Update (maybe some Meditatin’):
I was living up to the “ish” in this journal’s title this weekend. The reason for which is also the subject of today’s post and has implications for what’s going to be happening with The Write Books generally.
I relaunched with some ambitious plans, and I currently am still targeting everything I said I was going to. But I got a serious gut punch, financially speaking, last week. I won’t bore you with the details but suffice to say that my day job will no longer cover my family’s living expenses. So, I am on the hunt for evening and overnight shifts doing basically whatever. Most likely this will be some sort of stocking work. It would be an understatement to say I am not enthused about the prospect. Certainly not because I think I’m above the labor, I’ll probably even enjoy something more physical, but more because I’m staring down the barrel of around a 70-80 hour workweek. And I have a family I will miss terribly. And I am writing in my spare moments. And those will be very spare indeed now. So, hooking and crooking it is. And of course, the main goal is always making progress on my novels, so if Substack takes a hit from that, c’est la vie. I’ll point to the bleachers Babe Ruth-style right now and tell you I’m still going to make it as a writer. What that looks like and what the timetable is, who can say?
So, I hope nothing really changes in my output here and at P3, but it might. I have to see what I can physically accomplish with this new super high workload. This is going to necessitate some serious discipline and getting my health in order and a lot of other things. I’ll try to report on whatever of this experience might be useful to you, in terms of applicable things I’m doing with scheduling and motivation and discipline etc.
But anyway, ya boi feels like he’s been taking a lot of Ls lately and I hope I come out of this alright. It’s uncharted waters, but I also know people have succeeded under much worse conditions. So, optimism is the goal. We’ll see how it all goes. But if I’m leaning more towards the “ish” on journals, and my fiction and essay schedule is sparser than aspired to, now you know why.
I suppose also this is as good a time as any to rattle the empty can and beg for some bread. Literally, if you want to become a paid supporter at $5 a month, it will go to feeding my family. “Ain’t too proud to beg…” etc. Just kidding, it stings the pride a little but what the hell.
Ciao:
I haven’t read or written or done much of anything worth reporting otherwise. Hoping to right that course this week but as I said, lots up in the air. I hope you have a great rest of your day. Keep at it, whatever it is.