Keeping in Touch

Blog Post No. 530

There’s value in keeping in touch with the people who matter in your life. (Value beyond relieving guilt, I mean, though alleviating guilt is a personal win for me every time). I wouldn’t say that I’m the worst at keeping in touch, but only because so many other people I know say that they are. That doesn’t mean I’m great at it , though. I just happen to be fine with being alone for so much of the time.

While I enjoy the company of my friends and family while in the moment, I’m also content when I’m just doing my own thing. (It also takes energy to engage, so sometimes there’s too much of a good thing with other people). It’s almost the same issue I have with starting any kind of work. Once I get going, I tend to do better than I had expected. I struggle with that first push.

Morning, Noon, and Night

Blog Post No. 443

I’ve picked myself up off the floor, dusted my myself off, and gotten back to work. It’s only a start, but I feel like I’m rebuilding the routine with editing the Invasion Novel. I’ve said it many times, but routine is everything to my productivity. With a good routine, I can get a lot of work done with time to spare. I still have to get back into the daily workouts. As little as they were, I felt good getting at least that much done regularly, and having the novel and novella to write helped me keep at it (and vice versa). Getting a little exercising in helps with sitting in front of the computer for hours at a time, too. It’s nice to feel like I’m building some steam again, but I’m not necessarily out of the woods.

The Sickness

Blog No. 171

Over the last week or so, I have spent a bunch of days sick in bed (or on the couch). As is common knowledge, being sick sucks. It’s a big pain in the back side. The biggest issue I’ve had is the lack of productivity (other than the pain, maybe). Just last week, I had that boastful post about writing a novella, and I am no further along that I was. That also sucks. I’ve also not done any edits, or, oddly, much reading. To top it all off, spending so much time lying around has put my back out of sorts. Big, big pile of suck.

I Miss Writing

Blog No. 160

The collection, No Light Tomorrow, is finally at the printers. After months of hard work, it is out of my hands and (though there were expected hiccups) the sample copy is on the way (or here by the time you read this) and everything is on track for a release event. By the way, unless something drastic happens, the release party will be January 9^th though the place is too be determined. We’ll make some serious announcements when a few more things are settled. Also, keep an eye out for poster plastered around the city, a facebook event, sky writing, carrier pigeons, and, if he got our lists, invitations delivered by Santa.

Attitude for Life

Blog No. 151

My Great Aunt passed away last week. She was ninety-one years old and told some of the best stories I’ve ever heard. I’m not writing about this because I want a bunch of sympathy or anything. I debated even mentioning her passing because that’s not the kind of woman she was. I didn’t know her as well as I knew my grandparents, but I knew her well enough to know she had little time for modesty and sympathy. I want to talk about her because, through her living her life, she taught me some important lessons that I carry with me and I want to show my respects in the only way I know how (by writing about her). No one is perfect, everyone has flaws and weak moments, but some people leave the impression of goodness and that comes from the amount of good that they did.

Retreating

Blog No. 128

I am a person who craves solitude. Even as a child, I spent a lot of time alone in my room (almost as much time as I spent watching movies and TV). It would have been nice if I spent some of that time alone working on writing, or drawing, or something that would come in handy now, but most of it was wasted living in my, then, current trials and stumbles. I relived a lot of those foible, imagining how they would have turned out if I were more confident, or outgoing, or smart, or. In a way, that time cultivated my imagination, which as a loner, and now as a writer, has served me well. Being alone does not make a person lonely. Sometimes it is a symptom, but it’s possible to be content in solitude and feel desperately alone in a crowded room. It’s more about what battles the individual is fighting and less to do with the situation we imagine for them, based on outside observations. But I’m here to talk about my more recent past, and a little less about the hypothetical.

Fresh, Exciting, and New!

Blog No. 118

I have a rather full plate this year, when it comes to writing and the like. Christian and I are hard at work on the second (and a half) drafts of our collection, I have a rather long multipart story going up monthly on Adventure Worlds, I’m picking away at the novel I started last year (and restarted this year), I have edits galore, and since we have more artists working on Finders, I’ve been drumming up new ideas for the pair, plus the next zine is due. What I don’t need is another story idea burning a hole in my imagination, but that’s what I have. Saturday morning, I woke from a vivid dream, ran over to the computer, and feverishly typed an awkward opening paragraph encapsulating the fading memory of the dreamed adventure. Now it’s following me around, pulling me away from my other tasks, spinning around my head like one of those pirate ships at theme parks (but the ones that actually go all the way around.

Blogy, Blog, Blog.

Blog No. 114

It’s been three weeks into the new year and I’m finding that old habits die hard. For some things, like this blog, that’s good. I don’t have a ton to write about, but here I am writing it. For working on the second draft of the edits, and restarting the novel, that’s bad. I can say that I have gotten some done, but it’s at the iffy level of writing how I ended the year. Really, that’s not too bad. A chunk of my time (both then and now) gets eaten up with editing, posting, correspondences, facebook, twitter, ello, and other social media promotion, Zine layout, meetings with other groups, physical social attendances, and so on. It can get busy, and it does get in the way, but without that stuff, I’d be writing in a vacuum with no growth, feedback, or clear method for publication. Though, last year at this time, I was in the thick of it (it being writing). I was going out to cafes in the cold evenings after work, writing for a few hours, then going home to get to the logistical stuff. It didn’t last, but it started.

Sympathy for Others

Blog No. 99

Sometimes life is hard and unfair.  This is all you get this week.

Ben

Doing Nothing

Blog No. 97

For anyone who is a fan of Office Space, the idea of doing nothing isn’t a new one. In the movie the main character says that when he was asked by his guidance councilor what he would do if he had a million dollars, the answer was – nothing. That’s a statement I can agree with. If I had more money that I could ever spend, I would probably end up doing nothing but nothing for the rest of my life. I know this because with all the things I have to do (and want to do) I still end up spending most of my days off wasting time and goofing off. It’s not something I’m proud of, or even alone in doing. A lot of people I know suffer from the some problem. Sometimes it’s over prepping for a task, or wanting to catch up on something less important, or even just getting in a quick show before getting started and ending up spending the day watching netflix.