Day 287: Progress Update

Last week was pretty productive. I finished two chapters on my new novel, edited two chapters of the draft in progress, and made several minor changes to the blog while I was at it. If I can keep it up I'll have the draft edited and a new one ready to go in no time. 'No time,' being a highly relative term here ...

This week I've started on another important project, finding a job. That's right, I too need money in order to eat. I brushed up my resume and sent it out to a couple of local businesses. Hopefully I'll hear back soon.

I was always planning on finding a job about a year after starting this blog (and all the other stuff), but I was originally planning on working for something like a temp agency. When I finally went to apply though, it just stopped making any sense. I thought, why not try for position actually related to writing and editing before going for the temp agency? So that's what I'm doing. I found a neat local publisher in Raleigh that I'd be really excited to work for, a local bookstore, and a news station that's looking for an editor. If I can get a favorable response from someone who can give me professional experience in the industry I'm interested in, well that'd just be ideal. Maybe I could make a few friends interested in selling a book while I'm at it.

Last but not least, I'll be doing a couple of posts about a topic that's been on my mind lately in the following days. I've been playing this game in my off time called Helldivers that is exactly as frantic as the name would suggest. Everybody has been raving about this game so I just had to try it out, and I'm so glad I did. The developers have such a clear passion for their project and have so much fun adding new stuff, managing the game, and interacting with the players. It's a breath of fresh air compared to many recent games that feel like someone was held at gunpoint to code up. It has me thinking about authenticity in art and how it can elevate a game, movie, book, or anything else to the next level. This week I want to explore the passion that goes into successful projects and how I believe you can't do well without it. Expect two or three posts on the topic, and maybe a book review by the end of the week as well.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley