Dateline: above the garage in Portsmouth RI, 18 February 2005
Glass definitely half-full today. Got my first check from my speaking agency. That connected.
Spent half the day scheming on my new assignments with Esquire, and made me feel connected. Oddly enough, all that activity is like one neverending job search, and I find that more connecting than being stuck in a job I no longer felt anything for, in part because all that auditioning fits my personality (8 of 9) better than the pseudo-authority of belonging to an established entity. I like proving myself more than feeling proven - or even approved.
I will even confess to seriously thinking through the next book already! And I am moving toward aggressively pursuing that book (the one Mark Warren and I pondered up at the Leinie Lounge at Lambeau) before the Emily Updates, because I think the sequencing payoff is better (though I may be wrong). I will have to start carrying a notebook on Vol. III.
Happy news from Berkeley Paperback today. An email from a sales exec asked if anything special was going on early last week, because apparently Amazon sold several hundred copies on Wednesday - just like that! And we're talking three months before the book comes out. At first I suspected a conference coming up, possibly one where I'm speaking. Then I started wondering about some college ordering ahead maybe? Either way, it felt good, because it says the book continues to be discovered.
Today, back to the blog, so more work for my intern editor, Sean Meade, who goes through all my posts after the fact and proofs them for me. Sean volunteered for this job out of the blue a while back, and he does a nice job. Eventually, I want to pay him more than a compliment, which is why I'm hoping the Rule Set Reset continues to pick up speed. Our second issue comes out very soon, and we're keeping this one free like the first as we work out our form and sense of function. After this one, though, we hit subscription mode for real.
Wrote this all up over five hours of Japanese anime with the kids. All I can say is, the Japanese can do more than just teach a thing or two about vampires. Hell, they own the whole genre!
Best part? My first Mac battery went about 3:20 and I'm finishing exhausted here with 76% on number two. You gotta like that.
Go dog! Go! Now is the time for work! Work dog! Work!
And yes, now is the time on Sprockets when we dance . . .
Here's today's catch:
■ Working all the evil axes■ 2007: the globalization urbanization tipping point
■ News that cheers this frequent flier
■ Qatar's doing this just to thwart Tom Friedman!
■ The SysAdmin goes high-tech as the environment regresses
■ U.S.: I nominate anybody but us to do Sudan
■ Supermen to overpower the Super-Empowered
■ Big Man on big buying spree, and Venezuelans are certainly the winners here!
■ Europe is basically right across the board
■ Mongolia finds its voice in the New Core
■ The vanishing girls of China
■ Star Wars remains a great work of fiction
■ If crazy Pakistan can have nukes . . .