Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Writers Block

I can not find the words like I once did. I know the stories are there -- I just can't get them to come together enough to make it to the page. One of the problems is I have to work a day job and it is becoming increasingly difficult to focus on anything else. I am getting ready to spend 25% plus of my time in training prior to doing a full data migration and network OS switch. In the IT world I have to completely retrain every 5-7 years and this, I think, will be my final major one.

Gardener and the rest of the crew have not gone away -- I hope. I used to love IT and found learning new software and hardware great fun. This time it's a struggle but one I need to do.

Thank you all very much for stopping by and reading.

26 comments:

  1. I hear ya man. I'm a computer engineer myself.

    I'm excited to see what the feds want. :-) But, I'm a patient person.

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  2. Day job must always come first. Your way with a story will retire you one of these days, and that will provide you with time and energy to produce more. Until then, we are fortunate to have witnessed your begining work, and are hungry for more, but only as your available time permits. No one's going anywhere. We'll be here when you have inspiration. Thanks, Steven.
    Forrest

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  3. Hey Steve;
    I've been supporting IT & old Mainframes
    from the 1980's now for 43 years. Although I
    retired I still work 1 or 2 days a week because the extra $ is still very good. Every
    body else is long gone or dead.
    Carl from Calif.

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  4. First things first. It has been a joy to see you improve your craft as a writer. Your break from writing fiction may pay dividends as stories ferment behind your bland facade.

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  5. Bland facade? No...I don't think so

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  6. Thanks Jennie. New servers, new NOS, old programs. It will be fun

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  7. Carl,

    COBOL? I started out as an operator on a Amdahl 470 MVS/VS. It's cool you still can do that. I wouldn't mind doing that eventually.

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  8. Forrest,

    Thanks. I appreciate it and your comments. You're a good man.

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  9. I feel bad about this. I just don't have the brainpower and time to do this and write.

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  10. I just don't have the brainpower and time to do this and write.

    I know all about it. I'm a techie, too, just moved to a new part of the organization, the hours are insane.

    I hope the NOS is an upgrade (Linux, maybe?).

    Separately, I started a writing project....

    5 years ago.......

    Made it through a paragraph. :(

    It was a pretty cool paragraph though! ;)

    Hang in there, we'll wait!

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  11. You'll get it back, don't worry. Drive on.

    Jim in MO.

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  12. Hi Steve: It was IBM 360/20,30,40 and 65 using
    OS/MVT Hasp. I was and operator and later a programmer using fortran, Cobol and 1401/1410 Autocoder emulation.
    Carl from Ca

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  13. Well, I wondered how you did it anyway; you were really churning it out. Three, four or five times as much as I post every month, and I write at least every week. And then you turned out a book on the side a few weeks back.

    I know why you feel bad about it, but jeez; you set the bar really high, what with everything else going on in your life. If you need to rest up, you do. I truly believe you'll be back when the rest of your life permits.

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  14. Bobn,

    You'll love this. From Novell servers to MS Server 2007. Bullet proof to BSD

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  15. Carl, Same machine I went to school on.Punch cards....why I remember when we started I had to carry them upstairs both ways...

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  16. Take your time Nova!! For some reason I think we can read faster then you can think, create and type. I read all 4 AA books in 2 weeks. Great stuff!! Based on what you are doing I am grateful I left systems work 13 years ago to become a Cisco jockey :-p.

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  17. Hi nova, downtime is essential for rejuvenation - let yourself have the break from the creative, the muse will come get you and drag you back when it's time. Please don't stress over not being able to continuously output and carry a full time job whilst juggling sharp objects - we are amazed at how often you pull it off. Thank you as always for the amazing stories, I consider myself very lucky for the opportunity I had to play my small part in it.

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  18. It will come back to you, just need a break. Best of luck.

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  19. You've produced an amazing amount of great content so far, I look forward to whenever you get the time and inclination to write more. Good luck with the training, I hope everything goes well at work.

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  20. Quality over quantity my friend. Your fan base still grows.

    Doing what you need to do, when you need to do it, will allow you, someday, to do what you want, when you want.

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  21. I know how you feel...After your support, all it took was a moderate injury, and subsequent surgery, and then....? That was months ago... you'll be back when the time is right. We'll still be here.

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  22. Thanks for all the kind comments.

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  23. Just finished the fourth book and went to order the next one on Amazon and DOH! Oh well. I at first disliked the Freya character but once you accept it as you would zombies in other books then it works.

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  24. I at first disliked the Freya character but once you accept it as you would zombies in other books then it works.

    What? Are you crazy? Zombies are REAL! Except for the fast ones - those are fake for sure!!

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  25. All I can say, Nova, is that I'm GLAD you've got a day job. I think it assists you in never compromising what you write. Let me explain...

    The moment any band I've ever liked got a few successful albums under their belt (and thus being *this band* became their FULL TIME job), they ended up putting out lackluster albums, because they THEN had to do what the MAN told them to do in order to put out "commercially viable" product, in order to further sustain "being marketable".

    You dont have an Agent or a Publisher breathing down your neck to make sure every story is like AA (or at least I dont think you do). And even if you did, you could tell them go kick rocks, because, hell, you've already got a J-O-B job.

    I've seen some authors get better with time (and with age) when they make writing their full-time job, but I much prefer the gritty realism of a writer that churns out pages because his gut demands it of him, rather than churning out pages because he needs the money.

    Whatever you do, I'll keep reading your stuff. But as it stands today, I think your other gig keeps stoking the fire...which is a good thing, IMHO.

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