One Week
In one week, it'll be the 40th anniversary of the Apollo XI moon landing. That is completely awesome.
Also that day is the day I've designated as Javert's birthday. Because that would have been his saint's naming day. Only because his mother gave him a saint's name as part of her plan to get sympathy and get out of prison. No wonder the poor man has issues.
Also, in one week... I hope to have the website up and going again. I've had six months since the day that Mom died and the proofreader pulled the last asshat stunt I was going to tolerate from her. Yes, on the same day. It's been long enough. Time to fire up the kiln and get making again.
I've been having a nice email conversation with a writer/illustrator whose stories of bad professional relationships are legendary and would be Hollywood worthy except they're true :-) And she gave me a great bit of advice. Even when people do something whose end result is malicious, even if they don't mean it... that doesn't mean you have to forgive it or condone it. All the highlighting is mine, btw.
Here's her quote: "I just can't seem to attribute malice to social ineptitude. And then one day I realized it just doesn't matter. I don't have to like people just because they are not malicious. I can dislike them because they annoy me. Life is too short."
In short, I have the right to be annoyed by you, even if you don't mean it.
Liberating, isn't it?
Here's another quote: "And here's something else I finally had to face: the world is full of people. I do not have to spend one nanosecond making excuses in order to tolerate the company of someone who gives me the creeps. NEXT!"
It's amazing when you know this but it doesn't set in until you hear it from someone else, isn't it?
And here was the nail on the door of the church: "You don't need anybody to write. You don't need anybody's permission. If you want to hire one (proofreader) later, cool, but there is no fan author friend who is more qualified than you are to judge your own work."
That's one small step for me... and one giant leap for the future of Pont-au-Change.
Stay tuned.
Also that day is the day I've designated as Javert's birthday. Because that would have been his saint's naming day. Only because his mother gave him a saint's name as part of her plan to get sympathy and get out of prison. No wonder the poor man has issues.
Also, in one week... I hope to have the website up and going again. I've had six months since the day that Mom died and the proofreader pulled the last asshat stunt I was going to tolerate from her. Yes, on the same day. It's been long enough. Time to fire up the kiln and get making again.
I've been having a nice email conversation with a writer/illustrator whose stories of bad professional relationships are legendary and would be Hollywood worthy except they're true :-) And she gave me a great bit of advice. Even when people do something whose end result is malicious, even if they don't mean it... that doesn't mean you have to forgive it or condone it. All the highlighting is mine, btw.
Here's her quote: "I just can't seem to attribute malice to social ineptitude. And then one day I realized it just doesn't matter. I don't have to like people just because they are not malicious. I can dislike them because they annoy me. Life is too short."
In short, I have the right to be annoyed by you, even if you don't mean it.
Liberating, isn't it?
Here's another quote: "And here's something else I finally had to face: the world is full of people. I do not have to spend one nanosecond making excuses in order to tolerate the company of someone who gives me the creeps. NEXT!"
It's amazing when you know this but it doesn't set in until you hear it from someone else, isn't it?
And here was the nail on the door of the church: "You don't need anybody to write. You don't need anybody's permission. If you want to hire one (proofreader) later, cool, but there is no fan author friend who is more qualified than you are to judge your own work."
That's one small step for me... and one giant leap for the future of Pont-au-Change.
Stay tuned.