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Tag: writing streak

Will soon reach 10% of where it was…

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I do not know if it will be a blessing or a curse to have lost seven hundred and thirty days off of my writing streak through an innocent mistake, but I will tell you this, I’m glad to still be here, going on like I have a second chance to revisit things I may have skimmed over, or given short shrift. I do tend towards glibness when I’m not feeling much love towards a subject. I continue to stumble across posts written from a few years ago which I do not recall ever writing. I am not sure if that is a good thing or not. More than 1,000 posts over the lifetime of hosting this blog so it shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that I can’t remember every single thing I’ve written. Some of those posts were pretty decent. Others are crap. I’d like to try to raise up the overall quality of the writing here. Perhaps I do that by making notes to myself before hand. Having a good think on topics first, or spending more than just five minutes reading over and editing posts. I should not be afraid to keep a post short if I have nothing to say. And… I’m surprisingly ok with that.

I’ve said it before, so obviously I’m going to restate it again, an affectation of mine, repeating myself that is, that I don’t want to make this hobby of a daily writing challenge to be any harder than it needs to be. The moment the vibe is off, I’m done. I keep it lax, and lazy, and go with the flow of the moment. It’s not a paid gig, nor a side hustle. This is where I go to order a few thoughts, or to leave a paper trail of my wood working exploits. If I have to get up and dance to make it happen, or I put pressure on myself to ever be increasing view numbers & eye balls I’ll hate everything about it. It’s low rent for a reason. I’m not a “content” producer. I’m just a forty year old dude saying shit. You feel me, cuh! Silly stupid shit. Sometimes I write random shorts of absurdism. It’s fun. It’s easy. It only requires that I put pen to paper and make the words come out. They don’t have to be great words, eloquent words, gracious or empowering words. I’m not looking to showcase vocabulary; though that being said I have stumbled across a few interesting words and used those as a writing prompt, but that’s rare. Uncommon even.

Sometimes I like to discuss the writing and illustration of my children’s book. That is a fun little project which I have allowed to stretch on for years longer than it should have. I came up with the story when my oldest was about to turn four, she’s almost ten. I started to put the art work together over the Covid lock downs of 2020, 2021, and parts of 2022. I don’t know if I even opened it in 2023. That has required me to paint digitally which is not a strong suit of mine. So I resist it, and thus the project has dragged on for years now. I don’t imagine it would be some surprise hit with the masses either, so no rush there.

I even go on a bit about the two books I wrote of collected short science fiction. There are also a few autobiographical shorts from life experiences mixed in there too, but that isn’t really a big draw for people. Lots of folks have kids. It might he relatable, but not a big motivator to buy the book, or read them on Amazon Kindle Unlimited. I do intend, at some point, to mash both books together into one document and have four copies printed just to have it as a physical thing I can put on my desk. I think that that would make it seem really real. Just a thought. A day dream I’ve had a few times.

Yeah – so, quality is what I’m aiming towards now that I’m on the path to revisit my old writing streak high score. Maybe I’ll figure out how to become a more clear, and concise communicator? Who knows perhaps I’ll even pick up a tone, or a voice all my own on the way. Those smarter than myself tell me perfect practice makes perfect, rather than just repeating your old stupid mistakes and calling that experience. We will see! Ciao Bella!

Dial 3-9-5 to make all outbound calls.

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Getting the hang of a new phone system was always a huge hassle when starting a new job. Was it a VOIP capable phone, did you need a pass code, extension number or ID to reach your voicemail. Do people even leave voicemails anymore when you could just text or email? I had friends who would just mass delete all messages in their inbox if there were too many to be dealt with, thinking that if anything was truly important you’d write back again shortly. I hated that. I spent time archiving messages to maintain a paper trail regarding all requested changes on a project. For the most part it saved my bacon. Until you get a verbal edit request with no written follow up. Then it becomes your word against theirs. Ugly stuff.

Key cards, fobs, security check points, all exciting ways to get a new hassle tucked into your daily life. As much as I look forward to transitioning to full time in the coming years as my kids get older, and more self reliant, I don’t think I will ever return to working for someone else full time. It would have to be a dream come true job, and not just money either. A real – come to jesus – heaven on earth – moving mountains – best job of my life opportunity to pick up a commute again. But you know what they say, never say never.

If everything goes pear shaped I’d be the first to pound pavement (electronic or not) with a resume & portfolio in hand. We’re all just three missed meals away from chaos, such as it were. It’s easier to have high standards when every need you have is being met. Take a couple of the important things away and those standards drop precipitously. I remember college & university well. I worked hours, jobs, and projects I swore I’d never touch again once I got my degrees and certificates. But if things got bad enough, I’d swallow my pride and do it all again. I’d hate it, and myself, but I would do those jobs again if I HAD too.

You know that white winter you were after instead of the rain? Yeah. It’s here now. Thanks. Bye. We have somewhere between five and six inches of snow over night. So fear not. Tobogganing and skiing, and snowboarding are back on the menu! If you are so inclined that is. I’d like to think that I am, but I’d be put off after the first work e-mail that came in which I couldn’t do anything about while on the slopes. As a freelancer all I have (besides the perceived quality of the work) is my reputation. And ditching work to hit the slopes, I feel, would negatively affect that perception. On the other hand, a day outside on the slopes would make you feel alive, more human, and refreshed. So it could – potentially create a more open mindset allowing for increased creativity and productivity? Or I’d be exhausted, need a nap and give the entire day a miss. Toss up. Could go either way. No matter, not on the docket for today anyway. That’s a struggle future me will have to wrestle with.

How is it that as soon as I vacuum the floor my kids immediately choose to eat crumbly foods and leave a mess all over the damn room. Goodness. I could scream! They just know how to push my buttons. Wrappers left on the couch. Plates and cups left in the family room. Crumbs on the floor. Not taking their soaking wet gloves out of their back packs, nor saying they had them in there in the first place. Leaving coats, snowpants and gear on the floor right inside the front entrance way. Ugh. Madness. “Hang up your coats. Socks and sweaters in your rooms” it’s a mantra with us. And about 1,500 repetitions in sometimes it clicks. Mostly it falls on deaf ears, but I persist! One day these children will not be slobs! They will care for their belongings in a manner that encourages longevity! They will know: laundry, cooking, cleaning, sewing, money management, work ethics, car maintenance, lawn care, house maintenance, leaves & trees & gardening, wood working, music, reading and art. Today is not that day, but over time, they will learn it all! Damn it!

230 days of writing just a little bit.

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I’m fairly certain that if you were to analyze the content, style, structure and execution of my writing over the previous two hundred and thirty days, I don’t believe you would find much improvement at all. My writing is choppy, sloppy and at times semi incoherent. But on the plus side, I have stuck with it for nearly eight full months! Wow! Look at me, just going for it. Had a few scares here and there. Forgot about writing once or twice, had a fair few power outages, plus a complete nation wide communications service provider outage that nearly cost me my streak. But Bell was there to see me through at my in-laws place. It has been a ride, I’ll tell you that much. I don’t recall a lot of what I’ve written, stream of consciousness and all. Only a handful of posts have been pre-planned and those would have been a part of my collected works of short fiction/science fiction. Which reminds me, I never did post the finalized book two to Kindle Unlimited. Oh well. I may just revisit both books for a style check, and print them out myself at home, just to have a paper copy. A good enough reason to buy a new working printer. Or so I think.

Day 95!

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I realize as I write this that we are NOT 95 days into the new year (2022). As I started the writing streak early on in the winter break as I was getting antsy with how few posts I had made in 2021, compared to 2020. And I thought I could goose the numbers with a slew of posts late in the year. A real procrastinators move. Not that I thought I could publish a years worth of content, stories and nonsense in two weeks, but I gave it the old college try anyway. And then I just kept on going. At first I was thinking that if I hit a twenty one day streak, I’d be happy, then it was fifty days, then seventy five, and now that I’m close to one hundred, I think I’ll keep going regardless. I like the habit of taking a break in the day, or morning to write a quick post. Sometimes funny, sometimes absurd, and sometimes I will touch off on a rant, or explore my options on the creative writing front. I enjoy it. Getting the short daily post out tends to prime my brain for more complex thinking, and I can hone in on a new chapter. I am sure the streak will end on an innocuous note, as I just forget to post on a busy day, and go back to day one. I’ll either be kicking myself, or I will not give a shit. 50/50 it goes either way. In the meantime, I’m a few days from hitting one hundred. This is the best year my blog has ever had for views, eyeballs and traffic in general. I tried to turn off ads, but I have to upgrade beyond my current upgrade for the option, and I’m not interested in more money leaving my account. But you with the Ad Blockers, you do you. I don’t care. In the near decade I’ve run this site I’ve made 5 cents off of ads, so it’s not exactly taking food out of my kids mouths, so – yeah.

On the story front – What have we learned so far? The Company has seemingly cured 4000 troops via a Nanotech software upgrade. UB313 and the evil Doctor have several weapons and hidden tricks ready and waiting for the approaching company fleet. The somewhat Alien ship ‘K’, and its ambulatory spokesperson Katayna have come out of their data processing hang up, but can’t view their sensor data logs in chronological order. Have found several items of note, some are random, others are just plain strange like the discovery of plans and out going messages regarding a trans-dimensional For E’s engine. Racquelle is alive and well, though she ate desiccated human remains she found, unknowingly, and was not aware a war had started between her evil doctor boss and The Company as a whole. Learning out of the blue that a flotilla of large ships were a few weeks away from Pluto/Charon’s orbit, with vengeance on their minds.

So all out war is coming, and things are looking perilous for all involved. Stay tuned and follow along, as we finish the last chunk of Ghost of the Dirty Starling.