I'M BACK
It’s funny how a few days off quickly ballooned into a few months of sabbatical. Such is the nature of things I suppose. But a few months ago when I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with things I decided to skip a week of blogging. Not just skip writing in my blog, but of visiting others as well.
And then another week passed, and another, and another. Before I knew it people were sending me emails wanting to know if I was okay. I guess I really have been away for a while now.
WHAT HAPPENED while I was out? Disney bought Lucasfilm (will I now see the 1977 theatrical version of Star Wars get released on Blu Ray? Without all the updates).
There was a presidential election – I think somebody won.
NASA KEEPS ANNOUNCING they’ve found evidence of that water once flowed on Mars in the ancient past – At some point, someone needs to talk to them about these sorts of things. This last one was this huge tease about something ‘game changing’ and it turned out to be just repeating what they’ve told us at least 3 other times in the recent past. I’m thinking about starting a conspiracy that they found real aliens there but the govt stepped in and shut them up before they could announce it… thusly changing their story at the last minute and bringing up the water thing yet again.
I FOUND OUT DUOTROPE is going to a subscription model in January. Something that saddened me greatly – it’s a website that many authors use as a resource to track their submissions to various markets. As the real value that the site offers is that so many people use it that you can find out what standard wait times are for markets you’ve submitted to, what their acceptance rate is, and a pretty slick search feature that helps identify the best markets for a story that you may have written, the rest of what they offer is more secondary, at least to me.
I imagine that the number of people that will leave the site after it goes subscription will really devalue the data they collect – and therefore devalue their service. That’s my fear anyway. I’m torn about whether or not I want to invest in moving it forward.
Other than that, I had a lot of free time. What did I do with it all? Well, I watched 5 seasons of 30 rock, I finally got caught up on The Walking Dead. I read a few books, I started and QUIT reading a few more books.
All while doing some soul-searching.
I’m not so sure I’m through with that last part. At least in regards to my writing. But that’s been my time in a nutshell. More later… it’s good to be back. Just baby steps for now.
20 comments:
And it's good to have you back! I bet you got a bunch of comments on your last IWSG post because people thought it was the one for this month. Yes, we've emailed you. Some have threatened to come find you. (Remember, I know where you live and can get there in seven hours!) You have many friends here - don't forget that.
And I think some big movie is coming out this Friday...
Let's just hope I can really get back in the swing of things. And yes, we're all excited for 'Save the Date' coming out this weekend - I think I've already seen people lining up to watch.
Welcome back.
I just hope the outside world hasn't changed so much that you end up carving "Rusty Wuz Here" into a beam and hang yourself like in The Shawshank Redemption.
WAHOO you are still alive! I like to learn such things! Welcome back from your accidental sabbatical (hey, that sort of not really rhymes!).
it took me about 5 retypings to type that last bit without typos, and now I'm making and correcting endless typos in THIS sentence too, so I am going to post this comment and the consequences be damned! (which I just wrote as 'amned'...interesting)
Nice to see you back! Your blog is one of my favorites, so I'll just be waiting for the next post!
I think everyone (like Duotrope) wants in on the author bonanza. The author bonanza is almost an economy unto itself...allow me to explain. The author bonanza is the prolific amount of writers out there who are nobodies who dream of being a somebody. So you have all these website offering services to help the nobody be the somebody. For example, LULU sells a package for a whopping $3,900 that simply gathers up your present contacts and email blasts them.
I was thinking of trying to capitalize on the hopes and dreams too. You know "I'll sign you up for a twitter, show you how to use hashtags, get you a facebook author page, put up a rudimentary blog on blogspot, and publish your book on Amazon CreateSpace (with cover art you supply) for $5,000.00. But I'd be sure to offer a Christmas discount of 10% off.
I think the author bonanza is probably way more lucrative than being an author.
You've been sporadic since April. Just sayin'. But always good to see you!
Hey Rusty.
I'm on the second day of my Xmas writing break. No more new stories until after Christmas. It feels great.
I missed you Rusty. Glad your world is hanging in there though.
You know, someone will come along and replace Duotrope. Its the way things work.
.....dhole
A rather eventful time Rusty. Good to read you again man.
You've been missed. I'd never heard of Duotrope. I've been on QueryTracker. Hope you and your family have a great holiday with more books and movie/series watching.
Soul searching, eh? I did a bit of that once. Wasn't sure I liked what I found. Way down there, in the depths of my Psyche, staring back at me... *shudder*
I left and didn't look back. Kept my eyes straight up at the sky, looking at Heaven's own beauty, trying to shake off my memories of my feelings.
*grimace*
Then I ate a cheeseburger. The tangible, gritty quality of it helped me back to reality. The fluorescent lights of the Mickey D's might have seemed cold to some, but they were warm to me, given where I'd just come from. I clutched the wast wrapper in my shaking hands and vowed that if I ever could rid my shattered mind of what I'd seen, I would count myself the luckiest man alive.
To this day, I sleep with a TV on to keep my brain tethered to the real world while I dream.
*tear trickles down his cheek*
It doesn't quite work.
(If that isn't working for you, try reading it with an Austrailian accent.)
"Wast" is supposed to be "waxy." Dammit, now I need to edit COMMENTS? and why would spellcheck change waxy to wast? Is wast a word?
Apparently, it is. Well. I. Never! What a world, what a world.
Good to have you back.
I heard about Duotrope..some how I don't think it's going to work out that well.
As for Mars, I think they just make a big deal out of every little thing so they can keep their funding. If they don't discover something interesting, what are we paying for? Well, the pictures are cool though.
Welcome back! That was a nice round-up of recent happenings.
Hmm... I think blogger ate your post from my feed. I remember seeing the post on my list, but, later, when I actually went back to read people's posts, yours was no longer on the list. I know that because if it had been I'd have read it.
But goodreads reminded me.
When you say soul searching, what exactly do you mean? Looking for one? Did yours get lost? Did you just not have one? I don't understand...
Okay, all kidding aside, it's good to see a post from you. And, yeah, Alex and I were discussing which of us was going to track you down. Something like that, at any rate.
Hmm... and now my computer is telling me it's about to engage in a tune-up. What that heck does that mean? Is it a car n
I'm so very glad you're not dead. And soul searing is a good way to spend your time. I guess that part never ends.
Welcome back.
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