Coming clean: An announcement

I have been editing this since January. Yes. That long. At the end of last year, something occurred to me that sort of set a whole bunch of others things in motion and ended with one thought. I want to write a book.


I've pretty much written it already, and it's already gone through some beta testing. At least the online version. Paula's story has been one I've been working on since high school. I took a break from it, a very long one, while I lived a little bit, read a lot, fell in love, and made new friends.

When I stumbled on the binders with these stories in them a couple of years ago, it surprised me. I hadn't ever really intended on coming back to this story, honestly. I thought it was all crap. But then reading through it, despite the cringe-worthiness, I got an urge to really write again.

You see, this is the only story I've ever really wanted to tell, and so I'd like to do it properly. What you've seen so far has been just a small sample, and that's been chopped to bits to fit in bite sized updates that hopefully read quick but have a lot of impact. But there's more to these stories. A lot more that I can do. Paula's story felt like a race to the finish, and I don't think I did it any real justice.

So-- my announcement. I'm coming clean. I want to self publish my own stories.

The plan is to make a series of books. So far, I have at least two in mind and one possible novella. The first will be an e-book version with maybe even a print version further down the road if I feel it's worth it.


What will happen to this blog? Nothing. This blog will carry on as it has. It won't necessarily be my focus anymore, so maybe I won't do weekly updates? (Though I dunno, I sort of really like weekly updates.)

I plan on taking a break for a bit and working on more stories to post up. I'd like to continue, carrying on and sharing short side stories that have no immediate place. Paula's story will remain up because I'm going to be my own publisher, and I can do what I want.

This blog has become something very important to me. It's something I cherish greatly for all the lessons learned and friendships made. Nothing makes me feel better than the lurkers who come and sit on the blog for an hour, sometimes more. It doesn't always happen, and they don't always leave comments. Sometimes they don't even come back, but any minute of anyone's online time spent here still surprises me.

What will I be asking from all of you? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I'm going off-roading here, in a move anyone else would think is incredibly insane. And maybe it is, but it's my move to make.

My intent with the e-book is to produce a coupon that will make it free for those who read this blog. And you won't have to take any crazy oaths or writs in blood. When it's released, I'll let you know and the coupons will be free to share with whoever you like. It will take a long time for word to get out, and as I stink at self promotion, word of mouth will be key.

So consider this the official announcement. I plan to have the e-book version released by Spring of 2012. I now have 54,000 words on it which is much more than the word count for the online story.

Anon comments are always on, so if I'm crazy and some anon wants to tell me so, feel free to blast the idea, ask questions, whatever. I need to be able to stand up to criticism if I'm going to release something into the "real" world.

Honestly I've been thinking this through for months now. I've been doing research, and I feel this is the right move for this project and possibly other strange ones that I have sitting in my head. Hopefully people will be entertained.



My new-ish Writing Blog (With a post all about what I've learned from this blog.)

My writing Twitter

Bonus: The first three chapters of the novel version on Mediafire.