Work is being done behind-the-scenes here at Axiom-man Central to get ready for the fall/winter season. After my hiatus, I’ve been trying to get my writing and art machine back up and running so, come winter, I can just work and have a bunch of stuff automated for me instead of having to worry about it. The plan is to go into full Broadcast Mode during this time. The other night I also made a lengthy list of all new things A.P. Fuchs and those will be revealed as time goes on.
We don’t always have the same amount of energy every day. Heck, some days it’s impossible to move and get out of bed. Unfortunately, not moving equals not doing anything equals being unable to move your career along. I’ve always maintained that if, at a minimum, you can do at least one thing a day—big or small—to move your career forward, you’re one step ahead of yesterday and one step closer to achieving your goals. You can get some writing or drawing in, or get some marketing done, or drop some books off at the bookstore, or anything else. Point is, just do at least one thing a day. That’s at least seven things a week, which leads to 365 things a year.
This is a feast or famine industry so it’s important to budget yourself accordingly. Jump on as much work as you can when it’s feasting season and spend and save wisely so that when the famine season comes, you’ll be covered until, hopefully, it’s feasting time again.
It’s important to price yourself accordingly, not only for what your work and time are worth, but also to add in extra for the times that are lean.
Don’t overspend. Don’t splurge because you just got an influx of cash. Save it. Use what you need, save what you don’t. You’ll thank yourself later. Besides, it feels good to have a cushion in your bank account and know that it’s there in case things go wildly south.
Look at it this way: instead of your general money-in/money-out, the formula should be money-in/money-in/money-out.
There are days when your head feels like it’s filled with sand or some sort of concrete lump instead of a brain. It makes you tired and you don’t feel like writing or drawing, and all you want to do is take a nightcap and go to sleep.
But you have to work anyway.
You have to.
Books and art don’t make themselves. You let yourself slide one day, then the next time it becomes two days, then three, then four. Soon, you’ve got nothing to show for your year.
Brick in the head or not, the work needs to get done. No way around it. We live in a society where a lot of people don’t want to work for something. Too bad. Whether you feel like it or not, work is a required part of life and, especially, in the art business where it’s highly competitive.
If you play your cards right, the publishing business can bring you notoriety and fame, whether big or small. For me, except for a brief period when I was starting out, fame wasn’t on the radar. Personally, I’d hate to be famous. I don’t mind my name being famous, but me, myself, and I? No thanks. Life in the all-day spotlight isn’t a want for this introvert. It’s nice to visit fame, like at shows, but when you’re done, you’re back to being Joe Schmoe on the street, which suits me just fine.
It also begs the question: At what point does someone become famous in our digital age? I’m not sure if there’s an answer to that.
Every writer’s inbox is different. Mine is sitting at 1883 unread messages as of this writing. Some are from fellow creators, others from family, others from friends, and others from fans. That’s just from people, as in, people who took the time to contact me. Then there are the emails that help me with marketing in publishing, emails on my spirituality, folks’ newsletters, and emails pertaining to my business. I’ve pretty much maxed out Gmail’s space since I’m an archivist and archive everything. To keep up with it all, all I can do is read my email when I can and, hopefully, eventually catch up.
It’s both a burden and a blessing to have that many unread messages in my inbox.
My favorite emails are from fans, of course, like any other creator.
It’s that time of year again where I withdraw from having an active social media presence and switch over to broadcast mode. This begins today and will carry on throughout the winter, which in Manitoba means at least five or six months.
My plan for the winter season is to release all the manuscripts I’m sitting on–some of which were created last winter broadcast season–and get them into your hands as quickly as possible. The plan also calls for creating new work, whether writing or drawing.
The best way to keep up with me is to watch this blog and sign up for my weekly newsletter, The Canister X Transmission.
To contact me, please use email via the contact page on this site.
I hope everyone has a great winter. Try and stay warm, and to you creators out there, get stuff done. I know I will.
This is me the first time I tabled at the Central Canada Comic Con in 2007. It was also the same weekend my son was born. I’ve tabled every year since.It’s coming up soon, but beginning November 1, I will be switching over to broadcast mode for the winter. Pre-programmed content will still air on my social media channels. I’ll also be broadcasting from this blog and, of course, there is my weekly newsletter (which you should totally be reading).
In work news:
Progress is being made on the book front, with many titles waiting in the wings to go through the production process before getting into your hands. This was an experiment for me–writing books in bulk–and was a lot of fun. It also meant not releasing anything for a year, but still a good experiment nonetheless. What this means for output in the future, I don’t know. I do need to be releasing titles more frequently, however. This blog will also have details on each project as they come out. You’ll also learn the names of Secret Projects Nos. 1 and 2 (which are written).
Also upcoming is the Central Canada Comic Con from October 27 to 29 at the RBC Convention Centre here in Winnipeg. This is my last public appearance for the year and, possibly, well into next year or even until 2019. I have some plans and experiments I want to run, but I can’t do them if I’m committed to shows and signings. It just makes for too much work, and I’m not as spry as I used to be when I first started out in this business.
I’m looking forward to hunkering down for the winter. I’m looking forward to the quiet. I’m looking forward to working without other things buzzing in the back of my brain.
This is just a quick post to test the schedule function in WordPress and to see if it spreads to my various networks. This is also to see how that future journal/blogging project will come together since journal entries are already being written behind the curtain. Why automate it? So I don’t forget, that’s why. Also, just in case I can’t get to a computer that day.
Stay tuned to this channel for more as we move things along.
