So you are working not on one, not on two, but on THREE big huge projects, each on of them with a deadline ticking. One project is fun, another is just what you always wanted to write, and the third you hate every minute of it but is paying the bills, so bend on that oar and push!
What do you do, then?
Simple, you invent a fourth big huge project just for yourself.
Supernatural Christie
I am not an Agatha Christie fan. That was my aunt, in our family – she had been through the whole Christie canon, and could quote you chapter and verse of every story and novel, forward and backward.
I read about a dozen novels, but I was more of a Dorothy Sayers kind of guy. Oh, I saw the movies and liked ’em, even if I still find Miss Marple insufferable, and I am looking forward to the forthcoming The Pale Horse, mostly because it seems to have a folk-horror angle and features a few actors I like a lot.
But I recently received as a gift a digital copy of possibly the only Agatha Christie I was really interested in reading – The Hound of Death and other stories, a collection of twelve short stories, published as a volume in the UK in 1933.
A collection of more-or-less supernatural stories.
What a way to relax: 5000 words in one afternoon
I am currently working on a couple of big projects that are taking up a lot of time and energy, and I am doing all I can to keep my weekends free to recharge my batteries. One of the two jobs is causing me a lot of stress and anxiety – something that had never happened before, not this hard. So finding the time to relax is essential.
On the other hand, there is an open call I received at the end of last year that I really like, and I really would love to be part of the connected project. All I need is a 5000-words story, a swashbuckling romance with a twist.
And anyway I always said I find writing relaxing – especially if I am writing for my own, and not for my clients.
Robert Conrad, 1935-2020
Hell of a week – bad weather, bad health, unexpected expenses, work complications, and the good guys keep going: yesterday it was Robert Conrad, the star of The Wild Wild West and Baa Baa Black Sheep/Black Sheep Squadron, two shows I loved as a kid, together with the spy show A Man Called Sloane.
It’s been a hell of a week.
To be born and to die
Ulysses, discovered as a kid in school when I was six or seven, remains one of my favorite heroes, and certainly the first of my heroes, and Kirk Douglas’ portrayal is the definitive article.
And this scene will forever resonate with me.
Kirk Douglas, 1916-2020
We lost Kirk Douglas early this morning, and already I have caught the blasé Facebook Philosophers going “why the shock, why the surprise, he was 103!”
To which I say, fuck you, you soulless wankers.
Kirk Douglas was a giant, a man who made film history, with a catalogue of movies and roles that is staggering for variety, quality and freshness.
Many remember his role in Spartacus, but I would have a hard time selecting the role in which I best remember him – Ulysses in the Italian adaptation of the Odyssey, probably, or as a scarred Viking chieftain in The Vikings, or his turn as Ned Land in Disney’s 20.000 Leagues Under the Sea.
But what of the noirs, like Out of the Past, and Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole?
A legend is gone, and we cannot act blasé about it.
Too many interests
I was talking with a few friends about two job-related issues: to wit specialization and home-working.
Two things that do not have much in common but one thing – the marketplace hereabouts seems to have got them wrong, and a lot of the people I know (writers, translators, web designers, computer programmers, artists) are suffering for this.
Working from home is not considered “real work” here in my country – I live in a place where you get hired to do a translation, you get paid by the page, and the boss wants you therein his office, sitting at the desk, so that he can see you while you translate.
And yet, a lot of jobs could be done from home, with flexible hours, a lower environmental impact, better life quality for the worker, and more economically profitable for both the company and the employee.
But what if the guy works at night, or wearing a pyjama?
And of course, there is the question of specialization – because true, companies post ads looking for people with a master’s degree in engineering, three world-languages and no less than two programming languages, and a solid experience. But if your CV does not show total dedication to a single job, topic, method or tool, you’ll receive the bored smile and “you’ve done a lot of things in your work history…”
And of course both trends converge in my current situation – as a writer and translator I work from home, and being a writer I find myself covering topics as different as lost civilizations, regional folklore, cooking, history of Central Asia , tarot reading in a single day’s work (except from the pauses I take to fix my PC, and the courses I follow). Oh, and roleplaying games.
Writers tend by the nature of what they do to be jack of all trades, and work weird schedules in strange hours.
This is absolute anathema for the current corporate mindset, and if you happen to deal with corporate people, you’ll be looked like a pariah.
Not only I do not do “real work”, but I wast my time on too many interests instead of focusing on a single topic.
But what can I say?
Specialization is for insects.
Karavansara 