An Ode to BookTube... You Complete Me
What is up, BookTubers/bloggers?
Welcome!
My name is Andrew, for those of you who do not know.
If you watch the above-included video, the beard will be gone by the end. the end of this video,
Oh, my gosh, it's so weird!
I have always wanted to take place in No Shave November, but for the entire duration of having had this beard, I have worked in the hospitality industry. There, you have to either have a beard, or not. No in-between.
Thanks to COVID, I guess, I don't have to worry about that this year.
I'm also doing I because I wanted to show the impact of what it's like to write a book as the author.
That's also kind of what this video/post is partly about.
If you saw/read my BookTube Newbie tag, you will know that I very recently just discovered the mass wealth of you that exists on YouTube.
Particularly on the Shelf Space Discord run by Jessie Mae... You have all been so nice and welcoming to me.
You also commented on how great my personality was, so I am just gonna try and channel my inner Allenxandria as often as I can, because that guy is hilarious.
And Allen has subscribed to me, so thank you, Allen… you're hilarious.
I also said in that video that I stream your videos on my TV while I write.... so trust me when I say, you all really influence me.
That being said, those of you who have kind of poked around know that I've basically constructed a dark fantasy book from scratch for this year's National Novel Writing Month.
There's plenty about that all floating around here, but the character, plot, and setting videos/posts are definitely the places to find out most of that information.
I just wanted to let you all know that, whether you interact with me or not... You all really really inspire me.
I suck sometimes at commenting and letting my presence be known, and letting you know that I'm there to interact with in the first place. So far, any time that I do that, you've been really nice and welcoming.
And I'm appreciative of that.
You have all given me the dose of inspiration I really didn't even know that I needed.
I sincerely mean it when I say that I am so grateful that I found you all.
And this website is…
Oh, my… my God is going to include my daily writings from this book.
Because I'm a psycho person.
It's also going to be included with some daily writing prompts, so those of you BookTubers -- like Liz over at Galactic Reads or Lezlie over at Nerdy Narrative -- who just want to write for fun can maybe write for fun with just those.
But this whole "construct a book and write it on YouTube/your blog" idea thing came before I had even posted a single thing to this channel.
I had plotted out three month's worth of content that I treated as a probation period.
Like, "If this were to be some sort of full-time thing, what would that look like?"
So this whole "write an example book" that started in August was really just a way for me to hold myself accountable.
To "show up for the job," if you will.
But this whole, "Post the first draft daily as you write it while anybody in the world could read it," idea?
Definitely sounded not as scary when I thought about it in August.
Now, I feel like I am on the ledge, waiting to jump off of that bungee, or strapped in for a skydive that is completely out of my control.
But the thing is, those jumps ended up… perfectly fine.
Great, actually.
Some of the best memories of my life, despite how scared I was for them.
So now, I'm just curious to see how you all are going to inspire and shape this random book I pulled out of my ass.
This will forever, as the ninth book that I have completed in my personal little author career, be known as "The book that was written by BookTube" for me.
And if any of you do have any interest in actually influencing this book, outside of just whatever I might get from your videos, feel free to comment on my blog, or on my YouTube videos about how you think of the book.
Or, if you want to just read the bulk posts that I post with my Weekly Writing Wrapup vlogs, feel free to do so.
For you, I suppose it gives you the opportunity to "sit on the author's shoulder" while the book is being written.
And I don't want to keep "calling out" all of these channels that I now love, either.
Even though I love you, and even though you're going to be inspiring me whether you like it or not, I also don't really want anyone to feel obligated to join in any of this.
But for real, to the general Shelf Space community, or anyone that I have or have not yet met on BookTube:
I love you so much.
I'm just trying to find one of you who doesn't like fantasy.
But in retrospect, considering how drunk I was when I came up with all of this in the first place, I guess I'm grateful that the generator randomly decided that I was gonna write a dark fantasy book.
Because now, hopefully, I can maybe write one that you're interested in.
And even if no one participates, because reading a first draft might not sound fun, I am still at least, as the author, interested to see how this book is gonna turn out, anyway.
Especially recording all of it with the way that I am, I've just never done it like this before.
AKA, I have mixed feelings about whether or not I actually want any of you to join.
This is my way of "contributing" to BookTube during National Novel Writing Month.
"Hey, here's a book for you to read. That you can totally just tear to shreds while you're at it until I have time to make some actual BookTube-related content in December."
Oh, my God, what am I doing?
Anyway, it's just gonna be there for the whole world, who now knows about it, so it's fine if you want to go read it.
I'm -- I'm just gonna go puke.
No!
It's okay, Andrew.
We got this!
But, anyway, let's… let's get write on in to getting your read on.
Okay, love you.
