So this is what my 2014 has been mostly about right now. Everything else has either come to a standstill or been a major crapshoot of boxcars with every roll of those shiny fuzzy dice. Suffice to say, I is not a happy camper. Too much work and not enough play make G.B a very unhappy camper.
How unhappy? How 'bout this video for a snapshot into G.B.'s mentality for the year.
Yes boys and girls, it has been that kind of year. Lots of overtime and no hope for advancement 'cause the powers that be think you can't do it at the next level. Which, in my humble opinion, is bullshit. I can get the job done just as well as anybody, even more so. Got the smarts, certainly got the work ethic and most definitely got the ability. But....it's their world and I'm just living in it, and because I'm living in it, there really isn't much I can do about my current situation except put my 8 hours and become a slacker like everyone else, which if you think about it, is damn near impossible for me to do.
Anywho, before I get too carried away and turn this post into something putridly toxic for the eyes, let us briefly change gears and downshift into something just a tad meatier and way less vegetarian.
I've still been chipping away with my current WIP every weekend, and the one thing that has been helping me is listening to music. I've been listening to a ton of AC/DC while writing (hence the origin of the video up above) which has allowed me to keep my focus on the overall plot of my novella. However, since I'm now coming out of turn four and heading towards the home stretch, I decided to switch genres a bit. I'm really not sure what genre I want to tackle next, so I thought I would do a little experiment.
For those of you who manage to click through to the front page in order to comment, you will see a big old button that says A-Z Blogging Challenge 2014. I decided that for this year, I would participate in the challenge. The main reason why I'm doing so is, to put it bluntly, build my blog readership. The peripheral reason is to see if I can actually pull it off.
I did pick out a theme, which is my journey as a writer, and at the moment, I have blog posts written through the letter L. The only letter I don't have a topic for is "Y". You would figure that amongst all the letters of the alphabet, "Y" would be the easiest, while the letters "Q", "V" and "X" would the hardest. Sad to say, it is the reverse. Anyways, back to the experiment. I took stock of my record collection, browsed around for a good five minutes, then found a very nice two double LP set of Duane Allman.
So if hard rock/heavy metal can get me severely wound up to write a crime novella, then southern rock/session work from a premier guitarist from the late 60's/early 70's would relax me to the point of being able write 26 blog posts with a snap of the fingers and a very clear conscience.
For hump day, I leave you with this wonderful little gem from Duane Allman
(c) 2014 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved.
For me to move up I have to move. And that ain't happening.
ReplyDeleteIf I could play guitar and/or piano there would be nothing I would need to do with the rest of my life.
ReplyDeleteBearman: I can understand that. At this point, I have no problem in driving farther that what I'm use to.
ReplyDeleteG.A.: Sounds a good solid plan to follow now, or later for that matter.
Y - yo yos. You work with plenty of them :) You're welcome!
ReplyDeleteM: I do at that. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI've moved up and sometimes I regret it. I have more responsibility than I ever wanted. My goal for my next job is to NOT have it be my responsibility to deal with things like "the building is on fire" (true story) or "all the toilets are overflowing simultaneously" (only slightly exaggerated true story). Yeah.
ReplyDeleteS.R.: I have no regrets and I would enjoy the added responsibility to me job. Heck, I'm more or less a defacto supervisor to begin with. I've always had the ability, even though it was acquired in the private sector years ago.
ReplyDeleteI did that A to Z Challenge two years ago - it was fun, but a little stressful. I didn't find that I had time to visit a zillion participating blogs like you are supposed to, so I didn't really get any new readers from that.
ReplyDeleteLynn: I'm looking forward to it, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to see it all the way through. I moderate comments and I think one of the rules state that you can't moderate, so we'll see what happens when I do it.
ReplyDeleteIn any event, I figure this will be my best shot to pick a few new readers for this blog.