As stated before, there is a good deal of things changing around in my life now that I’m not at the ole 9-5′er. I’m taking advantage of some of this time – or most of this time, really – to really begin hammering out some projects I’ve had floating in my head for some time. It feels good. I’m not nearly at the point I want to be at, but I am envisioning myself at that point and am making the foundational steps to reach that point. The long-term goals are always sharply in conflict with the short-term needs (doing enough actual work to pay the bills), but I was fortunate enough to make it all work in November and am aiming to do so again in December. It’s a bit of an uphill battle with the economy in a spiral and the coupling with the holidays, but it makes it more fun, too. Plus, I am confident that if I can make a couple start-ups and ideas work in this challenging time, I will have made it through the biggest hurdle. I have also been fortunate enough to be able to recruit the services of a couple of close friends to fill in the gaps to the areas I lack. Again, not everything off the bat is exactly where I want it, but most things will be much better than if I was going at it solo.
To that end, if you actually visit the blog rather than gather updates through a non-display reader, you will have noticed a couple of things. I have reworked the blog quite a bit, but this is not finished. I have taken down the “current projects” and other pages for now so that I may put up new information that is actually relevant to my current work. To that end, there are a few projects I’ve had in the past that I’ve been asked about, and here are the updates on them:
Project Forever: I started Project Forever Artists Collective in 2005, mostly as a publishing platform for my first book “Churches, Pubs and Hostels.” It went through various uses, the most recent of which was an abandoned social networking concept that was going to be tied into some of my other upcoming projects. Rather than bite off too much than I can chew and venture too far into areas I wasn’t familiar with, the social networking side of it will be closed down next week. Project Forever will remain, but not as a small independent publisher nor as an artist collective; it will be in name only. It has become the umbrella organization name for which everything else will fall under. I toyed with this and with WJNM Enterprises, but that one never did settle with me too well.
The Vagrant Literary Quarterly: The second-generation cousin to the never-launched concept of 2005’s Project Forever 101 Quarterly, The Vagrant has now been abandoned. It survived two issues. It was a good concept, we got great stories and some modest sales, but it was really just too much for me to handle at that point in time. During the two issues, I had three assistant editors, none of whom ended up working out. The goal, a year from now, is to have a small staff at Project Forever, and maybe this is an idea that can be revisited in the future. But it will not be called The Vagrant.
BraveOrbit: A book I was working on, previously listed in my “Current Projects” section. This was being worked on with a gentleman who kept a diary as he backpacked the world, and was to be published through Project Forever. Creative differences.
Unnamed History Book for Children: A collection of over 100 histories on world landmarks, being written in conjunction with San Diego-based Paper Models, Inc. Still in the works, just delayed. Getting this out will be my next book focus after the launch of “Dear World.”
Avenue of the Giants / Peace and Destruction from the Ramparts at Damascus Gate: This book has been picked up by a major publisher, but has been pushed back due to the economy. I was one of three books to be published from this company in January, with the other two being books by celebrities. Sounds cool, right? Economic downturn happened – two of us were able to keep delayed contracts, one got booted. I still consider myself lucky not to have been the one booted.
Now, all of the future projects I have, which I’ll be discussing in the next few weeks, are things I can handle. They are things I am passionate about, excited about, and will be working on with a team. This is exciting.
