This past week has been busy and productive, mostly in the continuing series of blog posts based on my journal entries from my first year as a freelancer, 44 years ago.
I started this project in search of some information for my Houdini project, a book about writing a play that I finally completed after four decades. I have the beginning and the end. The journals will help me fill in the middle: what happened to the play in the years in between.
Although this may appear as yet another rabbit hole I’ve fallen down in my quest to finish a project — any project — it has several benefits:
- I’ve identified my procrastination demon and am finding ways to defeat it.
- I’m setting and meeting deadlines, even if the material is written in advance.
- I’ve identified an audience and am writing with them in mind.
- I’m banking this material toward a larger project that will be a relatively quick turn-around.
Meanwhile, some of my readers are contemporaries who know (or are) recurring characters in the story, so I’m giving them shout-outs in my social media. And to help put things into context, I’m introducing some contemporary popular media. Not everything has to be about writing. It can also be about the things that influenced me as a writer.
Coming next week: Another spy-fi influence, a book about a writer (and so much more), and how I listen to a quiet voice inside.
Until then, be seeing you!
In case you missed it …
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Journeyman Journalist, 1980: Coalitions and competition
Reading Time: 2 minutes I didn’t even know my rival was living and working right in our coverage area. That’s a failure of competitive intelligence.
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Journeyman Journalist, 1980: Missing the mark
Reading Time: 2 minutes A little spare time can be a dangerous thing. It can even become addictive.
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Journeyman Journalist, 1980: Things in common
Reading Time: 2 minutes I’m not the kind to burn my bridges, but I have been known to walk away and let them rot. In fact, I was thinking about doing just that
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Budding Writer, 1980: Mastering the craft
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Journeyman Journalist was nearing the end of his journey. The Budding Writer was ready to bloom again in the spring.