AUTHOR'S NOTE: Eureka!

So, ya know that course I mentioned in the last post that I was taking?

Well it made something clear.

THIS IS NOT HAPPENING NOW.

In order to take part in the course I was going to have to up my output to at least once a week.  And while I do have a few installments banked, I would run out soon.  Really soon.  And in order to avoid that I was going to have to write more - of course.  And in order to do that I was going to have to refamiliarize myself with where I was at in the narrative, as well as the recent developments and all my notes on what was upcoming and so on. And THAT was one big task. I could manage it.  But only at the exclusion of other things - one of which is a screenplay I really need to finish for my professional health, and there is happy threat of another needing my attention in the near future.  Not to mention that stalling research on another project would be counter productive at this point....

So I am officially pulling the plug.  For now.

I am probably going to take the blog offline. As I was reading I came across all manner of typos and other errors that I would prefer to fix and that is a big task in its own right. I don't plan on quitting, but it will have to be in its own time that I get back to this.  The time will be right sometime, just not now.  There is a lot of work to be done and I need to do it when I can do it right.

Thanks for paying attention.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: What have I done!?!?!!

Let me just say this outright: I sit here on the brink of failure... at least so far as Necropolis goes.

I know I've posted several times before in tones so very nearly the same as I am expressing here and in spite of it, nothing of much substance has followed, or at least when it has, it hasn't sustained.

But, once again, here are the bullet points:

- I haven't given up.

- I do know the long arc of this narrative.  I know the ultimate end (way off in the distance at the end of Book III) as well as the end of the current book.  I know the important benchmarks along the way.  There are things that I am so excited to get around to writing, once their time comes. But there is a lot of detail to fill in and discover.

- I have the best intentions to finish.

- I have a few bits in the bank ready to go... though I can't explain why I haven't posted them yet.

Mostly what this all comes down to is that I have underestimated just how much of my time was going to be consumed by being a father.  Cliche.  I know.  And being a Dad is not the only thing that has a higher priority in my life than Necropolis.  

Necropolis isn't even the second in line on my WRITING priority list.  But for a dozen weeks or so at least, that is about to change. I've signed up for a course. "Monetizing Your Blog" offered by my friend Rebecca Coleman. Rebecca is pretty high on my list of favourite people I know.  And not just because she did a spectacular job as the publicist for my feature film Beast of Bottomless Lake, although that certainly was an important stage in our friendship.

Anyhow, it is a skill I want to learn more about and with several blogs on the go for various purposes, it is probably worth my time to fill in some gaps in my knowledge.  My biggest issue, coming out of the gate is that I don't really think any of my blogs are ideal candidates for monetizing.  Necropolis, Great Scenes from Fake Movies  and a third one which I have yet to officially launch (tentatively titled Galileo) as I am still in the research stage of, are all essentially creative writing.  Best Picture is not so much a blog as a video series, and has been even more neglected than Necropolis since the tiniest roommate arrived - not to mention that each post takes over two weeks to create when things are going well.  (For the record there is fresh footage in the can for a new episode, I just have to find the time to edit it.)  Confessions of an Asshole Skeptic really only gets attention when I have something to say in the world of science advocacy - and have time to say it.  Not to mention that it is a niche that is extremely well filled by people better qualified than me - including a client of mine, so monetizing it would be a fools game.  The Truth and the Signal is pretty much random, personal, entirely subject to whim and by that definition brand-less, so what would be the point?  And I haven't even mentioned any of the other blogs that have effectively, if not actually reached end of life - most notably the blog for the film mentioned above.

I've only mentioned the blogs of course.  I also have some client work to attend to as well as several screenplays on the assembly line.  One screenplay is in the hands of folks I want to get money from - getting it to that point was a big chunk of effort.  A second one is in re-drafts and has been the toughest and most promising thing I've ever written - but there is a long way to go on that one.  And beyond that there are no less than three others that I intend to set-upon as soon as I can shoehorn the time into my schedule.

The scary thing is I actually get no less than a dozen hours each week to focus on this stuff outside of my care-giving time and it isn't enough.  But don't catch me complaining.

Anyhow... I admit I wish Galileo was ready to be the piece I would focus on in my monetizing course, but starting with something that has a back-catalogue is clearly the way to go.  So Necropolis it is.  And who knows, maybe these few months of refocusing on it will be the impetus to finish that was missing?  But I do admit, I am feeling a bit "what have I committed myself to now?" about this.  I have to do at least one post a week and I really don't want to have to resort to more Author's Notes bemoaning the state of the project.  Of course there was a time when I kept up a pace of 2-3 posts a week - back when I wasn't a primary care-giver.  I can do this.  I can do this.

- Kennedy