Putting in the Work. Resurrected Post.

May 24, 2020

Putting in the Work

As with many of you, home improvement projects have played an unusually prominent role in recent weeks. Now, I’ve not had the excuse of being home with time on my hands. I’ve been going to the office every day. Nonetheless, at the behest of MBW, we’ve been buckling down, checking off items on our to-do list.

We cleared out the garage, painted the walls (two different colors), and hung storage racks. My work-in-progress, corner-of-the-garage tavern is coming along. We are painting interior walls downstairs, in gradual, consecutive fashion. We’re undertaking the usual bits of spring gardening and landscaping.

In short, we’re getting things done.

And that’s what you do. You accomplish things. Whether you are painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or the kitchen is a question of degree rather than kind. You are still getting things done.

I suppose, if your lifestyle and living arrangements allow, you could do little but sit on the couch, watch TV and play videogames. If that is a fulfilling life, then kudos to you for succeeding. That doesn’t work for me, even if MBW would tolerate it. I need a goal, projects, something to create. Something to mark my existence, to give some meaning to it.

That’s how I approach writing. It is a continual process, usually involving multiple projects in different stages. Each day allows me to accomplish something, some additional brick laid in whatever word edifice I’m constructing. It feels good, each and every day, to make a little progress. And even when I’ve finished some stage or another, I have the satisfaction of knowing there is always more to do.

Right now, for example, I’m closing in on the half-way mark of a novel featuring my S&S character Cesar the Bravo. Meanwhile, I’m getting Warlord: Falchion’s Company Book Three ready for publication, waiting on cover art. Dipping my toes into the world of indy-pub, doing for myself what I’m used to relying on a publisher for, certainly adds to my list of projects — and to my sense of accomplishment. Though it remains daunting. Marketing is tough. (On that note, want something to read? Check these out. Both Thick As Thieves and Karl Thorson and the Jade Dagger are currently on sale.)

So, I keep churning. I may not be adorning the Sistine Chapel with marvelously realized religious allegories, but what paltry art or pulp entertainment I manage to concoct provides me with some sense of accomplishment. I hope your endeavors are likewise satisfactory.

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Published on May 24, 2020 12:26

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