New name, same blog (kind of, but not really)
It’s aliiiiiiiive!
And by “it,” I mean both myself and my blog.
Thank you all for waiting so patiently! For those of you who aren’t subscribed to my newsletter (c’mon, people! Get with it!), allow me to explain what’s been going on.
I changed to a pen name! Woohooo!
I’m also back from a very long hiatus! Wooohooo!
For anyone who has questions about either of these things, I’ve placed an FAQ at the bottom of this post to address those.
Now on to the real thing you’ve all been wondering about:
Yes, the blog is returning!
In true Faye Fite style, it is returning in a very unconventional way.
See, I’m starting my PhD program soon and know that I won’t have a lot of time for blogging. However, I also have a giant backlog of blog posts that I’ve published over the past five or six years. A lot of them are excellent, a lot of them could use some revamping, and a lot of them are ones you probably forgot existed because they’re so old.
So here’s what we’re gonna do:
I’m going to be editing my old blog posts and posting one each Friday here on my website. That’s right. My blogspot blog is no longer in use, so now my website is the one-stop-shop for everything Faye-related.
By “editing,” I mean: Clarifying points that confused people, adding the occasional nerd reference, ensuring all images have alt-text for all my blind/low vision readers, and just generally making these posts even more mind-bogglingly awesome than they already were.
I may throw in the occasional brand-new blog post if I feel the urge, but who knows?
By my calculations, this will allow me to continue blogging throughout my PhD program without losing my mind. Yay!
Now here’s the twist:
I’m shutting down my weekly blog post mailing list.
The reasons for this are long, complicated, and boring, so here’s what you need to know:
At the end of each month, I will be including a blog post round-up at the end of my newsletter.
If you want this round-up, make sure you’re subscribed to my newsletter (be careful: It’s different from my blog mailing list! If you aren’t sure if you’re subscribed to my newsletter, might as well sign up again to be safe).
If you want to stay up-to-date with the weekly posts, you’ll need to check my website each Friday.
Taxing, I know, but I believe in you.
Alternately (or in addition to), you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, or Pinterest. I’ll be alerting people to my new blog posts through there, too.
This “new” blog launches on Friday, February 18th!
Have any questions? Or just want to say hi after I’ve been away for so long? Leave a comment below!
FAQ
Question: Why did you switch to a pen name?
Answer: To make a long story short: I am a researcher of nutritional metabolomics and will be pursuing my PhD in nutrition beginning Fall of 2022. It's becoming more and more confusing to have both my fictional and scientific works published under my given name (Hannah Heath), so I thought it was time to make the change.
Question: Why did you choose “Faye Fite” as your pen name?
Answer: So many reasons! A few are:
Fite is an old family name. It also happens to encapsulate both my own personality and the personalities of many of my characters: We're fighters, through and through.
"Faye Fite" is an ode to my given name, which is also alliterative
Magic appears in every story I've ever published and I plan to continue this tradition, so the name "Faye" strikes me as very on-brand
Question: Why so quiet for so long? Is everything okay?
Answer: Yes, everything is going great! This is the most common question I've been getting, so I want to pause and say thank you for the concern and well-wishes. You all are the best!
I've been quiet for a variety of reasons, but the three main highlights are:
1) During the 2020-21 academic year, I focused on leading a disability activist group at my university to bring about some much-needed changes. I'm happy to say we were successful, but it took a lot of time and energy, thus the break from the internet.
2) As it turns out, applying to PhD programs is a lot of work (so many CV edits and interviews!) and I had to put most of my free time towards that. But I got into a really solid program, so it was all worth it.
3) I was recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and the treatment process for that is somewhat rigorous.
Over all, things are going well and I'm excited to be back!
Question: When is your next publication?
Answer: Soon! The Terebinth Tree Chronicles #4 will be releasing in late winter or early spring of this year. In the meantime, check out the first three books in the series and also join the Torn Universe reader's group on Discord for frequent updates!
Question: What’s up with your YouTube channel? When will you start making videos again?
Answer: My channel is temporarily closed. In order to make more time for my creative writing, I had to drop a few side-gigs, including Youtubing. I hope to open it again in a year or two and do have some really cool plans for what that will look like. However, I’m going to keep it a secret so I can dazzle you all when I finally re-launch.