Michelle Manning's Blog
August 8, 2013
It's That Time of Year Again!
That statement paired with an exclamation point usually means Christmas but strangely enough I'm talking about school almost being back in session. The first day of school in elementary school is a drag. In JR High it's a nightmare. In high school it's dependent upon your social ranking. But in college is a thrill!
The self-made schedule that lets you sleep in, the readily available group of friends at every turn, and a whole new crop of people to meet with every new class. Of course if you're an early-rising shut in with social anxiety you're probably not looking forward to summer's end... and online college is the place for you! But if not, it's a big day to look forward to!
On Brooke Aarons's first day at the University of Texas in Siding with Plato, she shows up to her dorm knowing nobody. Three of the people she meets in that day turn out to be her best friends as they spend the next year tangled in a mess of college parties, romances gone wrong, and a whole lot of laughter. This book may be fiction but I'll weigh in that I met my best friends on my first day at college and am pretty jealous of all the future freshman right now!
Hint: One of my best friends sent me this picture when she got to Chapter 24 ... notice anything familiar?
Siding with Plato
The self-made schedule that lets you sleep in, the readily available group of friends at every turn, and a whole new crop of people to meet with every new class. Of course if you're an early-rising shut in with social anxiety you're probably not looking forward to summer's end... and online college is the place for you! But if not, it's a big day to look forward to!
On Brooke Aarons's first day at the University of Texas in Siding with Plato, she shows up to her dorm knowing nobody. Three of the people she meets in that day turn out to be her best friends as they spend the next year tangled in a mess of college parties, romances gone wrong, and a whole lot of laughter. This book may be fiction but I'll weigh in that I met my best friends on my first day at college and am pretty jealous of all the future freshman right now!
Hint: One of my best friends sent me this picture when she got to Chapter 24 ... notice anything familiar?
Siding with Plato
June 15, 2013
Old Blog, New Laughs
Wow, is all I can say. I've been reading up a lot on how an indie author can market their book without spending money. One of the tips kept referring to having Blogger push notifications out to your Google + circles. I looked up Blogger to see how this would be possible and a page pulled up that I hadn't seen in years...
A while back, when a boyfriend and I lived together, I started a blog called The Shack Up. It made fun of all the awkward situations that come when a couple first moves in together and it's when I realized how much I actually love writing.
The relationship eventually ended and I failed to renew the account (because he had created it) and most of the posts were lost along with the website.
Luckily, I had stashed a few on an early Blogger page I had forgotten about it entirely. Until yesterday.
I pulled up the Blogger page to see that it had THOUSANDS of views somehow. I started reading some of those early posts and it made me laugh all over again like it was brand new.
Check it out and see if there are any moments you relate to!
http://michellemanningwrites.com/the-...
A while back, when a boyfriend and I lived together, I started a blog called The Shack Up. It made fun of all the awkward situations that come when a couple first moves in together and it's when I realized how much I actually love writing.
The relationship eventually ended and I failed to renew the account (because he had created it) and most of the posts were lost along with the website.
Luckily, I had stashed a few on an early Blogger page I had forgotten about it entirely. Until yesterday.
I pulled up the Blogger page to see that it had THOUSANDS of views somehow. I started reading some of those early posts and it made me laugh all over again like it was brand new.
Check it out and see if there are any moments you relate to!
http://michellemanningwrites.com/the-...
May 23, 2013
And I thought Writing a Book was Tough...
It was just another day at the office. I walked in, took a seat at my desk, typed up a story on Charlize Theron and discussed my interviews with Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman from the night before as I prepped for our daily live show.
My boss came in, worked for a bit, then told me she had something to tell me as she waved for me to follow her. I did - suddenly interested in this obviously juicy gossip - and a moment later found myself standing in a conference room with our frowning HR rep. I was given two sentences on how I forgot to send an email, striped of my phone and computer, and told to leave without going back to my desk or saying good bye to anyone. No warning. It was just over.
An hour later I sat in a park, while my dog ran laps around me, debating how long it would take me to adjust to only one meal of Top Ramen a day, when suddenly I stood up, wiped the tears, and decided now was my opportunity to focus on my side project - my novel.
For months I came home from work, went straight to my computer and typed until I fell asleep. It was finally finished and now I had all the time in the world to get it out there.
I had just started sending it out to literary agents in the weeks prior and it seemed to be getting some good feedback. But I no longer had time to wait on them if I wanted an income, so I decided to self publish. And thus began the most frustrating-exciting-self loathing filled-rewarding process I've experienced yet.
I made a Createspace independent publishing account and a Smashwords account and got to work. I did every single step wrong five times before I did it right. I lost hours of my life and probably some hair over the process but seeing the finished product up on Amazon and Barns & Noble was my proudest moment! It was worth it.
Note: If you're the kind of person who looks at a piece of IKEA furniture and confidently believes you can do it without the universally friendly directions . . . step away from the self publishing process. I fully believed it would all be intuitive until I found myself staring at my lap top after my 7th try screaming "what am I doing wrrrrrooooooonnnnng?!?!?!?" Take a beat. Read the guidelines. It will save you days.
My boss came in, worked for a bit, then told me she had something to tell me as she waved for me to follow her. I did - suddenly interested in this obviously juicy gossip - and a moment later found myself standing in a conference room with our frowning HR rep. I was given two sentences on how I forgot to send an email, striped of my phone and computer, and told to leave without going back to my desk or saying good bye to anyone. No warning. It was just over.
An hour later I sat in a park, while my dog ran laps around me, debating how long it would take me to adjust to only one meal of Top Ramen a day, when suddenly I stood up, wiped the tears, and decided now was my opportunity to focus on my side project - my novel.
For months I came home from work, went straight to my computer and typed until I fell asleep. It was finally finished and now I had all the time in the world to get it out there.
I had just started sending it out to literary agents in the weeks prior and it seemed to be getting some good feedback. But I no longer had time to wait on them if I wanted an income, so I decided to self publish. And thus began the most frustrating-exciting-self loathing filled-rewarding process I've experienced yet.
I made a Createspace independent publishing account and a Smashwords account and got to work. I did every single step wrong five times before I did it right. I lost hours of my life and probably some hair over the process but seeing the finished product up on Amazon and Barns & Noble was my proudest moment! It was worth it.
Note: If you're the kind of person who looks at a piece of IKEA furniture and confidently believes you can do it without the universally friendly directions . . . step away from the self publishing process. I fully believed it would all be intuitive until I found myself staring at my lap top after my 7th try screaming "what am I doing wrrrrrooooooonnnnng?!?!?!?" Take a beat. Read the guidelines. It will save you days.
