Music: Ghost of Navigators by Iron Maiden
Once more around the sun my friends. So much has changed in our last lap, yet so much remains the same and it's up to us to decide which we accept and which we choose to change.
As always, I have many ideas, but one thing that we all hopefully gain with age is better self-awareness.
Some lucky souls seem born with such knowledge and their character has a singularity of focus and action the allows them to accomplish great things. Others, like myself, find we are constant conflicted. Sometimes this is between action and thought, sometimes between intent and consequence, and sometimes it's between desire and duty.
My conflict has almost always fallen in the last category. I even wrote a very brief poem regarding this while studying for my doctorate. Since you asked so nicely, sure I'll share it with you. Originally, it was called Tightrope but I decided to change the title to duhka, a sanskrit word for a Budhist concept of internal conflict. Anyway, here's the poem:
High on a tight-rope.
How did I get here?
Continuously balancing,
desires on one hand,
expectation on the other.
When I fall to the abyss below,
tripped by insecurity,
is there a net?
Well, I've never claimed to be a poet.
So, what does this have to do with anything? Well, I suffer from that condition of too many ideas and not enough energy. Every year my internal analysis brings me closer to understanding how I might manage this with the limited resources and network that I have.
For example, recently, I've altered my work schedule so that I write at the library instead of at home. This gives me shorter, but more focussed time writing. The result is that I can give myself permission to work on other things with the rest of my time, whereas previously I might have attempted to write at home and then got lost surfing the web or cleaning the house, not writing anything until 5:00 then feel bad and try some more to write while accomplishing nothing on any front.
Furthermore, last year I attempted to set up two projects per day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Usually writing in the morning, and something else, differing each day, later. You can guess how successful that was. So now I'm being more modest. I have my morning writing in the library and one project per week that I work on in the afternoons. This could be a website, researching the next story, or another of my copious projects. I have a feeling this will work much better.
Incidentally, while I'm not going to go into all my other projects here, I will say that, in some way, they will all come together in my novels. That's it. That's your only teaser.
Well, this is a bit of a heavy post for the first one of the year, so let's lighten things up a little.
One of my other goals this year is to increase my online network--followers, audience, readers, etc. One way will be to update and reorganize my websites somewhat *watch for some new shops and products! as well as the new version of Stellar Garden*, but that alone won't do anything. "Build it and they will come" simply doesn't work for the web. I mean, searching the net is like visiting a city that has one block with billions of houses all on top of each other. I also tried crowd-funding, but that suffers from the same problem as a blog. If no one knows you're there, they can't fund you. So, what to do?
Contests!
Yes, dear friends, contests. "Bribe them and they will come" tends to work better. I will use facebook and twitter to advertise one contest per month--a give-way open to everyone who follows this blog. The prizes will include such wonders as 1-3 Utility Fog Press books, mugs, laptop skins, pictures, T-shirts, all of my own creation. Well, except the other stories in the anthologies, of course. I will be officially announcing the contest details at the end of the month on my twitter feed and on facebook. And I look forward to seein' yo' faces here (thanks Phil!)
Insight and longevity!
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