It has been a year and a day since I made a life-altering decision
Today I’d like to use the word “auspicious,” but…you know, I’ve got to keep it cool.
Last November the fifth, I went to a party to watch V for Vendetta. On the drive, I decided something. Something which I’d written about the day before:
Put another way, I decided that I no longer had any patience to wait for some obscure occurrence to change my life.
I made my inventory of goals and means, and I set out on my adventure.
My campaign is the same.
I will sell books. My own books or the books of other people. At this point, it looks like I will do both.
That goal is still my main one, and its openness and its directness still suit me.
Whether I have actually made any progress in my campaign or not shall be determined when I have gotten further on it.
I feel that I have made progress.
These are as much for my next status report to myself, due in a year, as they are for you.
The evidence of my work…
I have become more organized with my social media presence. (Follow me on faceschmerzen, twitterpates, instaspitz, and fumblr.)
I’ve started a Patreon profile, which everyone who wants to make money as a creative ought to do, I think…
I’ve set up my PayPal tip jar, which creatives also ought to have, I think…
I’ve started a podcast. One episode. Yay!
And my mailing list is up and running. I’ve sent two letters through it. Hoorah! Sign up for updates from the adventure…
And I’m working really hard to generate enough gumption to actually put some energy into my ootubez channel…
Also, you can find me on Google+, the most ironically useless social network ever designed by a company that does so many other techy things right…
Oliver Blakemore - Google+
Not quite clever enough to origami my life into this blurb.
plus.google.com
Here on Medium, I’ve gone from less than a hundred followers to over 1,600. All of you readers are amazing people, and I’m so happy whenever you talk to me, and I’m glad I get the chance to go see what you have to say too.
If it occurs to you that something I write might resonate with other people you know, then do share my words.
A larger social media footprint might not seem like that big of a deal. But at this point in the campaign, it’s the ideal place to put energy. Community is the way into the future of the book business.
Plus, you know…if you’re a writer, shoving against the woes of reality, you know how difficult it is to both put yourself out there and to keep doing it. It’s work. It’s hard work. I’m proud of the fact that I’m still putting in the work.
Here’s a big deal…
And kind of a transition idea — sort of a hybrid experience for me — I’ve been working with the daCunha people, who are some of the greatest creatives of our age, I think, and some of the most “woke” people you’ll meet. Go say hello:
In the writing life (and therefore more important to me than the social media stuff, and only a wee bit more important than the community)…
I am in second draft edits for my novel. I am enjoying it. I’m about a quarter through this round of edits.
I’ve written several short stories, and I like to read them. That’s progress, since usually I don’t like to read anything I write.
I’m enjoying the work it takes to keep up my blog, and I’ve written some things recently that I definitely enjoy. Also on my blog, I have a secret project on it that I’m in the middle of. (Codename: Sparklers.)
I’m practicing multi-media boldness. It takes a lot of courage to decide to speak and stand and otherwise perform physically when you only know how to make words sound okay when they’re written down.
And working with daCunha is turning out to be one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever tried to do.
Which all feels good. Optimism is difficult for me sometimes. It’s good to feel good about my writing right now.
Overall determination…
Progress.
Progress is good.
What is required now?
In all honesty, more of the same. But this time just more…so. More oomph. More panache. More verissimo! More of everything.
Once more onto the waves, my friends.
