The Journal of Spartan_Warrior

[Spartan_Warrior]

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[Tyler9000]

Maybe editing will save it. Maybe I just need another pen name where I can toss anything I'm not overly proud of. "T.L. Diddenreed" has a nice ring to it.

LOL! I'd read something by that author any day.

I admire your passion. I'm working on rediscovering my own.

[Spartan_Warrior]

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[Tyler9000]

Wow.

I'd be interested in knowing if the cubicle police lifted your monitor and removed the books using proper ergonomic lifting procedure. It would be a shame if they used an unsafe lifting method that risked throwing out a back. I mean, that could cause a lot of paperwork. Maybe even some mandatory training. Come to think of it, did they contract the proper union to move said monitor? There may be serious labor violations involved.

Corporate bureaucracy sucks.

[jacob]

@SW - I can't tell whether it's a good thing or a bad thing you work for the government. If this was a private company, you'd have been terminated long ago already. If it was academia ... well, I used to prop up my desk using old lead bricks I borrowed from [nuclear] accelerator shielding

@Tyler9000 - More likely, they outsourced the job to a private contractor at $400/hour. They then had to bring in a special crane to lift the table (since it was heavier than 20 pounds) which was then billed at $150000 and otherwise kept in a storage room until it was sold to a school for $30. Nah, I kid, I kid.

[mxlr650]

I was advised that if I require a standing desk, I will need to request reasonable accommodations via some form or process or whatever, which will be granted based on medical necessity. I told them I have no interest in doing that

Most companies offer ergonomic evaluation, and if yours is a desk job, it is easy to request a adjustable height desk with keyboard tray that is ergonomic while sitting or standing. Unless the company is strapped for funds, it is a LOT cheaper to install new ergo equipment. It seems like you have a desktop at work – with a laptop if you have a good eye sight, all you need is external touchpad+keyboard.

May be you know all this, but just not interested in working with the system.

[Spartan_Warrior]

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[George the original one]

> they have bad management ESP.

Oh, I sense a good "fictional" story about that!

[workathome]

For every job I've ever had, my attitude ended up being the same as yours SW. A bit of interest learning the ropes, but as soon as mindless routine set in, I basically went mentally AWOL and got sort of bitter. Really, that attitude started around Junior High School though. Of course all of these were minimum wage jobs. The last one, my first "normal"-type cubicle job with a computer and phone, I acted preemptively by quitting when I caught myself starting to slide. That time my manager was actually a really nice guy, just the job was just horrible.

FWIW, I never found a job I liked. I ended up having to start my own company, and sort of got sick of that as well once it stopped seeming new and got boring and repetitive...

From the outside though, it sounds like you have a pretty good position. 77k, getting half the week at home, and getting to read a ton. The prudent thing to do would probably be just tough it out until you're FI. Even though I'm basically free, I really do the same thing you do everyday as it is - read. To think of all the time I wasted at those crummy part-time jobs playing video games when I could have been learning about an interesting or useful skill, investing, etc.!

Maybe you could make a game out of it, instead of getting more bitter or nasty. You had to wake up and realize government work isn't really about getting work done, but career advancement. You've already maxed out your current character level and perks and you're bored, but you could level up. Can you bump it up and get a private office, with no passive aggressive management, and even more pay, but still get to use the time to write? Kinda like a cubicle RPG or something.

[Spartan_Warrior]

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[Spartan_Warrior]

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[Tyler9000]

I've mentioned before that I used to be in the habit of writing 1,000 words in an hour, twice a day, for a total of 2k a day. I am nowhere near that efficient or focused anymore; the best I seem to do now is about 500 words/hr. I'm not used to writing this way anymore.

I'm no writer, and would probably be terrible at fiction. I can understand how the thinking process is a bit different, and a lot more active and critical than everyday writing. But I'll just note that your post is 1303 words and I really enjoyed it. Gotta go with the flow, man.

FWIW, the thing I've noticed about investment income (for me, at least) is that net worth is often flat for several months before occasional breakouts. I'm sure you're doing just fine -- try not to over-think it.

[Matty]

I'll just sit here until I get fired and then make do with what I've saved. Whatever.

I've had this thought many times!

It seems change is on the horizon for you soon! Make sure you get out before doing any damage to your health that you can't recover from. I will look forward to following your next stage whenever that may be.

[GandK]

Please don't get discouraged about your writing speed, SW.

A change of process may be all you need. IIRC you do some of your planning while you write? I find that I'm only capable of high output when writing if I've planned my whole story in advance. I used to value "the process of discovery" and shuddered at the thought of "an outline." Then I realized that detailed planning doesn't negate discovery and spontaneity, it just moves it to a different part of the writing process.

When I sit down to do a November draft, I now have a plan composed of 60+ scenes (which may or may not correspond to chapters later on... basically 60 chunks of action), and a paragraph or two about each. 60 scenes = 2 per day, 834 words each.

Now, I may not be able to write 1,667 words about something on demand, but with a plan (and the help of Write Or Die) I find that I can write 834 words about darn near anything.

Good planning also lets me use my current mood to my advantage: I skip around. If I'm cranky when it's time to write, I write a scene where the heroine is cranky. I'm not stuck writing a love scene simply because it's next when love is the last thing on my mind.

Hang in there!

[workathome]

Thought you might find this interesting!

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/pri ... rk/382121/

[jacob]

Writing speed ... doesn't matter as much as thinking speed. (Or maybe it does). I mainly write nonfiction since my attempts at fiction have been somewhat embarrassing, so take this observation for what it's worth: I find that most of the effort is actually spent thinking of what I am going to write. If I know what I'm talking about I can write very fast. However, if I'm just making it up on the fly, it's a painfully slow process.

It may be that for "best-selling" fiction it doesn't really matter if the content is well-thought out. However, I kinda suspect it does. That is to say I would very much like for this to be true lest I lose any additional faith in humanity.

If you want to compare, the ERE book (100k words or so) took 1.5 years to write and 0.5 years to edit. Sometimes I took breaks of weeks. Other times almost half---more like a quarter---of a chapter was written in one furious burst of activity. Yet that didn't happen until thoughts crystallized and I "got the vision". Think muses. Despite what various assclown reviewers might suggest the book is actually heavily edited. It's just not edited in the standard New York Times bubble-style. A lot of thinking went into it.

The result. It sells quite well. It's not a best seller (well, actually it is by the standard of a self-published piece of nonfiction) but it's showing no signs of running out of steam despite going for 5+ years. These are the kinds of books I like to write. It might not maximize profit, but it's still relevant because a lot of thought went into it. I kinda suspect that's what separates classics from bestsellers. At least I hope so.

In any case, you gotta figure out what your competitive edge is or perhaps more importantly WHY you want to write something. I think you can either write something professionally or you can write something because it's the RIGHT THING to do... to write. I lean heavily towards the latter. But the former is okay too. And maybe you're lucky enough to be able to do both.

[5to9]

I don't want to rain on your venting, but the outcome is better than $6. The book is still good, and someday when you figure out the magic sauce of marketing, it could represent a real asset.

I do think that getting away from the cliffhanger sequel style will help!

[Spartan_Warrior]

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[IlliniDave]

Yikes, that was a lot. I can't give you much of any advice on marketing or writing, but I did have a couple thoughts. I may be misunderstanding, but the idea of having a freely available prequel short story as part of the advertisement for the book seems like it would have merit, especially if it introduces the main character(s) throughout the following trilogy in such a way that the prospective reader can identify with/get behind them. Another common thing I see (though I've never bought a book because of it) is that the first chapter or two of upcoming books are made available (enough hopefully to act as a hook).

As a reader the "escalation" you describe book-to-book would likely throw me at some point if it really as disparate (and segregated by book) as you describe. There might be some way to make it work, but your taking a risk that a reader you attract to a realistic, relatively sober crime-type story is alienated when the follow-up suddenly morphs into more of a suspense/action/thriller tale then off to Stephen King land or something. Plus, folks who would be attuned to the later style story may well put down the first book.

Good Luck!

[Spartan_Warrior]

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