Good morning! Well, this week was supposed to be a strict “reading deprivation” diet. I made it all the way to Wednesday — excited I’d gotten so much done — then Thursday I blew it. Mostly because I was nervous sitting in the doctor’s office, waiting for the SO to come back from his appointment. (Good news, so far. Phew!) And got overly excited with the Top Cow Talent Hunt announcement that loomed on my immediate horizon. The contest had almost 900 writers submit and the commonalities of the pitches helped eliminated the writers. While I did not win, I am very happy for whomever did, though! However, that does not declare the end of my fate in comics. I signed a contract for an original short comic and I’m pitching another series. So, I won’t qualify next time around, but I’m very excited that I’m finally breaking into this industry.

I’m trying the reading deprivation tack again for another week. I managed to get the edits done for an adventure science fiction novella and have to enter them into Megatron (my compy) yet, but that should be done today along with cleaning and a plethora of [Redacted Projects x a lot]. This is the first time The Thirteen is reading one of my longer works and I’m anxious to see how they critique this. Then, we’ll try an even longer novella. Hee.

I finally sent out some of my Christmas presents, which will be pictured at bottom. The red quilted earrings, choker, and copper ball drops are original designs; the other two are variations on a pattern. I had no choice but to stick to my original Edward Gorey plan o’ Christmas cards. Only, the interior said Season’s Greetings. I may have decorated the inside with flowers, music notes, and other paraphernalia by saying Happy Spring Season’s Greetings, but so it goes.

Because I was supposed to reduce my intake of words, when I did get caught up in news, I was more painfully aware of what happened when I did. A few articles in particular got under my skin. Namely, having to do with politics and predisposition, the Magdalene Laundry tragedy, and the Orson Scott Card writes Superman kerfluffle.

I took my stress as a learning opportunity and translated the experience into hard data, a tactic designed to reduce stress and increase productivity, and wrote about it for BookLifeNow.com as a two-part article. I’ll let you know when it appears.

The other consequence to going offline is that I miss news and whatnot. This weekend, I’ll also be putting together some lots for an auction called “Evil for Crestline.” You can read more about the tragedy (the burning down of Crestline Elementary and its effect on the community) in the auction. I’ll update you about that, too, as more news develops.

Overall, I’m very happy because I’m seeing immediate payoffs to the attention I’ve given to my business, the goals I’ve set, and what I’ve achieved so far. My writing pace is back where it needs to be (3,000 to 5,000 words per day) and I’m steadily pursuing a better and a consistent method of editing. What I’ve found, there, is that it all comes down to how the draft was written. I know a lot of writers talk about process, but I prefer to internalize those elements and the only way to do that? For me, the answer is to write. Not talk about writing or give advice or obsess about process — but write. If I can’t write, I show up anyway, and flip to something else. But tying my creative work to the dollars I earn has been the best motivator, overall.

And, for that reason, I believe 2013 is the true start to my career. *winks*

Here are the pics!

Mood: Not caffeinated enough.
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: WAY too much pop-a-doodle-doo.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Walking. In the bitter cold.
In My Ears: Cher! ‘Cause… CHER!
Game Last Played: Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed
Movie Last Viewed: A Good Day To Die Hard
Latest Artistic Project: SHINIES. A few you can see above!
Latest Release: “The Button” We Are Dust anthology