Movement
So, things are already beginning to develop in interesting directions in the New Year. I promised myself that 2013 would be a year of positive changes, and so far it’s looking like that might actually pan out.
There have been three major threads to this. The first is that I’m finally starting to get serious about writing, but in an unexpected direction–reviewing. I’ve revived last year’s brief relationship with The Future Fire, and in the last couple of weeks I’ve had two reviews published–one of an Indian SF magazine called, logically enough, Indian SF, and the other of a marvelous short zombie movie called 2 Hours.
I’m not getting paid for these. But I am learning to get stuff past an editor and in front of eyeballs. With any luck, I’ll eventually be able to take these to somebody who will pay me.
And, in addition to this, I’m still working on my fiction writing. My current story–an alternate history set in a California where the American Revolution never happened–is chugging along, and I have several other ideas in the pipeline. I’m still resolved to get something published by the end of the year.
The second thing I’m doing–also rather unexpected–is, after many years, I’m finally getting back into making music–on actual instruments, as opposed to putting notes together on a computer screen. My cheap-but-nice Squier acoustic guitar is getting some attention at last, and I also bought a ukulele on impulse while in Gualala a few months ago. I’m learning to play both, and enjoying it immensely–I’ve even made a couple of feeble tries at writing actual songs.
It would be safe to assume that I’ll have some music online in the not-too-distant future. In case you care.
Third, as a result of the two items above, I’m very deliberately setting aside some of my other hobbies. Learning Chinese, for instance. It’s fascinating, but I can’t devote the time that it would take to become proficient–particularly when there’s not the potential for immediate reward that writing and music are presenting. Same goes for painting, which I had been looking at restarting but never found the space for.
So, all of this is positive, and I’m excited about where it might go. Now, all I need to do is kick myself in the ass to keep doing it.