Perhaps at the beginning. Six months ago, I set out to start writing a novel; a sci-fi/fantasy tale of epic proportions that would bring a world of my creation to life. From the outset, I was off to a fast start. The story clicked. I was doing instead of talking for the first time in my life, and the results were... good. I created this Blog to chronicle my journey, and even though I never expected to have followers beyond the people in my life who cared to keep up with what I was doing, it still brought me a certain amount of fulfillment in having an outlet for my experiences and frustrations in writing... And yes, by writing more. Shush you, I know what you're thinking.
Anyway, a couple of months passed and real life circumstances intervened. A co-worker at my full-time job transferred away, and suddenly work was more hectic... more mentally draining having to cover extra shifts and hours, and while an opportunity was shone (I elected to move into the newly opened shift and switch up my hours to allot myself better writing hours) it became quickly obvious that nothing would be as simple as it seemed. It took weeks to hire a new employee followed by two months of training and even more stress, only to find in the end that said employee was not going to work out. What I thought would be a short break from writing had become a full on hiatus. Not only was my creativity drained by stress, but my mind was pulled further and further from my project until thoughts and ideas for the story stopped coming altogether.
There was honestly nothing I could do. It's hard to explain to people who haven't worked in a job that involves taking constant, emotional abuse from grown men who care only about their own financial welfare... in a job that involved hours upon hours of problem solving and stress over the outcome of your decisions. I realize that in a way I over-exaggerate the enormity of the situation and the stress, but when you get off work every day and you feel dead to the world, how else can you feel? But alas, this is all far more dramatic than I wished to make it out to be. My purpose was to explain my absence from this Blog and from the achievement of my goals.
After months lost on a hopeless cause, the search for a new employee continued again. Only this time, a second wrench was thrown into the works. A second co-worker departed. Suddenly, an office with seven dispatchers to cover twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week coverage was reduced to five. Five dispatchers total, and only one who was fully available to cover that which had to be covered. Luckily, the search for one replacement resulted in two workable hires, and the training process began right on the heels of the exodus of the most recent loss. For weeks, I worked as the only dispatcher during the busiest shift in our company, while at the same time being asked questions and given distractions, and each day I thought my brain could not be any more drained than it was that day, only to have the next feel worse. But at least there was an end in sight, as long as the new hires panned out, and so there was a little hope to be had.
Well... I'm here now to tell you that hope was enough. After four months away from any significant writing, here I am. Back. Tomorrow, I move into my new shift. Tomorrow, I dive back into my work, and I take the next step toward completing my novel. Tomorrow, I turn down a side street so that I can cross over onto a new boulevard moving my life in a new direction. And I promise... that direction will be far less formal than this whole update has been, haha. Because serious and formal are definitely not me. Not sure what inspired me to write this message with such formality, but fuck that. Let's end it on a better note, shall we?
So anyway! I'm going to read over what I had written already, and do what I can not to delete it all and start over. I'm going to fix what I'm sure I'll hate, then I'm going to start writing the rest. My new shift has me working the swing, so my hours are 02:00pm to 10:00pm Tuesday through Saturday. When I wake up in the morning, I'll have all of my energy and my mind to devote to my writing, among other things. More than that, I'm abandoning the internet in ever regard except for those that will help my book or this Blog. Well... and I'll still be doing Fantasy Football. But other than those things, I will no longer be using the internet. Not for Facebook, not for YouTube videos, not for porn! ;) Haha... yeah. More or less, I'm maturing. I'll get into it more in a future update, since this one has gone sooooo soooo long already as it is. So why don't I go ahead and wrap this one up.
I'm back, friends. Dream Quest is back. So until next time...
Dream Big,
Ian
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