It’s always the time of the year to think about this thing, as we’re constantly reminded in all media… along with the constant reminder that we mostly never follow through with these things. So just for the record, here’s what I’d like to do more of this year:

– Writing. Well duh, of course. I did pretty well with it last year, but I just want to keep up my consistency. There’s at least two books I could write this year that I already have in mind.

– Revising, editing and improving the above. This one is probably more important, as it’s something I’m less familiar with and less at ease with. I have to apply what I know to revise what I’ve already done. Fix it. Make it better. Improve it. On every level I can find. And this includes getting involved with writing groups and getting other people to help me revise. Which leads to…

– Getting a publishing deal. This one is harder, of course, and it’s not exactly in my control, but I must resolve to do everything in my power to make this happen (usually just lots of the previous two points). And that’s a deal, not necessarily publication, because you can never control the timing of that.

– More physical activity. Might depend on where I live of course, but there’s always something. And a team sport would be better, to inject something more social. Golf would be good too. Get better fitness, eat well.

– Group creative collaboration. This is really vague, but I’m thinking something creative with a group of people would be good. Done a little of this years ago, but would lke to get back to it, and it would most likely be online. Could be gaming, animation, writing, film, comics or something else. Really, the social aspect is as important as whatever the project is. Gettting to know other creative people again and all that.

– Business. Whether it’s IT repairs/help/online freelancing, or a secondhand bookshop, or a combination of both, I want to get that going this year (yes, that would be in Coona in all likelihood). This is really regardless of my main job aspirations there. It will be easier to start slowly if I have the day job, and if I don’t and go for this, well it will just have to be all out then, won’t it?

– Being active in the town. If as is most likely, we’re all in Coona within a month or two, I want to be active in the town. Groups, activities, events. Good for me, good for the family. Good for business above too. And just fun and social at the same time.

– Make stuff. Do more woodworking — all kinds of stuff big and small. Get into some of the electronics things I want to do. MAME cabinets, home theatre PCs, other gadgetry. Build my electric guitar (and then more!) Amp, speakers too? Business or fun, it doesn’t matter, just do it.

– Cooking and foodie stuff. Well, we cook to eat, so just more variety there, but what about more? Ginger beer, beer brewing (try what I made!), other soft drink, other produce. Get Sallie in the garden (and join her?!?), grow stuff. Fun or business, but there’s always possibilities.

– Family. Honestly, I think I’m doing pretty well there. Keep up the time with Will and Alex, give Lachlan more time as he gets bigger and more aware, and just make family the most important thing, despite all the above. Make Will’s school the best it can be for him.

That really covers it all I think. Ten points. That’s quite enough really

Rupert: you ugly old luddite

In response to this recent news:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/09/2710281.htm

Murdoch warns Google: it’s time to pay

What we all really need to do is stop linking to News Ltd sites. Stop blogging about them, stop submitting to Digg, Stumbleupon, linking on Facebook, Twitter, whatever.

Murdoch appears not to want this… unless we pay, of course.

It’s a boycott of sorts, but clearly he doesn’t think that his content needs to be promoted — we all know it’s just perfect already, and we should all be immediately paying for it.

And in the spirit of the main article, Google must immediately remove all News Ltd material from the search logs. No one can be allowed to find it without paying. As usual, he seems to have completely lost track of how the Internet works… apparently News Ltd content will just stand out by itself now, because it clearly has no competition.

There is only one way I can think of this being good for Murdoch, and it involves finding at least one other big company to be very stupid. But that’s for another time.

For now, we really should just boycott News Ltd on the web. And as a Simpsons/Buffy/Dollhouse/Bones fan, let’s clarify and say News Ltd news content — because that will be HYSTERICALLY EASY

I’m *this* close to finishing my 2nd novel in a 10 month span. Usually I don’t write a lot about specific writing progress here, because like all blogging novelists, known or unknown, you realise quickly it’s just not that interesting.

But I’ve almost kind of hit a snag. On the current project, I seem to have lost my nerve just slightly… I’ve been semi-stalled for the last month, not writing a lot, but still making some progress. It’s time to take the next step.

After having written more in the last 10 months than in the previous 5 years combined, I’ve rejoined the Writer’s Centre, and I need to make a sincere and real effort to network more with other writers, one way or another. Both to be social, and to get my work out there… to let it be seen, to get feedback, to answer my own questions and occasional doubts as to how good or bad it is, and to work out how best to advance. I’ve written two novels in less than a year, but I need more advice on how to revise, edit and make them better.

Should be easy enough, right? (Yeah, sure…)

In the meantime, I keep on writing, keep on trying to find that perfect time to write that isn’t on the train (because I know that won’t last forever!) and then look ahead to the next novel project. Because I’m sure I can write three novels in about a 14-15 month span. And that’s more writing in that time than I’ve possibly ever done… or at least done since I was in school!

Now that’s something to be excited by…

Apparently I could be classed as a “victim” of the financial crisis now. At work, my hours have been cut back to four days a week. They’re desperate to save money more than anything else, so now I only work there Tuesday to Friday. This is a cut, and would apparently make me a victim of the financial crisis too.

You could have fooled me though… the feeling of waking up at the usual time on Monday morning, then knowing I could sleep another hour, was magnificent. I had a leisurely morning, and I helped out the kids a heap, then we had a few hours of doctor’s appointments with Will, then I got to do some freelance work at home.

I guess it remains to be seen how much the financial hit affects us (20% isn’t nothing, of course), but honestly, it seems good from here so far. With the baby due at the end of the month, then tax refund time, we’ll be getting bonuses and extra cash from many sources, and I already have a few freelance gigs lined up, then hopefully some more in the odesk/elance world… financially I think it should be okay. Then there’s writing time, which I feel good about whether it brings in money right now or not… it’s all pretty good. I’m looking at Ruby on Rails again… some web app ideas I want to develop. And I get more time with the kids at home.

It’s extremely difficult to feel like any kind of victim right now, even though technically I am. And I’ll definitely make sure the feeling stays that way.

Really quiet weekend, almost entirely a strictly at home affair, which helped the bank balance, my health, and getting things done around the house.

Pretty poor weather as well, which has been a running theme all week, and since that’s been no good for my health, it was better to stay home as much as possible.

Worked on the office for the most part, taking the old desktop outside, trying to set up the graphics tablet on it, and generally getting things set up outside. Wireless reception is terrible (for the USB wireless at least), but I’m really liking the way it’s looking as an office outside. It’s what I’ve wanted for years really: an office separate from the house, with everything I want in terms of facilities, a good space, a big desk, all my gear. It feels professional, and it feels like I could do a lot of work there a lot of the time…

Which I hope to now, that’s for sure

I tried to buy Will another birthday present today, when we were out shopping at Rouse Hill. A Monsters vs Aliens storybook. It nearly worked too, but when he caught sight of it he nearly blew a fuse in his attempts to get it immediately. We had to hide it and deny everything… that boy really knows how to have a tantrum. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a really good kid nearly all the time. But when you put together tiredness (which nearly always happens on Sunday after karate), with any kind of annoyance for him, it can be deadly

And I need to remind myself to avoid the fast food… too often I’m getting the kids Maccas or KFC and just defaulting to the same thing myself. Not good, especially when we go to these places where the food is barely put together, and way too salty (ie: bad even by fast food standards). I’m trying not to spend too much money, but I just need to spend it on my own lunch, if nothing else

I’ve got the back garage room set up with some good office space now, with my good old mega desk, and I tried something new out there. There’s power, and my laptop set up easily, but I tried the standing desk option (since I actually don’t have a good office chair out there and will need to buy one). But I’ve been reading up on the benefits of a standing desk, and with some props my big old desk works well. You can feel the strain, but I think it might be ok. And while I’ll buy or make the stand if this is how I go, it’s still cheaper than a new chair. Since I sit down all day everywhere else, I am definitely going to persist with this, it does seem beneficial.

Another hospital trip today, this time mainly for Alex. A hearing test… to put it bluntly we’re quite sure he  has some hearing problems, we’re just not sure how much.

It would explain a lot, like his speech, and his understanding of things, and the way he reacts, or doesn’t react, to us in so many ways.

Typically of course, no concrete results today, only more follow-ups. Such is the way.

Managed to work at home for the rest of the day, and got a lot done. More than I’d do in the office, today at least. I’m really enjoying the challenge right now.

This is what I call productivity:

On the train, to and from work, I wrote 2100 words of my new fiction project. About 1100 in the morning, and another thousand on the way home.

Quite happy with that. Making good progress on this new thing…

Then… at work, I was able to spend nearly the whole day working on the new site. I seemed to learn more PHP than  ever before, get further into the WordPress system, and I  actually ended the day solving several problems and really feeling like I learned many things.

Which isn’t that common at work, unfortunately.

But today was… productive. On all counts. Nice.

I was going to write something about writing as a business again, then I realised there isn’t much point, and that I have to concentrate on the writing itself, because nothing else matters until you have that down.

Fair progress in NanoWriMo — I’m just behind where I should be, but it’s a margin I could easily make up, provided I do enough when I’m away next weekend, and keep at it day in day out till the month’s end (and go nuts in the last two days!)

Not a bad go — got more done this weekend than last, but still not much today. So that has to improve. And I really have to write anything to a degree… just get it on paper, get it done, make it happen. Iron it out later in rewrites.

And I found this comp today: 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award , which looks good, but more remarkably is actually open to Australians. For that fact alone, I really need to enter it. they don’t take entries until February, so I will actually have stuff to show by then. This is a good opportunity, no matter what happens. Just remember it’s on when The Hold Steady are here

I have decided today that there’s far too many things going on right now. From Will in hospital, to job troubles, to business yes/no-ing, to our imminent need to find somewhere new to live, to everyone’s incessant sickness, it’s just all too much. So one of these is just going to stop.

Any of them will do. If I had any say in it, I’d just make Will perfectly healthy of course, but that might be beyond my control. The job versus business question is driving me nuts, and I don’t even quite know where that will end up yet, and the house thing is really tied in with that so much that it won’t get resolved there either (although that one needs a call by the end of the month of course).

Ha ha… nothing is particularly easy right now. Oh well, at least Summer is very slowly approaching…