Oct 11, 2015

Aloha, hello, and greetings to my 27 readers!

First off, thank you for your support and faith in the project - it's been a hot minute since I've updated ANYTHING and the reasoning is twofold:

FIRST FOLD: the day job has consumed many of my days recently. The Navy requires a certain physical condition of its sailors and as such I've had to literally work my ass off to ensure I meet that requirement. It's not something I'm proud of and excepting my time in high school in marching band weight is something I've always struggled with. I see it now especially as I inch closer and closer to my death. Well, to 40. 40 isn't something I dread and neither is death, but let's face it, we're not any of us getting any younger, eh? As every single moment passes we get older and our bodies change. I'm seeing the slowing of my metabolism. ; So, yeah - getting into shape and trying to maintain has sapped a lot of time and energy so I've not done any work proper on the book for a couple weeks.

SECOND FOLD: I intentionally let the deadline for the Nerdist contest slip by with minimal promotion. As awesome as it was, and as much as it served as a catalyst for my getting back into writing, I didn't want that to be my singular motivation. I think I addressed this in a previous update... So yeah, I let September 30th come and go without as much as an acknowledgement. And congrats to the winners! That's fantastic!

THIRD FOLD: We've already known for a few weeks, but after the first doctor's visit and ultrasound I'm extremely happy and stoked to say my wife and I are expecting our first child!! The experience was surreal...maybe I'll blog about it...but seeing the little gummi bear shape on the monitor and SEEING THE TEENY-TINY HEARTBEAT...holy crap...whenever I stop to really think about it - like now - I start to tear up.... So, that's another bit of excitement and I guess I've just been processing that a bit, and letting it sink in, and dadgum if it isn't just another stick of fuel to add to the fire of getting this book done. 

And that's where it gets weird...like, there are some authors who write just for the money - aren't there? And then there's a flock of authors who say don't write for the money - write for the craft, for the art. That's what I want to do, to be able to write, create, produce films and such because I get so jazzed about the final product and being able to show it to other people and have them be jazzed about it, too. Concurrently, I want to be able to do that for a living - and with me being the main boss. I don't really want to have to answer to anyone except my clients, my audience. I know I don't know everything and I'm not good at everything, but damnit, I know I am good at telling a story. I know that publishing and getting your work out there in front of the eyes that matter is a multi-faceted endeavor and I'll need help. But insofar as doing my work, I want to be the boss of me. The wife is the asst. manager as far as that's concerned, because I want it to also be a significant contributor to the household. Plus, she's smarter than me in many, many ways. Saying all that to say, I do answer to her on a couple things, but she doesn't tell me how to do my stuff, how to live my life and such - and I love that so much about her. 

So, I digress the crap out of that - - what's the point I'm trying to make? I want to be able to create AND make money off of it. That is to say, I want to not have to worry about money, about how the needs of my family will be met AND I want to be able to write and create and all that jazz. Right now, I get a decent paycheck from the US Navy - and I'm grateful, and it's been a groovy 4 years - looking forward to my 5th and final. But, uh - yeah - looking forward to not having to shave everyday, answering to folks who just don't understand (though by and large I am allowed an unusual amount of creativity and autonomy at my job), and other things. So - finding that balance between art and practicality...what is that?

TRUE ART...I think...

Anyway, thanks for sticking around - thanks for your support - we still have 38 days to make this happen, otherwise, I'm SELF-PUBLISHING.

Boomsies.

Cliff