Sunday, October 21, 2012

Week in Review-Preview: Quite a Week

Well, it's been quite a week.

For those who haven't been following, I got laid off on Tuesday.

Been having fun with abstracts
I was not blindsided by this because A) I've worked 25 years in this place, and I know how it works, and B) even though I wasn't ready to do this now, quitting and writing full time is something I've been preparing for a very long time.  You can read more about it in this past Wednesday's update post, or wait until this coming Wednesday for yet more thoughts on suddenly being a full time writer/blogger/artist.

And that's the biggest change that you're going to see right off: The focus of this blog (at least the writing posts on Wed/Sun) is going to be my adventures in Making The Shift to Full Time Writing.

I will do other writing posts, but they may show up on my miscellaneous Tuesdays, or as guest posts elsewhere or just later on when I am back to a normal frame of mind.

In the meantime: A Round of Words in 80 Days Update

This has, temporarily, blown my concentration on the dare out of the water.  I'm not keeping track of my minutes-on-task right now.

I did a bunch of work, including rewriting the first two thirds of Episode 2 from scratch Wednesday night.  I was under the influence of antihistimines and sleep deprivation, and that may show, but the existing draft was a blot of exposition -- something that would work to ease into a long chapter, but not for a short episode.

I will undoubtedly rewrite it before the book version, and probably update the post here too. (Though it won't be much different in content. Just clarity and timing and one minor discrepancy with a later chapter.)

Peter Lorre
As for my ROW80 goals: Right now, I'm not counting anything.  I'm just keeping the blog schedule going.  I'm going to ease into this, and more about that later -- Wednesday.

The other thing I've been doing this week, while not keeping track of anything, is sketching.  I've scattered a few images from sketching this week around the post.

I did a very nice image for tomorrow's Episode 3 (which does not appear here), and I'm also considering doing "on spec" book covers; what some call "pre-designed."  I'm wondering if they might make an income source, especially the simple, quick, cheap for those on a limited budget, or who need covers for short stories, discount books or freebies.


This Past Week's Posts:

Monday -Test of Freedom Ep 1 - "Just Like Jackie"
Tuesday - Story Notes and Concept art for covers.
Wednesday -It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I feel fine) (about getting laid off)
Thursday -Test of Freedom Ep 2 - "Lady Ashton and the Man in the Dock"
Friday Favorites - Peter Lorre and Mr. Moto


Coming This Week on the Blog:

Monday - Test of Freedom Ep 3 - "Mary Black"
Mary won't give up, so Penelope offers some help.

Tuesday - Skipping Tuesdays for the duration of October.

Wednesday - Full Time Writing: Ready or Not?
Some thoughts on what makes me feel good about going full time, even though I'm clearly not ready to make a living at it.

Thursday - Test of Freedom Ep 4 - "Just a Ghost"
Jackie comes to grips with the fact that he has no freedom at all.

Friday Favorites - Halloween Movies
It's late October, time for the spooky, the scary, the creepy... and the silly.


See you in the funny papers.

10 comments:

Thomas E said...

So, are you going to do nanowrimo?

The Daring Novelist said...

I think not officially.

The problem with Nano is not really the time. It's their rules. I always forget that.

I've got a novel that's half done that I have to finish. The next one could be fun to do that way, although it's certainly longer than 50k. And I've already written some chapters.

Which is the real problem. I write during the exploratory, brainstorming phase. So I've never written a book which would qualify for Nano.

So for the most part, I'll stick to ROW80, and the blog.

Jennette Marie Powell said...

Congrats on becoming a full-time writer and artist, even if it was a little sooner than planned! I think you should be able to pull in some nice supplemental income doing cover design, given the quality of your work. Good luck with adjusting your schedule, and have a great week!

The Daring Novelist said...

Thanks Jeannette.

I'm jazzed about a whole lot of things, but I have to admit, the idea of doing more art excites me especially.

Lee McAulay said...

Somehow this image came into my head when I read about your layoff: http://xkcd.com/308/...
25 years is a long time to stay with one employer these days, and you'll miss it, one way or another. It surprises most people that they can grieve for the loss of a job but they forget how much of their lives have been tied up with the work.
I reckon you'll have that nailed, though ;-)

Jess said...

I got laid off last year right about this time, and it was rough. I wish I'd been able to make the move to full-time writing like you! That's a goal for the next five years, though. Best of luck to you!

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell said...

Camille, I admire your attitude in weathering the change to full-time author. I would hope to be half as sanguine as you, because I am a bit of a control fiend, and would want to be the one to lay my employer off, not the reverse!

Your art is more than good enough to add as a sideline to your writing. I look forward to your further adventures.

The Daring Novelist said...

Lee: Perfect! I love XKCD!

Jess: I know I'm going into this lucky, and I'm knocking on wood till my knuckles are skinned. But generally, the longer you work on the goal, the easier it is when it happens.

Elizabeth: Oh, I'm going to enjoy watching from the sidelines as some of the administrators involved in the decision get their lives made very uncomfortable... because they didn't actually bother to find out what I did first. (And...um, yeah, we have fired bosses before.)

Thomas E said...

That is often a problem for me - I always try to be in the middle of writing something, so as november comes I often need to do nanowrimo as a rebel.




The Daring Novelist said...

Thomas: yes, I call it "NaNoWrongMo."