Japanese Class

Recently, we’ve been learning how to state that objects exist, and where they happen to exist at.

Koko ni tokee ga arimasu.

That means “Here is a clock.” Arimasu is the verb to state that inanimate objects exist, so to talk about a person, you use a different verb.

Koko ni Dejirii-san ga imasu.

That means “Here is Ms. Desiree.” Imasu is the verb for animate objects, like dogs, cats, and Desiree.

Then, there’s turkey. To talk about turkey, say:

Koko ni taakii ga arimasu.

You say arimasu because the turkey is cooked on your plate, and cooked turkey is no longer animate. Have a nice day!

Support

There’s a brand-new widget on the sidebar.

In case you guys haven’t noticed before, I’ve added a section about various sites that The TECH Project supports. That’s pretty much a fancy way of saying that most of these people have added The TECH Project on MySpace.com, so I’m promoting them back. With one exception. Allow me to introduce each member of the new sidebar widget.

• Fly Phoenix (MySpace Bands) – A band that my cousin, Brandon, is in. They list everything from Metallica to Timbaland to Eric Clapton in their influences. Only one song has been posted, but they sound great. (Before you ask: no, I have NO clue who is singing. It could be Brandon. But I’m not sure.)
• Kaleb Nation (blog) – Another teen writer who writes a blog over on WordPress. He has nice taste in music. Kaleb is a radio show host in several states and even overseas. Also a pretty nice guy. His first novel has an agent in NYC and currently searching for a publisher. (Yes, I’ll be linking the Amazon page once he’s published.)
• Phil Rizzo (MySpace Bands) – Another one of my cousins, Brandon’s older brother, who has a solo act in NYC. He has a nice, smooth sound.
• Riot Like Words (MySpace Bands) – An independently-produced rock band from Austin, Texas. I met the bassist, Craig, and their ex-drummer, Mike, while in the mall during this past summer. My sister, my boyfriend, and I all pitched in some money to buy their self-titled CD. The band is awesome.
• The Ryan Killers (MySpace Bands) – This is a local band that originated in my high school. It consists of four/five guys (they added a drummer) who generally act like idiots while making nice noises with instruments. The bassist, Bobby, is a guy I was really good friends with during freshman year, and mostly I’m doing this as a favor for him. (My ex-boyfriend, who hates my guts, is also part of the band.) But do check out their page. They have a demo up, and my boyfriend, who plays guitar, says it’s not bad. (I haven’t checked it out myself.)
• TheNewsCanWait (MySpace Bands) – A little on the screamo side, but I like these guys. Again, this is really more as a favor for the Mysterious Guy Who Is Always On The MySpace Page, as he asked me to help promote the band. I don’t have a CD. (I’m not exactly sure that they have one.) If I did have one, I’d probably be screamo-happy and telling you AAAAAAAAAALL about it.

If you want to be represented on the widget, add The TECH Project on MySpace and send a message requesting to be added. I’d be happy to have you!

Tediousness Update

Editing is tedious.

I spent a good amount of yesterday editing various parts of The TECH Project. It’s just kind of… you know… ugh. Right? Very boring, a lot of reading and reading and reading and – oh, change a letter – and reading and reading and reading. I know it’s necessary for the common good and all that… but it’s boring as hell.

Added a new scene into Teenage Drama. That’s about File 17 or something like that in the second half of the novel. Did you know that The TECH Project is around two hundred pages long typed?? Well, you probably didn’t, but it is!

Today’s post is dedicated to things that are inspiring. I’m going to make a list.

• Music

Music is my numero-uno inspiration. I listen to all sorts of music, everything from Jimmy Eat World to My Chemical Romance, Il Divo to Dragon Force, and even the occasional Michelle Branch and Justin Timberlake.

Music definitely keeps me inspired when I feel like writing. All the time. There’s the fun stuff, like MCR’s “Dead!” and “Teenagers” that get my blood pumping and the rest of me dancing around the room, and then there’s the sad stuff, like The All-American Rejects’ “The Last Song” and Il Divo’s “Regresa A Mi” that bring me down and help me work on the sad, depressing parts that all novels have to have at some point.

When you feel writer’s block coming on, definitely listen to some music. May I recommend Riot Like Words, Fly Phoenix, or TheNewsCanWait if you’re bored with your old stuff? All three can be found on MySpace.

• The World

Yes. Sad but true. I sometimes have to resort to the “real world” for my inspiration. I draw from everything: my own experiences, stories my family members have told me, even school gossip. Sometimes, when I hear something, I just latch on and end up with a brand-new story.

For example: last night, I wrote a short story about Zoe Lee, the lead protagonist of The TECH Project. Although she is DEFINITELY based on a certain person in my life, most of what I was writing about when describing her relationship with her father came from my mother’s experiences with her father. (My grandfather suffered a stroke, which left him in a debilitating state.) So, if you use the real world as inspiration, draw from many different sources, your own and that of others.

So that’s my mini-rant of the day. If you feel writer’s block coming on, definitely try one of those inspirational tugs. More about writer’s block later, when I actually start to have it.

Promotion Tips & Tricks

On promoting a book before it’s published:

For a little more than a week, I’ve been working on promoting The TECH Project in my city. Not that I live in a mammoth metropolis like Chicago, Los Angeles, or New York City. It’s a mid-sized town, with a decently-sixed University campus, a few libraries, and not such a high rate of reading test scores in the grade schools, junior highs, and high schools.

So far, I haven’t done any heavy-duty promotion yet. But one of the best articles about book promotion that I’ve come across so far is David Louis Edelman’s blog, which contains an article (and now a follow-up article, as well!) on promoting books.

There are plenty of great suggestions on the website of ways to promote books. Here are some of the ones I’ve tried:

• Designed a website (which hasn’t gone live yet, sorry guys)
• Started a blog before publishing of the novel (obviously)
• Created a MySpace profile (the link is on the sidebar; 29 friends and counting =])

Obviously, since Edelman has more than twenty promotion ideas in the original article, I’ve come nowhere near trying all of them out, not to mention the fact that I’ve only begun to lightly skim the possibilities of book promotion.

I have, however, started working on a new promo project that Edelman didn’t mention in his article: flyers.

Since I’m a student at my local university, I have access to free printers. For the past couple of days, my boyfriend and I have been printing them out: twenty pages at a time. (That’s the page printing limit in the computer lab we always use…) The two of us combined have given away about five or six flyers total, and I’ve given about ten or fifteen to two of my friends to pass out to people they know.

This particular attempt’s successfulness can be measured, since the page listed is the MySpace page for The TECH Project. If it’s successful, then I’ll definitely report it here and you’ll know for sure.

*Note: The TECH Project is a novel aimed towards teen and young adult readers. The MySpace page technique probably would not work for some audiences, such as that of children’s books.

Writing Update

The second draft of The TECH Project is finshed!

In other news, I’m working on getting a lawyer to represent me for all my legal concerns. Of course, it’s not ABSOLUTELY necessary, but I was advised to retain legal representation in the case of something going amiss.

I suppose it wouldn’t be very fun to have my novel stolen by somebody who did nothing like the work I’ve done to make it.

The copyright is also going pretty well. I’ll have one by the end of the year, I’m sure, or I will at least have filed a petition for a copyright. I don’t really want to just randomly lose my copyrights… that would also suck tremendously.

Another new fun thing: I’ve added some links to the page. There are a few bands supported on the MySpace page (meaning they’ve added The TECH Project as a friend), including The Ryan Killers, Fly Phoenix, and Riot Like Words. An author, David Louis Edelman, has also added the page. So, in appreciation, I’ve added links to their pages here on the blog.

You’ll soon be getting updates from other people, as well. I’m hoping to soon add another blogger or two to “The TECH Project Diaries”.

In the meantime, comment away!