Juggling…

In keeping with the resolution to be a better blogger and write regularly here I am. In Lockdown still. So that limits what you can talk about right? Well, up to a point. I can’t bore on about my exciting social scene, partly because it was never that dramatic and partly because who gives a damn about someone else’s party filled life? Hmm well there seem to be lots of magazines dedicated to that so maybe lots of people…

What I can write about is juggling. Not running chainsaws or flaming torches, but many side hustles and micro projects, all up in the air at the same time. The major project, the sequel to my first novel, is grinding slowly through its first draft. I think I am at about the half way point at the moment and might have just resolved a sticky point in the plot. I am toying with a very outlandish mode of escape for my heroes from a tight spot… it might just be a bit too much, a little bit too close to the A-Team always being locked up with an old truck, an acetylene torch and stone deaf guards…

Project number two, came about due to project number one. Animations. I made a few simple animations for promoting the first book on Instagram. My reach got choked so they didn’t go anywhere but I got the bug and remembered some old cartoons I did at college, which I am now trying to update and give the Pixar treatment too. Modern software is a wonderful thing. I am busy making productivity tools at the moment to help me produce these more easily and quickly so I can focus on the storylines rather than the nuts and bolts. The learning curve has been extremely steep but the results… well I am hoping that I can sell some of these tools to other users in addition to the films being fun.

Project number three came about when I realised that addon software I had written for work is actually rather clever and at a level that other users of that package can’t do. But they could if they were taught. There is no book or good online tutorial series. I can use the experience I have gained to write a tutorial series and book that fills the market…

So the major question. How to balance all this? It is certainly easier in some ways with lockdown. No outside interests. On the other hand, am I spreading myself too thin? The textbook is a closed ended project, one of a kind. A video tutorial series to go with it might not be too onerous to produce. The others are open ended projects, the novel is the second of four planned. I have hundreds of ideas for the animations. Oh, and there is a full time job to hold down in a relatively senior role. Does anyone know how little sleep one can safely operate on?