EP00: Introduction - TRANSCRIPT

 Hi! Welcome to the introduction episode of Hyba is Writing! My name is Hyba, and I'm an author working on my first books. This podcast, is going to be my way of chronicling my progress, sharing my experiences, and discussing writing and literature in general. That's really it - very straightforward and simple. Just like it says in the podcast description, this is just me and my phone, usually outside but not always (like right now). I'll make regular updates and discuss a range of writing related topics that I find of interest, and I invite you to come along for the ride!

But by now you're probably wondering who I am, so I'd like to take a moment to introduce myself.

As I said before, my name is Hyba, spelled H-Y-B-A, and I'm an author working on more than two-dozen stories. Currently, I'm focusing on only a high fantasy series currently entitled The Qarran Tales, in hopes that I can complete them and move on to the next stage of my writing journey, which is the editing stage. I am now focused on the first and second books in the series, The Fall of the Black Masks and The Pirates of Sissa, respectively. You can find a bunch of information about them on my Tumblr, which is hyba.tumblr.com. (You can now find all content and information on my website, sites.google.com/view/hybaiswriting) 

Apart from being a writer, which you probably already knew coming into this podcast, I am also an avid but picky reader, a movie fan - I particularly enjoy discovering black and white movies - and I am a lover of baking - especially when it includes chocolate.

I enjoy dabbling in art and - well - podcasts! I actually enjoy dabbling in a lot of different hobbies, but rarely have the time to get to them all, which I think is something most of you listening will relate to.

How long have I been writing? I've been writing since I was about 7 or 8 years old, which makes it about 14 or 16 years now. That being said, all of my current projects were started while I was studying my Bachelor's degree at university. That's when the writing craze really hit - and when I realized that I wanted to get serious about it and actually publish my books.

Why did I start this podcast? The main reason is that I'm on a learning journey. Obviously, as a writer who has yet to publish her work and get it out there in the market, I've got boatloads to learn. And in the past year or so that I have been focused on writing and completing my manuscripts, I've already learned so much.

I want to share some of what I've learned with you, and I want to use this podcast as a way of recording all the new lessons to come and just creating a chronicle of my journey that I can look back on when I'm hopefully way down the line.

I'd also like it if you could think of this podcast as a discussion with a friend - an overly chatty friend that takes up about the length of an episode to finish saying their piece.

So, what that means is that I'd love to hear from listeners and find out what you think about what I'm saying, which you can do by sending my asks to my Tumblr, or by letting me know through my Twitter, both of which are in the episode description. My Tumblr is hyba.tumblr.com and my Twitter is @HybaIsWriting, and they should be pretty easy to find. I also have a mailing list, which you can join by going to my website, linked to the podcast, and input your email address.

And, as an added bonus, from time to time you'll also get some insider look at my plans for some of my books and stories, as well as some readings of short stories or excerpts from books that I've written! I'm hoping that you'll enjoy the pieces that I'll share.

I also take topic requests and questions if there is anything specific you would like for me to cover in an episode or a question you might have about my writing process and experiences, my books and stories, or anything writing-related in general!

If all of the above sounds good to you, and I hope it does, please make sure to tune in for the next episodes! You can get notified of new episodes by subscribing to the podcast, following me on my Twitter - @HybaIsWriting, or following me on my tumblr blog, hyba.tumblr.com. You can also use those to leave me comments, messages, and questions if you have any.

Thank you for listening today! Until next time!