Draft drift
Dec. 5th, 2004 12:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jdblI took Blackheart Fleet down this morning. So if you were waiting to read the draft and hadn't done it yet, email me and I'll probably send you a copy. I left all the entries with my word counts and updates there, just took the text out, thinking that I would probably be interested in seeing my daily progress at a later time, when I forget exactly what the experience was like.
Leaving tomorrow night to go to LA for a few days, so that Jeff can turn in the final paperwork on his dissertation. The holidays and my financial situation are stressing me out a little bit, and now I rather wish I was staying home and saving the money. I'm in the middle of negotiations with a client to start working for them on a monthly retainer, which would be very helpful, but they're not sure what they can afford, and everything is just very uncertain at the moment. Everything's going to be fine, but the uncertainty just stresses me out.
I go back and forth about the possibility of bagging the freelance thing and getting a "real" job. Because of the move, I was launched into freelance-ism before I was strictly ready; I should have had a lot more savings than I did, and what I did have was swallowed up by the move. So going back to working full time would be one way of solving that problem. But I've always wanted to freelance and I love it. I hate going to an office every day, and I hate dealing with co-workers and talking to people when I don't want to, and accounting to someone every second. I much prefer rolling out of bed whenever I want and working in a pair of yoga pants, and spending the day however I need to. I love being able to run errands in the afternoon and then working more at night. I love being able to take whole days to work on my own writing without having to sneak around about it when I don't have pressing deadlines. Part of the problem is that Fall is always the slowest time for me - I've actually had more work than I thought I would, which is very good - which makes it both a good time and a bad time to move. Moving is just an expensive proposition, essentially, and we're still digging out from under. This time next year, everything will probably be golden. And Jeff says he thinks it's probably too early to give up on the freelancing thing, that I should try it for a few more months and see how it goes. A lot depends on what this client ends up proposing for the retainer. I might end up doing something else part-time, maybe teaching a class or something. That's a lot of work for a little bit of money, but it's interesting, and it would be steady income for the time that the class is running. So, I don't know. We'll see how things pan out in the next few weeks.
I miss spending the day with Winter and Jes.
Leaving tomorrow night to go to LA for a few days, so that Jeff can turn in the final paperwork on his dissertation. The holidays and my financial situation are stressing me out a little bit, and now I rather wish I was staying home and saving the money. I'm in the middle of negotiations with a client to start working for them on a monthly retainer, which would be very helpful, but they're not sure what they can afford, and everything is just very uncertain at the moment. Everything's going to be fine, but the uncertainty just stresses me out.
I go back and forth about the possibility of bagging the freelance thing and getting a "real" job. Because of the move, I was launched into freelance-ism before I was strictly ready; I should have had a lot more savings than I did, and what I did have was swallowed up by the move. So going back to working full time would be one way of solving that problem. But I've always wanted to freelance and I love it. I hate going to an office every day, and I hate dealing with co-workers and talking to people when I don't want to, and accounting to someone every second. I much prefer rolling out of bed whenever I want and working in a pair of yoga pants, and spending the day however I need to. I love being able to run errands in the afternoon and then working more at night. I love being able to take whole days to work on my own writing without having to sneak around about it when I don't have pressing deadlines. Part of the problem is that Fall is always the slowest time for me - I've actually had more work than I thought I would, which is very good - which makes it both a good time and a bad time to move. Moving is just an expensive proposition, essentially, and we're still digging out from under. This time next year, everything will probably be golden. And Jeff says he thinks it's probably too early to give up on the freelancing thing, that I should try it for a few more months and see how it goes. A lot depends on what this client ends up proposing for the retainer. I might end up doing something else part-time, maybe teaching a class or something. That's a lot of work for a little bit of money, but it's interesting, and it would be steady income for the time that the class is running. So, I don't know. We'll see how things pan out in the next few weeks.
I miss spending the day with Winter and Jes.
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-05 09:02 pm (UTC)I have read Blackheart Fleet in bits and pieces, and would dearly love to read the whole thing. However, I will probably not have time either to read it or to feedback you until after Boxing Day, as I am going full tilt with real life stuff until Xmas.
Good luck.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-05 11:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-05 11:09 pm (UTC)*where fun means fun or simply not-possible-in-southern-ON
no subject
Date: 2004-12-05 11:25 pm (UTC)Other than helping Jeff get his paperwork together for his dissertation and possibly attending a board meeting at ACRC, I don't have anything planned. Jeff's got a list of restaurants he wants to visit while we're there, and I'd like to make it to the Arclight to see a movie. I'm hoping we'll spend quite a bit of time with Jennifer, and Jeff wants to try to see some of his gamer friends.
I'm not really enthused about the trip at this point. I've got a lot to do proposal-wise and I'm feeling out of sorts about a variety of things. Most of what we're going to be doing is for Jeff's benefit, and I feel like it would have been better for me to stay here and save the money of the extra plane ticket and costs of eating out. And I'm not feeling very gregarious right now. Mostly I would like to dig back in and try to figure out what to do about Blackheart Fleet, but of course, I've got those proposals to see to anyway.
I'm looking forward to seeing Jennifer and to having some decent meals, but I'm not sure how much time I'm really going to get to spend with her, and I'm generally feeling anxious about money right now. Which is not productive. But I should have an answer from ACRC about the retainer before I leave, so that will allow me to start thinking in more concrete terms about my options. And hopefully they'll cut me a check before I leave. We'll see.
Basically I'm just feeling sort of crabby the last few days. ::makes face at self:: I should try harder to stop being an asshole and enjoy myself. ::makes mental note - stop being asshole::
no subject
Date: 2004-12-06 01:09 am (UTC)But Jes and Winter are still there, with all the good ideas you created, and you can get back to it when you are ready.
About job options: teaching a course at the Uni would mean meeting lots of interesting people, but you may want to be prepared for their evil plan of sessional exploitation: low wages, low status, much marking.
But you know this part already.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-06 12:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-06 06:33 pm (UTC)And let me say again in the privacy of your journal rather than the public arena of mine that you're amazing for doing and finishing NaNoWriMo! I'm so impressed. You rock!
no subject
Date: 2004-12-06 06:50 pm (UTC)Thank you! I'm really glad I did it, even though I'm left with 50000 words of notes since I didn't have an outline before and ended up with a lot of banter and not a lot of plot. I think it taught me a lot about writing faster and not editing so much during the process of a first draft.