A Writer's Blues

     Hello all!  Welcome back to the good old days of having something to complain about!  As some of you may be familiar with, there is an old Chicago DJ/broadcaster named John Records Landecker.  He was on WGN Radio a couple of weeks ago, giving an interview about a book he'd recently written of his history in the radio industry.  Have I ever mentioned that nearly 200 miles away from Chicago, and the Tribune Tower, yet I still receive their signal in my car?  Well, I do.  Anyway, he was asked how he had managed to find the time to write a book.  His answer was very simple, and quite accurate if you ask me.  He said the only condition there is for writing a book is not having a job.  I couldn't agree more with that.
     As I know I've mentioned before, the only reason I was able to write Daemon Infiri (formerly known here as New Life) was because I indeed had no job.  It was a great way to break up the monotony that is the online job hunt.  That mind numbing, brain draining, eye straining, ego sapping, self worth slaying, and downright depressing thing one can spend day after day doing.  Writing a new chapter every day was my relief from that.  Getting the old wheels turning again on a daily rotation was great for not only my creative side, but for my sanity as well.  I will admit, the self editing attempt was ultimately a bit of a failure.  I swear I do actually know how to write the words I mean to, in their correct usages, I really do!  Apparently, however, when my fingers are flying across the keys that particular message can get lost randomly, somewhere between my synapses and whorls.
      I started the new book, and had gotten a couple of chapters written when my phone rang one day.  It was a job offer from a temp agency, and I took it for my own personal capitalistic wants.  The first week I was able to get a few more chapters out, but right around week two of getting up at 4:15 a.m. every weekday I stopped writing.  It was always hard enough to come up with a daily blog when I started this whole thing a few years ago!  That, mixed with my continued lack of a proper writing niche, leads to a whole lot of not typing.  I would think about where I wanted to go with the next chapter, or develop character singularities, or more come up with more back story all day at work, but by the time I'd get home I didn't have a desire to use my computer as a writing tool.  More often than not I'd secretly play candy crush.
     A few weeks into the new temp job, they lost a major customer, and all the temps got laid off.  I thought that would be sweet, because I could spend real time crafting a new tale.  After about three days I finally opened my word program and wrote two more chapters.  I was getting ready to plow through at least fifteen more, but my phone rang again.  It was a major toy store (that employs a giraffe as a spokesman), and they wanted to see me about an assembly position that I'd applied for a couple of months earlier.  I took the interview, passed it that day, was asked back the following night for orientation, and started at 7 a.m. the morning after.  I had agreed to very specific terms, and was happy with the situation.  I got to work with my hands again, and didn't have to deal with customers too much.  This also meant that no new chapters were being written.
     Funny thing happened on that first day of work.  The store manager, the one who'd interviewed me and accepted the terms with me, was fired.  As positions got moved around to fill the void, my terms seemed to have been lost.  New management was not happy with my hire on terms, and decided that I was only a seasonal employee (without telling me about it), and today I found out that it was my last day.  Yay.
     I was planning once again to get back to the new book, but in a well timed twist, my phone rang once again.  It was the temp agency I'd gone through recently, asking if I wanted to go back to the graphic printing company I'd been at a couple of weeks before.  I said sure, so Monday morning I will be getting up well before the sun once again.  Maybe this weekend I can manage to get at least one new chapter written, maybe.  Not that any of you will know if I do (except for one of you), unless I tell you about it of course.
     I hope everyone is having enjoyable and mostly harmless holiday season this year.  A year that held more Friday the 13th's than any other that I can recall, and an actual blue moon to boot!  Take care or yourselves, enjoy time with family and friends, eat some good eats, enjoy your favorite beverage, and don't forget to laugh!  Until next time, peace out y'all!