Would You Like to Read My Novel for Free?

Sorry to come back unannounced all of a sudden. As you know, I am no longer writing on this blog as I’ve moved on to my own domain. However, I decided to come back for this one last post…

This blog was the start of my ‘public’ writing journey, a safe space where I could finally post my creative writing out there in the world, among a supportive community of like-minded bloggers.

Thus, I thought this announcement is worth sharing here.

I have no idea how many of you this post will reach, but to whoever is reading this…

How about coming along with me on my new writing journey on Substack?

Even after all these years, I’m not done writing… I can never stop writing… and so I’ve decided to start a publication on Substack, a newsletter-based platform…

…where I’ll be posting the entirety of my novel, chapter by chapter over the course of the next year. For free.

(As well as any posts related to my writing process, thoughts, etc.)

How does it work? You don’t have to create an account or anything. Substack is just like subscribing to a newsletter. Everything will come to your inbox, although you can also catch up on any emails you would have missed on my publication page. For now, I plan to release a chapter a week, starting mid-November.

Thank you for your support for the few years I’ve been active on An Evil Nymph’s Blog. While I might not be blogging anymore, I still can’t stop my creative juices from flowing!

P.S.: I’m also planning to publish the same novel, chapter per chapter, on Tapas, so if you already use this platform, you can view my profile here and read it there instead!

Happy reading and hope you’re all doing great.

An Evil Nymph.

I’M TRANSFERRING!

Hi guys,

This is a short update on my blogging situation. As you may have known, I have a second blog, specialised in articles on the lifestyle of international students abroad. However, if you’ve been following this blog here for a while, you may know that I am barely able to write on a regular basis ever since I started my first full-time job.

It’s been a hard decision to make but I’ve chosen to merge An Evil Nymph’s Blog and my student blog so that I can focus on only one blog. And the blog I’ve chosen to keep updating is my second blog, dkwaye.com. I’ve chosen my latest blog for obvious reasons: I’m paying for the domain and web hosting services.

Thus, as from now on, my future blog posts will be published on the other blog. If you do want to keep up with my writing, do not hesitate to subscribe to it using this link.

You can also follow its Facebook page to stay updated about new blog posts!

It’s not easy to part with this blog. After all, it’s been 6 years! Nevertheless, I am not shutting it down, so who knows, I may come back for a blog post or two. 🙂 An Evil Nymph’s Blog is yet to die.

I’m simply shifting my focus.

I hope you’ll join me on my next blogging adventure!

An Evil Nymph.

Dear WordPress, It’s Our 6th Anniversary Together.

These past 6 years have been a crazy ride. It’s been complicated.

I’ve not always been the blogger you’ve wanted me to be. Especially for the past three years or so. First, I’d always forget about our anniversary. You’d constantly had to remind me about it. But I logged in so rarely that I’d see your reminder way too late.

I’m actually surprised I remembered this year. Well, I did see your reminder. But I was on time. And I shouted it out to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And I was proud to have been blogging for that long.

I didn’t always feel that way.

A WordPress.com Blog VS Self-Hosting Website: My Experience

A few posts back, I was writing about how I was going to create my official writer’s website as I’m starting my after-undergrad life as a freelance writer, sort of.

Since then (although it was only a few weeks/days ago), things have changed.

Well, I did launch a website.

But it’s not exactly a freelance writing website. After getting insightful feedback from the surveys I had posted, I realised that people were currently more interested in a Students’ Survival Guide than a freelance writing blog. And looking at my experience, I had way more valuable stories to share in the ‘student’ category. After all, I had only just started freelancing, while I had been a University student for 3 years!

After days of thinking and brainstorming, I finally made the leap and bought my very first domain: dkwaye.com

Second Chance | A Short Story

Disclaimer: This is a short story I wrote at the beginning of the year and which never got a chance to be published, so now here it is, out in the world. Enjoy!

***

His left eye burst into a river of blood.

Daan screamed. Thick red droplets fell onto his laboratory reports and experimental drawings. He stumbled away from his desk, knocking down his chair. He covered the wound with a trembling hand.

It had already begun.

He winced as he went for his desk and grabbed the little amethyst next to his pencils.

“Prepare for imminent evacuation,” he said, clutching the pebble so hard that his knuckles turned white. “I repeat, prepare for imminent planetary evacuation.”

“What?! Now?!” The voice coming through the stone was clear. It felt like Troi, his best friend and the most competent engineer of the century, was standing beside him. “I thought we’d have more time to complete the remaining flying ships…”

“Well we don’t. We need to evacuate the whole planet now. Every citizen of Homothea has to be rescued before…” He cried out as more blood gushed down his cheek. The amethyst slipped from his fingers.

“What’s going on? DAAN! Answer me!”

Ready, Set… NANOWRIMO!

Guys, I’m alive.

I know that my latest post is 1 month+ old, which is probably my MIA record in the blogosphere, and that the latter was a depressing short story, but I would like to let you know that I am perfectly fine… even very happy. Lately, I have simply been overwhelmed by Life, in beautiful amazing ways, and at this point, I’d say that I have never been so lucky. If I was not an atheist I would probably have thanked the Lord. But instead, I’ll just thank the universe.

Anyway, my wake-up call to blogging today was actually the realization that… I’m DOING NANOWRIMO THIS YEAR! (as you’ve guessed from the title, of course) After 2 years of no-NaNo, at last, I’m getting back at it!

If you are also participating this year and would like to be my NaNo buddy, my username is DaphLeFay and yep it’s obvious that I can’t change my username and this one totally reminds me of the ‘me’ that created this blog in the first place. XD

This time, the novel I will be writing will be different from previous years. The main reason why I have not been blogging for a month was because of my commitment in my university’s Performing Arts Club, especially as we were coming close to our big Year-End Production. And I’d say that this whole experience, which is actually my second time, although I was in a higher position this time, changed me and touched my heart like nothing else.

Thus I’d like to dedicate this year’s NaNo novel to my Performing Arts Club. My novel is called, you guess it, The Performing Arts Club.

Anyway, I know I have a lot to do now and those who are doing NaNo can relate, therefore, I’d just like to wish you all good luck!

May your pen never fail you.

An Evil Nymph.

Why I Love Anime

I’ve never been a big fan of anime series and I can count on my fingers how many of them I’ve watched in my whole life so far. (Haha, being an Asian has led me not to be interested in Asian stuff.)

However, I have to say, I really really admire anime.

On the rare occasions that I do watch one, I go completely crazy over it.

And the reason this happens is that anime producers/writers/whatever are simply the greatest storytellers that ever existed.

Indeed, this is a writing-related post (hihi what could you expect from me) and the answer to the ‘why I love Anime’ is simply because of its storytelling.

On Writing…

Another post in 2015 already, yeah! Anyway, today I just wanted to share my (perhaps overly) personal review of ‘On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft’ by Stephen King, because at the end of the day it will probably be found in my life-changing book list. Read further to see why!

This review has been published on Goodreads as well; my longest review ever written there, I believe! By the way, if you’re on Goodreads too, feel free to add my as a friend! I would be glad 🙂 Just CLICK HERE.

Why Do I Want To Be A Writer?

This is a common question that is often asked, although very hard to answer. It’s like asking: why do you like chocolate? or why do you like that particular colour?

But I finally got an answer!! Sometimes, it’s really helpful to think WAY too much… 😉

So… why do I want to be a writer? Why did my 9-year-old self have this dream and passion and why, even after a decade, do I still have it?

I Reached 50,000 Words!

This is a special post to announce that I’ve got past the 50k words mark in my novel-in-progress, a novel I’ve been writing since the beginning of the year – yeah if it was NaNoWriMo I would already be past 50k well before – as those who have been following my posts this year know.

And I didn’t realise that my previous post was actually my 400th! A neat number 🙂 This is the 401st one.

Back to the novel I’m writing, it’s actually a project I’ve challenged myself to complete before going to university in July, and being on the 50k words line, I’m halfway through! Wasn’t sure if I should write ‘only’ or ‘already’ 😉 I just feel that the story will evolve till past 100k words!

It’s urban fantasy, an idea, complex and continuously expanding, which was planted into my brain since I was 13 but which only became a story in 2012 for Camp NaNoWriMo in August and which I’ve been writing and re-writing since, never coming up with a completed story. Until now. Now I feel ready to finish that 3rd attempted first draft of this novel! I’m determined 🙂

If any of you want to know what this obsessive novel-in-progress of mine is basically all about, you can check out this short story I made based on it, for the Create A World Writing Contest by The Dark Globe which I actually won: CLICK HERE!

Anyway, thinking of novels… I made a book haul recently on my YouTube channel! Here it is:

Enjoy!

Tell me anything in the comments! About writing, reading… whatever! Let’s chat 🙂

An Evil Nymph.

It’s Never Too Late… For A Selfie!

It’s never too late for a new blog post either!

For those of you who love to participate in the Weekly Photo Challenge as much as I do you may notice how the title relates to the fact that I haven’t been blogging for two weeks but I really want to remedy to that by still giving a shot at one of the challenges I missed which was ‘Selfie’.

1st take:

You can actually find this photo on my Instagram. Follow me @dkwaye !

From Script To Novel Writing…

I absolutely have to update you about my writing life!!! Yes at last! 

While I was busy with exams and catching up with vlogging and blogging, especially the Weekly Photo Challenge, afterwards, I also had a lot going on with my pen and paper… well, mainly with my MS Word. And it’s only now that I finally pushed away my laziness to sit down and write a post about some serious business of mine: writing.

From the title of this post, you might have an idea of my writing projects. In fact, before my exams started I spent 2-3 consecutive days at writing a whole short film script. Like, non-stop. Except for sleep.

By the way some of you who liked my facebook page (An Evil Nymph) did see a status I posted at that time telling you about that little project. So, for you it’s not the big news yet 😉

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Pattern

When I first saw this week’s theme, pattern, it reminded me of my art classes at school a few years back. We had to draw a specific pattern all over an A3 size paper like the wrapping paper style… I didn’t really like it at that time.

Anyway, here’s my take for the challenge, a pattern that appeals much to me:

 

6 Tips for Cleaning Up Your Writing! [Guest Post]

Most people struggle cleaning up their writing abilities and prowess. The following six quantitative tips will help improve your writing functionally for better performance, respect and recognition anywhere.