Writing Advice

So, I've been asked enough times for writing advice that I feel not so arrogant in posting some here. Especially since, now that people are starting to read Volume One, blogging about Volume Two would be very spoiler-ish, which apparently people get very heated about. Personally, I like spoilers. I mean, I watched Lost from season 6 (which I'm still getting yelled at about). But that doesn't really have anything to do with this post >_>
Here's my number one piece of advice, the most important thing you need to be a writer: Confidence.
Haruki Murakami, my favorite author, has been quoted saying that the most important thing you need is talent. I mean, I guess that's important. Not as important as confidence, though. Without confidence, even if you're brilliant otherwise, you're never going to convince anyone to read your story. No one will believe it. You've got to take your plot and characters and stick to them. You have to believe in them. Okay, I know that sounds really corny. But it's true. You can write something absolutely absurd, and your readers will believe you and be on board with you as long as you have confidence. Besides, second guessing yourself means you'll never write past the first page of your story, you'll feel so bad about it. Trust me, this is how I felt when I first started writing Ishiki. But then I said, screw it, this is my story, I've just got to get words down.
Which leads me to the second most important part of writing: Editing.
Lucky for me, I have the ability to take writing workshops at school that taught me how to edit by giving me tons of my classmates' stories to work with. But you can do something like this with friends or online. Fictionpress.com is a particularly good site. Editing other people's work makes you more aware of mistakes you might make in your own. Always a good thing.
The best way to edit, in my opinion, is to read your story out loud to yourself. That's when you see little errors, but you can also control the flow of the piece better. Reading aloud takes a lot of time (I know, this is how I edited Ishiki) but it's WORTH IT! Just try it. Just one time. You'll see what I mean.
Another tip, use Microsoft's spell/grammar check, but not Mac's. Mac's sucks. It doesn't fix anything and is absolutely worthless. And I'm not just saying this because 'I'm a PC', however much I love my netbook.
Well, I hope this has been some helpful advice. I'll post more when I think of them. But for now, the new episode of True Blood is calling :)

Ishiki Art and..... Discounts?!?!?

Okay, so first of all, I want to make the announcement that Amazon.com has discounted my book to 30% off, which makes my book about $10! TEN DOLLARS! That's mad cheap, right? So now there are no excuses. You've just got to buy it. Buy it with your school books and get super saver shipping. I mean, Ishiki is cheaper than a NYC movie ticket now! Apparently, Amazon does this to all of their books. I just found out yesterday. I'm pretty excited about it, as you can tell.
I started Volume Two this week. I've been going to Starbucks with one of my good friends who is writing a book too. I really want to put up the six or so pages I have so far, but it's all spoiler-y and I know some of you haven't finished the book yet.
Now, something I've wanted to do for a while is post up some character artwork I've drawn over the years. Most of these were done two years ago. And hey, I never said I was a good artist. I'm not. I can only draw cute sorts of things. If any of you talented people want to sketch up some of my characters, send it to me at ishiki@gmail.com because I really do want to see my characters drawn well lol.
Well, I set up a DeviantArt account to post my sketches. Check it out:
tk-anez.deviantart.com

New Yorker...?

So, I've submitted that fly story to the New Yorker. I'll hear back from them within three months. And if that doesn't work, maybe I'll submit it to other literary magazines. Speaking of which, I'm going to submit a poem I wrote last year to a NYC poetry magazine. I'm pretty terrible at poetry, but I'm proud of this one. Maybe it'll make it. How cool would that be?
Another project I'm working on is an autobiographical essay for Glamour magazine's annual competition. I haven't started it yet, but I have a title and some ideas. I think I'm going to write about how I wound up writing the book even though I had a lot of setbacks, some of which I've written about here. But I might take it a step further and talk about some stuff that happened at the end of high school and beginning of college that threw me off writing in the first place. I know I'm being vague, but I don't just want to come out with it all right now.
I wish that I could make more of my writing public on the internet. Although if I did that, I would be able to get anything published because of the conflict. And anything I'm proud of, I try to get published. So there you have it. If my stuff gets rejected, though, I'll probably put it up here. I mean, the whole point of writing is to get people to read it! At least, that's my point.

Amazon!!!

Ishiki is now available on amazon.com Here's the link: http://amzn.to/9NtuRi

Ishiki (Consciousness) by T.K. Anez

I'll update more soon.

ISHIKI IS ON SALE NOW!!!

https://www.createspace.com/3464426
Ishiki is on sale!! Buy it here: https://www.createspace.com/3464426
Thank you for your support! <3
Ishiki will be available on amazon.com and Amazon Kindle within two weeks!
But preferably, buy it from my e-store https://www.createspace.com/3464426 It makes everything much easier for me.
Thank you again!
I can't believe this is really happening!
I love you all!
TK

One More Day!!!!!!

Hey everyone!
Today is a great day. Well, it's my last day before I officially become a published author, which has been my dream since forever. Tomorrow, Ishiki (Consciousness) - Volume One goes on sale via amazon.com and my own e-store (I will give out the link tomorrow). Not only that, but I will be selling the book for the Amazon Kindle as well. That will happen as early as tonight. Again, I'll let you all know (and link you) when it's official. You might want to keep up with my official Twitter page, www.twitter.com/realtkanez , for faster details. Today, I've been setting up my accounts for royalty payments and touching up all the last bits through my publisher. After being on the phone with both my parents, going back and forth about all the financial stuff, it finally all feels real. We've done it. This is it.
Thank you :)

The Bad News Bug

So I got The Bad News Bug (A True Story) workshopped today and.... Everyone liked it :D I'm going to try to get it published, so I can't post the whole this here, but I will post some. Enjoy!

The Bad News Bug
(A True Story)

The girl in the baggy Neil Young t-shirt wakes up, but she doesn’t seem too happy about it. How do I know that the man on her shirt is Neil Young, you ask? I might be just a little fly, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t read. Besides, when you crash into a Neil Young poster enough times, thinking that reflection in the glass is another fly that can help you escape, you learn who the guy is.
Anyway, the girl wakes up because that tall boy is screaming. He’s in his sleeping boxers -- the bright green ones that hurt all ten of my eyes when I look at them. In one of his hands, he’s got a can of something labeled ‘LYSOL.’ What’s LYSOL? The can is bright orange, and it hurts my eyes like the boy’s sleeping boxers do. In his other hand, there’s a wad of tissues. The tall boy looks like he is ready for war or something. But I don’t see a fly swatter anywhere around, so I assume that he is not waging war against me. Thank goodness.


The story is six pages long.. That's just a bit because I don't want to get plagiarized or have issues with future publishing. What do you think?