It's Here...The NEW Blog!

::wiping dirt and sweat out of her eyes::

Whew!
Creating a new web presence takes FOREVER. New Twitter, new blog, update the Goodreads and comment profiles.

For the last 48 hours I've been an excited maniac so I could bring you this:

DID YOU MISS THE LINK? COMMENT OR EMAIL 52FACES (A) GMAIL FOR IT!

I'm going to keep this link hot for about a week or two, then I have to take it down so I can close the loop forever between private and public. I am completely starting fresh as if I've never met this schizophrenic 52 Faces. (Who has that many faces geezus?)

I do hope you'll follow me over there and I'm so grateful to the support you've given me with my blogging!!!

I'm Coming Out...Soon

Authors are awesome. I'm touched by the thoughtful responses I received to my inquiry yesterday: should I blog with my real name?

After considering their advice and talking with Jifo, I've made a decision:

I will start a new blog with my real, live, birth-certificate name.

I'm not going to use a pen name because

1) Chinese pride. I want to "win" this for my family name. I'm damned proud because I am the only son's only son. (Anyone know which cartoon I'm alluding to?)

Seriously: my father has 5 sisters so I'm the name bearer. This is such a big deal for Asians that Jifo is down with us naming our future sons different last names so we can each have a name bearer. (He's a REALLY COOL ASIAN DUDE to support that.) It's such a big deal for Asians that even my maternal grandmother was saying to me, "I was thinking that you're going to have to have a few sons so that your paternal grandfather can have an heir." For him to see me - a girl - as his true heir is such an awesome feeling.

2) Leverage. I used to be a film and TV actor (my silhouette is more famous than I) and I'm planning on tiptoeing back into the industry. I have to use my real name again so I don't waste my hard-earned IMDB credits.

3) My real name is the one that went to Harvard. Graduating from Ol' Crimson is one of my proudest achievements in my entire life so why not be the same gal that got in?

I'm not coming out on this blog because it's just too incriminating. I already bought my real name domain (I had to wait like 10 years for it to free up and I put a 2-year hold on it), so I'll try to map a blog to that. I have no idea what I'm saying but hopefully a techie will pop into my life suddenly when I need him/her.

So expect to see some unveiling in the next few weeks.

Lastly, my boyfriend deserves some praise here. I'm usually pretty harshd on him but he's been a great sounding board to discuss the business of being an author with, surprisingly. He's in interactive entertainment and a native southern Californian, so he's a lot better at being politically correct in public. After speaking with him, I realized that the "loss of privacy" with blogging publicly is exactly what I'm asking for in pursuing publication in the first place.

Blogging With Your Real Name

Author Jody Hedlund asked recently Is the Query System Dying? in a post that majorly bummed me out. (It was inspired by her agent Rachelle Gardner's 2010 statistics - ZERO clients signed through cold querying.)

One method that Jody recommended was getting to know agents through social media.

Many blogs discuss building a web presence prior to publication and the lovely Mary Campbell and I have exchanged emails about it before. Certainly I've noticed that bloggers who use their real name and talk about their process get a ton more followers than those of us who have to go psuedonymously.

Until recently I've had to stay private because of the personal nature of my blog, and I didn't want my students or employers finding me. But now that I'm about to quit my job and start querying, I've been considering using my real name.

I'm not sure that I'll use 52 Faces though, because the archives contain so many personal posts about my relationships, spirituality/religion, politics, and previous workplaces. I might have to start a whole new blog and do it all over again - hopefully some of you will follow me there if so.

Here are my options:

1) Use this blog but come out of the closet

PROS: Already have a presence and following
CONS: Too much private/embarrassing information in the archives ::watching former employers gear up to sue her::

2) Start a brand new blog using my full, real, birth name.

PROS: Build a network with the publishing community and possibly have agents remember me
CONS: I'm also planning on returning to the entertainment industry and I fiercely protect my privacy; I'm a little uncomfortable with the Hollywood people being able to find my blog since I'll still post some "life" stuff and pictures. Also, my former workplaces/students and current tutoring students will be able to find me and hear about my writing neuroses.

3) Start a new blog using a penname (that I'll make sure to include when querying).

PROS: All the cache of a real full name, but I can keep my work sphere separate still
CONS: When I query with my real name, agents will go, "who the heck are you?"

4) Stick with the original plan - start the public blog after I get an agent/my book sells

PROS: By that time I'll be rich and famous! Just kidding.
I can worry less about having to keep my spheres separate.
CONS: Possibly missing out on supposed (mythical?) magic connections through the blogosphere that will get me published.

What do you think, readers, especially fellow writers/publishing-folk? Do I need to get my real name or pen name out there right now?
Am I doomed if I try to cold query?
Do I need to become twitter buddies with all the agents I lust after just to get them to read my first page?

Natalie Whipple Is My BFF

YA Author Natalie Whipple wrote a whole post just to me! SQUEE squared!

Alright it wasn't just to me. It was to her legion of devoted fans, including 1,147 blog followers, but she actually mentioned me by (pseudo)name. 3 times.

In a previous post she had addressed a common writerly fear about sucking and I asked her about my personal biggest fear:

Even when I manage to eke out some good writing, I STILL won't get published.

She wrote a heartening response and the part that hit my Asian heart the hardest was this:

It's NOT my fault. I did my best.

This will be the most important lesson for me to keep in mind throughout 2011 (and my life) as I begin the query process.

Natalie also opened her post to other fears, so pop on over to get your dose of comfort.

Hit by Hurricane Mother

Mother is in town = 52 Faces is a big ball of stress

Some of you know that I had a pretty traumatic childhood (I'll probably be forced to write one of those difficult-to-read memoirs one day) with a narcissist/borderline mother.

(What part of, "I have a job, don't call me 5 times during 2 hours of work. And if you leave one message I'll get it, you don't have to leave 5" is incomprehensible? I'm not ignoring your calls, I have to do something called TEACH CLASS.)

She whipped in to town this week from China, disrupting me and Jifo's schedule like only this 4-foot-10 tornado can. We're running on half nights of sleep and we haven't done a single errand we badly need to do - Jifo was going to visit some prospective apartments during his lunch breaks/get some legal counsel about those #($!heads called State Farm about my car accident; I've been giving myself headaches wearing broken glasses all week and I would have gone to lenscrafters today except I got into a huge argument with Mommy Dearest and spent my precious extra hour crying and watching the Sing Off.

Even Terry suffers. The dog's only been partially fed (I finally took him to Petco today to get some more food.)

And although I have to get up for a counselor meeting at work tomorrow, I'm browsing pointless websites so I can ward off the screaming, critical voice that's reinstalled in my head.

Tomorrow (well, now to)night we'll be taking her to the airport. Hopefully my blood pressure will go back down and I can have my eyesight back. I can also finally find time to wash my hair. And not to be gross, but even my bathroom schedule is backed up, if you know what I mean. ::watches her blog follower count go down::

Pray for me people. Let us hope that you'll see me on Friday alive and not rocking back and forth too vigorously.

(The only silver lining is that my mother introduced me to Ambien so if I have to, I can at least knock myself out and pretend she's already on the plane.)

First Lines: 2010 Blog in Review

This is a meme I'm resurrecting from my first (very pink) blog:

Take the opening sentence of the first post of each month. You get an interesting summary of your year...

Format:
1) Month
2) Title of post (include link)
3) First sentence

Please feel free to steal and let me know if you did it too!

52 Faces in 2010

January
2010 Is National Novel Writing Year
"Declares I."

February
Pizzeria Bianco
"ROAD TRIP PART II: the Pizza Pilgrimage Realized"

March
Strong Cops Make Good Neighbors
"...when you lack a fence."

April
All Night Wifey Waiting
"In insomniac news..."

May
Afghanistan Goes Gaga
"The first openly gay tribute in the military..."

June
I'm in Taipei
"I wanted badly to blog photos from my trip but didn't pack a USB for it."

July
JACOB.
"I saw it!"

August
Doctor, I'm Broken
"I've been using Jifo and my hard-earned insurance lately."

September
Chapter 1 Rewritten
"I finally finished rewriting Chapter 1 of my last NaNoWriMo (and first completed YA) novel!"

October
Hit and Run
"Doc, I feel like I've been hit by a semi!"

November
Now We All Have Fleas
"I am never picking up strays again."

December
NaNoWri No More!
"It's done!"

The rundown eerily highlights and encapsulates the important things that made up my year: my struggle to get a good night's sleep, my annoyance with my disrespectful neighbors, our constant attempts to pick up stray dogs, the car accident, seeing my Grandmas for the first time in a decade, Eclipse, and of course - YA writing writing writing.

It's cool how headlines evolve. Against my better judgement, this is the one I did for 2008 - although I was embarrassingly candid about my last relationship, my politics and my spirituality, since I only had about 5 readers. I'm waaaay more PC graceful about my topics now.

Let's see your year in review!