Adventure Day 3: Welcome Back, Jack

July 3, 2009 – 22:32

Wow. The more I focus on The Broken Jack, the more I realize how much it had slipped away from me. Instead of jumping in and writing (actually, editing), I’m finding myself wanting to review the whole thing before I make big changes, to make sure it still says what I think it does. I am so happy to have this time to focus on the work. Actually, though, I need to take some time away from it to prepare a submission of Taxi Adventure for my writing group. The books are so different from each other, though–The Broken Jack is dark and anxious and kind of somber, while Taxi Adventure is upbeat and funny and accidentally quirky–that I’m concerned about the mood from each polluting the other, or that going from one to the other will keep each from being the most it could be. We’ll see.

On the business side, I’m getting my website under control, slowly. I’m working out a way to re-tag all my entries, and I’m trying very hard to speed it up without moving it to another host, though I’m losing confidence that I will be able to. And, though this may be more on the personal side, I thinned out my tools and began to weed out our storage closet. It’s part of the effort to make my life deliberate: simple and organized, and therefore powerful and free.

I thought of another benefit to my morning-write/afternoon-business schedule: morning actually begins just after midnight. Sometimes (as in, pretty frequently) I’m wide awake after midnight. Now, if I want, I can just write all night without feeling guilty, and without worrying about having to get up in the morning. I couldn’t do that before without paying for the lack of sleep the next day at the day job (and after). How cool is that?

By tftorrey | Posted in Adventure, Taxi Adventure, The Broken Jack, Writing | Comments (0)

Adventure Day 2: So Much To Do

July 2, 2009 – 19:39

This morning I started again at the beginning of The Broken Jack, looking at everything with an eye toward making the BLEVE incident more central to the story. This needs a lot of work. I think it’s the right direction to go, and I hope I’m not wasting my time, but the only way to see how it will work is to try it.

This afternoon, I’m focusing on the website updates I need to do. It’s a lot of work, and for some reason my site tends to be unbearably slow. I need to figure out if it’s my host or my configuration or what and get it under control, because nobody wants to wait ninety seconds to see my pages, not even me.

These things are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. As I look around, I see my writing landscape littered with projects that need completion and business threads that need to be tied off. I’m not complaining, though. This is the best job I’ve ever had.

Now, back to work.

By tftorrey | Posted in Adventure | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Adventure July Goals

July 1, 2009 – 16:15

These are the goals I have set for July 2009 of my Grand Writing Adventure.

Writing

For July I want to begin to clear the decks of old projects that should have been completed long ago. It’s time to get this show on the road.

  • The Broken Jack: I need to get this beast finished and submitted. It is so close. I think I can do it.
  • The Dancing Queen: I need to begin a review of this book to see what’s needed going forward.

    • Reviews: I want to finalize some reviews I haven’t posted yet, and to begin regular posting again.

Business

On the business side, I want to tie off all the ends that have become loose and frayed. I need a solid foundation to build on.

  • Business Plan: Update. Yes, when writing is a business, you should have a plan. I have one, but I need to update it and make its ambitions and rituals a central part of my life.
  • Website: Complete overhaul of tags and links, update pages, round out content–things that should have been done long ago.
  • Accounting system: Get it caught up. This is a big job, and it may take more than a month.
  • The Desert King: Get it bookstore ready. This also should have been done a long time ago, but it should be quick and easy.
  • The Desert King: Plan promotions. I’ve been figuring out how to go about this for a long time. Now, I know, and it’s go time.

I have more thoughts, but this seems like enough goals for July. Maybe I will update this as I go, or maybe I will just deviate. I already have extra ideas I might just do. I don’t know. We’ll see.

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Adventure Day 1: The Adventure Begins

July 1, 2009 – 16:06

Today is a great and glorious day: it is the first day of my year-long writing adventure.

I have decided to frame this period as a year-long adventure for at least a couple reasons. For one thing, in our current financial situation, I can safely dedicate a year to the adventure without terrible pain. For another, it builds drama and maybe makes reading about it less painful.

So that’s where I am. At the end of next June I will reassess my situation and see where to go next. Maybe then things will have worked out to the point that I am able to continue my adventure, but maybe I will find myself in financial shortage, and facing again the prospects of a day job. Those worries, for the moment, are a long way off. Right now, and for the next year, I will spend every day as I have always wanted to spend my days: as a working writer. Hallelujah!

Over the course of the year, I will seek out and embrace all the fun and interesting and positive and challenging things I can and should do as a serious writer. I will certainly be participating in the 3-Day Novel Contest and NaNoWriMo (how could I not?). I will be setting up my own challenges regarding submissions and tours and speaking and so on. Every month I expect to set monthly priorities on both the writing side and the business side. I will be focused and busy, and hopefully productive and having fun.

I have created a page on this site to be my online headquarters for this adventure: www.tftorrey.com/adventure. Interested parties can visit this page for updates, or to subscribe to the special RSS feed, or to leave a comment of encouragement. Hopefully it will be fun both to live and to read about.

Today I began with the plan I formulated and wrote about a couple days ago. After arising, I did some light yoga, then set to work on The Broken Jack. And there I had a monumental breakthrough! I decided to make the Kingman BLEVE fire play an anchoring role in the story. The incident was already mentioned, but making repeated reference to it, and giving the event weight and impact on the characters, has made the whole story seem to pop out in my head. It seems heavier and more substantial now. It still needs a lot of work, but wow!

I’ve also spent part of the day with little rituals to emphasize the leaving of my old (day job) life behind. I know that big life changes like this are stressful even when they are beneficial, and I think these kinds of changes benefit from the defining points of clarity that rituals are, so I’ve embraced a few small ones. I began by resetting my Wii Fit profile, beginning again with all the exercises. At lunchtime I got a nice new haircut (shaved my head with clippers) to get all the old day-job stink off me. Now I’m washing my uniform shirts (which they only got at my insistence, and then didn’t do right) to give them to Goodwill.

For the balance of the day (the business half), I’m putting together this post (yes, business), beginning the adventure page, posting my July goals, and working to complete the task of getting The Desert King bookstore-ready.

This evening I will be playing poker at the George and Dragon. At the end, I expect to have a little drink to celebrate the beginning of my new adventure.

It’s a great start to my grand adventure.

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Building A Dream Job

June 30, 2009 – 01:24

Tsaile PeakThis past weekend I went with Ceyshe’ to her aunt and uncle’s house on Tsaile Peak to participate in a Blessing Way ceremony for them and their new house. The ceremony actually goes on for several days, but the part we were there for was mostly just an all-night sing, in Navajo. Since I don’t speak (or sing) Navajo, what this meant for me was spending the night staring into the fire and meditating. I liked it.

One thing I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is how to structure my days to best advance my interests while working full-time writing. This is a delightful problem to have. This is a chance, knowing everything I do about how I work best and what I need to do, to design my own dream job. Not to figure out how I can squeeze in some writing time, or to decide what I might have to skip to get some business in, but to build the kind of job that gets results, feels comfortable and fun, and never gets dull, the kind of job I can keep forever.

The requirements at first seem like a tall order: arrange things to maximize my use of personal energy, take care of business, leave time for a social life, and stay flexible enough to avoid feeling trapped and to be able to take advantage of opportunities without upsetting everything. Wow.

Here’s what I’m thinking is a good plan:

Morning: Big Project Writing
In the morning, first thing after waking up (and exercising), put in two to four hours of writing on whatever is the current main project.
Midday: Extended Lunch
The extended lunch gives me time to meet someone for lunch, or catch a lunch presentation at the art museum, or take a nap, or read in the sunshine, or take a swim, or anything like that.
Afternoon: Business
The afternoon can be devoted to business activities: submissions, accounting, marketing, e-mail, whatever, and maybe some client work.
Evening: Social Events, Special Engagements
Evenings are the most flexible time, for spending with family and friends, or socializing, or taking classes, or perhaps reading or speaking somewhere, or pursuing a smaller project, or maybe putting in extra time on a big project.

This will be the schedule for Monday through Friday. On weekends and all State and Federal holidays, the business portion of the agenda will be taken off, and the writing portion will be as much or as little as is desired.

What a great schedule! No set times, maybe not even a clock, yet abundant time for all the writing and business I need to do. Heavy writing and steady business disguised as a laid-back operation. I think I will work very hard to make sure that I can keep working this cushy job.

The best part is that this can be done from anywhere. I can work from my home in Phoenix, but I can just as easily work from San Diego for a week, or a month in Navajoland, inspired every evening by the view of Tsaile Peak at dusk.

I’m really looking forward to this, but I’m wondering: why did I wait so long?

By tftorrey | Posted in Writing | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Exhilarating And Terrifying

June 27, 2009 – 17:50

Preparing to leave the day job has been, to borrow a cliche, something of an emotional roller-coaster. As I make my plans to enter this new phase of life, I’m finding myself awash in feelings of both elation and dread, sometimes without much time from one to the other.

At the peaks, it is quite exhilarating to be the master of my own time, free to arrange my time however I see fit, to construct whatever structures best support my work, and to assemble them into whatever configuration best fits my life. Already I can feel creativity I hadn’t even realized was so stifled about to rush out like a dambreak, and I can’t wait to see what exciting things come from this singular devotion.

In the valleys, though I find the cold realization that leaving day job means leaving lots of things that make life easy and comfortable. With the easy job and good pay came a lot of power: easy credit, easy vacations–basically the power to go anywhere and buy anything I wanted at any time. That’s not easy to give up. Making a living as a writer, credit issuing places basically view you as unemployed. It’s cash and carry, baby, and the cash can be mighty thin.

But that’s how they get you, isn’t it? You trade your dreams and your ambitions and your freedom for a little comfort and safety and security. And is it worth it, really? In the end you die anyway; you just don’t get to pursue your dreams in the middle.

It helps to remember that, while success is not guaranteed, poverty is not my goal. And, given that I will be able to apply full-time effort to the task, there is no good reason why I might not succeed.

Also, the deaths this week of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcette, and Michael Jackson have served as a powerful reminder of the uncertainty and brevity of life, and thus the importance of pursuing your dreams today, the only day you’re sure to have.

It also helps that I have given my notice, and there is no turning back now. There is no longer a reason for looking; I have already leapt.

These are truly exciting days.

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R.I.P. eBay

June 24, 2009 – 07:53

Remember the old days, when you could just sell your old laptop on eBay and buy a new one? Apparently those days are gone. Read about Bruce Schneier’s troubles, then feel the pain of the horrible misadventures of Timothy. I was considering trying to sell my laptop on eBay and getting a netbook. Not now.

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Letting Go

June 22, 2009 – 23:27

Pinky BearYears ago I had a hamster named Pinky Bear. I had a nice cage for her, and I only ever got her the premium food, but none of that seemed to impress her. She was always trying to escape, and if I ever forgot to close the door to her cage, watch out.

The cage was on top of my barrister bookcase, and it was a long drop down to the floor. That was kind of beside the point, however, because hamsters can’t see very well, and she had no way of knowing if the drop was a short one to a soft landing or a long one to a hard smack. Furthermore, hamsters are quite fragile, and falls are a leading cause of death for them.

None of that held back Pinky Bear, though. Every chance she got, she would climb over the edge of the door and lower herself down to the bottom of the wires till she was just hang on with her back feet. Then, with her little paws stretched out into nothing, she would let go, perfectly willing to risk injury or death, for freedom.

For her, premium food or not, anything was better than life in a cage.

Also years ago, though not quite as long ago as Pinky Bear, when I first started posting to this weblog, my very first entry lamented the fact that I still went in to a day job. I pointed out that Cortez, when embarking on his adventure into the unknown of South America, had burned his ships to eliminate the option turning back. I was jealous.

My lamentations at the time were not because of the necessity of a day job. In fact, it wasn’t necessary. It was, however, safe. My disappointment was with my own seeming lack of courage. Where Cortez bravely torched his ships and set off into the unknown with brazen courage and ultimate faith in his skills, I did the opposite. I professed skills and confidence, but in the end I stayed with the safety of the day job. And I wished for the courage of my convictions.

No more.

A few days ago, I served notice at the day job: June 30th will be my last day. Beginning July first, I will be writing and promoting my books full-time. At last.

I’ve been at that job for more than eleven years, so it’s a big change. This is the right time, though, for lots of reasons. For one thing, the day job has become uncertain, unimaginative, uninspired, and nearly intolerable. For another thing, we have money put away and invested, and the economy seems to be stabilizing, so I won’t have insane pressure to make the writing pay off or else. Even if I wasn’t focusing on writing, I would want to move to another job. In the end, that may be what I am doing, just with a daydream in between.

But I am going to try very hard not to let that happen. I am going to try very hard to make my writing become the financial foundation of my life. It will be an exciting year, and if I do it right, I can keep doing it forever. I want to do it right.

At last, the writing will really matter. The quality and quantity and process and results–it will all matter for the first time in a very long time, maybe ever.

This move, this transition, at this time–it might be a mistake, but I don’t think so. I think all the pieces are aligned. I have books. I have ideas. I have skills. I have an infrastructure. New opportunities and publishers and venues open up every month. In a sense, there’s never been a better time to be a writer. On the other hand, there are no guarantees.

Maybe I’ll succeed, or maybe I’ll fail. I don’t know. And right now, I’m not even sure I care. I don’t want a guarantee; I just want to try. It will be an exciting year, a daring and crazy adventure. And who knows, it just might work.

But even if I crash and burn, anything’s better than life in a cage.

Pinky Bear, I think, would be proud.

By tftorrey | Posted in Writing, news | Tagged , , , , | Comments (4)

Great Poker Night

May 25, 2009 – 23:27

Sunday night, thanks to the long holiday weekend, Ceyshe’ and I decided to go play poker in the tournament at the George and Dragon, and it was great. They had a pretty good turnout for a Sunday night–47 people across six tables–and all the regular and serious players were there.

Ceyshe’ got a few good hands early, played them well, and seemed to be the clear chip leader by the first break. Throughout the night, she kept her composure, her wits, and right up until the end, the chip lead. She rallied back from a really tough beat in the final five (or was it four?), and pulled out a third place finish. Awesome!

I managed to avoid making mistakes in the early going, when I had few hands worth playing. My little skill and luck and somewhat larger patience carried me to the final table, though I arrived with the second lowest chip stack. After a few hands at the final table, though, my luck changed. In short order, I was dealt Jacks, then Queens, then Aces–and they all held. Next thing I knew, I was heads-up for the win, and after a duel spiced generously with solid play, lightly with missteps, and with a dash of luck at the right time, I pulled out the win. Wow!

In the George and Dragon tournaments, the top three finishers receive gift certificates, and last night two of them came home in my wallet. Cool!

The win put me fourth in points (and Ceyshe’ in 32d) for the main event tournament. There’s still a long way to go, but we’re in good shape at the moment. Pretty exciting.

So far, I have played in five tournaments at the George and Dragon, and I have finished in the points (the top ten) four of those times, and won gift certificates for third and first place finishes. That’s an amazing start, but it probably means that I’ll eventually run into a long stretch of bad luck that tests my patience. Maybe. Right now, though, I’m feeling pretty good.

By tftorrey | Posted in Poker | Comments (1)

Poker Wednesdays

May 21, 2009 – 19:27

The past four Wednesday evenings, I’ve played in the poker tournament at the George and Dragon, an English pub within staggering distance of my apartment. It’s a lot of fun playing in person, with real chips, and many of those players are quite good.

The tournaments at the George and Dragon are free (with a two-drink minimum), but the top finishers are awarded points, and periodically the top 64 in points play in a big tournament, and the winner of that gets paid entry into the World Series of Poker Main Event. Pretty sweet.

I’ve finished in the points (the top ten) three of the four times I’ve played in the tournament–not too shabby. Last night I finished third. The points are tracked online at their website, but at the moment they don’t reflect my points from last night.

If you’re in the neighborhood, stop in and play. It’s a fun time in a nice venue with good people, and there’s always an extra chair. For the foreseeable future, look for me there Wednesday nights at eight.

By tftorrey | Posted in Poker | Comments (0)
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