Tag: Writing

  • To Do List

    After I took the kid to school, this morning, I hit on the idea that I should just make a list of everything that I want to accomplish today, and that way I will see that I got something done.

    It’s just a mind trick, but it is an affective one.

    Of the 10 things that I had on my list, I only have two left to go, and writing is one of the two, so I am checking that one off as we speak.

    Another item on the list was to start looking up freelance writing work, and I did find some listings. All of them want a list of published work, and writing samples. Well… as of this minute I have only one web-publish review of a “D” horror movie, and plenty of samples! I know that I just have to put myself out there and see what happens. When I read up on starting a freelance writing career, all the books suggest that one should focus on what they want to write about, and go after that. My problem is that I sort of want to explore everything.

    But I think everyone says that when it comes to career advice.

    And I often wonder about people who follow that advice. Do they actually know what they want to focus on, or do they pick one thing and go with it, no matter what?

    My gut tells me people pick something and go with it.

    I would like to stay open to things.

    Let’s see how long I can stick to it.

  • Where Did the Day Go

    I do get distracted a little too easily. I have been working on writing today, I think out of six hours, I have only written for about one of those.

    One hour was for lunch.

    I did read a review on a book of Sylvia Plath’s letters, that took an hour.

    So… I can account for three hours.

    That would mean I have procrastinated for three hours.

    I can admit that I got sucked down a rabbit hole of looking up stuff on the Dragonlance and D&D stuff earlier. But in my defense, I hadn’t thought about all of that for a very longtime. In junior high and early high school, I read all of those novels and was really into all of it.

    I have been reading the news all day about awful stuff that I know everyone is aware of.

    Since moving to California, I have been looking for a job, and it hasn’t gone the way I thought it would, as I still don’t have one. My thought was that I would be splitting my days job hunting and writing. The writing past hasn’t taken off as fast as I thought it would.

    What I want to believe is that I need time to relax after the month I have had, but that makes me feel guilty. Two people are depending on me to find a job, and that is what has taken over my thinking. “MUST FIND A JOB!”

  • I Just Got Paid

    Today, I got paid for writing. It was only five dollars, but this is the first time that I received any money for something I wrote. I have no idea if the piece will ever see the light of day. Maybe, maybe not. This also was the first time that someone was like, “I will pay you at least something for your writing,” and not “the exposure will help your career.”

    Living and working in the arts is awful, but I can’t leave it, and I really don’t want to do anything else. So… I’m stuck.

    So much of my career in the arts, and I will group all of it together; theatre, writing, painting, arts management even, has been predicated by someone asking me to work for free. Until I moved to New York, most of the payment I received had come in the form of beer. It took me about two years in New York before I earned my first check from performing.

    I know that I am not the first person to write about this, but the arts and capitalism really don’t mix. Payment is slanted to the very few that are on the top, while the majority fight for… well… five dollars. I am also not going to claim that I know a solution to this problem, other than capitalism doesn’t solve all problems. People will continue to ask others to work for free in exchange for hope.

    The truly tragic thing about earning five dollars today is that I can’t find a beer in Manhattan for that price.

  • Mid Life Contemplation

    This is not a crisis, but I clearly am at mid-life, and I have been finding myself wondering very often if I am truly doing what I want to do with my life. I have been speaking to my wife about it as well, and she feels in the same boat. Our life is not bad, like all people, it could be better. We are not in some sort of melt down, and I do not feel the urge to buy a sports car. Are there still challenges that we want to accomplish?

    I had drinks with a friend the other day, and we both talked about starting new career paths, and the fear we both had of doing that. That fear of starting over from the bottom, and that we are too old to do that. That is not true, and the fear is not real. If it’s important you find a way, right? You make the sacrifices to make it happen, right?

    I do feel a bit handicapped by being in NYC. In one respect, I feel that all the options are before me, but in the other respect, living in the City is a tight rope walk, and if that income suffers, it throws everything off. (Having written that, I now realize that you could say that about any place.) I moved the NYC to take part in the creative fields, and I can say that over the past 11 years, I have done that. Maybe it’s the work/life balance is out of whack… Too much work and not enough life with the wife and kid.