The Marshmallow Ranch Gazette (Patreon)

Volume 4, Issue 21 -- Friday, November 8th, 2019

Howdy, patrons!

Things are finally calming down at the day job, and the depressive spell that introduced a pretty bad writer's block is lifting. Of course, this is all happening right in time for the holidays to spring up and take most of my free time! Nonetheless, I will write on, undeterred. Episode 23 of "Crushing The Competition" will be posted this weekend.

November is traditionally a writer's month if you make your home on the Internet. National Novel Writing Month kicks off a frenzy of activity, and it's hard not to get swept up in the spirit of it. Before too long you're making your own quixotic goals, like writing four short stories in a month or something like that. There are quite a few people who are going to aim for the 50,000-word novel this year, including a few multiple winners, and I wish them all the best of luck! It's a heady, wonderful time and anything that encourages people to throw themselves into the act of creation with wild abandon is OK by me. 

I've learned that I'm not the best person to take up those kinds of projects, though. Consistency, even for 30 days, is really hard for me. It's not just my anxiety or depression or even ADHD; it's just the pace of life in Silicon Valley. Being out here can ride you hard, and if there's any dip in energy you're bound to stumble at some point. It's a land of die-hard self-improvement fanatics, ambitious unicorn chasers, people aiming to be kings-of-all-trades. There's something in the air that promotes a fiercely optimistic, can-do attitude. Don't get me wrong; that's a great thing! But too often, you get swept up in it and committing to way more than you should. 

For folks like me, with a poor idea of how long it takes to complete a task, that's bad -- especially for things that put you into a simulated crunch. In order to hit your 50,000-word goal, you need to write roughly 1,667 words a day. Some days, I can get that done in an hour. But it's a lot more likely to take two. Between work and commute and exercise and cooking dinner and hanging with friends and this online course I'm taking and tabletop RPGs and volunteering and...the list goes on...where can you find two hours, every day, to sit and get the work done?

The answer, of course, is you make the time. And if it were just me, I'd be down with that. But it's hard for me to build that kind of limit for myself and keep to it for that long. It's hard for me to write just 150 words every day, must less nearly 2,000. Add to that the consideration of other people, and it feels impossible. 

One of these days, when I'm in much better shape with consistency, I'll take up the NaNoWriMo challenge -- because I'd really like to. But for now, I'll have to stick with a less-ambitious, but still really important goal: to write at least 30 minutes every day for the month of November. 

The thing that I'm working on from day to day might change, but only work will count for that day's number and I'll be keeping track over on the @serialjackalope Twitter, so follow me there for updates on projects and whatnot. I need an excuse to be more active there, anyway!

That's all for now, patrons. See you this weekend. In the meantime, let me know what you folks will be working on this November!

-Jakebe