Writing!
Okay, so last night, two friends and I went to get some okonomiyaki together and ended up talking a long time. It's so nice to have people to eat with!
We talked a long time, but at some point we were talking about books and writing and stuff. I've been talking to a few people about this lately, about the idea that in the future, print books will be replaced by e-books and stuff, which is something I'm really hoping doesn't happen because I guess I'm an old-fashioned girl about some things. (I like the smell of books. It's part of the experience. Also, I don't like the idea of relying on electricity/battery-powered anything for reading, because that's where everything else is tied up, and all my rechargeable things can't keep power worth shit.) Matt brought up the fact that the whole e-book thing appeals to him on an environmentalist level in particular, which is something that I'm torn about. Normally I'd be all for saving paper, I wouldn't mind never having paper magazines again because I know I'll eventually throw them away, but when I really like something, I want a hard copy. I think computer files just feel too flimsy for me. Phillip teases me for always having to burn discs of my downloads and stuff, but I get scared I'll lose it all. It's happened to him a couple times, after all, and I don't want to go through that. I have several copies of my entire writing collection saved in various places plus burned discs. Yeah, I do know this makes me sound like a paranoid old lady.
Anyway, that aside, we also talked about how I wanted to get published. They suggested that if I wanted to get started, a way that seems to be popular these days is posting stuff online, getting a fan base there, and self-publishing until a big publisher discovers you... something like that. I've heard stuff like that before, though I have no idea how to get people to read the stuff in the first place. I mean, I posted my stories on LJ for a long time and never got any new people reading it, just my friends... and then I got paranoid about lurkers copying stuff, so I made all my entries private. >.> I can always undo it if I wanted, but until now, I figured I just wanted to share stuff with friends and family, and then eventually send stuff in to big publishers, so I didn't need anyone else reading before then.
But the other thing is, I think it helps that the writing I've followed online were parodies, which are much easier to get into at any time, and get addicted to. If someone wants to read a big, epic novel, they go buy or borrow one. At least that's the general impression I get. I know I don't want to be reading something heavy if I have to sit at my computer for hours at a time reading it. It's not like my stuff is all super-death-depressing all the time, but it certainly isn't comedy. Now that I think about it, the closest I get to that is maybe a little of the characters heckling each other, or those sort of, "Oh, he's embarrassed, ha ha, that's so adorable!" sort of funny. What I'm working on now could be somewhat episodic once I add some padding in between bigger plot points, but I don't know if it would be quite as addicting as all-out parody....
Anyway, thoughts? Has anyone looked into stuff like this before?
In the meantime, I guess the important thing for now is to keep writing, no matter what. That's what I'm good at. ^_^
As for rl, I had a really awkward Saturday, a lady I met at the Global Party realllllly wanted me to come over, and she finally got me at a good time. I was worried she wanted me to speak English, but though she threw out a few phrases and questions in English here and there, as we went along and I more or less consistently spoke Japanese to her, she followed suit. Only thing is, she had really little children there, and the girl in particular was such a grabby brat. It was really awkward for me to just sit there thinking, "Don't scream, don't scream," as this two-year-old kid grabbed my hair, my necklace, my arms, anything she could get a hold of, asking "What's this? What's this?" over and over, for the same stuff. The lady would scold her in that completely non-effective Japanese way mothers have here, but I noticed she would constantly say it in both Japanese and Engrish... I guess she's trying to teach her early, which is a good idea, good intentions, but when you can't pronounce it properly yourself, you're probably doing the kid a disservice. I think it's much harder to unlearn something you've been doing a certain way forever than to learn something completely new, especially when it comes to language.
I stayed a little late at the office last night to finish my report, have it over with. It was funny, everyone seemed confused about me staying past 5. ^_^;;; But all I had to do was add pictures and captions, so it took maybe an hour or so, and I was so relieved to have it done, I felt it was worth it. I sent it in to Fujita-san, pictures and all, and we'll see how many more annoying little format-changing-oh-now-you-have-to-re-indent-everything sort of tweaks she'll want me to do. I hate Japanese Microsoft Word, it's even flimsier here than in English. >.<
Today is my last day at work before the seminar thing, which runs through Sunday. I hope I manage to get everything squared away here before the end of the day, so I can start fresh when I get back. It's that lovely time again where Fujita-san has asked me for another short recap article of my activities for the company newsletter that clearly nobody reads. >.< I think I should try copy-pasting some stuff from my last article, like the you-always-have-to-end-with-this "Well, things are hard, but I'll do my best!" bit, and see if anyone notices. :P