A look back over January yields a bunch of breakthroughs and good news, I am pleased to say.
The saga of the DIY shelving unit turned out happily: a couple of days of leaving it to one side (and stepping over its bits on my way to and from the couch, but what the hell) and coming back to it with a clear head did the trick. I worked out which bit was which and it now stands whitely in my bathroom, holding stuff.
Well hey, you take your excitement where you find it, don't you?
Elsewhere, the new laptop continues to prove its worth: I'm getting an average of about a thousand words of writing done every (week) day, which is a little short of my eventual target, and nowhere near what I've done in crunch mode in the past, but which is a solidly professional rate and a hell of an improvement on the slack stretch I had last year.
Writing commissions and professional contacts build apace. I expect to have at least two more publications by the end of the year, and the possibility of work in other media (graphic and gaming, mainly) is getting more solid by the week.
A concerted effort to reconnect with a bunch of friendships I've neglected for too long has gone very well, with a lot of welcome old acquaintances renewed.
And I've made a proper start on my fitness! A more careful diet and a lot of walking were getting results last year - I had to make a new hole in my belt in January - but I needed to make sure I kept up the momentum. I've now signed up for this corporate thing where we got out at lunchtime and get shouted at to do shuttle-runs and push-ups and punch focus mitts and whatnot.
I've done exactly one session to date, and I'm hurting. But I'll do better at the next session, and I won't hurt so much. And the session after that I won't hurt so much either, and the one after that I may not hurt at all. And my shape will change and my energy will go up and I'll be able to do stuff I haven't done in a long time.
I really am starting to feel good about this year.
The saga of the DIY shelving unit turned out happily: a couple of days of leaving it to one side (and stepping over its bits on my way to and from the couch, but what the hell) and coming back to it with a clear head did the trick. I worked out which bit was which and it now stands whitely in my bathroom, holding stuff.
Well hey, you take your excitement where you find it, don't you?
Elsewhere, the new laptop continues to prove its worth: I'm getting an average of about a thousand words of writing done every (week) day, which is a little short of my eventual target, and nowhere near what I've done in crunch mode in the past, but which is a solidly professional rate and a hell of an improvement on the slack stretch I had last year.
Writing commissions and professional contacts build apace. I expect to have at least two more publications by the end of the year, and the possibility of work in other media (graphic and gaming, mainly) is getting more solid by the week.
A concerted effort to reconnect with a bunch of friendships I've neglected for too long has gone very well, with a lot of welcome old acquaintances renewed.
And I've made a proper start on my fitness! A more careful diet and a lot of walking were getting results last year - I had to make a new hole in my belt in January - but I needed to make sure I kept up the momentum. I've now signed up for this corporate thing where we got out at lunchtime and get shouted at to do shuttle-runs and push-ups and punch focus mitts and whatnot.
I've done exactly one session to date, and I'm hurting. But I'll do better at the next session, and I won't hurt so much. And the session after that I won't hurt so much either, and the one after that I may not hurt at all. And my shape will change and my energy will go up and I'll be able to do stuff I haven't done in a long time.
I really am starting to feel good about this year.
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
I just wish to point out that I'm always very nice to my waitresses. If I piss them off I risk a cup of long black dumped through my keyboard.
I've had a waitress (admittedly it was me, and this is a rather contrived segue) pour milk into my ibook. Turns out, like many people from Taiwan, she was lactose intolerant. That was a very exciting morning.
I really don't understand how people can be rude to their waitress. There's a whole genre of urban legends sprung up around us, mostly involving obscene bodily fluids. Surely it's at least pragmatic to bite your tongue.
And yet.
It's too bad about the story, although I know what you mean about getting derailed by things. (Foor through the iBook, shit, that's harsh.) For whatever my encouragement is worth, I think it would be a cool thing to pick up and finish. I'm not too up on kids' publishers (it was intended as a childrens' book, am I remembering right?) but if you finish it to story length I can think of a couple of markets that might be worth a tilt.
I never intended to set it aside, but when your own work starts to make you unhappy it's hard to so much as look at it. In time, when I have some space from the overbearing friend, I'm intending to pick it up again. Recently, he's been trying to get me to release it as a webcomic, since he's 'bored' and 'has so many good ideas for it'. Needless to say, the suggestion was received poorly, with glaring and scowling.
I'm not sure it was exactly intended as a childrens book, though I think it could certainly fit the bill. Your encouragement leaves me wanting to pick it up again tonight, so who knows what'll happen?
(And we seem to have similar taste in titles: I'm in the planning stages of a story called "The Fall of the House of the Clockwork Bandits". Snap!)
Oh neat! I'm all manner of interested in this.
I like to fill my titles with adjectives until they're bursting.
Actually, I think the most pissed off I've ever had waitresses was on the two occasions where one from a cafe where I'd become a regular spotted me coffeeing somewhere else. Much extravagant body language and outraged expressions ensued, but at least I didn't get the Lap Pour when I went back to them.
My boss does this. I find it very entertaining, but of course it's not my livelihood.
And I'm happy to have you on my list. Maybe you can give me the good kicking I so surely need.