Writers & Social Media

November 3, 2014 - colinashby 2 Comments

Social media is kind of like this mysterious black hole. Besides seeing the constant #pretty or #blessed photos and posts, you aren’t exactly sure what you’re getting out of it. You can put things into it but you’re not exactly sure what you’re going to get out of it. Plus there is the bad habit of social media eating into your writing time.

We all know how important writing time is (especially with NaNoWriMo upon us). Never fear, there are measurable ways and tactics manage your social media.

Moving to the beat of those metrics

Gone are the days of just blindly posting updates/posts and never really knowing how much they were seen. There are ways to see how much exposure your Facebook update, tweet, or Instagram picture got. Facebook Insights, Inconosquare for Instagram, and Analytics for Twitter are great (and free) ways to measure the impact of your social media updates.

With these tools, you can see which weeks were better than some, days that had higher exposure than others, and so forth. No longer do you have to post a super excited tweet with your novel details on a blind eye!

Don’t stop till you hit the post

Posting only at certain times isn’t something you have to religiously follow but it is helpful to know. Whenever you have exciting details about your novel, revealing your cover, or just want to post an update, post during peak hours so as many people can see it as possible.

This helpful infographic from Hub Spot shows the best times to post and even what to include. Isn’t that nifty?

Hootsuite is your kinda sorta awesome best friend that tells you everything

I’m suprised at how many people still don’t know about Hootsuite. I use it all the time for my PRSSA organization and plan to use it even more once I start hardcore promotion for my novel next year.

With Hootsuite, you can schedule messages for future publish. You can also schedule things to post at the same time across all of your social media channels.

This feature is a hugely beneficial way of taking the constant thought of needing to update, logging into all of your channels and posting to each individually.

Once I start using this to post updates, I can set aside a designated time to craft posts. Then for the rest of my time, I can work on what really matters: finishing my novel!

Thoughts

Self-publishing is a lot of work…and a lot of money. You’re having to do nearly all of the marketing and engagement yourself. It takes a lot away from you. It takes a lot away from writing time. Using the right tools can make using social media a little bit more insightful so you know what you’re getting out of it.

I don’t want to promote my novel and engage with other authors without having a little insight into how much exposure I’m getting and how to maximize it. Or maybe I can just post saying I’m Colin Ashby, buy my novel!!! (note: probably wouldn’t work).

Go ahead and check the sources out and see what works for you. Happy writing!

Blowing Smoke

October 28, 2014 - colinashby 1 Comment

I’m glad most people that read and liked the various articles about me living in my car won’t see this post. This entry is a bit of a turn from the vibe that those car-dwelling articles were about.

Blowing smoke

Ever heard that phrase? Apparently it’s a common phrase yet I had never heard it until recently. There is this version of the phrase that I just put up and there is also a slightly extended version. Both mean similar things. The expression of people giving you compliments and saying they will do something…and then never do.

When the article came out, a handful of people talked about how my story was inspiring, humble, and so forth. I didn’t really understand it considering I just lived in my car to get through college, but nonetheless I went along with it. I knew things were going to die down soon enough. Many people I talked with mentioned that they would try to help me get set up with jobs and careers. They said I could reach out if I ever needed help.

Well, I’ve experienced my fair share of people blowing smoke lately. I was told about a likely job offer only for it to never happen. Then a handful of people got in contact with me and talked about introducing me to potential job leads…only for it to never happen.

I didn’t realize what I was doing wrong at first. I had told the people I was talking with about the types of careers I wanted, the skills I had, and that I was open to moving anywhere in the country for a career I wanted. Things seemed good at first. I was talking with a few people, they were sending information and so forth. The fan fare died down, however, and things have hit a (sort of) brick wall.

I’m no closer to knowing what my future career entails than before the article was released. It wasn’t my intention when writing the article to have it boost my career in any way. It’s just that when I started getting in contact with working professionals saying they wanted to help me, I thought “Hey, maybe a potential lead could come out of this.”

This was far from the reality.

I thought working hard, living in my car freshman year, and taking a full load of classes would get me prepared for the job hunt.

I thought having good grades, a handful of internships, and student involvement would help me secure a job for after graduation.

I thought, I thought, I thought…

I graduate college in 6.5 weeks and I have no idea what comes afterward. This is a weird feeling since my schedule is packed right now. I’m taking 15 credit hours, working a part-time job at a public relations firm, running an organization, and writing my first novel. However, once December hits, most of these things (except for the novel) will go away and I will have an open schedule.

Slightly (okay, very) frightening to say the least.

I always laughed at Lena Dunham’s character in Tiny Furniture. Now I feel like I might become the character.

I’ve always dreamed of moving somewhere else after college (either Chicago, NYC, or Seattle). Lately, I’ve been toying with the idea of going to Chicago for the improv scene. Pretty foolish, right?

On top of all of the lost leads, I haven’t had much time to devote to my novel. It’s my first novel and I’m writing it right now, something I’m proud to be doing, yet I don’t have near the amount of the desired time to do it. It sucks having to put a passion project on the back burner for things like writing papers and studying for tests. Whenever I’m not doing that I’m working my job, whenever I’m not doing that, I’m running an organization. I clock in only a few hours a week toward my novel.

It is the one thing that I can look forward to after graduation…yet I don’t even have the desired amount of time to devote to it. I hate it.

Not exactly how I planned my last semester of college going. Originally I wasn’t going to have the internship at the public relations firm this fall. Not having it would have freed up a lot of time to job search. I socked away money in my savings account and had a good enough financial aid package to get through the semester without working too much. Well, my place of work extended an offer for me to continue the internship through the fall. I wanted to say no but my bank account told me to say yes.

Anyways, what I’ve learned the past few weeks as my college graduation nears is that nothing is guaranteed. People will tell you things then won’t do it. Opportunities will arise, then they will disappear. The only way to get through is to keep moving forward (thanks Walt Disney).

I monitor my time more closely now and put any free time I have toward finishing my novel. I don’t exactly know the type of job I will have but I know the person I want to become.

Last fall I promised one of my teachers, Mr. Zmikly, that I was going to be a speaker at our college’s Mass Communication Week. I even set a date for it, October 19, 2015. This date is starting to make me nervous considering the thought I have of me working in a crappy low pay job and not really seeming all that qualified to be a speaker.

There is something keeping me from believing this. It’s like there are two people in my head: one thinking I’m going to be an unemployed bum and the other thinking “hey, even though this will be freaking tough, I can get through it and come out on top.”

A big thing I learned at my college’s Mass Communication Week last week was simple:

Make things. Get stuff done.

Trei Brundrett of Vox Media said this during a panel. I freaking loved it. Constantly I’m being instructed to have a perfect resume, thoughtful cover letter, 3-5 internships, good GPA, and have a know-how of many different skills. Several of my teachers and the career advisors have jammed this into my (as well as other students) heads.

Thinking of all of this can get overwhelming and leave a person forgetting to do an activity that matters: make things.

So, even with the lost leads, disappointments, and rejections, I’m going to keep moving forward and keep making things. The “thing” right now include finishing my novel. There is a mass communication job fair tomorrow. Things will move forward, I just have to take the first step.

As Kenan & Kel (mainly Kel) would say, “Aw, here it goes!”

image credit

Young Adult Novels Adhere to the Unconventional

October 20, 2014 - colinashby Leave a comment

Young adult novels…they’ve seem to have gotten repetitive. Fascinating worlds and wonderful tales fill them but many of the main characters across the book have a common shared theme: they’re socially awkward hipsters who take off beaten paths.

I’m not saying that all young adult books are like this. There are several books to choose from that do not take this well-worn path: The Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Divergent. It is worth pointing out why many young adult books are diving in this theme of embracing the unconventional individual. Several young adult books with nerdy/awkward protagonists have become bestsellers. Young adult author John Green’s books including Paper Towns, The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska all include having a main protagonist who isn’t very outgoing and believes in staying quiet.

Two young adult genre breakout hits of 2013 were Eleanor & Park and Fangirl. Both books (written by the same author: Rainbow Rowell) deal with introverted characters who surround themselves in their own world. This Song Will Save Your Life, a novel by Leila Sales, deals with a quiet teen girl who has trouble making friends. Notice a similar theme/trend with the other books mentioned?

Perhaps this is just a trend that in the coming years will start to slow down. It’s good that many young adult authors are helping teens embrace their quirky traits and awkwardness in a world of weight pressure, body image critics, and bullying. There is room for change however. Sometimes it needs to be known when to move on and describe other types of characters. Embrace the person who likes to speak up, make things, and/or is overly vain. It would be a welcomed change.

Jumble of Mumble

October 13, 2014 - colinashby Leave a comment

Drinking Buddies

The film, made for less than $1 million, stars well-known actors Olivia Wilde (Tron Legacy), Jake Johnson (Fox’s New Girl), Anna Kendrick (Up In The Air, Pitch Perfect), and Ron Livingston (Office Space). The improvisation is the thing most interesting about this film. Director Joe Swanberg only gave the actors outlines with plot points and what had to happen for each scene. Being a romantic dramedy detailing the status and complications of a relationship, the dialogue comes through very real and touching. The movie is set in a brewery and follows Wilde and Johnson’s character interactions along with their respective partners. A-

Related: Before Sunrise/Sunset, Like Crazy (Although it’s slightly more “light” in mood than these)

Tiny Furniture

Aura (Lena Dunham) returns to her parent’s home in Tribeca with no job and a film studies college degree. She is stuck in the weird stage (that many college grads face) where she is post-grad but not yet in the real world. The film, shot for just $65,000 is not for everyone. The pacing is slow and nothing seems to be going on at first. Dunham shows the numbness that many (nervous, desperate, helpless) recent graduates feel but she doesn’t seem to give much more. Aura never does more than just shuffle around hopelessly. It’s a phase that many recent college graduates have but not of an extendedly long period. B-

Related: Perks of Being A Wallflower, Giant Mechanical Man

On My Upcoming College Graduation

September 1, 2014 - colinashby Leave a comment

I just began my final semester of college last week. Is it a bit bittersweet? Maybe. Am I ready to be done? Absolutely. Despite college allowing for a person to take naps in the middle of the day and get super wasted while using the excuse that you are a college student, I’d rather be out in the real world. The real world has a never ending list of obstacles that a person has to face. Even with the obstacles, I’m ready to move past the academic world and into the real world.

It’s tiring having to constantly be around people that don’t want to think about or plan for their future. They spend the majority of their money on shopping trips to the mall, video games, Starbucks coffee, and eating out. I’m disconnected with most of the college culture. I say this with a little hesitation because I’m partly like them in that I don’t exactly know what I want to do after I graduate college. I do, however, have a list of goals I’m aiming for and things I want to accomplish (if you’re ever in the Austin, TX area, I can show you my poster board I have it all written down on, haha). I’m sort of like the male version of Leslie Knope (from Parks & Recreation) in how I plan.

Having my ambitions and goals written down doesn’t completely help whenever I discuss my post-grad plans. Anyone that is graduating college or has graduated college in the past knows how cringing and repetitive it can be whenever people ask the dreaded questions:

So what are you going to do once you graduate college? What are your future plans?

I want to run into a hole whenever I hear the question. It’s an awkward question to ask because I’m not exactly sure how things will pan out after graduation. This happens to nearly every soon to be graduate, not because they lack direction, but because life throws obstacles that make it hard to have a set goal (especially when you’re still trying to figure that goal out). Things cost more money than you expected, you can’t move to a new city due to financial reasons, student loans need to be paid back and the dream job that you want requires a minimum of three years experience.

It makes a soon to be graduate quickly go from excited about graduation to feeling depressed. 911, help, my life starts in a few months, how do I plan it?!? Sometimes I think my job search for my first post-grad job will be a lot like the one detailed in an article on The Onion. Hopefully not!

My answer for whenever someone asks the dreaded What are you going to do after graduation? question is straightforward.

I’m going to become a psychic, so I can see into the future and decide what I want to do for the next 50 years of my life.

I say that exact reply. People either laugh or look at me weird before saying ‘okay’ (It’s usually the latter). It’s okay though. Even though I’m constantly bombarded with the question of my future plans, I know in the end (as long as I stick to my goals and ambitions) I’ll be fine. Will my first job out of college be one I hate? Maybe. The career choices I make now do have a big impact but they aren’t set in stone permanent. Everyone has to start somewhere. Or as the characters in American Hustle would say:

Pulling from a Fast Company article, I have a list of questions I ask myself frequently (instead of the simply dreadful “What is my passion/what do I want to do with my life? question).

What type of work leaves me feeling challenged? (in a good way)
What keeps me up at night? What do I think about before falling asleep?
What are my superpowers? (character & personality strengths)
Looking back on my career 20 years from now, what do I want to say I’ve accomplished?
What did I enjoy doing as a kid? The things things that let me lose track of time.

To quickly add another quote, when I think about my future, a Martin Luther King Jr. quote comes to mind: You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.

I’m not going to have a burnout by stressing constantly over my future plans. *cue Macaulay Culkin Home Alone freakout face* I’ll vigorously research pathways to take but I’m not going to let it completely take over my life. I’m staying open to the many possibilities available to me.

Right now I’m taking 15 hours of classes for my final semester, working an internship at a public relations agency, and writing my first novel. I’m doing good right now and soaking up as much as I can.

As Pat from Silver Linings Playbook would say: Excelsior! (ever upward). I’m keeping this as my motto as I move closer to graduating and stepping out into the world.

*Side Note: Sorry for all the Fast Company links, I’ve had a bit of an obsession with their site lately*

“We’re Going to See This Through to the Bitter End”

August 25, 2014 - colinashby Leave a comment

The World’s End is the third installment in the Cornetto Trilogy by writing duo Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg. Building upon the same formula of their previous successes (Shaun of the Dead & Hot Fuzz) The World’s End adequately delivers laughs and embraces Wright and Pegg’s writing talents.

Instead of fighting zombies (Shaun of the Dead, 2004) or being a by-the-book cop (Hot Fuzz, 2007) Simon Pegg plays Gary King. Gary is a low life who peaked in high school who is hoping to re-ignite the good times he remembers having. At the start of the film, Gary tries to gather up his old high school buddies to revive an old tradition they did called “The Golden Mile.”

“The Golden Mile” involved going around and drinking a pint of beer at each of 12 pubs in the characters hometown of Newton Haven. Shortly after starting the quest, Gary gets into a fight with an odd acting teenager in a bar bathroom. Gary knocks the teen against the wall causing his head to fall off and exposing him as a robot. The chaos starts to ensue shortly afterwards when Gary and his friends notice that the whole town of Newton Haven is infested with human-looking robots filled with blue ink.

Characterization is great in the film. Simon Pegg successfully play a drunk and druggie who is looking to have a good time with friends. Nick Frost (Pegg’s partner in crime in Shaun of the Dead) pulls off a solid performance as the reserved one of the group. Martin Freeman from the movie The Hobbit is also in the film.

The film project formed from an early screenplay that director/co-writer Edgar Wright wrote when he was 21. The original story involved a group of teenagers visiting several pubs. Wright reworked the script with Pegg to have a story that embodied the “bittersweet feeling of returning to your hometown and feeling like a stranger.”

Enjoyment will come from watching the film if the viewer liked the first two films in the Cornetto Trilogy. Crazy antics and surprisingly cool action scenes help keep the viewer watching. A sign of relieve can be given for the fact that the film does not employee the standard apocalypse movie format of people just running around and screaming.

Whether you have a love of sci-fi, action, or comedy, The World’s End employees all three while still giving new things to laugh at. The World’s End is a slapstick comedy that gives more to love from the creative minds of Pegg and Wright.

Evolution of the Romantic Comedy

August 18, 2014 - colinashby Leave a comment

“Boring”, “Overdone” and “haven’t I already seen this?” are some of the common comments that sit below a YouTube Trailer for an upcoming romantic comedy. People are getting tired of the predictable genre and are moving on from it to cinematic romance movies.

Romantic comedies used to be viewed in a positive way for most. They were easy to follow, had a predictable but nice ending and made you feel a mushy gushy warm feeling inside. For the most part, women would go in attendance to these types of films. Now it seems as though no one wants to see the dying genre anymore.

The 2012 film What to Expect When Your Expecting, even with a star studded cast, made only $41 million domestically against a budget of $40 million. The Jason Segel and Emily Blunt romantic couple comedy The Five Year Engagement grossed $27 million domestically against a budget of $30 million.

Studios seemed to try to take on a different approach this year with the guy-centric romantic comedies That Awkward Moment and Cavemen. That Awkward Moment seemed more like That Awkward Movie to most viewers due to its lack of a clear theme. The movie’s success seems to be attributed mainly due to the star power of its leading stars Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan rather than any compliments to the actual movie.

The cinematic romance and romantic dramedy have faired well recently. 2013 featured the films Enough Said, The Spectacular Now, Before Midnight, Drinking Buddies, and many others. Enough Said and Before Midnight went on to gross more than $25 million each.

Movie goers seem to divert from the clique plots and happy endings of rom-coms in favor of the realistic portrayals of romance in the films like Enough Said, Before Midnight and others. The films feature characteristics like natural lighting, complex conflicts, *real looking* people and natural dialogue (particularly in the case of Drinking Buddies which had largely improvised dialogue).

So in the times of decreasing box office returns, studios should look into romance films that people want: ones that show there isn’t always a happy ending to relationships…and that’s okay.

On living in my car freshman year

August 15, 2014 - colinashby 3 Comments

So on Wednesday, USA Today College published my article about living in my car freshman year. I seriously didn’t think it would be read and shared so many times. All of my other articles on the site didn’t get super high viewership. So when I submitted my car story, I naturally thought it would follow the other viewership patterns of the other articles.

Well…the article was read a lot. Many people gave very kind words (THANK YOU SO MUCH!). Others got deep into debate about the challenging nature of higher education in the country.

Because of the concise nature of the piece, some people naturally had questions after reading. So I will answer some questions below that were commonly asked.

Where did you shower?!?! Did you shower?!?!

Yes, I showered every day. I used the campus recreation center at Texas State along with some other places.

So how did you eat? What did you eat?

Not having a kitchen was a huge challenge but I got by. I mostly ate prepackaged food. There was a microwave in one of the dining halls at Texas State and I used that to cook Ramen noodles, soup and other microwavable foods.

Did you do laundry?

There are laundromats in San Marcos…and I used them.

This guy is lying! All freshmen are required to live on campus!

I did live in my car for my freshmen year of college. I was able to do it because I classified as a commuter. Go to the Texas State housing website and click on the ‘Commuting from Home of Your Parent/Legal Guardian’. Reading the paragraph, you will notice that if a student lives within 60 miles of the Texas State campus, then they are exempted from living in the dorms their first year. My parent’s house is within 60 miles. So, I was exempted from having to live in the dorms, meaning I didn’t have to pay for a dorm room (remember that dorms are an additional expense that are NOT included in the tuition and fees). I instead lived out of my car.

Texas State University

I freaking love Texas State. I feel so lucky to be able to go here. It really is such a great school. The problem isn’t in the college I go to, it’s in the higher education system. Texas State has given me some amazing opportunities and I love going here. I don’t know what I would do without the Texas State advisors that helped me graduate in 2.5 years or the variety of student organizations they have. I’ve loved my time here so far.

Being a Mass Communications Major

Some people mentioned that I should have majored in something “better” than mass communications-public relations because supposedly I won’t be able to find a job after graduation. I understand the reasoning but I’d like to point out that my degree is more than just some typical liberal arts degree. Through my courses, I’ve been able to learn HTML, CSS, Photoshop, public speaking, news writing, campaign strategy and more.

Some of the jobs TXST mass communication grad’s get include: software engineers, public relations specialists, marketing coordinators, development, web designers, graphic designers and so forth. PR specialists, web developers and graphic designers are some of the fastest growing fields right now (and probably for a while). I feel confident in finding a job after graduation.

TV is the Anti-Hero

August 11, 2014 - colinashby Leave a comment

“Let’s see what’s on Netflix” is a phrase becoming all the more common. It seems to be said more often that the traditional phrase “Let’s go to the movies.” More people than ever seem to be turning on the remote (or computer mouse) instead of going out to the movie theater. While the film industry has had several disappointments, TV seems to be thriving more than ever.

TV is becoming everyone's BFF — TV is becoming everyone’s BFF

In 2013 Netflix released a slew of original programming including the political drama House of Cards, the Arrested Development comeback and the much-beloved women’s prison drama Orange is the New Black. Two of Netflix’s shows received Primetime Emmy Award nominations, a first for web syndicated television content.

With big-budget flicks disappointing and movie making becoming more riskier, TV seems to be a safe haven that many are flocking to.

Anna Faris: Launched to the spotlight after starring in the horror parody film Scary Movie, Faris had a good amount of films under her belt. In 2013 she shifted gears and accepted her first full-time television gig, playing a single mother with her recovering alcoholic mother in the CBS series Mom.

Kevin Bacon: No need to watch Footloose again, Kevin Bacon leads Fox’s thriller drama series The Following.

Kerri Washington: Known for her wide array of film credits, in 2012 Washington became the first African-American actress to lead a prime-time network series in 40 years. Scandal airs on Thursdays on ABC.

See more film stars who switched over to TV here.

Snowpiercer: You need to see it

July 21, 2014 - colinashby Leave a comment

Snowpiercer, the South Korean directed sci-fi thriller, was shot in 2012 and released to basically everywhere except the U.S. in 2013. The reason for the hold-up? Probably due to the conflicting perspectives on how the final version of the film would be. Harvey Weinstein, the film’s producer, didn’t seem to like the final cut by the film’s director Bong Joon-ho. Weinstein wanted major cuts to happen to the film and Bong Joon-ho refused. The outcome? The film was released on June 27, 2014…the same weekend opening as the latest big-budget franchise movie Transformers: Age of Extinction.

Snowpiercer, however, has become the underdog favorite movie for the summer. The reason? Despite a limited opening release of just eight theaters, the film went on to have a video on demand release two weeks after the theatrical one. Within a few days after releasing to VOD platforms, a swift internet chatter of admiration developed for the dystopian themed movie. It currently holds a 94% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

When the opening credits come up, it’s 2014. The earth has reached high temperatures due to global warming. A chemical by the name of CM7 is released into the atmosphere by several countries in an attempt to cool down the earth’s temperatures. Things don’t go as planned. The chemical released experiment causes a massive ice age that kills almost all life on earth. The only surviving people are ones aboard a train that circumnavigates the world.

Curtis (Chris Evans), lives at the tail-end of the train along with his fellow inhabitants Edgar, Gilliam and Tanya. The train is led by wealthy businessman Wilford (Ed Harris). Wilford has the train structured into a class system. The wealthy stay up at the front of the train, near the engine. Various aquariums, animal habitats and gardens are in the middle of the train. The poor live in the tail-end.

Curtis, fed up with the conditions the tail-end people endure, sets up a plan for a revolt. He draws experience from previous rebellions when planning. He carefully watches the pattern that the train doors open in every time the guards come to deliver food. Making note of timing, guard behavior and revolt’s of the past, he notices a key element the guards are missing. Once the notice of this missing element is picked up, the revolt is on.

Pep talked by his elderly mentor, Gilliam, Curtis leads the revolt. With a pack of people, he charges through the doors of each train car. Along the way, he enlists the help of former train security officer Namgoong Minsoo and his daughter, two people with the ability to open the train’s doors.

The society on wheels is thrilling with its different compartments. Curtis and his team fight off a group of creepy masked soldiers, marvel at an aquarium compartment and take in the staggering differences between the tail-end and higher up sections. Tilda Swinton gives a refreshing comic performance as Mason, the high level citizen who leads tail-end rebels through the train’s sections.

Snowpiercer isn’t something that can be pigeon-holed like most dystopian action films. The dialogue is filled with mindful anecdotes. CGI only supplements the real gritty action taking place. The ending twists into something the viewer wouldn’t normally expect. Lessons taken from the ending of the dsytopian film could include:

Upsetting reality even if revolts are successful
Complex nature of how to run a society where everyone is in need
Reflection of how exactly leadership should be handled

Forget CGI and robots, this is real action!

Best way to enjoy this film? Watch it twice.While it is refreshing to watch on the first take, it’s one of those movies where the little details start to become clearer on second viewing. A must see for anyone tired of mindless big-budget franchises and endless sequels. A+

Indiewire did a great article detailing the theater vs. VOD numbers for anyone looking for an informative read on the marketing side of this film.

Colin Ashby

Constantly curious & eclectic

Author: colinashby