This Week in Geek (27/03-02/04/17)

Buys

Feeling I like co-op games too much not to have a copy or other of Pandemic, I went and got the Reign of Cthulhu version. Instead of disease, you try to stop the spread of those Old-time religions before some Elder God eats the world. Or something. Will play soon.

"Accomplishments"

This week was sandwiched between two major improv tournaments. The national university cup for which I was the principal organizer, and the provincial high school qualifiers for which I act as the main organizer's right arm. A bear of a week, and for perhaps the first time in this blog's history, I will not be presenting a single capsule review of a film, book, graphic novel... Nothing.

Which doesn't mean I didn't do anything noteworthy, or that I don't have anything to announce.

I guess the big news - already spoiled on a Fire and Water Network show - is that after twelve years working in student activism, I've left my contract lapse to undertake a new chapter in my life, that of Writer. (Yes, I can hear you snickering and asking just what will change.)

In addition to the blog, which I am still committed to, the podcasts, which I am still committed to, and other projects like the Doctor Who Expanded Universe Sourcebooks, which I am still committed to, I have plans for a number of books. Some fiction, some non-fiction, some in English, some in French, and I'll be reconfiguring my routine around that sort of work, setting up a home office, and staying healthy and stimulated. Which projects are completed first may depend on who wants to buy/publish what, but ideas, inspiration and work ethic aren't a problem. Nor is money, thanks for worrying, I've been saving up for this "early retirement".

I've already written something destined for publication, as I have been asked to participate for the third time in a volume of Outside In (this one covering Star Trek: The Next Generation), but the deadline being what it is, it was actually written before my last day. Would have been nicer symbolically if I could have sat down Monday and hacked out a text on Day 1, as it were, but I'll take it!

And to my now former co-workers, thanks for a great ride! We tried to change the world for the better, but eventually rolling that boulder up the hill only to find it had rolled back down during the night gets to you. I really appreciate the lengths to which you went to get me a retirement gift worthy of who I am. Readers, I'm an eccentric who doesn't have or want a phone. My lone pocket computer has always been an iPod Touch, which for the last few weeks didn't have a working jack. It was PRIMITIVE. Like, first generation. They don't make iPod Touches anymore. They're very hard to find. It's obsolete technology. My co-workers managed to find one anyway. And it's the ultimate generation so suddenly I have access to all the cool apps the kids with phones are always bragging about. It's a CAMERA?! It's got Instagram??! I need wi-fi, obviously, but who cares. I love my new Not-a-Phone!

And so that's my Accomplishment this week. A first step towards more. We'll see what else falls into my lap in due course. Thanks for reading. Need I say it? More to come.

Comments

Tim Knight said…
Congratulations and good luck. Looking forward to hearing more of your literary progress.
snell said…
I hope you have a better post-retirement career than Shang-Chi has so far!

Good luck!

P.S. You realize, of course, that you're a character in one of your future stories, the eccentric who disdains the latest technology, until...That idea is yours to use.
Siskoid said…
It's like you've peered into my very soul.
Anonymous said…
Congrtulations. (Though for a minute there, I thought the Shang Chi reference meant you were retiring to a small fishing village.)

I also like how you said you've been saving up in anticipation of full-time writing. Most writers (myself included) aren't that smart when it comes to money :)

Mike W.
Anonymous said…
I truly admire your doing what you want to do. While I like my career, it's not the sort of thing that's envisioned into my twilight years as a permanent fixture. I look forward to reading your published works.

--De
Siskoid said…
Mike: When you live in Acadia, every town is probably a fishing village, or used to be.

I'm dumb as rocks when it comes to money too. I guess that's why I didn't know how to spend it.

De: I'm a big believer in self-publishing, always have been, but to get any traction, you really do have to work with publishers. Which doesn't mean I wouldn't start my own publishing house and help others publish, because that's always been a dream of mine. I'm not putting any great pressure on myself in the short term. The first few months are likely a work detox/charge the batteries/learn a new routine period.