Becoming an Author

Step Five: Shit Happens

The City of Austin decided to regulate ride-share companies at the beginning of 2016. The new regulations that would be implemented on-top of the federal regulations would result in both Uber and Lyft pulling out of Austin. As such, citizens untied and quickly organized to form and petition to stop the implementation of the new regulations. Over 60,000 Austinites signed the petition. As such Prop 1 was formed and placed on the ballot for May 7th. A vote yes on Prop 1 would force the city to stop all actions to regulate ride-share companies and their drivers. A vote no on Prop 1 would leave the regulations as they stood and they would go into effect as scheduled. Prop 1 didn't pass, with about 55,000 people saying no, and 34,000 people saying yes.

So, once again I was unemployed, but this time not by choice. We were shocked. My life-partner and I had thought Prop 1 would pass, and hadn't fully planned for it not to. However, we had learned how to deal with a lack of income, and had been squealing away money ever since we left Austin. When Prop 1 failed we had only been out of Austin for two months. We both agreed that I didn't need a job anytime soon, we would be fine. So I started looking for a local job, but it had to be the right job. This is how I got to Step Six: Make Your Job Work For You

Be sure and read Step Four: Starting a New Lifestyle, or start from the very beginning with Step One: Readdress Priorities.

Step Four: Starting a New Lifestyle

We had been living in Austin, living large and spending lots of money we didn't need to on rent and bills. We decided to majorly downsize and moved to a small town about an hour away from Austin. It was close enough to Austin to do any of the events that come into town, but far enough away to not have Austin pricing. By moving we were able to cut our cost of living in half if not more.

Once we down-sized our living situation, we went back to spending a little more. We ate out again, though nowhere near the level we use too. We also were able to start buying books again! That was the hardest part to give up when we cut shopping completely out. For years we had a tradition of going to two or three book stores and drink coffee as we bought several new books. It's how our collection reached well over 500 books.

The six months of living with zero disposable income left a lasting mark on our relationship and psyche, but for the better. We no longer spend without thinking. We still buy coffee, but we order strong basic coffee and never from Starbucks (goodbye sugar rush). We buy books, but now we support local sellers who usually have used books. We also are able to discuss money openly and not feel ashamed when we tell people, "No, we're not going to eat there." or "No, we're no going to see that movie. We'll wait for the DVD." and we tell them we don't see the value in spending our money that way.

I was still working for Uber at the time, but I was down to only Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I had more time to write, and spend with my family. I was making less, but we had way more disposable income. That would all change when proposition 1 passed in Austin and I found myself without a job again. However, where that door closed and new and better door opened. But before that came, Step Five: Shit Happens

Check out the series from the beginning with Step One: Readdress Priorities.

Step Four: Starting a New Lifestyle

Check out the series from the beginning with Step One: Readdress Priorities.

Night Audit Wednesday June 1st, 2016

The good news is the internet is working. The bad news is it's very slow. It's just after 0:30. I'll check back in on it after 2:00. I figure everyone in the hotel is online trying to stream Netflix. I'm still on my first cup of coffee and am just now getting started. The shift before me didn't finish all of their duties so I had to wrap that up first. However, I am by myself all night so I should be more productive. If not, I only have myself to blame. I'll shoot for 2,500 words and/or three scenes.

12:42 - It has begun. I'm at 129 words, but I'm out of coffee and could use a cigarette. Time for a break. Then fury typing to hit my goal.

1:15 - 709 words, and I'm out of coffee again. I'm starting to get that coffee buzz. I keep finding my leg bouncing without me noticing. Does anyone else ever get hit with sudden urge to pee when drinking coffee? For me it comes without notice. I think it must be what little kids feel like. When

you see them dancing trying not to pee themselves as they run to rest room. Time for me to run.

1:41 - 921 words, finished the first scene of the night. That puts me at just over 36% of the way to my goal (For anyone else who's a bit of number junky like me). I keep all sorts of spreed sheets. In fact, I find the whole process of making a spread sheet and filling it out calming. It's almost like a meditation. I'm always trying to use numbers to make sense of the world around me. At some point I'll share all my writing spreed sheets and breakdown how I made them etc... if that's something someone is interested in.

4:14 - 3,978 words. Wow. That's the only word I have to describe the past hour and a half. I've never zoned into my writing with such intensity before. My brain feels like an over fried egg. I wrote my normal nightly goal twice over and then some. This must be what it feels like when the muse shows up. I've written four scenes tonight. I still have plenty of time, but I'm not 100% sure if I'll write any more. Regardless, I need a smoke break.

5:35 - 4,004 words. I wrote two sentences. I'm not able to focus on the novel any longer. However, I know what to write next so tomorrow should be great. It's raining again. With all this rain I feel like I'm back in Seattle. I do miss the smell of the pine trees and all the wild blackberries I could eat. I'm off work tomorrow so I'll be online more. I should be able to get several more blog posts up so keep an eye out for those.

Daily Word Count, #DailyWC - 4,507

Novel - DWC: 4,004 TWC: 15,503

Blog - DWC: 503, One blog post.

If you missed yesterday's post check it out, Night Audit Tuesday May 31st, 2016
Also be sure and read the series on how I got to this point, Step One: Readdress Priorities

Step Three: Earning Less While Living Better

I found it amazing that as we cut back our spending to the point that anything over twenty dollars needed to be discussed and justified, we felt less stress and more free. We still had rent on a large house and all the bills that went with it. At that point, there was still six months left on the lease. We discussed breaking the lease, but decided that it would be better to finish it out and then move. The time we had left, allowed us to very slowly and methodically cut down on what we owned. By the end of lease, everything we owned would fit easily in our office. Even our furniture. The office was just a little smaller than the tiny house we moved into, so it was a great test run to play around with floor plan ideas.

I was unemployed for a short period of time. Eventually I decided to drive for Uber. I still had a car payment and I figured if I put the car to work for me, to help justify keeping the car rather than sell it and buying an older used car. While all jobs have their ups and downs, Uber was for the most part a positive move for me. I was making the bare minimum I needed to pay our bills. However, I went from working 60 plus hours a week, to only 30. The catch was I worked every weekend, and graveyard. I usually left the house Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 22:30 and got home as late as 7:00. Each night was different. Monday and Thursday I only worked from 3:00 to 7:00 at most.

I had to go to bed around 13:00, but this meant I spent every morning with my family. On the weekend I didn't get any writing done at all. I was either working or unwinding when I got home. However, during the week since I was up at night and everyone was asleep, I was able to get plenty of writing done. Driving also had another major benefit. I was able to listen to books on my phone between passengers. I would average about 4 or 5 books a week that way. This would last until we got to Step Four: Starting a New Lifestyle.

Check out the previous post, Step Two: Rearranging My Life

And, if you're new to the series check out the first post, Step One: Readdress Priorities

Night Audit Tuesday May 31st, 2016

Tonight is rough! Internet is out. Yeah!!! There is little I can do. The issue isn't with out ISP, but with the internal hardware. I'm confident that I found the issue, but I can't be 100% sure. I also don't get paid to be our tech support so I'm not going to risk breaking anything further.

The rain out here has been crazy the past week. With it being Memorial Day weekend, our guests had been in a bad mood since their weekend was ruined by weather. Now that we're in our regular week, most of our guests are here on business. So now with the rain it's caused tech problems, which means guests aren't able to work online.

I find the whole situation annoying on a personal level, because I'm addicted to the internet. Also I'm unable to get on blogger, and have to wait until I get home. Luckily my phone has data, so I can check twitter. I suppose I should be happy since the lack of internet keeps me focused on writing. As I sit here I'm already two blog posts in and 21% of the way to my daily goal for the novel.

We have this awesome NESCAFÉ machine. The coffee isn't the best I've ever had, but it's better than may other coffee machines I've used. It feels like I have an IV drip of caffeine. By this time of night I'm so wired on coffee that the words fly out of my hands, and I can't even type fast enough to keep up. Come 4:00 in the morning, I'll be typing at about 1,400 words an hour. Most of my writing happens between 3:00 and 5:15.

It's about 5:00 and I'm crashing hard core. All my coffee buzz has gone, and I'm fighting to keep my eyes open. Tonight was not the best when it comes to my writing. As it stands I've got 1,354 words done. It's not nothing, but it's also a far cry from my goal. I'll pound another cup of coffee and hit the grind stone.

Finished strong, but it was tough.

Daily Word Count, #DailyWC - 2,266
Novel - DWC: 1,652 TWC: 11,499
Blog - DWC: 614, Two blog posts.

Previous post, Monday May 30th, 2016.

Night Audit Monday May 30th, 2016

Almost done with the first week at my new job. Not to undersell myself, but a monkey could easily do what I do. My job requires me to babysit the hotel. As the Night Auditor, I'm responsible for closing out the day and running reports. I also have to check in any guests that show up late. I usually see one or two people a night.

As for running the Night Audit reports. The first night took me almost an hour. Now I'm usually done in about five-teen minutes. Most of that is me taking a smoke break, and the system talking to the offsite server. On days that the breakfast attendant isn't here I also have to make breakfast. That takes about forty-five minutes, and happens at the end of my shift.

I'm left with a minimum of five hours by myself with nothing to do. Thus, writing time!

Training was scheduled for a full week. I was done before the end of the first day. I've had someone here with me the whole week, but they sit in the back on their computer and just answer any questions I have. I'll continue to need answers to random things that happen. You can never train for everything. Otherwise I'm good to go.

Next week will be awesome. I'll be on my regular schedule of working Sunday night through Friday morning. Leaving my weekend wide open to spend with the family. As for my writing. I'll get loads done here at work, and I'll just need to find the discipline to write at home with my free time at night. The only down side to this job, is I have to sleep in the day. Usually from about 12:00 to 19:30 or 20:00.

Daily Word Count, #DailyWC - 3,291

Novel - DWC: 1,640 TWC: 9,847

Blog - DWC: 1651, Five blog posts.