Every morning at around five, I wake up to my Border Collie wriggling up my chest and licking my face. That is Aoife's way of letting me know that it is time to get my butt out of bed. So, after watering my tomato plants and feeding my fish, and taking the dogs out with Denise, I settle in at my desk. April of this year (2012) I left my "day" job to devote my full attention to writing and editing. I found out just how far behind I had fallen these past few months as I can not seem to dig out from under all of the editing projects and get in some quality writing time. I am pleased to say that I am almost at a point where I can breathe.
Next month, I will be immersed in the August edition of Camp NaNoWriMo. For those not familiar, that is where you set out to write 50,000 words in a month (or 1,666 words a day). I will be using this time to get deep into the fifth book in the DEAD series, titled Dead: Siege & Survival. I looked at my writing calendar and decided that was my priority. Oh yeah...I got a few other stories in the pipeline. "Such as?" Thanks for asking. I am cleaning up Zomblog: Snoe for the October release. (That is book four of the Zomblog series for those keeping track.) I have the second Gruesomely Grimm Zombie Tales book where I will take on the next 20-30 of the 200+ stories attributed to the Brothers Grimm. I am committing to the second book in my non-horror Dakota series. Last, but not least, I will be making a go at writing a full-length offering for my That Ghoul Ava horror/comedy. All the while, I am dipping my toe in the blogosphere (thanks for visiting by the way). All that and I haven't even mentioned my editing jobs or my quest to reach the top 1,000 as an Amazon reviewer (as of July 19, 2012 I am ranked 3,233) and make regular posts on Brutally Honest Reviews. Yep...I am a busy guy.
Some might say I have too much on my plate. Others may worry that I may get sloppy. THAT is the problem. What you are not seeing on my list is spending hours each day skulking around Facebook. It's not that I don't think there is a certain degree of necessity when it comes to the social media, but hanging around in a bunch of rooms TALKING about all the work I have to do is not GETTING any of my actual work done. Thank goodness I have a wife who is very supportive and helpful. She reads various posts to me throughout the day. If I have an opinion that has not been hashed and re-hashed over and over again, I offer my two cents. Sometimes I just say hello to a few people that I really like. (If I try to list you all, I will leave somebody out, so...you know who you are.) I just don't have time to relive high school.
Yep. There went a few ruffled feathers. but seriously...take a step back. Pluck you feelings off your shoulder and put them in your pocket. Pop in to some of these rooms lately and tell me I am wrong. Gossip. Name-calling...and cliques! Don't even get me started on that topic. Too late! Room after room it is the same thing. "He said this" and "She said that". Honestly, I just got tired of hearing who pissed who off. Everybody is an expert, nobody can take criticism, and the "I got a bad review...WAAAAAAA!" I started getting numb. One day, I just said "I'm done." Did anybody notice? Not likely. Why? Because I still say hi to my friends. I still support writers I enjoy, I read and review several books a month. I just cut out the garbage. It was a waste of time. Now I work 12-15 hours a day and I have never been happier. I still have a few problems to iron out...and I have yet to crack the top 100 in SALES in the Kindle Horror market. I flirted with it early this month...but ran out of gas. But I know I will get there one day and see my name up there with some pretty cool names. (I'm looking at you Mark Tufo...you are my benchmark.)
I am not doing anything special. I am just not wasting time with things that are meaningless. And if you think I am coming off snobbish, then you aren't paying attention. I still like all the people I liked before. I just don't get into the drama. And you KNOW there is a lot of drama lately. I don't need to name names...each of you can probably think of a half dozen on your own...some will be the same for many of you...others not. Instead, I have committed myself to READING. I decided it was time to support all these people I have cultivated relations with. And my TBR list is epic: Armand, Billie Sue, (the aforementioned) Mark Tufo, Jeff Dawson (thanks for the tee-shirt, Jeff!) and too many others to list. THAT is my new social media. Book reviews. Next, I will talk about how book reviews are way better than LOLing. Tune in.
I'm with you on the subject. When I've come across it, I can't help but interject and scold them like children. It's quite senseless and a waste of valuable time. Not to mention it's kinda funny when they reallize what I'm saying and they stop! Sometimes people just need a little reminder of what it is that we're all trying to do here. It's the big brotherism that gets me the most, when someone is haveing a fit about someone elses reprimand when the someone else hadn't argued a word about the whole thing! It's all fun and games till someone gets their eye poked out...then it's even funnier!
ReplyDelete