Flags And High Fives

Blog No. 224

Time and time again, I’ve learned the hard lesson that it’s harder to get back into a routine than it is to stick with one. The trouble with that in regards to writing (at least as far along as I am) is that writing is only a small aspect of putting out a book. Right now my to do list is full of editing, and for some reason, I can’t get into the same daily habits as I did in January when I was writing. Part of it is that I have more than one project on the go, but even further, I have more than one medium on the go. Hot on the heels of the Wii Like To Podcast Anniversary Show, Arvin and I are still working on our new podcast (and it’s starting to become a time sink). Flags and High Fives is a retrospective on WLTP and so far, the first episode has taken us several weeks to hammer out.

Who knew that after yeas of doing a successful video podcast (eve with a seven year hiatus) that doing an audio podcast would be so damn hard. Part of the issue is parceling out the content in each episode. WLTP was well structured and we were talking about new things every time. News was prevalent and that’s what we talked about. With FAHF we are going back through our flawed memories and trying to structure shows out of what we dig up. Plus, there is something about audio only that requires a ton of effort to sound interesting. It’s a staple I remember from my old radio days that I still struggle with.

Part of it could be that I’ve gotten so used to working on my own. Even though Christian and I do a lot of things together, the act of writing and editing is still a solo gig. Having to collaborate with someone on every detail, even when you agree on a lot and readily compromise, is a slow process. I worry that we won’t get into the old swing of things and each episode will take this much work. If it does, this is going to be a long eight months. From now until then, I’ll have to come up with something that’s really not labour intensive for our next project. I’m not sure I can keep up on everything. I’m just too lazy still.

For now, the first episode is almost done (for the second time). I keep trying to remind Arvin, and myself, of how bad the first episode of WLTP was. It’s the same with the first stories I was writing. You have to start somewhere. Work on episode two will start immediately after, but I still have edits going on for the crime anthology and I have a lot of work still to do for the cyber punk novella. all that’s along with my regularly scheduled work with Adventure Worlds. Thankfully Christian has been taking up some of the slack, but with two conventions coming in April and at least two layouts to do, if I’m not on top of things, I’ll never make all my deadlines.

Still, I’m doing some pretty cool things (and having fun while doing it). I have to trust that FAHF will take less and less work (or we get better at doing it which amounts to the same thing). It probably will never find the same kind of niche success as WLTP did, but it’s nice to be working on stuff with Arvin again. Stay tuned for some updates on that when it’s relevant. There is a newsletter you can join on the website if you have any interest in it. Also, the old WLTP episodes, and the anniversary show are up on YouTube if you’d like to see how awkward I was a decade ago. I know I do.