Blog No. 268
That’s it. Five full years of weekly blog posts with hardly a hiccup. There was that one week where it went up on a Saturday instead of the Thursday (and I will forever live with the blemish) but other than that, I’ve done a weekly post since January 2012. I didn’t know what to expect when I started this thing, and to be honest, some weeks are a real drag, but getting to look back on it now, I’m pretty proud of the accomplishment. Even if it’s one very few people would ever set out to do (and my numbers are really nothing to write home about. Speaking about numbers, I failed to top 2016’s record breaking stats, but I came pretty close this year. Plus, I didn’t have a book out in 2017 until the end, and even that has been tough to get out to people (due to continued printing issues). I’m guessing that had some part to play. But I was still close enough to make the prospects for 2018 positive.
I think it’s safe to say that I am resigned to doing this post weekly for the foreseeable future. In the past, I would often threaten to start skipping weeks in order to make time for other things. Realistically, that likely came from the specific week’s struggles and I’d likely just spend the week off wasting time (rather than improve what I have, or whatever). So, I’m going to stick with things as they are until I can’t (or it becomes a detriment of some kind). I played with the idea of doing a newsletter too, but I’m still not sure what that would look like, other than this blog in another (nearly identical) format, so I’m holding off for now. I just have too much straight writing to do to worry about extra stuff. Last year was plagued with too many commitments (and too many conflicts) and my writing suffered. I’ve already pared my commitments back this year, but I also still have plenty to do (and only half of it is writing, or maybe more than half). Either way, I have non-writing stuff to worry about. I’m sure other things will crop up too.
I’m off to an okay start, though. The first book of the year (there will likely be two) is off for the first round of beta reads. Granted, it is a book that was planned for last summer, but with All These Crooked Streets taking so much time, the Day Job deciding I’m some kind of necessary component for anything to happen, and my poor handling of the stress from those things, it was never going to happen. For now, I plan on having it out in February. It’s a novella, so I should be able to get it done (if I get all my edits and printing in order, which is not at the moment). It should be followed by another novella in the summer (part of the original summer reader series thing I had envisioned and didn’t fulfill).
I’ll have lots more to write and edit (so much to edit) but you’ll have to wait for more info on that. I do have season two of Flags and High Fives to do with Arvin. We told ourselves we wouldn’t do it unless we did it right, so that will mean more work, but hopefully more spread out and as I’ve said many times, front-loaded, so week to week I’m not scrambling and losing whole days. I may or may not have ChiSeries Readings to host, depending on their status, but I hope I will. If not, Christian and I will likely have a couple of our own reading events we’ll put together and host. I have that secret project slated for early this year (as in a few weeks or so). I have my regular monthly events (some months with two or three) edits for other people, another secret project that is probably nothing but a waste of time and you won’t hear about ever again, all the business and social media garbage that goes with making books, and my own lethargy to contend with.
Some of those are holdouts from last year, and I’m a bit embarrassed by the lack of progress I made on them. Seriously, I got through maybe the first chapter of Pilot for a second edit. I really have to sit down and do that in one set of long sessions. Like a week or something crazy. Even the upcoming book is a holdover from 2017. I ended 2016 so strongly, and even started 2017 with a bang, but it all went down hill after that. I intended to get another novel in (in half the time Pilot took) but I didn’t even start one. I do have a new book out, but still none of my own. I had ideas of doing some freelance work, but thankfully I didn’t start any of that. I’d like to, but not until I get my own stuff sorted.
Really, 2017 was not good. I intended to do better, but I did worse. I had a lot more to do (cutting in to my own time and adding to my stress levels) by the time I did have was not well spent. I suppose 2018 is a rebuilding year. I have to refocus, cut out some things I never had time for in the first place, sort out my priorities, restructure things to be more efficient, and be a schedule making (and following) machine. There was a time (brief as it was) that I would come home from work and be out the door within and hour, off to the nearest coffee shop to do some writing. That’s the kind of productivity I need this year to make anything happen. I have my preferences (I’m rather fond of Anchor Coffee House as a hangout spot and a place to work) but I have to overcome my limitations. At one time, I couldn’t write at a computer. I had to write stories longhand. Now, all I do is type. So, I can learn. Lets see what I can do this year. Thanks again for giving me another year of support! I promise not all my posts will be this long.
Ben Van Dongen 