If you’ve been following along so far, this blog’s focus this entire month has been, well, itself. (We — the royal “we”, ahem — are very meta here at the Stacks. XD) Basically, it’s been a serialized introduction to what this whole blog is about and what it entails.

Now here we are, coming to end of the (second) springboard, about to dive into what’s next. (In case it wasn’t clear, the first dive was the launch of the blog itself. XD)

So what is next? What can you expect from this blog — and from me?

Actually, let’s start with me — because of course the universe revolves around me! XDD —, and then I’ll get to this blog.

I mentioned I wanted to be a writer, yeah? Well, it’s more than that. I want to become . . . (drum roll, please!) . . . a successful author. ✧◝( ^▽^ )◜✧

Which means what? ^^’

Good question! That’s something I’m trying to figure out myself — and for myself. ^^’ Other people have other definitions, I’m sure, but here’s my working definition for what a successful author means for me:

My writing, my way, enables my life, my way.

Does that sound self-indulgent?

If it does, then let me just say . . . don’t you want to live your life your way? And don’t you want your art — whatever your art is (if you’re too uncomfortable calling it your “art”, then let’s just call it your “thing”: whatever your thing is) — to enable you to do that?

Anyways, my current thinking is to become what is perhaps a little too cutesily called an “authorpreneur” — a little less cutesily called an independent, or “indie”, author. (cutesily = cutesy + ly . . . totes a word. =P)

(The perceptive reader will notice that I didn’t say, “a self-published author”. As I understand it, a self-published author may just mean someone who has tried to go the traditional publishing route, but whose work was not accepted at a publishing house or publication and so turned to self-publishing. To be clear, the term “self-published author” doesn’t always mean that. My point is merely that it may mean that — and that that is not what I am aiming for; hence, “indie author”.)

An indie author is an author who is not just self-published but who is their own publisher. In other words, they’re much more business-minded. That is, they approach the production, marketing, and distribution of their writing with the commercial mindset of a company, not just the crafting mindset of a creator.

Years ago, when it first occurred to me that I should maybe have a go at “becoming a professional writer” (writing my own stuff, I mean, not for somebody else), I had the mindset of a cranky creative: my job was to make my art, and it was someone else‘s job to sell my art. In other words, I thought my business was the writing, and, the combination of agent + publisher, their business was the business of my writing.

Spoiler alert: That didn’t work out. XD

Now I’m a bit wiser (or perhaps just older ^^’), not to mention the entire publishing industry has undergone a sea change in the past several years, and so I’ve come to think that I really can’t afford to eschew the whole business side of writing, after all. ^^’

So I shall become both author and publisher! (Yes, I shall be a publisher whose “stable of authors” will have only one author — myself —, but a publisher nonetheless!)

Putting aside, for the moment, the question of whether I can actually make it work financially and all, let me tell you my goal (“goal” is such a strong word XD) general direction — that is, what I’m moving towards in the long run.

And what is that?

Why, it’s writing and publishing romantic sci-fi & fantasy novels!

Duh.

What else would a geek who loves consuming sci-fi & fantasy and romance (novels, 漫画 manga, アニメ anime, Asian dramas, movies, plays, you name it) want to write and publish??

(Let me tell you: It’s such a relief to be a cliché. You should try it sometime. It really lowers the pressure. ;P Originality is so overrated! XD)

Oh, and I’d also like to write and publish nonfiction, too. ^_^

Some of that will be books: monographs, maybe even microhistories, on specific topics of interest, and how-to guides, to share what I’ve learned that I’m hoping other people — such as you, dear reader — would find valuable to know, too.

Most of my nonfiction, though, will likely be essays. (It is here, as promised, that we come back to the question of where this blog is going. ^_^)

It probably goes without saying that blogging is the modern day equivalent of the essay writing back in ye olde times. And I do think that most of my blog posts going forward will be personal essays, or microessays, on all sorts of things I’ve observed, reflected upon, speculated about, and/or just wished for. Some will probably draw and comment upon my own life; some will probably be meditations on broader topics pertaining to art, culture, history, and all that; and some others will probably be no more than romps & frolics in playgrounds of thought.

(Okay, an adorable チビ chibi 怪獣 kaijuu stomping a little mini metropolis — rawr! — flashed through my brain just now. XD)

In the meantime, I’ll write my romantic SFF novels (and SFF-y romance novels?) offline — until, they, too, become interesting enough to publish. (In fact, I’m working on one right now — a romantasy. ( ^▽^ )੭̸*✩⁺‧ﾟ˚:˻˳˯ₑ◌♡♥

So there’s the writing part of my authorpreneurial aspirations. (Whew!)

As for the publishing part . . . ummm . . . that part is still under construction. ^^’ Blog-wise, I’m planning on publishing more — and more challenging — posts. Book-wise, I’m planning on, well, writing them, first of all XD, and then publishing them as ebooks (possibly as print-on-demand [POD] books?), which I will then sell, first and foremost, here on my own website, of course, but also in other marketplaces. Where and when and how and how much — all of those details I shall figure out as I go along.

On top of that, I shall almost certainly try other ways to earn money from my writing. What those are yet, I’m not quite sure (I have a few ideas, but I’m not certain about any of them) — not to mention I’m sure there are things I could try that I’ve yet even to conceive of.

So if you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment. ^__^ This is still a newborn baby blog, so I — me, with my own eyeballs — read all the comments.

Now, as you can see, I know next to nothing about any of these things (yet), so I imagine that the entire process of learning all this will consist of a lot — and I mean a lot XD — of stumbling around and breaking things (hey, I promised cracks!). In other words . . .

Expect bumbling and borking.

Doesn’t that sound fun? XD (*hands you some popcorn or melon seeds* You’re welcome. =P)

If you, dear reader, are a fellow creative, I hope you can relate. (Maybe we can help each other. ^.~) And if you don’t consider yourself a creative, I hope you can still relate! XD

If nothing else, though, I hope you will find my (mis)adventures here entertaining — or at least interesting.

We can laugh (laughcry? XD) about them together. ^____^