Moving forward…adapting…changing.
Last week I applied for my boss’s job. This wasn’t an easy decision to come to. It’s a lot of responsibility and it’s scary moving into a position I’ve never done before. I may think I’m ready and be totally taken aback but the immense burden put on my shoulders. That can happen. I’ve seen people move up and step back.
I feel there is a lot different with this situation.
First, let me say, I have no expectation that I’ll get the position. None. Zero. I’m hopeful. There are indicators there. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that hope and excitement aren’t the best indicators of something good happening (or bad).
Secondly, I’ve positioned myself as best I can and the end result is out of my hands.
As I say in the video, this is similar to my writing. I used to take the approach of “Hey, I’m going to be successful simply because I wrote a book and got it out there.” I was disappointed when it didn’t sell. neither did the next one. Or the next. etc.
This time around, I went in expecting to sell exactly 0 copies of GRPC2 (or any of my back catalog) and 0 copies of the two short stories that were released.
Don’t forget, I’ve a new short story out: https://smile.amazon.com/1010-1101-President-J-R-Murdock-ebook/dp/B093ZJWJ7W
That said, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve had a different expectation for success. What does it look like, feel like? Right now, success is doing the best job I can do at the day job, create my videos, podcast, and write and produce books for readers. Oh, and have fun along the way. That’s my current measure of success.
That isn’t to say that it’s not disappointing when something doesn’t go the way I would like, but having my expectations set helps me deal with it. I’ve been let down a lot over the years. More than I care to count. I’ve self-sabotaged opportunities. Didn’t fully commit myself to what I was doing. Half-assed my way along. I got what I deserved and not what I expected.
I’ve also learned along the way that my happiness is up to me. I can’t put that on someone else to do for me. If I wait for someone else to do something for me and expect them to do it…I’ll be disappointed. So, I don’t expect anything and I’m happy with what comes my way.
The other thing I’ve learned, that I have a lot to still learn. One of my co-workers hit 45 years with the company this week. What keeps him going? That there’s always something more to learn. That’s what keeps me plugging away with writing, publishing, and now content creation. Things change quickly with the internet. It’s impossible to keep up with everything. What do I do? I learn what I can, what I need to, and keep moving forward.
Obviously there will be obstacles. Those will slow a person down. It should never stop a person from going forward.
I said in one blog post that I’m giving myself 5 years to reach a certain level of success with my writing. Now, I’ll never stop. I’ll never give up. What I’ll do is re-access what I’m doing and move in a different direction. Perhaps not put so much time and effort into something that’s not giving me what I hope for. I’ll never stop writing. Probably never stop publishing. If the current gets too strong, I’ll find another way to keep moving.
I’m off to go make words happen.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/5-a-Day-With-Jay—0144-e11lmn3
Year over year.
First off, there’s a new short story coming out tomorrow (5/26). Here’s the link…
Secondly, we’re nearing the end of the months. I’ll have to get another By The Numbers episode ready to go. Remember, we’re going for slow, steady growth. This will be interesting as it’s only the 2nd By The Numbers episode. How’d we do? We’ll have to wait to find out.
Thirdly, today is my 24th wedding anniversary. The Mrs and I had some sushi (I had a veggie roll and an avocado roll). We watched some TV. Relaxed. Would have been nice to go out, but that will have to wait until the world opens up again.
Speaking of anniversaries, one of these days I’ll need to go through all my books and see when each was published. Looks like I missed an opportunity to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Chosen: Astel book 1. That came out March 10th, 2011. How quickly times goes by.
This is where I’ve said many times, I’ve made mistakes over the years. I’d had success with the V&A Shipping series, yet released Astel as my first ebook and print book. By the time I published V&A Shipping, it was already 4 years after the podiobook had been produced and published. Again, a missed opportunity.
With all these dates having passed me by and I’ve missed many, it’s time for me to get on a schedule. Document what I’ve done, and keep pressing forward. I could continue to dwell on my past slips, but I’m not going to. Much like with being married. It’s filled with ups and downs. It’s not dwelling on the down points, but learning from them and moving forward to the next up point and trying to have more ups than downs.
I’m off to go write chapter 3 in Jack Kane, book 3. Mike got me chapter 2. Time to read, and write.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/5-a-Day-With-Jay—0143-e11jkqu
Why seek perfection?
I never claim to be perfect in anything that I do. Far from it. Do I think I’m a perfect writer? Oh, heavens no. Not by a long shot. Do I want to be a perfect writer? That’s not the right question.
To write a “perfect” story is to be one that is so generic, it’s lost all its personality. It’s washed clean and no longer has any personality.
That doesn’t mean riddled with typos and grammatical errors. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the writer’s voice. When I write, I’m protective of that voice and my creativity.
I’m not out to offend anyone with my writing. That’s not my goal. I’m also not trying to set anyone on edge. All I try to do, is tell a story I’m happy with, enjoy telling and am satisfied with. In the end, I really write for myself first. I don’t tell a perfect story mostly because I don’t want to read a perfect story.
I don’t like stories where everything works out perfectly for all involved. That’s not how life normally works. There are bumps, ups, downs, lurches, crashes. Things can get messy. Many of my favorite books have devastating outcomes. I’m not a happily-ever-after writer.
On top of that, I’m not perfect in the fact that I may be plugging away on a story, and forget a detail by the time I get to the end of the book. Yes, I’ll usually do a read through of the book once it’s done and try to clean up typos, but I will sometimes miss a small detail. I’ve had some of these pointed out to me before. Every time I’ve decided that it’s not critical to the plot and likely not something that most readers will get hung up on. If they do…guess what.
I’m happy they got hung up on that one little detail. Why? It’ll keep them thinking about my stories. I may not be the best writer you’ve ever heard of…but you have heard of me, right?
Don’t take that as “I hate my audience” or “I think they’re all stupid.” Heavens no. I love every reader. I don’t want someone to walk away from a book upset or unhappy. Let me give an example of what I’m talking about.
In Golden West book 1, one character gives another character a coin during a train ride.
Now, will this detail get you hung up on the outcome of the story if it’s not resolved? I did go back and remove that based on one person’s feedback and now I wish I’d left it in there. Not because I want anyone to get hung up, but because it was a minor detail that had no impact on the outcome of the story. Perhaps readers would have allowed their mind to wander and come up with a solution on their own.
When I reader an Epic fantasy series years ago, I got hung up on a small detail like this. The main character pricked himself on a thorny vine and the author dedicated a paragraph to how the thorn worked its way under the skin and into the character’s flesh.
And? And? thousands of pages later…I’m still hung up on that one small detail. Years later, I still remember that small detail. The book series had ‘thorn’ in it. The main character got pricked by a thorn. Why? Why did the author invest so many words to tell me about it?
In the end, the series is magnificent. I have no complaints. Is it a perfect series? No. It’s got flaws, and quirks. But it’s got character its own and I’m not talking about POV characters. I’m talking about the writing style is almost its own character. The author’s style comes across. I’ve read everything by this author because of those little details that keep me thinking about the book and wondering “What about?”
I’ve rambled long enough. I’m off to go make words happen.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/5-a-Day-With-Jay—0142-e11hcfq
Tremors…4
Much like Sharknado, when I saw the first Tremors movie, I thought it was a fun movie, but never expected it to become a franchise. I’ve been wrong before and I’m confident I’ll be wrong again.
Unlike Sharknado, I missed the initial release. After watching the first 4 movies, this series fell off my radar. This happens.
Then I saw there was a Tremors marathon and there was a 5th movie in the series out. Wait. What? A 5th movie? And that’s only the movies that were shown on the marathon. There are 7 movies in this series! How’d I manage to miss so many?
Now, I’ll be honest. Much like Sharknado, these movies aren’t high-brow entertainment nor as they intended to be. But unlike Sharknado, these movies have a certain lore and history and are internally consistent. Sharknado threw everything at the wall and if someone laughed, it made it into the movie.
Say what you will about the Tremors movies. They tell pretty good stories. Sure, they’re a little hokey, but for the first 4 that I’ve watched, they’re stayed true to that lore and have pretty good stories to tell. Nothing groundbreaking or earth shattering that will make you jump up and binge them all (like I did), but so far, they all tell a good, almost continuing story.
With Tremors 4, The Legend Begins, we don’t get so much of a glimpse of where they graboids came from, but rather the first time they’re encountered in “Rejection”. A town renamed to “Perfection”. It’s a simple story, there’s character growth, and with any horror-type movie, death along the way. Sure, most of the characters are cardboard cutouts, but there’s something about sitting down and watching a movie with a simple plot. I’m looking at you who watch all those Hallmark movies!
At any rate, it’s fun to see Michael Gross, after all these years, still in these movies. I plan to make my way through all of them, seek out the short-lived TV series, and pilots.
What’s your take on the Tremors series? Seems, much like Sharknado, it’s a love ’em or hate ’em series.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Live Stream Testing…
Today I did a little test with my YouTube live stream. It hadn’t been streaming. Not sure why or what I was doing differently. Today, it appeared that it all worked.
Even though I was only testing, I still decided to chit chat a little bit about what’s going on with the books, what I did today, and other things about the setup I’m using.
Lots of info in the video if’n you’re interested. I’ll write a longer post on Monday.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/5-a-Day-With-Jay—0141-e11dc55
Because I needed a nap…
This week was a stress-filled week. No 5-a-day today. When I got done with work, I really needed a nap. I thought maybe 30 minutes, but the Mrs woke me up and it was 2 hours later. Then the kids came over and we spent the rest of the evening talking.
I’ll talk next week about a number of different topics. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve got a list 🙂
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Leadership.
Hey Gang,
Long stressful day/week/month. There’s a very long video laying out all that’s been going on behind the scenes with the day job.
Short Version: My boss is retiring. I’ve decided to apply for his position. It’s a stressful, anxious, and exciting time. (sound familiar?).
Long Version: Watch the video. I try to explain everything and what this could mean going forward. I said from the start, I wanted to be open and transparent about everything that’s going on and what it might do to impact my writing and publishing.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/5-a-Day-With-Jay—0140-e11a5m0
It’s all about the journey…for me.
Recorded early this evening. Worked out in the morning. Now I have the rest of the evening to do stuff.
Side Note: It appears that I neglected to click “Stream Now” and clicked “Record Now”. We’ll figure all that out later. Mistakes will happen.
On the writing front, Monday I wrote somewhere around 500 words. I wasn’t happy with those words. They felt forced. I re-read them and last night, threw all those words out. It wasn’t right.
I started over. <grumble>
But, my idea for the start, I feel, was much better. Jack, by himself, in his Yard/Lab working alone. Well, with Hudson nearby. I was going to write the entire chapter with no dialogue, but no, it needed some.
The words flowed like water. In less than an hour and a half, I’d written nearly 2000 words and got that over the Michell Plested so he could begin work on his chapter.
This is how we write the Jack Kane novels. Round Robin style. It’s fun. We can head in a similar direction and riff off one another. Bring in each others characters as needed for a scene. Then see what they other did.
One of the things Mike and I do (now) when preparing for these stories is to know where we’re starting, and where we’re ending. We’ll discuss story beats that should happen. That’s about it. On book 1, we tried to plot chapter by chapter and the story got away from us. It’s still a good story, but came out rougher than intended and needed a lot of massaging to get right.
Book 2, that sucker flowed well, and we did minimal plotting.
We found what works for us. We’re not 100% discovery writers who sit and “BAM!” story. With two of us in there, we need to have a general sense of where the story is going. We also did some research that’ll be needed in the story as well. I’m having fun looking at old time trains. I feel like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. Bazinga.
When I write stories on my own, I’m usually not too concerned where the story goes. I’m having fun writing and putting words down. I know and trust my writing enough these days that the story will get to where it needs to go. I’m more concerned with the journey the characters are on.
Yes, I take notes as I go. I keep track of names, species, ship names, hull numbers, identifications, and all that. I do my research before I write and put <insert research here> comments to keep me on track when I’m writing and need to fill something in I didn’t look up before sitting down.
What I’m saying is simple, I don’t let anything get in my way when I’m putting words down. I’ve written a good amount over the years. Nearly 2,000,000 words worth. I’ve read hundreds of books. I’ve studied though courses of those who’ve gone before me and found success.
The best part about this time around, I’m having more fun than ever before. I feel free not worrying about how many people are reading my blog or how many views my latest video got. Sure, I’m checking, but it’s not a driving factor for my current level of happiness. That’s all.
I’m off to enjoy the evening.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/5-a-Day-With-Jay—0139-e117n7j
Update on a few different things.
Up first: Live stream scheduling.
I know I’m not on a schedule with the live streams to YouTube. My apologies for that. I’ve many things to figure out, like how to set up my feed to alert people 30 minutes before I “Go Live”. The main purpose of the streaming instead of recording and uploading is time savings. I also need to figure out the background music and title shot before I start streaming. We’ll get there. Please be patient while I figure out new technology.
Secondly, my person schedule. I still work all day. That’s not going to change any time in the near future. What will change is I’m getting up earlier to do my workout rather than taken an hour after work for my workout, then shower, then get dinner, etc. I’m getting as much done in the morning as I can, so, when I’m done with work, I can get to the writing business.
That said, today I got done with work and took a nap. I’m old. My body doesn’t want to adjust as quickly as I want to. Again, this will take time but we’ll get there. Much like my brain, my body is learning new things as well.
Finally, Jack Kane book 3. My intention was to sit down last night, crank out a couple of thousand words, and get the file over to Mike so he could do his chapter. Well, I’ve been in the story of 3 other series, lots of edits, and getting things scheduled and uploaded. My brain wasn’t fully in the Jack Kane brain space. I didn’t get as much done last night as I’d hoped.
Tonight, I’ll get further along and hopefully get that over to Mike.
If’n you’re curious how I got started in reading and writing Steampunk, check out the video tonight.
I’m off to go make words happen.
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/5-a-Day-With-Jay—0138-e115jhs
Enjoy what you enjoy. Let others enjoy what they enjoy.
The title of this blog post couldn’t be any more simple. I’ll get to that in one minute. Let me cover two other topics first.
- I got background music on the live stream for youtube. My next step is to get an opening and closing video sequence. Once I have that, these streams will be mostly on auto pilot and I’ll be saving so much time. It’s exciting. 🙂
- Got started on Jack Kane book 3. I hope to get that over to my co-author, Mike Plested soon so he can dig in and get going.
Back to the main topic.
As I’ve gotten older, unlike many, I’ve found that I don’t hate certain content as much as I used to. Sure, there’s music I don’t like. Movies I think stink on ice. Books that should never have been published.
So what?
Why am I going to waste my time and energy being angry that people love something that I dislike? Twilight? I thought the books were awful and the movies worse. You love them? Good. Enjoy! I’m glad you found something you like.
Avatar? Prometheus? Those movies, for me, were beautiful to look at, but the stories so disjointed that all I could do was shake my head and wish they’d spent any amount of money on script doctors to fix the glaring problems on the screen. Did you like them? GREAT! I’m glad you did. Many people loved those movies.
John Scalzi? I think he’s a good guy, though I’ve never met him. I’ve heard stories about how he talks down to his fans and other authors. I’ve never had that interaction. I think his books are well-edited junk that have awful plots and are easily predictable. You like his stories? GREAT! I’m glad for you. Buy more of his books and enjoy them. You are his audience.
When I posted last about Scalzi, a couple of other authors thought I was on the Scalzi hate train. No, I’m really now. I wasn’t then, I’m not now. Please, if you’re an author that hates Scalzi and you think because I don’t care for Scalzi’s work, don’t think that means I’ll love your work. The last two authors that sent me work on this premise…well, let’s just say I cared for their work even less.
Quite simply, as I get older, I find I’d rather focus my time and energy into spreading love for what I love instead of hate for what I don’t like.
How do you deal with content you consume that you don’t care for?
Until Next Time!
Stay Awesome!
Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/5-a-Day-With-Jay—0137-e113cj5
J.R. Murdock 