resources

It has been a long time coming. Stepping off the plane was a dizzying experience, my senses overwhelmed by bright colors and clean air, the stark opposite from the dull polluted gray that is NY. It was also surreal. Not because I couldn’t believe it but because I felt like a part of me never left the last time I was here, and that I was just picking up where I left off. Surreal because suddenly I couldn’t tell you where the past 2 years of my life had gone as it all became a blur, a dream. I’m disoriented. It’s the feeling of stepping into a new life that you’ve seemingly already had established, that it was all just ready for your body to get with the program. It is also a sort of reincarnation in leu of what was left behind.

I’m in a personal year number of 1, a year for transformation and manifestation, as is the entire world. The last nine years of my life is a closed book now, and this is a new one. A continuation of the story, but its own story nonetheless, completely untethered and with my own hand guiding the pen. This year will set the stage for the next nine years of my life. It’s a year to remember, and a year for the history books (and globally too). What will I make with the resources at hand? What resources do I even have at my disposal? I’ve set out to discover just that.

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While walking through the community I live in, I noticed how shut up each house was despite the beautiful weather and fresh ocean air. It was then that I began to have the passing feeling that my history in NY is actually a blessing. These people have no appreciation for the weather or beautiful scenery because they’ve never had to live without it. They’ve never had to live as caged animals for half of the year, or to have an uninhabitable climate where the air hurts your skin upon contact. Or perhaps these people have made their cages and prefer it there. Either way, I see my past as a blessing in this way, and so my windows will remain open.

I don’t and will never understand how people can see nature as a luxury. With all the tourists here, my immediate thought towards them wasn’t negative. It was “Wow, I get to live somewhere that people pay money to visit when they’re not working.” I wonder, do people know why it feels so good to be here? It is because the soul says ‘Ah! Finally. Something that is real enough to bring nourishment.’ If we don’t consider that a priority, or if we don’t appreciate it when it’s right in front of us, then we are as plastic as the things we buy.

Although I haven’t had the opportunity to post in a while, I recently had the honor to be a guest on Writer Emily Mundell’s blog. Thanks again Emily. Here is the link to that post, which was about my stance on internal inspiration .

Also, thank you Marci Brockmann, Joe Milians, and Jen Dougherty for becoming a patron for Metanoia!

If you like my work and would like to support my endeavors, please visit my Patreon page and explore what services I have to offer.

For the past year, I have been searching endlessly for ways to enhance my writing, and most of all stay motivated.

Tirelessly looking for ways to expand my outlets and reach out to as many as possible took a toll on my outlook of the internet and how helpful it could actually be, especially when I was very eager and could not find one effective resource to satisfy my need for progress.

However, my efforts have not been futile, and I’ve put together some useful findings that I’ve discovered through my search.

1. 20lines.com

This is my personal favorite. Its as if WordPress, Facebook, and Twitter had a baby, and then made it completely devoted to people who enjoy writing – in nearly all its forms *heavens open up and music is heard*.

Relatively new to the US, it originated in Italy and has gained popularity in other parts of the world. When you sign up, you have a profile that you publish stories to, essentially building your own portfolio and allowing fellow 20liners to like, comment, repost or follow your work. If you’re wondering where Twitter comes in, its because you assign hashtags to the stories that you publish, making your work easy to find by the material. Also, the content published by 20liners is broad. Ive seen everything from poetry, to journal entries, and fictional series that are published one short entry at a time.

The great thing about this website is that if you’re like me and thinking about publishing one day, you have an entire community that has a love of words, ultimately relieving the need of having to pin down a target audience (unlike WordPress where it often takes a while to find your own niche within the mass cacophony of motives and genres). When I publish my story 4 years from now, it is likely that I will have over 200 people following my profile. This is 200 people who love words and had an interest in my story. I’ve already had 4 people contact me and tell me they are looking forward to the end product and are ready to buy a book that has not been written yet.

2. HelpMeWrite.co

HelpMeWrite is a web app that allows you to post writing ideas to an audience who tells you that they would like to read it by casting a vote (simply clicking “I would like to read this”). When you finish the idea, you can publish it to an audience who casted this vote:

http://helpmewrite.co/about

This app is very new to me. I’m not sure it will be the most helpful outlet personally, since it uses Twitter and I am not a frequent user (and actually had to make an account for the app). However, I do believe it could prove to be worthy for those who are already well established on Twitter. This app is best for gaining the motivation you need to pursue an idea that you have.

3. Scrivener

This is more well known than the previous two, so I won’t go into too much detail.

Scrivener has become very popular for writers, and for valid reasons. It is software made for authors, a tool to organize their thoughts, ideas, research, and documents. The first thing I did before entering a single word of my story onto my computer was buy scrivener ($45) and it is one of the most beneficial decisions I’ve made. Im so organized that it is actually difficult to get lost or distracted with what I’m working on. Time isn’t wasted on trying to collect thoughts and synthesize what you want to convey. Its all right there, saved and ready to be built and refined.

I hope some of you have found this useful. Other than this blog, I post and share content like this on Pinterest, and now Twitter. If you have either of these accounts and are interested, follow me!

Happy Writing ❤