There’s No Google Maps for the Creative Life

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The other day I was meeting with my local writer’s group (small plug for them here), and afterward a younger guy who was finishing a creative writing MFA came up to me.  He was new to the group and had a lot of good ideas, and that night he had a deliberate look in his eyes and an important question he very badly wanted to ask:

“So, what did you do, like, for a job after you graduated?”

The question caught me off guard because it had been so long since anyone asked me that.  It brought me back to when I was twenty-two and my friends and I Continue reading »

My Biggest Weakness Explained (And Why You Should Know Yours!)

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If you’d asked me two years ago to name the biggest factor stopping me from getting my creative work done, I would have hands-down said overuse of social media: I used to spend WAY too much time on Facebook (ugh…) and scrolling through Twitter hoping for that gambler’s jackpot payout of finding something awesome that keeps us all hooked.

Now I use social media a lot less and usually only pull it up at set times of the day, so that doesn’t feel like a problem anymore.

Then if you’d asked me last year about my biggest weakness I would have said lethargic time wasting: sleeping too much, getting distracted between tasks, and taking long breaks when I didn’t really need them.  I stopped doing these things in part Continue reading »

May Novel Update: Draft 4 Complete!!!

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Amazing how quickly the tables can turn.

My April novel update consisted mostly of a depressed lament about how little I’d gotten done not only in the past month, but the past year—it took me almost nine months to completely finish the third draft of this novel after I went back to full-time Day Job work, and the fourth draft was progressing just as slowly.

Now, though, things are different: two weeks ago I made the final edits to the fourth draft, after working on it every weekday since I left my Day Job.  That means it only took 16 working days (chunks of two and a half to four hours from late morning to early afternoon) to finish the last 275 pages Continue reading »

Money Leads to Freedom

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(TLDR Version: Money gives you the freedom to make the changes you want in life.)

I haven’t been to any kind of Day Job in over a month…and it feels AWESOME.  Instead I’ve been editing the fourth draft of my novel, studying Japanese, working on this blog, finishing a handful of other writing projects, and taking on a few editing projects, which combined total more than a full-time job while paying decidedly less than full-time money.  I’m able to do this chiefly for two reasons:

  1. I saved up a bunch of money (six months worth of living wages, to be exact) before I left my Day Job
  2. I have more income lined up for mid-summer when I leave for my teaching job in Japan

Both the income safety net and the upcoming job make it possible Continue reading »

New Daily Day Job-Free Work Schedule!

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I haven’t been to work in two weeks…and it feels awesome.

For those of you who missed the news, last month I got accepted for an English teaching job in Japan and quit my Secret Office Day Job—partly to focus more on creative work and partly because some sketchy shit was going on there.  This means that for the next few months my time is my own, and I’ve got to use it wisely if I want to make any real writing progress.

I left work on a Wednesday, which felt a bit disorienting—I went from spending 47+ hours of my week working, commuting, and eating lunch in the company break room to having a three-month chasm of free time ahead of me…and I won’t lie, it felt a bit overwhelming.

For the first two days I was kind of all over the place—I slept late, watched a bunch of Netflix, got a haircut, took a long walk, and Continue reading »

April Novel Update: Slow Going…

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Just a quick update this month, because I’ve got a lot of things to do.

Last month I dove back into actual revisions on the fourth draft of my novel, though as usual, progress has been slow.  As of today I’ve revised 40 pages, or about 12% of the manuscript, which is much, much less than I wanted to have done by now.

For the actual revision process I’ve gone back to setting aside entire nights (from 8:00 to 11:00pm) for novel work instead of grabbing an hour here and an hour there, since I work best when I can devote larger chunks of time to writing.  Unfortunately, though, a variety of things (i.e., excuses) have kept me Continue reading »

How Important is Your Stability?

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Two weeks ago I talked some pretty big talk about not accepting things as they are and how it’s always better to take steps to change a bad situation, since this is pretty integral to how I live my life.  There’s one thing I forgot to mention, though:

Making change happen always comes with risk.

I don’t write about this nearly enough, but Risk is a pretty vital part of the whole Change equation: every time you change something in your life, there’s a Risk that said Change will make things worse or uncomfortable, and that can be a scary thing.  (See what I did Continue reading »

Financial Update: I Saved Enough to Live On For 6 Months!

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The title says it all.

Since I started my Secret Office Day Job last June I’ve been saving a lot—the exact amount ranges between 10 and 40% of each month’s income (well, 40% was only once…) depending on my expenses, how many side gigs I have, or how much overtime I’ve worked.

(Luckily I keep a budget each month to track how much I make and where it’s going—and if you click on no other link in this post, check out my piece on the basics of budgeting, because it’s that important!)

My savings routine works like this: at the beginning of every month I track my previous month’s income, pay all my bills, and see how much I have left.  I keep $2,000 bucks in my checking account to cover unforeseen expenses (car trouble, computer explodes, bills I’ve forgotten Continue reading »

Don’t Just Say “It Is What It Is”

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A while ago I was talking to a friend who was having trouble at his job.  He felt overwhelmed with work and his manager wasn’t helping, and things were getting worse because of some massive disorganization within his company.  He and I talked about his problems on a long car ride, and at one point he heaved a heavy sigh, leaned over the wheel, and said, “But, you know, it is what it is.”

Another time I was helping a different friend make some renovations on his basement.  We were doing trim work and cutting two baseboard pieces that met in a corner.  The pieces didn’t fit at all and looked so bad that no amount of caulk and paint would hide the gap.  My friend looked at the woodwork, shrugged his shoulders, and said, “I’m not too worried about it.  It is what it is.”

Then, two nights ago, I went down to my apartment basement to do some laundry Continue reading »

March Novel Update: Draft Three Complete!

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If you’ve been following my Novel Updates Series then you already know the story: I’m writing a novel that takes place at a grad school writing program in the Midwest, and for the last year and a half I’ve been buried in the revision process—you know, that part where you go back and edit everything you’ve written until it’s actually turns out good.

Last year I finished pen and paper edits for the third draft, and a few months after starting my Secret Office Day Job I started typing them up, page for page and line for line.  Because I’ve been busy, it was taking a REALLY long time, which is why I started posting updates here to keep myself on track.

Well two days ago, at around 11:00pm, I finally finished typing.  That’s Continue reading »

Why Sacrifices Are Necessary (and Hard….)

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Warning: Stream of consciousness ramble ahead.

I think a lot about how I spend my time, and how much of that time I should be spending on creative work or other things that move me closer to my goals. I used to think of this as a simple equation: the more time I devoted to creative work, the more I’d get done…though this led to more than a few cases of terrible burnout that weren’t productive at all (which sucks, btw).

That led me to alter my thinking: maybe taking plenty of breaks was the way to go, because if I stayed as rested and stress-free as possible then my mind would be clearer to focus on my writing and other tasks that required focus. I went through a period when I set aside every Saturday as a No Exceptions Day of Rest, and another Continue reading »

I Signed a Book Contract!!! (Here’s How it Happened)

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AWESOME UPDATE: Eikaiwa Bums is out!  This post is about how I queried the press and signed the contract, but you can also read about what happened when it actually came out, or cut to the chase and order a copy from my webstore.

So a little while ago I got some REALLY amazing news: in August, Blue Cubicle Press will be publishing my short story, Eikaiwa Bums, as a chapbook in its Overtime series of fiction about work.  And just like that, I’ll have a book out.

Though this is hardly my first time getting my writing published, the Eikaiwa Bums chapbook feels like a BIG step because it’s an actual printed book that people can hold in their hand and read, as opposed to reading online or as part of a bigger magazine. (Don’t despair, virtual readers: there’ll Continue reading »