The Dying Days of Summer, The Birth of Autumn

Blog No. 197

This morning, while I was driving to work, I noticed a smell, and it wasn’t the sewage treatment plant I pass on the last leg of my journey. I was driving passed a beautiful wooded area (I’m lucky to have several small ones near me) and the air turned crisp. It didn’t last very long. By the time I was pulling into the parking lot (desperately searching for one good song before turning off the car and heading for the building) the sun was chasing the freshness away. We’re reaching an interesting time in our seasons, the transition into my favourite season. The mornings are going to become cooler and more invigorating (for me I suppose if you’re one of those people who can’t get enough blazing heat) but the afternoons still hang on to the summer sizzle. I never know how to dress, but at least I feel more alive for the start of the day.

Multi-Topic (Because one wasn’t enough)

Blog No. 196

The last few weeks have been stuffed full of tasks needing my attention. More than writing or publishing, I’ve had work, family, and general domestic responsibilities come home to roost. I’m not sure if any one of them is worthy of being a blog post on its own, but perhaps together they can make up the approximation of one. As usual, I’m not necessarily sure where I’m going from here. It may just be a list of stuff I’ve been doing (not including all the slacking off I manage to fit in throughout the week. But that could be fun right?

Even the Smaller Ones

Blog No. 195

Last weekend I was invited to Essex for a Farmer’s Market. Initially, Christian and I thought we were going to be at the Busker’s Festival in Walkerville, but that fell through. Somehow, as if by magic, the organizer of the Farmer’s Market called up Christian, asking if we’d like to get a table there. I’m not sure how things work out like that some times, but it seems to happen a lot with us. We’ll be wondering what to do in the coming month and be invited to an event, or another author will tell us about something we haven’t heard of yet. Most of the events are small, but that doesn’t matter much. Sometimes it’s nice to have an easy day filled with nice people.

How to Become an Imprint

Blog No. 194

They say no news is good news, but that about good news? It’s still pretty good. After years of kicking at the can, growing, shrinking, and putting out Christian and my book, Adventure Worlds Press is actually a press. We’re having a big Gala event to celebrate (if you are anywhere near Windsor, you should attend) and our first official book is out last book, but now official. It’s also different too, so how’s that for confusing? Before I explain, I want to go back to a place I’ve talked about many times before.

Re-Enjoyable

Blog No. 193

I’ve just finished ripping through the Percy Jackson books (by Rick Riordan) again. I think it’s the third time I’ve read them, but I don’t keep track of that stuff much. This year I’ve made a conscious effort to make reading more of a daily habit. As a writer, it’s a necessity, and it’s a good way to spend the last hour or so of your day. I haven’t exactly met my goal of a book a month. Sometimes I can’t seem to find the time, or the book isn’t quite good enough for me to make the time. Sometimes I just have to priorities writing (which is still a touchy topic at the moment). Either way, from January to May I had only had four books read. The last one was slower than I’d like, and I didn’t have another book lined up yet, so I figured it was time to go back to some books I had previously enjoyed and knew I could get through quickly. Partly to beef up my count (Christian is a reading machine this year) and also because I had a hankering to experience that world again.

The Loss of Routine

Blog No. 192

The struggle continues and I’ve been given another reminder of how important routines are. Naturally, I am a person drawn to routines, so it’s no wonder that the more structured my time, the more I get done, especially with writing. I’ve heard other writers balk at the idea, and even argue against daily writing habits. While no one thing is ever right for everyone, I think most people can agree that a schedule and consistency tend to help when it comes to making progress (writing being just one example). It’s the same thing all over my life. I’ve kept up with going to my boxing class, but the extra work has been interrupted. Even my reading suffers from a lack of consistency, and I love reading. It’s just so easy to waste a few hours on the internet, or play another video game with my brother.

Original Goals

Blog No. 191

I’m tired today—unbelievably tired. I haven’t felt this exhausted in a long time. I can’t even remember when I was this wiped out. It’s not like I did anything extraordinary. I have had a few nights that went later than usual (some my fault, a few definitely not) thought that’s not terribly unusual. Perhaps the number of night in a row has become abnormal, but they really weren’t so late. The heat has affected my sleeping, and I have been sleeping poorly on top of that (for reasons I’m not allowed to know apparently). There seems to be no end in sight (for either the lack of sleep, or today, which is dragging like one of those dredges, or maybe an anchor). I’m not sure what that has to do with anything other than it’s the most prominent thing in my life today. When you’re tired, everything else seems to fade a bit. The amount of red squiggly lines I’ve had to go back and correct is absurd.

The Future

Blog No. 188

Back in 2012, at the start of Adventure Worlds, I talked a lot to the other members (too much as I’m know to do) about the future of the endeavour. I imagined everything from a fully functioning web magazine to lucrative careers as authors, and even something about publishing. As time went by, my main focus was finishing stories. Having spent as many years as I did talking, I had to prove to myself that I could actually write. Adventure Worlds was a responsibility. I had to put content on the site and I had to get better because everything I was writing was going up to be read. It served as exactly what we initially wanted. The blog was a place for us to post our stories, challenge each other to improve, and hopefully find an audience. It was a brand we could develop and use to help us all.

Half Way or Dreams

Blog No 187

Just a short one this week. It’s been too hot and I haven’t been sleeping well. I had a dream about being in school (which I haven’t been for some time). I don’t think I could call it a recurring dream (or a nightmare) but it’s something I’ve dreamed about before and it’s always uncomfortable. Having never been a fan of school (specifically the testing and grading, I enjoyed the learning) dreaming about it isn’t fun. Specifically it’s a dream where I am unprepared. The unpreparedness varied from not studying for a test, or not having homework finished, to having not attended classes all year. I believe it all stems from my early days as a student, when all those fears were real, because I didn’t pay attention and didn’t do any work. Eventually I got my act together, so having those anxieties now is usually related to other things in my life.

Acting

Blog No. 185

As a young boy, whenever I enjoyed a movie (and I watched so, so many) I would spend the next few days imagining myself as part of the universe. It started simply as wanting to be the main character (who doesn’t want to be Indiana Jones?) but quickly developed into creating new characters and scenarios to add myself into. I would be an old buddy of Indy who is just as cool, but isn’t afraid of snakes (and could land the plane). It wasn’t about being in the movie, it was about being part of the story. It’s likely the root to all my storytelling desires. Before I figured out the key difference between being a character and an actor, I thought acting might be a good career. Not only do you get to be in movies, you get to have money, cars, and excitement. The dream of being an actor lasted a few months (at best). Who needs that kind of attention? Besides, it’s real work. Like hard work and long hours (and that’s when you’re successful). Though the dream died, my fantasies didn’t. To this day, I tend to daydream about what characters I would be in my favourite movies. It’s a good exercise and it excises the desire to make your characters too perfect.