
Fridays (blog hops/something writing related)
So then I'd only be writing twice a week and thrice on that first week, and having more content on less days might keep my mind open to my writing.
My Pen Name:
So, I have this issue where after a certain amount of time, I want a new e-mail address. I never thought that I would be looking at my pen name and thinking, "Do I still like this name?" Especially after all the brainstorming I went through just to get to this name!
Maybe, I'll use different pen names for different genres. Speculative, this name. Contemporary, maybe my own name. I hate my name, though. It's so boring. I'd use my mom's maiden name if she hadn't "not" named me after my aunt. I'd rather not add to the confusion. For poetry, I almost committed myself to S.B. Hawkins (a lady at church calls me Songbird, and I love that), but something in my head said, "Isn't there a Sophie B. Hawkins?" There is, and why do I know that? (Googling, Googling...Oh, right. "As I Lay Me Down").
My Unofficial Sequel & My one Beta:
My little sister has been my one steady beta reader since like 1994. I couldn't get her to read my Fantasy, but she made a deal to read my unofficial sequel to Octavia Butler's Fledgling, which I named Birthright. Honestly, I thought she had forgotten to read it, and I was losing faith, but out of the blue this weekend while we were sitting on the couch at 1 a.m, she said, "So, I have questions about Ruby [the original name for it]." I was bursting with glee that she had actually begun reading it. She's halfway through (it's a novella, only 100 pages), but she noted some good things that I need to fix, one of which being (and as someone who reads sequels sometimes before I read the first book, it's very important) that I have to consider the fact that the reader may not have read Fledgling, so things I left out that I knew because they were explained in Fledgling, I have to explain in Birthright.
I'm just glad she started reading it. Now, I'll have to go through and flesh it out more so I can start the process of finding out from whom to get permission to actually publish it.
So that's it. See you later!
Greetings
- Debra Renée Byrd
- Delaware, United States
- Deborah Hawkins, penned Debra Renée Byrd, began writing after a blank book project in elementary school and never stopped, fashioning stories based on her favorite TV shows and movies before creating more original works. She studied at the University of the Arts and Florida State University before settling down and graduating from Temple University. She now resides in her hometown of Dover, DE, where she spends most of her time at work or at church. She loves fantasies, superheroes, is a trekkie and a brown coat. She loves television and lives for Final Fantasy video games, having collected most of them. She has read a myriad of authors, and her favorite authors change whenever she finds a new book that changes her life... "When you can't run, you crawl. When you can't crawl...well, you know the rest." -Tracey, Firefly, "The Message"
3 comments:
I like the new blog schedule idea. "Something writing related" is my usual go-to topic, LOL. I could offer writing advice or just rant forever about my own struggles.
Yup, when I was writing and editing Seismic Crimes (the sequel to Hurricane Crimes) I had to constantly add in details and explanations for those readers who may not read Hurricane Crimes. It's tricky to do it in a way that won't annoy readers who did read the first story, but it can also help to refresh memories.
I hope you can figure out what to do with your pen name.
That's awesome your sister reads for you.
Google different names and see what isn't taken. If you get to pick it, might as well make it very original.
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