A New Beginning
The last 2.5 weeks have been incredibly busy and incredibly dull from a journaling standpoint. The short version may be summed up as: I worked 60 hour weeks to end out the Microsoft contract. I wrote 5000 words and edited 10000 words. Yeah. Not exactly riveting. It is as Mr. King said: Essentially, the life of an author is him sitting on his butt. (Paraphrased.)
There have been other quantifiable things that have happened of a more fluffy nature. Three new Freaky Friday Fictions. New music. A new volume for The Edge of Propinquity. My roommate cooking a full Thanksgiving meal (complete with a 15 pound turkey) for two people. My co-author deciding to pull in the fictional timeline of the novel, so I had to do a rewrite. Me catching up on the TEoP slushpile. It's all little things.
The big stuff has been going on in my head, under the surface of a calm façade. Though, right now, it doesn't feel like a façade. I'm wondering if I'm anticipating a panic that will never come. I mean, I have prepared like mad for all this. There really is no need to panic. But, I know me.
Or, do I?
If anyone told me a few years back that I actually would quit a very well paying job to spend a whole year doing nothing but writing and following the necessary steps for a writing career, I think I would have thought they were crazy. But I'm doing it. Have done it. I had my exit interview at Endeavor on Wednesday. I am now, officially, nothing but a freelance author.
I think I feel like I'm still waiting for everything to start because I'm so busy. This is my known schedule:
I'm wondering if I planned myself out of my panic. That would be kind of cool. I have such a long "To Do" list for my writing, I wonder if I will ever get it all done. Not just the "write this story" tasks. I'm thinking about things like "Writer's Digest contest," "Shadowrun trilogy proposal to FanPro," "Grants Pass proposal to Dystel & Goderich," and "Complete the 'A Room of Her Own' grant application." Some of these have attached due dates and I'm wondering how I'm going to keep on top of them. I think I need a white board for next to my desk to help me keep up with it all.
All in all, I think I'm having a good start to my Writing Year. The first few weeks of it is all contract writing and I will get a taste of the writing/gym/project routine I want to set up for my regular work week. Then, I'm going to get my two weeks of "nothing" for recharging my creative battery. Finally, January will start the New Year and the new YA novel.
Yeah. I think it's all going to work out. If it doesn't, then I will have learned something and, as Ben put it, the cliff I've just leapt from has a trampoline at the bottom and I'll be able to bounce right back up.
Tarot Card for the Day: Justice
