A Short Piece (Promise!) About Making Good Use of Your Time

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I think a lot about time.  Namely why I never seem to have enough of it.

I think about the things I do in the short term to waste time, like scrolling through news after work and watching chains of Youtube videos after dinner and lying in bed too long on weekend mornings.  When these things start to become habits, that’s dangerous, because the amount of time they take away increases over a longer period and you lose even more of your time in these small chunks.

So, I’ve been trying to catch these habits and get rid of them before they do more damage. Continue reading »

I Got SICK (But I’m All Better Now)

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The title says it all—last week I got hit by a nasty case of strep throat that had me writhing in tonsil-pinched agony for three nights and coughing in a runny-nosed mess for four days, plus some lingering coughing and sneezing I just couldn’t shake.  (That’s the most graphic I’m going to get in this post—promise!)

We’ve all been sick before and know what it’s like (no fun, except for the staying home and watching movies part), but this week I want to share three illness-related observations you might not have thought about: Japanese health care, taking days off, and falling behind on creative work. Continue reading »

The Economics of Living in Japan (For Me, Anyway): Part I

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Here’s how much it costs to live in Japan.

One of the reasons I came here was purely economical: things in Japan are just plain designed so one person living on their own can live more cheaply and efficiently.  This means that for most people, compared to living in the States the same amount of salary will cover more necessities and leave you with more money to save and spend how you want (!!!).

To demonstrate, here’s a rundown of how much I make and how much I’ve been spending living alone in Japan versus living alone in the States.  Obviously this is just intended for reference, since everyone moving to Japan, whether you’re working for JET or for a private company, is going to have a different situation.

So, let’s do some numbers… Continue reading »

Eikaiwa Bums Chapbooks Now Available! (Plus Thoughts on Webstore Mechanics and Why Personal Touches Matter)

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The big moment’s here!!!!!!!!!!111

The actual, printed copies of my chapbook, Eikaiwa Bums, got to Japan this week and are ready to order.  I’m not going to lie—opening that envelope and seeing them stacked up was all kinds of exciting, and it was something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time :-)

Quick catchup in case you’re just joining in: Eikaiwa Bums is a 20-ish page short story about life at a for-profit English conversation school in Japan.  It’s based on some themes from my Japan novel that I pitched to the good folks at Blue Cubicle Press and that they published last month as part of their Overtime series of chapbooks about work.  (If you’re interested in how the story went from novel draft to Blue Cubicle chapbook you can read all about it here.)

I’m sure a lot of you out there are asking the same question: How can I get a copy of this fine piece of writing? Continue reading »

Notes From Japan! (or, Crazy Things I’ve Done in the Past Month!)

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Yep, I’m in Japan.

Quick catch-up for those of you just joining the blog: back in the spring I accepted a teaching job with the JET program in the Japanese public school system, and three weeks ago I waved goodbye to New Hampshire and hello to amazing Toyama prefecture, a mountainous region on the Sea of Japan coast.

What was the transition like, you ask?  Well, here’s a rundown of the last 3+ weeks… Continue reading »

Last Post in America! (For a While, Anyway)

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It’s been a CRAZY few weeks since July started and I realized I had LESS THAN A MONTH before Japan to pack up my entire apartment and finish the novel and cancel all my utilities AND finish up a bunch of miscellaneous writing projects AND bring my Japanese up to par—so yeah, I’ve been pretty busy.

Having so much to do has partly been good, since it’s kept me insanely focused most days and pushed me to get more done…though the downside is that it’s also causing me a lot of stress and led to a lot of mad scrambling as I second-guess myself about what needs to be done and in which order.

So with a week before my flight, here’s a report card-style progress report of Continue reading »

My Weeklong Return to Online Test-Grading and Why It Still SUCKS

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So last week I briefly mentioned that I’d signed on to a week (five and a half days, to be exact) at my old Secret Work-From-Home Day Job grading standardized test essays.  The chance to pick up extra hours arrived conveniently in my inbox six or so weeks ago because I’m still on the company’s mailing list, and at the time I figured, what the hell—I could always use the extra cash, and a week of test-grading wouldn’t set me too far behind, right?

*Cue ominous music here* 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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »