Back On Track

Here's a bit of the studio to which I periodically refer. I need to get on the stick -- ol' Glendon and I have discussed the idea of doing a big thing on creative working spaces. This brief glimpse should be give you some idea of the informational density of the Oaf's environment.

Since I kinda hated the lighting in the initial snapshot, I gave it a five minute cleanup. This one is more crafty than the one I did of Amanda a few posts back -- since the lighting varied over the room I used four adjustment layers and airbrushed their masks to tone down the contrast between the light and dark areas. I think I'm gonna like photography.

So I'm in a much better mood. Last night's Homework Club meeting left me feeling pretty good. Allison's home, Warren's decided to make fiction more of a priority, Rob is going great guns on his spy novel. He also brought me a big box of Swill.

And they made me feel a lot better about my own novel. Seems that I panicked and over-reacted. The early chapters are not without grab. But it took that kind of abject terror to force me to make some changes that will make the whole book a lot more readable -- dumping scenes and characters, downplaying some of the protagonist's pity parties and making his strengths more obvious to the reader. I've figured out how to do the latter in ways that strengthen both plot and theme -- and part of this comes from realizing that at the stage in my life that I'm portraying, I had more going for me than I gave myself credit for.

Fuck it; I'm a drama queen and there's nothing to be done but endure it.

Allison and Warren are giving me the message that my skills are of a professional level and I could be making money both as a designer and a writer. If I had contacts, a track record, etc, etc. But you know what? Fuck a bunch of trepidation. Everybody starts somewhere and I don't want to die in the fucking gutter. Anyway, I'm a hell of a cheap pet. It doesn't take a lot of income to keep me content.

This is shaping up to be a hell of a nice week, as well. Gonna see friends tonight, music tomorrow, a hike with Dad on Friday (and I think I'm gonna bring the camera for the first time) and then in the evening I'm gonna see my old boss/buddy Kamau Bell perform at the La Pena cultural center. Saturday afternoon I'll be meeting up with another old boss/buddy at Triple Rock for snacks and adult beverages. (Really looking forward to seeing Megan -- she's the one who got me serious about writing, taught me the rudiments, steered me into a writer's group, and got me a lot of work back in the day.) The missus is going out of town this weekend, but hey -- I'll spend Sunday lazing around in a stupor, which I enjoy from time to time.

Gonna try and get Swill into another store this afternoon. Both of my hats have become disgusting social liabilities, so I'll probably catch a nice sunburn on my shiny bald head. The things we do for art...