Patrick Alan

Hey, I like NYC. It’s kind of cool. Especially on and expense account. Really, life could be more difficult than having to fly first class to NYC (they are serving breakfast. Not a good breakfast, mind you, but food you can eat with a spork).

Sure, I need to spend my days talking about computers and it is freezing and snowy, but there’s something cool about walking down Wall St. because you have to be there for work.

That’s usually where I am in NYC. Sometimes I stay in Times Square, but mostly I’ve been downtown. That’s where I am headed this time — my favorite Marriott, where I have breakfast looking at the Statue of Liberty from the 38th floor.

I’m coming home on Friday. Let’s hope the snow doesn’t cause any travel problems.

I am sitting here in the airport with my robot, Smokey.

Yes, I have a steam powered robot, named Smokey, from when I was fourteen and saved an alternate universe from total destruction.

Anyway, Smokey says to me “Chhet-ssk. Pfft beee bap.”

I laugh. He’s such a kidder.

What? Of course you have never seen him. He’s invisible. Duh. He’s only partially of this dimension.

So, I say to Smokey, because we’re people watching, “Man, I’d hate to be him walking through security.”

“Skree shop, tkk tkt sbbpht.”

What? Oh. Around the corner and down the hill from my childhood home were the woods I used to play in with my friends. We built tree forts with zip lines and such. One day I found an arch. It sort of looked wooden, but sort of metallic. It tasted like syrup.

Yes, I tasted it. Good story telling requires all senses and how can you use them if you don’t taste random objects. Try to keep up. When I tapped on it, it rang out like a whoopee cushion and it smelled like chocolate covered bacon slowly roasting over a propane grill.

I surmise that it was part of a downed spaceship or time machine or something. It must have created an energy field that warped me into that alternate universe. And of course, they had a prophesy about a stranger saving them. I didn’t want to help them though. I just wanted to get home, because thursday was pizza day. I lived there for three hundred and eighteen years, but when I finally got the portal to open and let me back through, I had only aged fourteen minutes, physically.

Time to go. Airplane is here…

But now you know, if I seem a little strange… Well, try sitting next to an invisible robot for a while…

My wife asked me last night, “Do you really like writing or do you just think you can make money at it?”

That surprised me.

I thought it was obvious I liked writing, but I can see how from the outside it might look like I don’t — like I am just a writer wanna-be, hanging around writers online and off, on blogs, forums, twitter, writer groups, conferences and workshops. I certainly seem to spend more time doing those things than actually writing…

I do like writing. I like a lot of things. Do I think I can make money at writing? Yes. Am I only doing it to make money? No.

It has occurred to me, there are many things that I like to do that I could ‘make money’ at.

I like photography. Specifically, photographing people. I have taken photos for a few family members’ weddings. I have taken some really good shots. I didn’t spend the time to put an album together or anything, I just took hundreds of photos and gave them all to the couples. I have also done wedding videos for friends and family, too.

Also, I am building websites for people. This is another thing that I am doing for the love of doing it. I am geeky. I like to design websites - within my skill set. I am more of a functional person instead of a graphic designer.

I could turn either of these into a ‘job’ and try to drum up actual paying business. I could, but at the moment, I don’t want to. This is not to say that I will never attempt to make money doing either of these things, but for the moment, I enjoy doing it enough as favors to friends.

I have spent time considering the business side of both of these hobbies. Why shouldn’t I?

So, I think of writing in a similar vein. I really like doing it. I get a kick out of leaving 500 words ‘flash stories’ on Robin’s blog or any of the various other blogs or email lists I write goofy things on. That’s me writing for friends for free, because I enjoy it. There’s no question that I enjoy it, in my mind.

Now, my desire to turn it into a career is slightly different. I am not sure why. Maybe it isn’t. Maybe if I had more time I would be pursuing all three and maybe a few other hobbies that I think I have enough skill that people would pay for. For now, I have a cushion. I have a day job(which I also enjoy many aspects of) that pays me well. Maybe if I needed the money, I would be out there trying to find work as a wedding photographer or website designer. Who knows.

Out of these three and probably two or three other hobbies I enjoy, writing is the one that I am pursuing to make money at the moment. That’s really the only difference.

I don’t know if that explains anything. I just wanted to say it. Anyone else have hobbies that other people make money doing?

I like advice. I want everyone to give me advice. Then I can then ignore them. That’s the fun part.

Everyone wants to give advice. Even me. The difference is mine is always correct. What you need to do is listen to all of it and then ignore all of it.

This goes for all advice, whether it be marriage, raising children, cat tossing, writing, having an agent, critique groups, or cooking bbq.

It’s advice. You’ll always get conflicting advice. Both sides think they are right. And they are. You need to decide which one is the right one for you. It may take some experimentation.

Sometimes advice is over done. Like if you four time divorced uncle Bob tells you women are evil. Well, that’s true. Err. Well, not completely evil. Bob probably had something to do with it, because as you know, Bob is kind of a unique case.

This does not mean that Bob is bad and wrong and that you shouldn’t listen to his advice. Well, maybe not his advice, but his experience. You hear what he is telling you happened. That’s where you learn not when he tells you never get married.

This is my advice on advice. Think. You know, you might be like Bob. Maybe you shouldn’t get married. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t date. That doesn’t mean that talking to women would kill you.

If I had it all, you know, I’d f..k it up.

Welcome to Friday. You know, I think I should be blogging more regularly, but I am not. There’s a lot of things I’d like to do more regularly that I am not. Not sure why. I’m working on that though.

Well, I have two writing weekends coming up back to back. First, my RWA chapter this weekend and then the local writers conference next weekend. If you are looking for me, I will be there.

Will you be there?

What’s on tap for your weekends?

First the pool. Yes, that is a distraction. Mostly from my dayjob. Do you have any idea how hard it is to NOT go out and watch people wade around in freshly poured concrete? And the thing is, when I get distracted from my dayjob during the day, I have to make it up sometime, like when American Idol is on. And then I have to find time to watch that. It’s all a viscous cycle.

Enough of that complaining. Oh my life is so difficult. People are building me a pool. How can I possibly go on?

I wanted to point out two absolutely fascinating posts, including the comments, on agents going on over at Dean’s blog.

Here’s the first and then the second. I think the thing to remember is what is being shared is their personal experience. I don’t see it as any advice to avoid agents. Deep into the comments they do point out that they are definitely a minority view. What the real point is, that I see, and Dean put it in one of the last comments I read, is something he absolutely does teach at all of his workshops. “You are responsible for your career.”

This goes along with some other advice I heard - in publishing, bad advice can cost you two years.

Anyway, whether you agree or disagree with the advice, the experience shared gives a writer perspective on things to look out for. I know what I have taken from the conversations and it certainly isn’t that agents are bad. I know far too many writers (newer, mind you) who have a very good thing going. Their agent has placed multiple contracts for them. There may be issues and they would be wise to read those posts and keep an eye out for those things, but it can definitely work.

Ok, enough on that.

I wanted to point out that Scott William Carter is starting to write down some of his tricks and tips at www.GamesWritersPlay.com . He’s started off with one that I got from him and I use it all the time. It has helped me immensely. He calls it the 30/50 rule. I call it the 1hr/1k/death rule. I just expanded it a bit for my uses.

Off to work with me now. Feel free to stare endlessly at my pool. I probably will, too.

Here’s the latest photo. I’ve updated the slide show from below, probably another 50+ photos added.

I’m sick. They should be pouting pouring the deck early next week, then a small break until they do the plaster inside the pool. That’s probably when I will do the fence and repair all the sod and such.