Blog No. 362
I’ve been working on a second draft of Broadcast Wasteland, but it’s been a pretty slow pace. I’m not overly motivated to work on it every day like I was for the first draft. That’s not to say I haven’t been putting in some time. Right now it’s split between finding a passage to read for the Biblioasis event (which was last night. Sorry if you missed it) doing the second draft, and trying to get that review finished for my friend. That’s not a terrible amount of work, but things at the day job have been hectic and stressful. October was a super busy month (the hall where I work was open every day) and with the new systems in place, we all had to make adjustments to the way we do everything. (It’s all a little slap in the face).
Mostly I’ve slowed down because I’m tired. Everything seems to be a drain right now. The biggest one being that I had to (yet again) bring my vehicle into the shop. That’s three times in the last four months. I’m hoping that since the truck is nearing ten years old that these are just some of the things that happen to cars when they get that old. It’s still under 100 000 kilometres, so there should be a lot of life left. It’s just a hassle to bug my family for a ride, drop the truck off super early, not have a vehicle at work, get a ride home, and have the shop closed so I can’t get it until the next morning. My mechanic has always been good to me, but the cost isn’t very fun either. But, thankfully, I have a wonderful family who is always willing to get up early and drive me to work when I need it. Honestly, I don’t know how I would be able to do any of this writing (or function like a normal person) without all of their constant support.
So far, the edits been going rather smoothly and that’s scary. I keep waiting for something to go horribly wrong, but even the couple of long early chapters seem to work, mostly as they are. Of course, once the beta readers get a hold of it, I’m sure my opinion will change. I’m only ten chapters in with a lot more to go, so I’m expecting to run into more issues soon. There are at least two chapters that I expect to cut very heavily, but I’m not sure how short I’m going to be able to make it in the end.
As overwhelming as everything is, I do feel like I’ve been picking away at things, though. I tend to use my email as a measure of how behind I am on all the little tasks that have to be done (some from regular adult life and lots from writing). I try to be at zero inbox, meaning that I have respond to, or dealt with all the emails in my inbox. For the last couple months, I’ve struggled to keep it under ten, but I’ve managed to knock it down to three (one being tickets for a concert I’m going to in March). It’s a good sign and a good feeling. I’m going to have new, fun challenges starting today, but clearing off the old stuff helps. Still, lots to do! Always lots to do.
Ben Van Dongen 