Ad Astra and Beyond

The con is over, and Post Fandom Depression has set in. Or rather it did, back when I started writing this bit. Better late than never, I say. And I say it a lot.

I've since returned to the real world, where Violet and I must do our taxes, and I'm back in the wonderful world of temping.

But back to Ad Astra. The last day was memorable. There was the Mental Health and Fandom panel, which was reasonably well attended. All of us had a lot to say, in a compassionate and healing environment. I will always be grateful to this panel and its participants.

Violet wanted me to get a picture or action figure of one of her fangirl crushes, like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine or Chris Evans as Captain America. Preferably shirtless. I was unable to find exactly what she was looking for, so I got her this action figure. I have no idea who the character is, but he's shirtless and ripped, and he's got a sword. Violet very nearly liked him. Ah, well. Next convention, my Love!

The last panel I attended before setting off home was about Star Trek; I sat in attendance, and my friend and fellow author Sarah Water Raven was on the panel. I have to say, it went much better than my Star Trek panel back at Reversed Polarity (though not as good as the one I did at GenreCon). No Uber-Nerds, for one thing. And some interesting ideas were put forth. Well worth my time!

After that, it was time to say goodbye to a few stragglers before catching the VIVA buses back home. I sat across from a dude who had a bag of barbecue-flavoured sunflower seeds, and the area all around him was littered with shells. He taught me how to eat sunflower seeds, which apparently I'd been doing wrong all these years. You don't eat the shells - you suck the flavour out of the shell, crack them and eat the seed within, then spit the shells away. Good to know. Too bad he didn't feel like cleaning up after himself.

Monday, April 7th, involved a ridiculous amount of telephone tag with my temp agency to get me accepted into a mailroom job. It worked out in the end, though, and I was working as early as Wednesday. I've been sticking labels onto envelopes, stuffing envelopes, and lifting heavy boxes full of papers that will eventually end up in envelopes. Not the most challenging of jobs, but work is work. They are a good bunch, which certainly helps. Plus, my contact at the temp agency took me out to lunch last week! That's never happened to me before! Wow.

I've managed to get back into my novel Zombie Jesus Day, about which I am ecstatic. At the same time, my enthusiasm for my Doctor Who fanfic Bane of the Doctor has cooled a bit. I've got two more episodes still to post, so I'm not particularly worried yet. BTW, the latest installment can be found here.

Finally, I got back the processed German tax forms from Revenue Canada. I sent them off by Xpress Post on Thursday - did you know it costs $61 to send something from Canada to Germany via Xpress Post? Well, it does. It will be worth it, however, when they pay me the option fee for Evil. Woo-hoo!

Welcome To September 2012

It's going to be a busy month for me. There is a strong possibility I will have a new job by the end of this week, for one thing. I also anticipate finishing my current novel project this month; I'm on Chapter 31, right in the heart of the climax! Another two chapters and an epilogue, methinks.

When that's done, I'll need to pick a new project. As always, I have a wealth of ideas. I also have a couple of projects I could return to.

In the middle of the month I'll be in Ottawa for Can-Con, another science fiction convention. It will be my second time doing an out-of-Toronto con, and I've wanted to do this one for a very long time. Why? Because it's in Ottawa, the town where I grew up! Aside from Can-Con, I will visit my parents and a few old friends and generally have a good time. Expect a full report here in a few weeks!

I will also unleash a new short story on my readers sometime this month. The story is set in the Cupid War universe, and will expand on something the novel only touched on briefly. More details to come soon.

With all this to look forward to, September is looking to be a pretty good month for me!

Will you stay with us till d of July? PLLLLLEEEASE?

That's the message my manager sent me on Monday, so apparently my job's not over just yet! Huzzah. They want me to stay until the end of July - five more weeks of work. Sometimes things just work out! What happened was, a full-timer landed a better job at a rival company and left. This took everyone by surprise, and management quickly tumbled to the fact that they'd need more help. Thus, my contract was extended - to the time I was originally told it would end! A lot can happen in a month, so who knows? Maybe they'll want me to stay indefinitely... Sadly, I have had no such reversal from Flux. You win some...

Two Wrongs... Make A Write?

This is what the end of a job looks like: Drop by when you have a min? Thanks That was the subject line of an email from my manager Friday morning. As soon as I read it, I knew my days at the new job were numbered. My manager confirmed it; they were hiring on some full-time people, and would not need me any more. I shouldn't have been surprised - it was a temp position, with no long-term guarantees. Nevertheless it was a blow; I liked the place and the people I worked with, and the pay was pretty good too. My last day will be June 29, so they actually gave me a week's notice. That's more than most temps get. And there is every possibility I will have a new assignment lined up before this week is out. Sadly, this bit of bad news came directly on the heels of another bit of bad news. I finally received an email from Flux regarding my future with them, and it wasn't good. Sales of The Cupid War and Evil have not been great, so they are no longer interested in publishing my next novel. My time as a Flux author has come to an end. A year ago, either one of those dark tidings would have devastated me. Now, however, I know there are other jobs and other publishers out there. My writing certainly hasn't stopped - I'm on to Chapter 23 of my current project, with many more stories waiting to follow it. I'm certainly not giving up (though the thought did occur to me once or twice), and I'm still going ahead with releasing Walk of Evil one week from today right here in this blog! These are a couple of setbacks, nothing more. Stay tuned.

Work: Good For Writing?

I returned to work last week, and by work I mean a day job. My writing is my other job, but that still doesn't pay the bills. This day job is a data entry temp position acquired through the Manpower agency. My job is to book ad space in newspapers, or fix problems with existing booked ads. I'm still learning, and waiting to be completely set up on their system by IT. There's a bit of stress as I try to fill my brain with all the information I need to do my job. The question for me is, will this position be good for my writing? It doesn't matter so much to my creative side whether or not a job is good or bad. More important is how I feel about it. A job can be low-paying and fairly boring, but if I am well treated I will usually be happy. If, on the other hand, I am treated like I'm less valuable than the furniture, I find it very hard not to internalize it. A bad job can motivate me to write as a means of escape, but a lack of respect from a boss or co-workers will strangle my soul and kill my creativity. I won't necessarily lose the ability to write (although that has happened from time to time), but my output will slow considerably. So far, this job has been all right. My co-workers have been great, and my writing output has increased a little bit. I won't know for sure how conducive this position will be for my creative soul until I've been there a few weeks. I'll check back in a month, and maybe go into more detail about which jobs have helped and which jobs have hurt, and why. In the meantime, I'm considering the creation of a new blog about temp work. I've had more than a little experience working for agencies, so I have plenty to say. If this is something you think you'd like to read, leave me a comment below.

Back to Temp Work

After nearly eight months of unemployment, I have finally managed to land myself a job - Data entry for QMI Sales, "a full service media solution company." I obtained this position through Manpower, my current temp agency. It should run until the end of July; after that, we'll see. I've done plenty of data entry before, so there's no reason why I shouldn't excel. I might learn a thing or two from them about marketing, too. I start tomorrow; today is my last day of freedom. I anticipate this new job with my usual feelings of anxiety, but also with a great deal of relief. Financially, things are about to get a lot better. I'm also hoping for an increase in my writing output. You'd think I'd get more done when there's nowhere I need to be during the day, but that just isn't true. I need structure; a job gets me out of the house, and forces me to work my writing time around it. Under those circumstances, I have found myself to be a lot more creative. The fact that I'm a lot less stressed about money will also help tremendously. The question is, though, will this job be conducive to my writing life? I've had numerous temp jobs where I've been treated badly, and I can't write when I'm upset. I think I'm better equipped now to handle those situations, but it's still a concern for me. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a good boss and a happy atmosphere. This could turn out really well for me. It might even turn out to be a step in the right direction for my career. I'm thinking positive. Here goes!