Time for a quick update. I’m going to be making some changes. Or rather, I’m going to be making more changes. Some of them I’ve already implemented.
On the personal front, I’ve started a diet and exercise program. I’ve been on it for three and a half weeks as of this writing. I’ve not lost a lot of weight, but I think that’s partly because I’ve put on a bit of muscle mass. I just know my pants seem to be a size or so too big, my blood pressure is lower than it’s been in years, I’m sleeping better, and I have more energy. I’m going to be keeping this up.
I may have mentioned in a post (or was that just on Twitter) that I won a compound bow in a raffle back in May. Turns out I’m not half bad at archery. My son took some classes with me over the summer. While he won’t have a lot of time to pursue the hobby, at least during marching band season, I’m going to be putting in as much time on the range as I can. Hopefully more than once a week, which is all I’ve been able to do for the last month or so.
A colleague from down the hall has resurrected an off campus chess group. My son and I have been playing in it. We’ve been meeting in a coffee house on Friday nights, and when it closes, we head over to a Mexican restaurant for good food and live mariachi music. Now that high school football marching band season has started, we’ll be cutting back on that.
There are some trends at work that have made me get serious about planning an exit strategy. I’m not going to say what form that will take just yet since I’m still considering some things. I want enough secondary streams of income in place to be able to walk away on my terms and at my time.
Writing will be one of those streams, but not the only one if what I’m working on bears fruit. And at least initially, probably not the main one. Speaking of writing, I’ve placed two short stories in anthologies in the last month. I’m hoping to make some progress on some short novels this fall.
As far as blogging, I’m going to move in a slightly different direction. I’ll still be blogging here, but I’m going to increase my presence on Futures Past and Present. I want to read more science fiction, especially adventure sf and space along with rereading authors I grew up reading who have fallen out of favor these days. I’ll still post here, but there will be fewer reviews of novels and more of short fiction. I’ll also do more art posts and continue to feature selected authors on their birthdays. I’ve tried to do a couple of birthday posts on Futures Past and Present but haven’t been able to get the stories I had in mind read before the day was over. My intention is to get a couple of posts up there over the weekend, so keep an eye out for them.
So what’s up with you folks?
Good question.
Mostly looking forward to autumn. School will start for the kids next week. That will give us structure and schedule(s) again. My wife will start up her part-time job again. I might try squeezing in morning writing sessions before heading to work. (Lunch hour writing sessions have been hit or miss lately.)
Been tightening the money belt and will be for a while. So bigger purchases–like a new Kindle–will just need to wait.
Like you, I’m forecasting some short novels next year. The longer it takes for some of my stories to get published, the more I am reminded that I need to investigate self-publishing those novels.
I’ll stick pick away at a longer novel with an eye for bigger publishers but I’m not putting all my eggs in that basket.
There is a small writers conference coming in Sept–just a day session. Kind of a mini NECON spinoff. That will be fun.
Reading will probably shift back to horror for the fall season but I’ll continue to plug away at Derrick Ferguson’s New Pulp list. I’ve been leveraging audiobooks during my commute for that.
We adopted two kittens (we lost both our senior cats in the spring) and they are settling in. We’re happy to have cats in the family again. 🙂
That sounds like fun, taking up archery, hat is. I just finished Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell and it focusses heavily on the English longbow and the role it played in the Battle of Agincourt. It got me excited about archery again so I think it is awesome that you are taking it seriously.
I too have joined a gym a couple of months back, mostly because of high cholesterol, and because I want to get back into shape. I am taking it serious, though, using protein shakes and creatine. The results have been good. I am seeing new veins popping, even veins I haven’t seen in years. My wife tells me she loves the new bulges and lines in my shoulders. I still have a gut though and need to burn that away.
As far as work goes, I am out of the legal field again and doing technical writing on contract, which is an income and interesting work but not very consistent. I’ve started writing again and I am part of a group of guys and one gal trying our hand at romance writing but from a manly man’s point of view which means it’ll be parodies of romance all the way. My first story is called “Gladiator: Savage Passion” under the pen name Xander Banks. We’ll see how it goes. I open the story with a fight, which is always good, and I am using existing characters from history. At the very least it’s a fun exercise to warm up my writing muscles.
I’ve increased my reading time and watch almost no television. I want to get through the pile of books next to my bed before the end of the year.
And that’s me. Whether you write here or on the other blog, we’ll be here reading and sharing.
Sounds like you have a lot on your plate, Keith. Best of luck with all of it!
Thanks. I intend to have fun with it.
Sounds like things are good and busy. Good luck with all the writing. I’m half tempted to try writing fiction again, but I’m lazy and I’m still liquidating in not blogging for Black Gate (though I might do a quick review next week).
Thanks. I’m going to try to be productive. Let us know if you start writing fiction.
Luxuriating