A lot’s changed in the past six months—the most glaring thing being that I LIVE IN JAPAN NOW so my routine’s changed a lot from what I was used to back in the States.
On a grander scale, though, the landscape of how I’m spending my time and which goals I’m pursuing is also different—not because my goals have changed, but because I’ve made some decent progress in the past few months in crossing bigger projects off my To-Do list, and that feels pretty good.
So without further ado, here’s an up-to-date list of which goals I’m pursuing right now, in approximate order of importance:
The Grad School Novel!
As you might recall from my last novel update, WAY back in July I was finishing a solid fifth draft of my novel about a grad school writing program in the Midwest, and all I had left was to type up my handwritten changes, which I hammered out with a week to spare before I left for Japan (boo-yeah!).
The fifth draft was the first version of the novel that I actually felt comfortable sharing with people, since earlier versions still had some major rough patches (characters without names, hanging plot threads, etc.). While I could have (heavy emphasis here) started sending it off to agents right away, it felt wiser to get some feedback from close friends first—so I sent it to said close friends and stepped away from it for a while. Fortunately the timing worked out insanely well since my first few months in Japan were crazy busy with no novelwriting time to be had—so in that sense, I’m glad I’m planned ahead ;-)
Now a few of those close readers have gotten back to me with feedback, so I owe a super-big thanks to Daniel, Stu, Tristen, and Jack for getting through the whole novel and giving me some super-useful comments, both about what was working and what still needed tweaking.
With their comments in mind I’m now reworking a sixth draft with a few bigger changes and a lot of small ones, and my goal is to finish by the end of the year (note the bold, since I’m freakin’ serious!). There’s a few reasons for the strict deadline, namely because I want to finalize the novel and move on to new frontiers, but also because I’ve heard that agents tend to be on the lookout for new projects around January/February, so I’m hoping to get some good timing on my side (!).
With that in mind, as of this writing I’ve gone through 40 pages, or 13% of the 300-page draft. I feel like I’m on a solid track to finish by January 1st, especially because my teaching ends on the 18th and my workload’s going to slow WAY down ;-)
Studying Japanese!
So my Japanese skills still need…a lot of work if I plan on ever communicating decently with people here, so that’s been a priority of mine too.
Back in September I finished a second run through Genki Book I, an entry-level Japanese textbook I found super-useful my first time in Japan and had the foresight to bring back with me. Though some of the vocab in the older edition feels a bit outdated (lessons regularly reference listening to CDs, and the first unit teaches how to tell someone your phone number), it’s probably the most solid all-around method I’ve found to practice speaking, reading, and writing, with plenty of activities to make studying more active. (If you’re looking to study some Japanese on your own, I can’t recommend this enough, and the older edition sells for cheap!)
Now, though, I’m working on an online self-paced Japanese class that my school’s paying for (!!) and that I’m on track to finish by the end of March. The class was created by the folks at Japan’s NTT (kind of like if Comcast made an online English class back home) and is offered free to anyone in the JET program. The class explains Japanese grammar incredibly clearly—like, more clearly than literally anything else I’ve seen, and it’s nice to have a test component included with big red X’s that jostle me out of my stupor when I don’t understand something.
I’m not going to lie, though—the instruction can be pretty stale, and the lessons interject vocabulary pretty randomly, with formal phrases and sentence structure thrown in just for kicks, and there aren’t really speaking exercises like there are in Genki. While the main lecturer does his job well, the acting in the conversation videos is laughably bad, thus making the whole experience feel cheap and ridiculous. Thus, if you’re a fellow JET, I consider it an amazing way to learn Japanese grammar, but for speaking, writing, and vocab, you’re definitely better off elsewhere.
Study reviews aside, my big goal is to study up and ultimately, with a little luck and diligence, pass level N4 of the ever-ominous JLPT Japanese test next summer. Wish me luck…
Continue Promoting Eikaiwa Bums
This one’s pretty self-explanatory but bears mentioning—Eikaiwa Bums, my chapbook story about the Japanese business world, came out a few months ago and I’ve been selling signed copies through my brand-spankin’ new webstore. I officially sold out the first batch last month and ordered more, which was a BIG boost of encouragement when it comes to getting my work out there for people to actually, you know, read.
This book was a long time coming and it meant a lot to me to open that first envelope full of copies when it finally got to Japan. It also feels really good to connect with people who buy the book and ask me to write something cool in it—special requests have included messages in German, Morse code, and even an entirely separate story written on the front and back covers. Stuff like that’s fun to do and forms the core of how artists connect with people, especially when it comes to sharing a meaningful, physical copy of something outside the rush and background noise of the internet.
Future plans for the chapbook include more promotions and giveaways (you’ve signed up for my email list, right???), plus getting it in actual libraries (!!) and bookstores (!!!!), so I’ll keep you posted on that too.
One more time, if you want a for-serious signed copy of my Japan chapbook you can order one here and support both me and this blog, or if you’re short on cash you can get a PDF or a non-signed hard copy here and support the hardworking folks at Blue Cubicle Press. In the indie world, every order means a lot!
Plans for 2019 and Beyond
This entry’s running longer than I wanted, so here’s a quick list of things I want to work on after New Years:
- Send the Novel Off to Actual Agents. This thing’s been in the works for three years and it’s time to see about getting it published!
- Write and Publish More Short Pieces. I’ve been focusing on novels for a long time and want to go back to getting my name out there with shorter pieces, which I was doing a lot more of a few years ago. Once again, another reason to finish the novel!
- Keep Studying Japanese. (I’ll probably need it…)
- Get a TOEFL Certificate. I started an online TOEFL class a few months ago but pushed it downward on my priorities list, so it’s on the backburner for now. Having a for-serious ESL certificate will be a solid boost to my resume, but first I have to finish the damned thing.
- Work on My Super-Secret Post-JET Program Plan. Nobody stays on JET forever, so I’ve got to figure out my next step, which is 100% Top Secret right now. It never hurts to start planning early, though….
Things I’m Definitely NOT Doing Right Now
- Sending Out my Japan Novel. I’m still proud of my first novel but realize that for a first-time author to publish a 117,000 word novel on a super-specific subject that’s full of sex jokes and cross-cultural nuances is a lofty task, so it’s time to set it aside and focus on the future. If nothing else, though, I’m extremely proud of how Eikaiwa Bums turned out as a kind of briefer version.
- Working on My Mad Cooking Skills. This was something I toyed with after coming here, but man, I’m busy enough as it is.
- Spending a Bunch of Empty Time Socializing. Yeah, sorry—I just don’t have the time to waste.
- Reading a Bunch of Online News. The Democrats have won the House and Trump seems to have retreated into a fuming stupor, so what better time to set aside my preoccupation with the ongoing political disaster field we call the news?
So yeah, this is what I’ll be focusing on for the time being, so here’s hoping that posting this here where everyone can see it will keep me more accountable ;-)
If you’re interested in who I am and what I’m working on, keep in touch—it’s not that hard!
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