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Blog No. 272

Last weekend I was in Toronto and everything changed. Or, some things slightly changed, but since I thought I had a really good handle on things this year, it feels more momentous that it really is. I intended to start the second novella this month, but I have yet to start. I figured I’d have the train trip up and back, some time in Toronto while Arvin works, and The train trip back. I even booked business class for the trip home, in hopes the extra space and nice large table would make work easier. As it turns out, the trays on the new economy class are pretty good. I got a lot done on the way to Toronto. Unfortunately, I spent the time working on layout (but for The Thinking Machine at least) and Flags and High Fives. I really wanted to be farther along with Thinking Machine than I realize I am, so the next novella is starting more slowly than expected.

I still plan on getting to it this month, but the first draft may be the last two weeks of February and the first two weeks of March. Or something. I hate to keep making statements about when I’m doing what and have to keep pushing everything back. I though I would have learned that lesson with All These Crooked Streets, but here I am. I had such high hopes for this year (and I still do) but I think I was a pelican. (Whose beak can hold more than his belly-can – My Grandfather). I’m doing better with getting work done (and wasting less time) but better isn’t good enough yet. It’s easy (at least it has been for me) to be excited in the new year and attack everything with renewed fervor. Most of my current work ethic can be chalked up to that (and to finally having  more copies of All These Crooked Streets).

I even found that this weekend, a time dedicated to working on Flags and High Fives, wasn’t nearly as productive as it could have been. Some of that was due to spending time hanging out with my friend rather than working with my partner (who is the same guy). Hanging out was long overdue, but we still could have done more. I was definitely the weak link in the chain. I tapped out first each time, I suggested doing other things, I got distracted easiest. It’s not that big a deal. We did get a lot of work done. It’s just that last time we sat at his kitchen table for hours, excitedly knocking thing out. This time, we opted to book a boardroom in his condo, and got a solid three hour brainstorming session in. Concrete recording and planning was done, but a lot was left for future Ben and Arvin to do.

The best work we did was to record the main audio for the (potential) first episode of the season. We went to our buddy James’ and he taught us about mixing drinks. We also drank those drinks, but we got a solid hour and a half of audio. That’s enough for nearly for episodes, but now we have the arduous task of combing through it all, looking for the gems we can use to make a single good episode. Then we have the extraneous content to record. The intros, the self evaluations, the gravy to go on the potatoes. It will be a lot of work (a lot more than I planned for Season Two) but it should result in a better show. We didn’t get much more recorded for other episodes, but we got a lot of B-roll that we can use for social media and such. Hopefully we can make Season Two a big step up from Season One and build more of an audience. We’d better, because it is going to be a lot of work!