journal
Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad; whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.
- John le Carre
- John le Carre
 No, I'm not talking about dressing up like a G.I. Joe, a Ninja Turtle or a Power Ranger and kicking some supervillain ass. And I'm not talking about slipping on a spandex suit and running around with a cape either like these guys -  (hey, what you do in your own time is your business, I'm not judging).
It's about keeping the fire alive, the passion, that thing that keeps you working on your top secret project of revolutionary proportions when nobody but your significant other and your mom seems to give two bits about it. Everyone's got something that they're working on, creating. If not, maybe you should - it's good for you. These days it's so easy to start something, anything. The actual challenge is in following through. And that's really what I meant by Action Figure. Action Figure = Follow Through So how do you follow through? When you're dead tired from your day job, you get home and all you want to do is write/paint/compose/cook or whatever the hell it is that get's you excited. It takes discipline to stick to something especially when the speed in which modern life carries us is a dizzying pace. Surely there's people out there who are masters at juggling a 100 things in the speed of light then blog about it and still have time to eat dinner and watch a movie. Damned freaks.
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Method of Madness #1: How do you tackle your WIPs?  Everyone's got their own pace, preference and method of working. I'm just curious to know how you go about it.
At the moment I have 2 main projects. My serialized audio zombie novel and my short stories. I usually set up a writing schedule a week ahead. Evenings after work are often split up for both the book and whatever story I'm working on at the moment. Days off are usually saved for longer writing sessions. I usually spend 5-6 hours on a day off juggling both, sometimes bouncing from the novel to a shorter work - it keeps he material fresh for me that way. I prefer to batch similar tasks together. I have a white board that I use to jot down my to do list. I helps to visualize everything. That or write it down on post it notes and tack it up where I can see it. It's also easier to shuffle i around and reorder it this way. It looks something like this: Web -> Design = need font, stock image = update site, analyze traffic Offline = Work on chap. 2, edit story, rewrite blog post Podcast = record initial read, overdub, edit I don't always get it all done but I do make a significant progress when I apply this method. Your turn: Care to share any tricks/tips/techniques? Don't be shy, leave a comment.  Sid Valentine and the Fearful Goddess, the second story in the Sid Valentine Universe is now ready for mass consumption via good ol' Smashwords for $0.99. This story is self-contained but you'll get a better understanding if you read the first Sid Valentine story which is available for free. Trust me, you'll appreciate the 2nd story more if you do.
I've been silent on the interwebs lately - I usually go in lock-down mode when I have tons of things that need to be finished. There's too much distraction so oftentimes I have to kill the internet completely. There's also a lot of personal matters going down right now. Find out what I've been up to over at the production journal, which I lovingly call The Art of Winging It. All you Hooligans need to check out the production journal, I'll be posting some new content today and the next couple of days. Thanks for the support. I do appreciate all the shout-outs, the links, and the comments. I can use all the help I need. I'm a little behind on correspondence and reading up on your awesome blogs but I'm gonna be playing catch up, I promise. |
