Still working through my first proof of Out in the Garage. I am taking my time with it, trying to get the language as close to perfect as possible. I have made some definite improvements. The hard part for me is to not do too much. I think that balance comes from experience, something that I will know more about after I get this done. After I go through it and make the changes to my manuscript, then I will order another proof and solely focus on eliminating typos.
This will take some time, especially as I am trying to focus more on getting prepared for school -- particularly the College Composition class that I am teaching. Now I have the texts that I will be teaching from, I can thoroughly go through them. I want to be comfortable with the material, because I know it will take a little while for me to find my rhythm as a teacher. The more prepared I am the better off I will be. My goal is to educate and make it as interesting as I can, because the hardest part won't be the teaching, it will be combating the indifference of the students.
I am also trying to focus more on my thesis: do my research and write my prospectus. While I won't get it all done by the semester starts, I want have a good start on it. My goal is to have my prospectus done by the end of the first five weeks. I will probably be doing a lot of writing over Christmas break, but I have two semesters, so I just need to pace myself and not procrastinate too much (more than I already have).
In general, I am going to start focusing more on school and my school work and my career than on my hobbies. It is the only way I am going to accomplish my goals. I don't want to keep working in wage slavery -- or, at least, if I am going to continue being poor I want to at least enjoy my job and not be as poor as I am now so that I can at least pay all of my bills, pay back my debt, and still have a little money left over. I don't need to be rich or famous or anything like that, I just don't want to feel like I am struggling. In short, I just want the simple life -- which is far more difficult to achieve than I ever imagined it could be.
Finally, I am going to re-release my short story collection, Tales from the Fringes. I have taken the time to learn how to put together a professional-looking e-book version, and I am going through and trying to eliminate typos. I put it out so quickly that I didn't take enough time to do everything I need to do, and, as the publisher, and a perfectionist, I feel that the product I have for sale isn't as high quality as I am capable of. Not that it is bad, or anything, I am just learning and am trying to hold myself to higher standards. I am also going to release the e-book through Smashwords and many other websites where it is not currently available, including the iBookstore. This will all be happening relatively soon. I have reformatted it; now I just have find the typos.
No comments:
Post a Comment