This morning, I woke up, exercised, had breakfast, journaled, and then started on my writing to-do list for the day.
Welcome to my new normal.
It’s been three months now since I’ve been laid off from my dayjob. I’ve been keeping busy, but in a sense, it feels like the sabbatical I’ve always wanted to take. I wake up, exercise, journal, then. do tasks for the day. Now that I’m done with Meow Wolf, my next focus is getting funds for GigaNotoSaurus Magazine. You can read the editorial I wrote for that here, and if you want to contribute a one-time payment, go to our magazine’s main page and click on the “Donate” button at the bottom of the About Section. I’m also working on getting a Patreon set up and other funding avenues, so stay tuned for that news.
Other than that, I’ve been writing. I’ve been working on a short story that has since blossomed into a novella. At the time, I really wanted to keep it a short story, but since I became full-time, I realized I had time to flesh out important points. Something that shocks me—though it shouldn't—was how much more I’m able to time now, which cuts down on writing time. I was able to cut down on finishing a revision draft. Back when I had a dayjob, even though I was part-time, I was also dealing with Meow Wolf and other solicited projects. This gave me little time to set goals or deadlines for any personal writing projects. I just worked on them in the little time I had, and if it took months to finish a single scene, so be it.
In August, I decided to add a riot to the end of the novella. Because I had initially hoped to finish my revision draft mid-August, adding a riot would mean drafting a new ending. I figured it would take a while so I pushed the deadline for finishing the draft to the end of September. Not only did I finish adding the riot in just a couple of weeks, but then I was able to take a break, revise it, and finish the draft a day before the original deadline. I’m working on the final draft now and plan to have that done by the end of September. Even worked out a schedule and everything.
I can plan to finish my writing projects again and it. IS. AWESOME.
If anything, to have time to sit and finish a story feels indulgent, like eating good chocolate. I've also restarted doing writing exercises again. Writing exercises have always been a bane to me. because, at the most, I could only do enough for 5 minutes at the most. Now when I do them, I time myself as long as I want. Sometimes 15 minutes, sometimes a full hour. Seriously, it feels luxurious. I’ve also got a couple of story solicitations, so I’ll be working on stories for that.
Finally, as you can see, I’ve finally changed the name of my newsletter to In Touch With Yours Truly. It’s been a tagline that I’ve written for many years. I’ll tell the story about it in my next update. Gotta keep you coming here to read my work after all. 😁
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