NEWSLETTER SNIPPETS; Issue #1
To paraphrase Jane Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a writer in want of engagement must put herself on multiple platforms. Or at least, that’s what I’m telling myself.
My first newsletter went out at the end of September. I’m still figuring out what I’ll be putting on there, what the layout will look like – I’ve already made some changes since the first issue went out – but a few things I know for sure:
- This will be a quarterly newsletter. That means it will go out four times a year, at the end of each quarter. Will I send out promo emails when and if I publish something? Possibly! But as of now, it is JUST a quarterly newsletter.
- It is going to be one of the more informal writing styles I use on there. Much like here, if I’m honest, but a little more personal. I’m talking to you, you know? Not at you.
- I will be doing this a week or so after each newsletter goes out – taking snippets from the newsletter and sharing them here. Not the whole thing, mind you, but some of it.
Reading is one thing I talk about here, so you’re mostly up to date with what I’ve finished this year. I also found an audiobook of Howl’s Moving Castle by Dianne Wynne Jones on Spotify that I listened to the last couple of weeks of September, and I forgot how much I loved these characters and how formulative Sophie and Howl’s relationship was to my own writing. Unfortunately, the audiobook of Castle In The Air is not on Spotify or the library I have access to, so that’s going to be a while before I read it.
It is also British Bake-Off time, and I will not apologise for the person I will be in these few weeks as the show carries on. It is my feel-good comfort show, and this plus Hallmark’s Countdown To Christmas season beginning makes me very happy. Shows and movies on my list that I need to get through? What’s that? I can’t hear you over my new priorities, Hallmark movies and GBBO!
Edits are still happening for a short story compilation. I’ve got just a little more to go and making the cover before I’ll be able to publish it as an e-book! These short stories have been taken from ones I’ve posted on Ko-fi for members, and chosen for the theme I am working with, and I am very excited to share them with you all!
Facets; A collection of five short stories of love, heartbreak and hope.
Hopefully coming your way this month. Next year I’ll be a little less ambitious and aim for one e-book publication. I’ve already started taking down notes on how I want this rewrite to go, but I won’t be sitting down and working on it until Facets is completely ready.
It is time, I think, to hang up thebitterbeast as a username on social media. I’ve had it for so many years that a part of me is having a difficult time letting go, but I want to be consistent on the platforms I use for writing especially. I’m looking at a shift over to ara.openpages or a variation thereof (if punctuation marks aren’t something the platform allows) to match my Instagram. (My personal Instagram will also be shifting to just my name. Fingers crossed it’s not been taken!)
The change will happen in the next week or so, as I say goodbye to being thebitterbeast on almost everywhere. I’m keeping it on one platform for nostalgia’s sake – and to distance that one from my more professional side, if I’m honest. So if you see that around, no, you didn’t!
I’m still figuring out how I want to sign off from the newsletter – it’s going to take a few issues, I think, before I’m completely happy with how things look – but I don’t need to worry about that here! I hope you join me on these new journeys.
If you like my content, consider leaving me a tip on Ko-fi!
Ara
I’m Ara, a Southeast Asian writer who someday hopes to have published a novel, and who is currently losing herself in the worlds created by others. I love books and food and television and blogging and I get distracted and sidetracked easily.