Home

Been back for about a week now. My stay in Washington was draining and raw, and surprisingly necessary on a personal level. As the clock wound down towards my departure, I found myself not wanting to leave because there was so much left to be done. The family's okay. Well, better than okay, really, but there's still a lot of shit to sort through. All the problems we faced when I first left LA are still there. In fact, a couple have multiplied. But if anything, we feel more able to handle them. You dig your way out of the avalanche one shovel-full at a time.

Me, I'm doing all right. I'm looking at things differently. I've undergone what a friend called a "values shift." What I want, what I'm working towards, has come into rather sharp focus. The career path I've been on is no longer the main one I'm following. Oh, they may still wind up in the same place -- that's the super happy ending, the one that can't be unlocked until you've played through the game a few times -- but it's not critical that they do. What is critical is that I find some form of paying work, and fast.

In the meantime, I'm attacking the writing with renewed vigor. I hit page ninety on Grandmother Clock this morning, and will likely have a draft by mid-May. The most recent final very last I'm-never-doing-this again Pwned rewrite is progressing well. Very happy with that. Epic Level (and, apparently, Endemol) loved the Earth Force 5 rewrite; that shoot's this summer. The Fred, Prince of Darkness artwork is staring to come in. The Hopjockey team has decided to respec the project to pitch as a feature. And Ben's fantasy series has begun to stir.

Still, I can't help feeling like this time might be a valiant last stand for the writing dream. My own personal Thermopylae, where my barbarian student loan interest rates are the Persians. My elite, outnumbered projects have bottlenecked the enemy in the mountain passes of deferment and forbearance. But can they hold them off until promised future earnings arrive?

This is stupid. I'm a go work on my resume.