The past few months have been interesting. I’ve stuck to my plan, for the most part. But the plan changed. I knew it would. The plan always changes. It grows bigger. Curves down unexpected paths, and the chance to find honeysuckles or weeds is probably equal. If I’m lucky the path leads to an exciting place. If I’m not, and I come out to an old abandoned parking lot, pitted and filled with gravel, at least I had the joy of journey. Because I discover things along these side paths. Talents I didn’t know I had. Interests I didn’t know existed. That’s always the fun part for me. I’m the kind of person who finds a shiny bead on the path, or spies ancient standing stones through the trees. To not explore is one of the greatest crimes of existence.
And even though the path morphed into some unexpected areas, I’m generally pleased with my work. Here’s what I’ve been working on:
From the original plan
1) Continue writing Ashborne’s sequel.
2) Continue writing Jakob’s Journal (I’m currently working on the final posts and will compile those in a free ebook companion to Ashborne).
3) Continue writing here on the blog.
4) Figure out the ginormous tax chaos surrounding me as an American citizen filing taxes in two countries (What a nightmare!).
5) Read.
6) Handle the majority of household family issues (birthdays, playdates, new school visits, doctor’s appointments, fevers, referee duty, snuggle duty, reading duty, etc) and all domestic duties. Unless the duty involved a technological gadget or a hammer.
7) Actively participate in writing workshop group.
Outside the plan
1) Developed three television pilots and entered a TV script competition (I loved all the characters, so when the deadline passes, I’m taking them back and writing my own stories).
2) Submitted a sci-fi short story for publication (I discovered, much to my surprise, I enjoy writing in first person, if I find the right character).
3) Currently writing an apocalyptic short story for a contest (The Apocalypse Chronicles. Go enter!).
4) Took an online poetry writing course (How Writers Write Poetry) (Comparing last year’s class with this one, I discovered some online MOOC platforms are better than others).
5) Currently compiling a stack of poems for publication (Fun! Therapeutic. Fascinating to play with words and ideas and constraints and forms. I discovered I enjoy poetry that ventures outside traditional forms a lot more than I thought I would).
6) Had an identity crisis (Still working on that).
7) Took an online course about writing superheroes (The Rise of Superheroes) (I discovered, though I sort of already knew, the same heroes have been around since ancient times. Fascinating class! Also, I get historical information about comic books, which is kind of fun =)).
8) Wrote a guest post over at Almond Press (Using Scene Cards to Eliminate Struggling with a Blank Page) (I discovered there are organizations who actively engage with indie authors).
9) Took a marketing course. Good tips.
10) Began volunteering at the church (Technically my first day of volunteering is tomorrow. But I met with them and set it up =). Excited to get involved).
11) I began a course about future cities, but it wasn’t what I expected at all, so I dropped out of it.
12) Completed a beta read on a 100k philosophical sci-fi novel and submitted a detailed report for a client (always good to read something that challenges my ideas, the world’s ideas, ideas that seem normal and ideas that seem absurd).
Still on the agenda?
1) The highest priorities for me are finishing the sequel and publishing the final entries for Jakob’s Journal.
2) I’d also like to revise the cover for Orbital Extraction and re-launch that short story. I’ve had positive response from professionals, but it’s not getting any traffic, so I need to figure out what’s going on there.
3) Set up an area on the blog for guest posts and interviews.
4) Clean up an older short story I wrote back in 2009 and submit it for publication (I found it while looking for something else and remembered how much I liked it. The one time I submitted it, I got personal feedback along with the rejection letter. Then I had a baby I think, and I forgot all about it. Time to dig it out, fix it and send it out into the world again).
5) Set up two summer writing workshops for my writing group. I’m so excited about these!
6) Have a great spring and summer! Enjoy as much sunshine as I can =).
What’s on your agenda? Does your agenda change as much as mine does?
Cas Blomberg Communications 