Big Changes Coming: The Process

There are big changes to my digital footprint coming down the line. As I get closer to completing my latest first draft (a side project that is actually the one best suited to moving on to the next stage), I have been thinking a lot more about building my "platform" as an author. This concept of a "platform", sort of like a fan base, is ubiquitous to modern writing and publishing. It's especially relevant to self-publishing, which is the avenue I am 99% sure I will be taking with my work, barring fortuitous happenstance.

The mascot for The Process

I am sure I speak for many writers when I say I am naturally an introvert. I would love nothing better than to shut myself away in some refuge and write and have audiences magically appear and praise my work (and pay money for it too!) Real life writing simply doesn't work that way. Even writers going the traditional route with the backing of major publishers are expected to have built a platform through social media, participating in forums and conferences, and generally promoting themselves. So as a natural introvert, you can imagine how putting myself out there in a meaningful way beyond this semi-neglected blog is daunting.

This when I started thinking about what they call in Philadelphia, "The Process."

Writing Prompt: Decision Point

This time we had a bit of a different writing prompt and got to take it back as homework. The prompt was to write about a decision you made in 200 words or less. The result is more personal than I normally write.

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Courtenay Place. A warm autumn evening. I was having MSG-soaked noodle soup as drunken and well up for it boys and girls were filtering into the bar district. My main preoccupation was going home, battling a cold and tired from being out the night before. Sleep, precious sleep. Then I got a text from Joel, urging me to come out for drinks. I hadn’t shaved, wasn’t dressed for it and definitely wasn’t in the mood. But with job prospects slim, my Belgian pal might be leaving for home soon, so this could be the last week I would have with the best friend I had made since arriving in the country. We like to think our lives are storybooks and the most important decisions in our lives are foreshadowed as momentous.

But the only consequence I sensed was foregoing a couple hours of sleep. I entered the dim lit basement club and saw Joel chatting to a girl. Her friend was standing to the side, looking bored. Like a dutiful wingman, I swooped in and introduced myself to my future wife.

Now six years and two kids later, I always choose the extra sleep, but I’m glad for the last time that I didn’t.

Admiral and the New Historical Epics

I recently enjoyed watching the Dutch movie Admiral on Netflix. In its home country, it was originally titled Michiel de Ruyter, a name likely unknown outside of the Netherlands and military history circles. Given my interest in the subject, I had some familiarity with de Ruyter's story, so I was excited that a dramatization was so readily accessible to me. Being able to watch it was the result of an intersection between two technologically driven trends.