NaNoPoblano 2022: Social Media and Me

#NaNoPoblano2022 Day 1

It’s November once again and the writing/blogging challenge has begun! It seems like it was just a few weeks back since I did it. That kind of makes sense, considering how much I extended my participation. Shameless plug: Check out my entries last time HERE.  For those who have no idea what NaNoPoblano is, HERE YOU GO, as explained by the lovely and talented Ra.

Obviously, I’m days late. My reasons are valid, though, I’d rather not discuss them anymore and waste time. I just know I’ll make up for the lost days. Meanwhile, MY 2022 THEME: Anything-Social Media. There are probably a range of things to post about. Definitely, a lot of it will be more personal. Some will be text-heavy; some will just be a photo/video or two with a little explanation to go. Some will be combos.

Why social media? To start with, it’s part of my day-to-day life. Being a web content writer, it has become inevitable to take part in it, for work and not. For a bit of transparency, I’ve been working on a Twitter account for over a year now. That’s all I can say.

On a more personal basis, I’ve been on YouTube vlogging (occasionally) and actively joining comment threads. I really like conversations. Sometimes, it’s better and even more interesting talking with strangers, honestly. Facebook? A given. I’ve been spending more time on my writer’s page (the term “fan page” makes me cringe) account, however. Again, it’s better sometimes with strangers, that’s why. No, I don’t get to converse much there. Hardly. But at least, I don’t start questioning my relationships with people that I know in real life. Just real talk here, guys.

This year, I made THE VEERLEDOM active. I even recently made a Twitter account for it, though, I still need to take care of its settings. I keep getting notifications from various people I have not associated it with. Instagram? After years of inactivity, it’s now semi-active. I post once in a while. maybe an average of, at least, once (ha ha) in two to three months. I did post more recently. I follow several accounts, but to be honest, there’s really just one account that I really make sure to check daily. That’s content creator Andrea So‘s. I do the same onTikTok and YouTube. Call me a fangirl. She was the only reason I opened a TikTok account in the first place.

Contetnt Creator Andrea So , also popularly known as Agent Red

I’ve talked about her several times already. In fact, I already posted the first two parts of my article on her. Part 1 is an introduction with a variety of sample videos to show her work. Part 2 introduces the fan faves, the top two of her five most popular characters. Part 3 will showcase the other three characters. Part 4 will spill facts and answer some FAQs about her. Of course, since this is my blog, I write them in any style I want, so they’re not your usual feature writeups. (You might want to revisit the pages if you’ve seen them as I just made changes/updates and added information)

I was reluctant to admit that I was fangirling. But I realized that if someone who’s older and famous like Lea Salonga can unabashedly fangirl in public on KPop’s favorite boys, BTS, I certainly can fangirl on whomever I want. I found Andrea’s videos on YouTube at a time when I was bored (I didn’t realize I was till then) and frustrated about many things. I was also getting depressed because I joined cat and dog rescue and adoption groups on Facebook. I felt so down that I couldn’t give the necessary assistance that were/are mostly needed. There are so many cats and dogs that need love! I couldn’t even adopt any because we already had too many for us to handle. It was stressing me out, for real.

To make the long story short, I found Andrea and she made me less bored, frustrated, and depressed. Her bad*ss Agent Red reminded me of my bad*ss Maya de Alano. I love that people love Red and that’s the kind of love I want Maya to get. I want to enjoy writing Maya as much as Andrea enjoys portraying her famous agent. Andrea inspired me to write again that I finally decided to copy or move my stories, my “book” in particular, to Wattpad. I am seeking a broader audience. I don’t exactly want to focus on just a certain target audience but it can bring me to the right ones who will appreciate the story. 

Alright, I don’t want to spill everything in just one post. Do expect more to come. I’ll leave you with some transition vids from Andrea.

Write on!

@andweaso

transition version ?

♬ Mario my beloved – ✰ princess toadstool ✰

@andweaso

the last transition tho :3

♬ GAL – ᴀʀɪଓ

Write! Write! #TuesdayToons

Yes, it’s a new hash potato day! #TuesdayToons! And this one says A LOT about me:

How appropriate

Copyright goes to Jorge Cham. Check out his site PHDComics.com! (“PHD” means “Piled Higher and Deeper”)

“How do you personally deal with writer’s block?” #atozchallenge2017

There’s no such thing as writer’s block. At least, that’s what Neil Gaiman and some writers say.

I don’t really believe in writer’s block, but I absolutely believe in getting stuck…The difference is one is imposed on you by the gods, and one is your own d*mn fault.” (Neil Gaiman, The Huffington Post)

I agree with him, in a way. But I also believe it’s all just a play of words because whether you call it ‘writer’s block’ or ‘writer getting stuck’, it’s all the same banana. It’s a temporary obstacle writers face, something most writers go through at least once in their lives. That makes it real. It exists because it happens and is experienced.

A writer acknowledging he has a temporary writing problem does not necessarily make him lazy. The only question is, what must a writer do to not get stuck for long?

Of course, the best and most correct answer would be to continue writing. Unfortunately, not all writers are the same when it comes to how they get stuck and how they try to ease out of it. So I thought it would be fun to know what weird or unique ways writers do to battle the block. I made use of my new bestfriend, Quora, and posted this question:

“How do you personally deal with writer’s block?”

Writer’s block is real, but we also know it can be ‘cured’ by continuing to write. What OTHER unique, specific and effective techniques have you personally done to get over it? It would be interesting to find out quirky, fun and unique ways writers battle the block.

I got quite the answers from various writers, mostly published authors. There were the usual answers like the writer’s-block-is-not-real ones, there were “techniques” I was familiar with as I do them as well, and then there were the really unique ones that made my day!

Read for yourselves. I am sharing some of them. Maybe we can try them, too.

First is Larry Dixon, Fantasy and Sci-Fi writer, plus editor, among other things.

This was rather long but I thought I’d share the whole thing. He made a good and rather interesting point. I liked the perspective he shared. I thanked him for it and he said, “It helps me to turn what feels like a tragedy to other writers into a pleasant puzzle.”

Now, for the more uniquely innovative answers, we first have Elke Weiss, writer and song lyricist. Our exchange follows. And yes, she shared a recording as proof. I have linked to the recording, just click on the screenshot.

Jeremy Landry is next. He’s a “moron that loves answering questions”…Hey, his words, not mine, okay?!! But he writes, too, so this is legit.

Very interesting! Sometimes I do that, but not to that extent. I don’t think he mentioned anything about being in theatre, but I wouldn’t be surprised. If you’re a writer doing that, you better make sure you are alone.

Meanwhile, John Morris is a Creative Scientist, at least that’s how he describes himself. He does have very practical tips for writers.

Kamila Miller is very generous in giving practical advice, after all, she has had much experience as EM Prazeman (for historical fantasy fiction), Tammy Owen (for memoirs), and  KZ Miller or Kamila Miller (for contemporary fantasy and short stories). I did break down her answer in parts.

And then we have Adam J. Taylor, writer and a whole lot of other things–Sherlockian, Fannibal, TFOL, Partial Whovian, etc.

There were more answers shared that I’m not able to post here. How about you, how do you go around the writer’s block? Please feel free to share!

If you are curious about what the others had to say, you can find the whole Q&A page HERE.

 

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Well, I’m glad you’re back here from last time, or if this is your first time here, welcome, friends! Come back again tomorrow, alright? In fact, come back every weekday and on Saturdays this whole month of April (and maybe I’ll post stuff on Sundays, too)  😉

B is for “Block”

This piece serves as my Letter B post for the A to Z Challenge 2017.