Google Doc Novel(s)

Alright, so earlier this year I had a problem. That problem came in the form of a 4th period Writer's Craft "workshop day", where we were to work on our final projects which were due the following week.

Now, I was a good girl, and I had loaded my notes and things onto a USB memory stick so I could work on it at school. Little did I know that USB memory sticks were too much the things of the future, and that the computers I would be using were old and decrepit.

In fact, they were too old and decrepit to be able to read my USB memory stick (that was shaped like a cute little surfboard with a Hawaiian-type hibiscus-type flowery print that was sort of flaking off). So I couldn't work on my creative writing final project...

And I was so incredibly bored.

I also realized that I didn't have any novel stored on Google Docs - I just had stuff emailed to myself. But I didn't have my NOTES emailed to me, and therefore couldn't work on the excerpt I decided I was going to turn in. (Which is lame and totally not topping Fairy Tale and grrrr yeah I know I already talked about this but it's my blog so I get to do what I want.)

So I've decided to start a chick-lit novel on Google Docs so that if I am ever stuck in that sort of situation again, I can at least work on SOMETHING.

It's also different enough from The Eleventh that I can use it if I want to work on something in between books, I can. (Even though I'm starting it now, when I'm not done with the draft of the second "book" yet. So I'm actually being a hypocrite.)

OH BUT I FOUND SOMETHING EXCITING.

It's a book called "The Hunger Games". I haven't actually read it, but I've heard it mentioned enough times to assume that it's selling. Which is GOOD, because I read a plot synopsis and it sounds reminiscent of The Eleventh (you know, about a bunch of kids killing each other, but with a story behind it and a happyish ending). So...you know...if it's doing well, then maybe if I one day publish The Eleventh, it might have a chance! Maybe!

Hey, it's publishing. A "maybe" is good enough for me, since I might not even ever get to get PUBLISHED, much less do well.

But I was thinking. Since I'm writing a chick-lit novel on Google Docs, and I think chick-lit might be a more lucrative area (or at least one that's a bit less embarrassing to tell to my classmates...maybe...), what if I one day became an author...with two names! One could be my real name, and that could be where I would write chick-lit, and the other could be an androgynous (a la JK Rowling) pen name under which I would write science fiction or fantasy or whatever the hell I wanted.

Dunno if that would actually work...

But at least if people asked me what sort of books I wrote...

I wouldn't have to say sci-fi/fantasy, which I have determined is the most embarrassing genre to write in if you're a high schooler (HEY WAIT I'M NOT A HIGH SCHOOLER ANYMORE! I GRADUATED! AAAHAHAHA YES!) summer-before-college girl who is trying to be somewhat normal/likable/friendly/etc. Back in high school, if I said I wrote sci-fi/fantasy, people would look at me weird.

Now, I figure, as long as I stay somewhat in the realm of "realistic fiction" (which Overactive Imagination, the story I started on Google Docs, is kind of not...but hey, it's a "transition" book, so shut up), it won't be quite as embarrassing to tell people that I write for fun.

And hey.

At least now I have something to work on if I'm ever stuck with a computer with Internet connection but nothing for The Eleventh. Yay?