Monday, December 3, 2012

Dear November, It's been fun. Thank you for being finished.

Who says you can't work while you're unemployed?  Well, no one; though I am fairly certain many people would ask "why would you work while you're unemployed?" To that I have an answer: the pursuit of excellence, as life itself is a gift to be used wisely. In this regard, I spent time on resume builders and projects throughout November while continuing my job search. I felt it worthwhile to share with you some projects on which I worked and what their completion may mean moving forward.

1) I completed the 5th draft of Stronghold, and I sent it to several readers. Depending on their feedback (which is due mid-month), I will have a good handle on what needs to be altered and corrected in regard to my subsequent drafts. I am still hopeful for launch on multiple e-readers by March/April. In the event that the feedback is severely negative and substantial work needs to be done in order to correct the text, I may once again need to push back the release. Hopefully, this is not the case, but we'll discover that together.

2) I completed my participation in National Novel Write Month with a novel originally entitled, The Traveler's History: A Tale of Endworld; however, the more I hear that title the less it is accurate (and the more it feels cumbersome); ergo, I will change it during my second draft. As this exercise was completed with only moderate preparation, this novel is far from being finished or released, but I intend to give it a read this month and also provide an initial review here on the blog for fun. I wrote this second novel for those friends who are interested in my storytelling sensibilities and work but with whom Stronghold would not connect due to its overt religious themes. Whereas this second novel explores ideas of spirituality, the story is also far less explicit in its Christian worldview (though, my worldview does inform all of my work and will be inherent in the text at some level).

3) Based on an open call from the Lego Group, I submitted an idea for a possible boys' theme for the brand in the coming years. To be honest, I went both outside the box as well as my own comfort zone in hopes of creating something very different than Lego's prior themes of the last several years. In fact, I saw nothing in their catalog like the idea I presented. I probably should not give the full details here, but I will say that it involves a rock band that fights crime, which sounds like something little dudes could enjoy. If they run with the theme, I have no idea what my level of participation would be, but I would get to work with them in some capacity.

4) Also in regard to Lego, I built a number of models for Creations for Charity, a project that sells one-of-a-kind lego creations built by fans to other fans, with all the proceeds going to the purchase of brand new Lego sets to be donated to Toys for tots this Christmas. Bottom line, I used my Lego, other fans bought it, and now children will get new Lego sets at Christmas as a result (win-win-win). Inasmuch as Lego is not an essential need, I felt this was a very interesting charitable enterprise, and I developed several sets at very low price points marketed for the buyer who wants to support the charity but cannot afford the larger, more complex offerings. All but one of my creations sold, a fact I find very encouraging. I am already brainstorming for next year in hopes of participating again. =)

5) Though content was significant;y lessened, the blog survived; and I almost doubled my twitter followers by learning some new methods to better engage others with that social tool.

All-in-all, I found November to be extremely rewarding. Now if only I could make a living doing these sorts of things. Thanks so much for reading.

C

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