Xmas Present

Well, I had about three days to celebrate my pending unemployment. And now I have a new job. Woo hoo. Sorta. I was actually looking forward to a few days of bumming around doing not much at all. But I went for an interview on Wednesday, telling them I can start shortly after xmas. They called me back today to tell me I have the job.

So as of... sometime soon after xmas, I'll be washing cars for Thrifty car rentals at Brisbane Airport.

I had to take it, of course, but I think I would prefer another job i have in the works with Australia post, sorting mail from 11pm until 4am weeknights. The good thing about this job is that it doesn't touch weekends so I can keep playing cricket, and the pay is about $20 an hour. So 25 hours a week will give me about the same amount of money I'm earning at the moment. And it doesn't start 'till Jan 17.

So, I'm still going to try for the Aus Post one, but I'm normally an honest, reliable type of person, so the idea of ringing thrifty back to say "thanks, but I've changed my mind", is already making me uncomfortable. It will probably depend on when I find about about the Aus post one. If it's within a couple of weeks I will be right, but the closer it get to xmas the worse I'll feel about bailing (becuase Thrifty have to find someone else in a hurry. I'll see what happens.

But anyway, so much for my holiday. And I don't even get this weekend of. I am going to someone birthday next saturday (Happy birthday Robert, though I doubt you read this), and seeing my cricket games are played over 2 saturdays, I was going to have tomorrow off. But the rpleacement captain has an injury this so I'll be taking spot this week and he can come back next week. Oh well. Probably would have just sat around at home anyway.

It's Done

Okay, so all my sneaky, lofty plans fell through. Or, at least, I decided that I can't even wait for the end of year bonus, let alone the new year pay rise. So today, about ten minutes ago, I handed in my notice. I immediately felt better-- but only until the phone started ringing again.

As I xmas, I will be unemployed. Probably. And don't it feel good (until the phone rings).

On the writing front, I've written about 13000 words of "The Crossing". I didn't do anything over the weekend (or yeaterday) so my average plummetted but I wrote about 500 words in 1/2 an hour this morning. It's still moving along. My characters have rescued the man and the dragon and are about to head back the way they came to see if they can find some sign of civilisation. Don't know what's going to happen then, exactly, but it's sure to be exciting. :)

Writing

My blog novel may have fallen in a heap but it had the desired effect. I've written over 9 thousand words in the last week or so on my real novel. It's moving along nicely, thank you very much.

I'm actually having a lot of fun with it. Right now, my three main characters (including a dog) are in the desert next to a crashed boilerplate airship (don't worry, it works). They're about to rescue someone from the ship and the dragon that shot it down. I have to make one of the characters (not the dog) more like a fifteen year old boy (because that's what he is). And another one (still not the dog) more like a cynical old man (he's only 37 or so but his ex-wife is a bitch). The dog is already very doggy.

We had a Crit and Crepe session (that's where we eat crepes at the Pancake Manor in Brisbane and critique writing, for the uninitiated) on Monday night. Only three of us turned up but the other two guys read the first 3000 words of "The Crossing" (working title) and came up with some good ideas that I will be incorporating-- although by the time I reach the relevant points I'll think the ideas were mine.

Join the Queue

It's been decided. I will be quitting my job. I was going to hand in my notice today and finsih up just before christmas but that plan has been shelved. Most years we get a bonus of some sort (a couple of hundred dollars, or something like that) at the end ofthe year. If I tell them to shove the job now, chances are I won't get that, even if I'm still here when they're handed out. And then there's public holidays with leave loading and stuff so more free money. So, the day after I get the bonus (or discover that it doesn't exist) I'll be giving my one month's notice. That means I will probably be unemployed some time around the end of january. Woo hoo.

Of course, that means I may have to give up cricket. That's $15 a week I'll save, plus petrol. Damn, worrying about stuff like $15 a week again. Oh well. Hopefully that won't last too long.

Missed it by that much

I started writing my resignation letter today. I didn't finish it, but I started. I have my mind set on the 22nd of december being my last day. Or maybe it's more like my heart is set on it. My mind is telling me that it too me about 2 years to find a job last time I was looking. But I do have an extra 6 years of experience now. And I think I'd be willing to just work part time-- depends on how big the 'part' is, of course. I may have to give up cricket. I may have to start watching DVD's instead of going to the cinema. (Don't know if I can do that.) I may have to buy proper food instead of frozen meals. I may have to give up my mobile phone-- but that ain't a bad thing. I've been looking for an excuse to do that for ages.

My NaNoWriMo journey has come to a grinding halt after about 7000 words. Though I am still writing. I've written a short story since yeaterday. Woo hoo. Weak ending though. Not sure what to do with it. Which is normal.

She'll be Write

I got a letter back from a US publisher the other day. I'd sent them a query letter and they've decided that they want to see a few sample chapters. It was Bantam, so they're a nice big company and they paid for the postage of the letter to say they were interested. So... now I'm doing the 245 final polish of the first 5 chapter to send to them.

They actually only want to see 3 - 4 chapters but Chapter 5 ties the first 4 together so 'm going to send that as well. Hopefully they're so engrossed in teh story that they don't mind. :)

Other than that, I've been writing again. I left home at about 6:30am for the last two days and sat in a park in Ascot to write on my laptop. Unfortunately, there are lots of mosquitos and traffic where I've been going so I'll need to find a new venue. I know of another park that has basically no traffic noise at all, but there aren't any tables in the shade that I could work at. Damn them.

But anyway, the point is-- I've written abuot 3000 words before work over the last two days. Woo hoo. If you want to read what I've written so far... http://acrosstobear.blogspot.com/