Tuesday Wordcount

cesario saved my life last night, by suggesting that Chapter Three would read better if I put the scenes in a different order. Seriously, how did writers cope before the Internet? Thanks to her wisdom, I spent most of my time today editing and rearranging rather than writing a lot of new material, but at least now I feel happy about moving forward. So today's count is:

490 words.

Now if only I could get my toddler to keep taking his afternoon nap. I very much fear he's going to be like his oldest brother, and quit naps cold turkey before he's even two -- which wouldn't be that big a deal really, except that it will cut my daily writing time in half. Nooooooo--!

In other writing-related news, I've been asked to participate on a panel discussion at a local book festival, about writing for young adults in the age of the Internet, or something of that sort. So! Excited! I get to pretend I'm a Real Author and everything!

Oh, wait. I AM a Real Author. Ha ha! *cavorts*

Sorry. But I don't think that is ever going to get old.

BTW, I don't think I ever mentioned where my husband and I went for our celebratory dinner. In case I'd ever been tempted to doubt my husband's utter awesomeness, I told him to surprise me and he promptly went out and made reservations at our local Indian restaurant. Those who were listening to me whine on IM about how much I wanted Indian food, but how my husband didn't really enjoy it so I felt it wouldn't be fair to ask him, will appreciate the magnitude of this gift.

A loophole at last?

Ever since I read DH I've been feeling a bit sad that ( everything in this post, pretty much, is a SPOILER )

So here is the idea I don't have time to write, but it makes me feel a little better just thinking about it: ( The Idea, which is mine... until I check the book again and realize there's no way it could work )

*wilts*

*shakes fist in the direction of the UK* CURSE YOU, JO!

*sigh*

No, not really. But it was harsh of her to ( do that spoilery thing )

, I think.

Oops, almost forgot...

Anonymous commenting is back on, since I'm no longer worried about HP spoilers. Thanks to my non-LJ friends for their patience.

Renaming and Identity

Well, I couldn't get the LJ fairy to respond to my request to remove the defunct rjanderson feed, so I did the next best thing. Now I'm signed up as some variation of "R.J. Anderson" almost everywhere I have an online presence, and folks here will no longer have to struggle to remember how to spell "synaesthete7".

But I've been curious about something. If you're a published or soon-to-be published author with a background in online fandom, would you mind telling me what you decided to do with that background once your deal went through, and why?

If you chose to separate your fannish and professional identities, for instance, what factors influenced that decision? Was it your agent's recommendation to hide your secret Bat-identity, or did your publisher require it, or was it just something you felt would be prudent? If the decision was mostly yours, did you make it because you were embarrassed by the thought of people digging up your old fanfics, or because you worried about possible legal repercussions, or because you feared that your fellow pro authors would despise you if they knew? Or was there some other reason?

If on the other hand you've chosen not to hide your former (or present) fannish involvement, what gave you the confidence to make that decision? Have you had any unpleasant experiences that make you wish you'd chosen differently? Or have you found reasons to be glad you made that decision, and if so, what were they?

For my part, I've decided to write under the same pen name I've used for years, and keep my fanfic links page as part of my author site. I've been open about my fanfic writing past with both my agent and my new editor, and neither of them seems to think it's a problem, so I'm going ahead and hoping for the best. But sometimes I wonder if I'm going to regret that choice.

I'd love to get as much input on this as possible, so if you know of someone who fits the bill, please give them the heads-up. Anonymous commenting is welcome for authors who prefer to be discreet.

Wednesday Wordcount

Much better today! I am relieved.

1,046 words.

What's really helping me make the most of my opportunities to write is a little freeware program called Temptation Blocker, which allows me to block all access to certain programs for a specified period of time. So I've set it to block my web browser, e-mail, internet messaging and offline LJ editor, and as soon as the kids are in bed, I set the timer for an hour and a half or two hours and start writing. Thanks to Temptation Blocker I can't access the Internet during that time without typing in a very long and awkward string of characters first, so that helps me keep my nose to the grindstone until I've got at least a couple of hundred words done.

It's sad that I need this kind of thing to keep me on track, but such is the seductive power of teh intarwebs.