THE PLAN update OR what the hell I've been doing for the last six months
I hope everybody had as lovely a holiday as I did. It was great to see everybody and spend some time suplexing my cousins. My sister's still in town for a couple of days, so things aren't 100% back to normal yet, but I'm most of the way there.
So, my last day at the old job was about six months ago. I'm a little embarrassed to say that I was expecting more "So what are you doing now exactly?" questions from my extended family than I actually got. Everybody's been very supportive, nobody seems to think I've lost my mind. There is a little natural curiousity as far as how I actually have been spending my time, which is natural I think, so here it comes.
*drumroll*
WHAT THE HELL BRENDAN HAS BEEN DOING FOR THE LAST HALF A YEAR:
*I got the Charlie Harmer novel done. It'll be going out to beta readers and getting some more polish, but the thing got wrote. I would not be in a position to say that if I'd kept my job, so that's a pretty item in the This Was A Good Idea column right there. Next up is getting people to read it, trying to take their advice, writing a cover letter, finding publishers and agents who might be interested in my humble product, PROFIT.
*I moved, and massively cut back on my expenses. I've sung the praises of my new home already. Cutting down on money wasted is still a work in progress. I still do a lot of stupid crap I ought to cut down on but I've made progress and I'm starting to enjoy the feeling of knowing that I don't need much to keep my wheels turning.
*I got a new job. This'll be boring to get into the details of, but the main point is that yes, I can work part time and cover my bills just fine. I'm a little short at the moment and I have a scramble ahead of me to find something for the summer, but when the new school year starts I'll be in a great position to renegotiate with the many and sundry people who pay me, and I stand a good chance of making all the money I need, in a modest amount of time, without conflicting with anything I want to do and still reminding my friends and family that I'm alive. I'm really winning the lucky bastard award in this area.
*I've discovered a couple of new reading series (after discounting many others as not being made my thing), have been showing my face a lot, made some new friends, and am in the process of flexing my new muscles in the service of promoting the anthology I'm in that comes out in April. This'll be a lovely dress rehearsal for when I do the same thing for my own stuff.
*I've gotten Bad Grammar pretty well squared away. Not all of my pie-in-the-sky ideas worked out, but I didn't expect them to. It turns out that the best thing I can do to promote BGT is do all the other stuff on my list and keep bringing up this little event I have while I do so. I've had new readers, new audience members, and a lot of continued enthusiasm even among people who only show their faces every so often. I've also gotten a better sense of what the BG brain trust is and isn't interested in doing, and with that in mind I'm happy to report that we'll be restarting the Bad Grammar podcast as a monthly thing that'll get started as the new year begins.
*I've squeezed as much blood from the stone that is "Scarce Resources" reprint submissions as I can, and after much tribulation I have a new, more bookstore-ready edition of the book ready to go. High on my to-do list for the new year is getting SR placed in as many stores as I can (especially ones local to me), for its own sake and as a dress rehearsal for the new collection.
STUFF I FAILED TO DO
*Maintain a constructive presence on the internet. I was doing okay for a while, then completely let it drop while I finished the novel, and failed to pick it up again for the holidays. I'd be at peace with this if it meant I wasn't wasting time online, but that's not the case either. I just haven't been wasting time online in ways that help the cause. So I've got to do a little better here.
*Figure out the optimal way to deal with conventions. Thanks for all the advice that has come my way. I'll be doing Wiscon again this summer, and aside from that I still haven't figured out how to make these things go.
STUFF I'LL BE DOING SHORTLY
*Submit novels to agents. I'll be making some revisions to the Artist formerly known as "Shadow/Chicago", writing or redoing cover letters for all three novels I have done, researching agents, and going to town.
*Cranking out short stories for the new self-published collection, and putting out that collection. I want to leave some time in between the release of the anthology I'm in and the release of the collection, so it's looking go time will be some time this summer.
*Recording and releasing podcasts, as mentioned.
And some other stuff. Big picture, so far? I'm doing cool stuff and having a great time, and I see no reason not to keep my spaceship flying for a while longer. Thank you to all of you fine folks for your support. Happy upcming new year to all of you.
So, my last day at the old job was about six months ago. I'm a little embarrassed to say that I was expecting more "So what are you doing now exactly?" questions from my extended family than I actually got. Everybody's been very supportive, nobody seems to think I've lost my mind. There is a little natural curiousity as far as how I actually have been spending my time, which is natural I think, so here it comes.
*drumroll*
WHAT THE HELL BRENDAN HAS BEEN DOING FOR THE LAST HALF A YEAR:
*I got the Charlie Harmer novel done. It'll be going out to beta readers and getting some more polish, but the thing got wrote. I would not be in a position to say that if I'd kept my job, so that's a pretty item in the This Was A Good Idea column right there. Next up is getting people to read it, trying to take their advice, writing a cover letter, finding publishers and agents who might be interested in my humble product, PROFIT.
*I moved, and massively cut back on my expenses. I've sung the praises of my new home already. Cutting down on money wasted is still a work in progress. I still do a lot of stupid crap I ought to cut down on but I've made progress and I'm starting to enjoy the feeling of knowing that I don't need much to keep my wheels turning.
*I got a new job. This'll be boring to get into the details of, but the main point is that yes, I can work part time and cover my bills just fine. I'm a little short at the moment and I have a scramble ahead of me to find something for the summer, but when the new school year starts I'll be in a great position to renegotiate with the many and sundry people who pay me, and I stand a good chance of making all the money I need, in a modest amount of time, without conflicting with anything I want to do and still reminding my friends and family that I'm alive. I'm really winning the lucky bastard award in this area.
*I've discovered a couple of new reading series (after discounting many others as not being made my thing), have been showing my face a lot, made some new friends, and am in the process of flexing my new muscles in the service of promoting the anthology I'm in that comes out in April. This'll be a lovely dress rehearsal for when I do the same thing for my own stuff.
*I've gotten Bad Grammar pretty well squared away. Not all of my pie-in-the-sky ideas worked out, but I didn't expect them to. It turns out that the best thing I can do to promote BGT is do all the other stuff on my list and keep bringing up this little event I have while I do so. I've had new readers, new audience members, and a lot of continued enthusiasm even among people who only show their faces every so often. I've also gotten a better sense of what the BG brain trust is and isn't interested in doing, and with that in mind I'm happy to report that we'll be restarting the Bad Grammar podcast as a monthly thing that'll get started as the new year begins.
*I've squeezed as much blood from the stone that is "Scarce Resources" reprint submissions as I can, and after much tribulation I have a new, more bookstore-ready edition of the book ready to go. High on my to-do list for the new year is getting SR placed in as many stores as I can (especially ones local to me), for its own sake and as a dress rehearsal for the new collection.
STUFF I FAILED TO DO
*Maintain a constructive presence on the internet. I was doing okay for a while, then completely let it drop while I finished the novel, and failed to pick it up again for the holidays. I'd be at peace with this if it meant I wasn't wasting time online, but that's not the case either. I just haven't been wasting time online in ways that help the cause. So I've got to do a little better here.
*Figure out the optimal way to deal with conventions. Thanks for all the advice that has come my way. I'll be doing Wiscon again this summer, and aside from that I still haven't figured out how to make these things go.
STUFF I'LL BE DOING SHORTLY
*Submit novels to agents. I'll be making some revisions to the Artist formerly known as "Shadow/Chicago", writing or redoing cover letters for all three novels I have done, researching agents, and going to town.
*Cranking out short stories for the new self-published collection, and putting out that collection. I want to leave some time in between the release of the anthology I'm in and the release of the collection, so it's looking go time will be some time this summer.
*Recording and releasing podcasts, as mentioned.
And some other stuff. Big picture, so far? I'm doing cool stuff and having a great time, and I see no reason not to keep my spaceship flying for a while longer. Thank you to all of you fine folks for your support. Happy upcming new year to all of you.