Konn Lavery's Blog: Posts from konnlavery.com, page 19
February 2, 2021
Deferring Social Media
Over the past decade, we’ve witnessed the rise of social media. The new layer to the internet changed how we think of ourselves, others, interact with people, advertise, adjust laws – the list can go on. In more recent times, social media has swung entire election campaigns, been used as propaganda tactics, and even rock the stock market. None of this was its intent. Unfortunately, the tech has grown past its creators. As South Park so elegantly put it . . . “Thanks, Captain Hindsight!” Regardless of it making colossal changes to our politics, economy, and psyche, it is fused into our lives. Axing it all together is a significant challenge, especially during a pandemic where isolation is king. Deferring social media is a different matter, a tactic I’ve explored over the last half of 2020.
Living in the New AgeIf you’ve followed the blog over the past couple of years, I’ve expressed more interest in futurism, resulting in some sci-fi horror short stories – and the consequences of the scientific advancements we’re making. Computer scientist Jared Lanier has made a bold claim about removing social media in his 2018 book Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now. He has also talked about the topic repeatedly over the years.
Jared brings many fantastic points about why we should remove it entirely. It certainly would be easier to do pre-pandemic, and I’m sure he could still raise good reasons why you should in this new age. Big tech has no plans of playing fair as we’re seeing with Australia’s shift in handling media. Working in web design and development, I am part of the problem by injecting Facebook Pixels and Google Tracking codes into websites, further extending big tech’s reach. Let’s not forget I sell my books on Amazon, and that’s a whole other can of worms.
Humanity doesn’t learn much from their past. Sure, we improve on the mistakes we make with new laws to prevent the old threat. Yet, we don’t have a crystal ball to understand the repercussions of our new inventions. When we invent some new technology – of any complexity – we think people will use it the way it is intended. That mindset can’t be any farther from the truth. Everyone sees the world from a unique lens, filtered by their brain’s processing, rendering a completely alien world from your own. Thus, we try to find common ground through language. Social media plays a significant role in that, changing definitions of words and inventing new ones.
Deferring Social MediaWe know now how social media rewires our brains, yet we keep using it. It’s been proven to not make us happy. Social feeds favour negative posts over positive ones, as they get more hits and keep users engaged. It’s a vicious cycle. So, is it worth staying on? How will you know what your friends are up to while everyone is locked inside because of the pandemic? Some people you only see at gatherings, events, or other occasions, what about them? Oh, it’s easy. Just have Zoom calls with everyone! Right, there is Zoom fatigue, too – another thing the crystal ball couldn’t foresee.
Trimming SocialSo, social media can’t quite go away. It’s a useful tool if you use it right – which I learned from deferring social media for seven months. I started experimenting with removing social media during 2020 and made a significant cut in the summer. The tricky thing is a lot of my readers and friends are on social media, and it’s the only form of contact I have with them. Yes, you can collect fan emails for newsletters and get your friends’ numbers, but that’s lots of people.
First, I knew I should stay on social media, but I wanted to separate myself from it. I uninstalled all of the apps on my phone. Woohoo! Most of them work on a web browser anyway. I can talk to my friends, engage with fans, and network with other authors. At the end of the workday, I tend to put the computer to sleep, so there is no temptation to “just check social media for five minutes” or anything like that.
Instagram’s WrathThe trickiest platform was Instagram, which I prefer over the others, thanks to my graphic design background. It works primarily on mobile devices, and if you try to use the web version, you miss out on a ton of functionality – like posting. I fired up my old Android tablet to use social media. It worked wonders for writing at the bar in the Old World. The thought was: the tablet lives on the desk, and I can still do social media updates. At the end of the workday, it goes to sleep, like my computer. Perfect.
Then, I had to apply updates . . . which mutates a perfect tool into a paperweight. Software updates rendering good hardware useless is another topic entirely. Still, posting on this old device was frustrating as the apps crashed, and they didn’t work effectively, unlike on my phone. So, I tried some Android emulators on my computer, and that was a nightmare. In short – Instagram works best on the smartphone. Oh, and I couldn’t buy a new tablet; I need money to eat, pay rent, and fund the books.
Beyond Technicalities – the MindLetting the social media platforms exist only on the computer is liberating. Your mind interprets the feeds differently. Most of us have hundreds, if not thousands, of followers/friends on these platforms, and it is impossible to be engaged with all of those people. Hence, social media reworked feeds to be based on algorithms and not on a chronological posting order.
The first couple of weeks were exceptionally odd. I built a habit, like everyone, to check their feed multiple times a day. It got quite toxic when I was running promotional campaigns for a new book. I’d start reviewing the comments and eventually would drift off into a ludic loop of my feed, forgetting what the hell I was doing.
Once a day, checking social media, sometimes twice if I made an announcement, shifted my mindset to treat it like a PR system. Digitally, you walk up to the podium with your prepared statement, make the announcement, and then answer questions and comments – could that sound any drier?
In the morning, firing up social media to look at the feed started to appear as a giant static wall. No longer did it appear as an in-depth look into my friends’ world and the things affecting their lives. I had a new lens with social media, and it was peaceful. The noise of the internet simply shuts off when the computer goes to sleep. Bliss.
Downsides of Deferring Social MediaThe biggest downside on a personal level would be the lack of interaction with my friends. It’s a weak argument as the pandemic is to blame more than not being on social media. Another downside has been my attitude. I haven’t supported friends as much, and the uninteresting messaging seen in my posts or lack of. From a business standpoint, with writing, the news I’ve shared with fans has been uninspiring as a whole. I’ve lost followers over this experiment, and a lot of big post announcements I’ve made have gotten sucked into the noise-wall because they’re not written well or executed as effectively as I used to. All because of how I perceive social media.
Learning and adapting is part of being human – no crystal ball, remember? – and making changes to better yourself is healthy for your mind and body. You’ll sleep better, you’ll be calmer, and you may even morally be at ease.
Is Deferring Social Media Worth It?I have learned a lot from deferring social media since the summer of 2020, and overall it has had more perks than downsides. I’d love to cut it down further when we ideally soar clear of the pandemic. For the time being, it does have some positives while in isolation.
The interesting part of this experimentation is none of this has negatively affected my book sales. They’re better than before because I’m focusing my time on selective marketing and not living in ludic loops. This has always been the marketing argument online – pre ad time – such as the buzz of MySpace back in the day. Keep in mind, during this experimentation, I wasn’t launching a new book.
A new novel is on its way . . . chances are there will be a digital launch. Many friends and fans are on social media, so it is a useful tool. I have installed Instagram back on my smartphone, disabled all notifications, removed all background processes, and have pushed it off my home screen.
The trick is remembering not to let it consume your life and have it rewire your brain. These platforms are effective at applying slot machine logic to their systems, keeping that dopamine up. They want to mine more data from you and feed you more ads. As the saying goes: if you’re not paying for it, you’re the product.
To sum everything up, I’ve made a new Captain Hindsight quote to close off this blog post. “If you wanted to be healthy and morally sound, you shouldn’t have been on social media so much.”
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February 1, 2021
Taylorism Scifi Horror Short Story
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Into the Macrocosm eBook Download
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January 29, 2021
Adapt, Overhaul, and Launch
My presence online has been a bit lacking as of late, not to worry, though. After my two weeks off from contract design and web work, I thought a bit about what’s next with the writing career. 2020 was experimentation. Now it’s time to adapt, overhaul, and launch. A lot of stuff has been behind the scenes that I’ll be rolling out over the first half of 2021, with the first coming February 4th. Here in Alberta, we’re still on a pretty strict lock-down, meaning there’s plenty of indoor time and a lot of reflecting.
Welcome to Another Edition of Unprocessed ThoughtsThe title Adapt, Overhaul, and Launch is basically a summary of what I’ve been working on since December. Into the Macrocosm is fully completed and currently on preorder. The ebook comes out on February 18th, and I am thrilled to get it out to you all! It ties a lot of the hints suggesting the interconnected world seen in my previous writing.
Why the Soft Launch?It’ll be soft for my social media presence, as most of you have read the various short stories in the collection, minus the new overarching story and a few new shorts. Rave, currently with the editor, will be a loud launch. You can overstay your welcome in the media – people get tired of hearing about you. Both Rave and Into the Macrocosm are launching reasonably close to one another, and Rave is new to everyone. Thus, it will be given more attention.
Into the Macrocosm is being leveraged in different ways. I’m using it as further experimentation with marketing online. 2020 I used the completed Mental Damnation series as a chance to dip my toes into the ebook promo world. Following that, Seed Me was a secondary trial run. I learned from these marketing experiments and am applying modified strategies with Into the Macrocosm. Plus, it is a new book, so marketing it through ads, promos, and media-buyout is slightly different.
Oh, it’s also being used as part of an exciting announcement I look forward to sharing with you next month.
Why Launch Two Books So Close Together?Books being long-term assets is an idea that was reinforced to me from the Mental Damnation series promo last year. Mortal launched in the summer of 2020, and I was able to market the entire series, with Reality being the first in the storyline that initially came out in 2012. Yet, with the complete series, I was able to advertise all four books instead of just Mortal.
The same goes with Seed Me launching as a serialized audiobook. The book is from 2016, but it has been given new life through the audio version, which has resulted in sales. So, the lesson goes, you can revive old work and introduce them to a new audience.
With Into the Macrocosm soft launching, I can focus more on Rave from the public standpoint while still getting the short story collection out early, into book awards and reviewers’ hands, and advertise it to new demographics. Plus, it’s a key component to an announcement coming mid-February. My fall and winter seasons tend to be hectic anyways, as the pattern has gone over the past 7 years of freelancing. If one of the two new books launched then, it wouldn’t get the attention it deserves.
Adapt, Overhaul, and Launch Keeps the Writing Fresh – Stay LeanLaunching two books so closely together is new to me. As with every year, I can write faster and conceptualize ideas better. Every new book, I get better at the craft, and therefore I can adapt to work smarter and not harder.
I’ve done marketing and book promotion the same way for at least 3 years, some of the methods dating back 5 or more. They worked great pre-pandemic with conventions. Now, with everyone surfing the web, it’s a great time to overhaul the business side of writing. If we don’t, well, doing the same thing over and over again is the definition of insanity.
Beer Note: Cannery Brewing Muse Extra Pale AleI tried the Cannery Brewing Muse Extra Pale Ale which sits at a 6.5% alcohol level for this month. This is a great beer, with just the right amount of hops and malt. It’s labelled as a strong beer, but it’s at the level that I enjoy. I could easily have a second.
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January 21, 2021
Archean II
Three pioneers of the EX-7006 remain from their catastrophic travel through space. The crew landed on a new planet that they now call home. Alain McLeod’s hand-written letter serves as a historical document of their settlement, letting future generations learn where their founders came from.
Archean II is January’s short story, a stand-alone sequel to the Transmit event and Natural Cosmos, in the expanding Harvesters / Scrappers universe. Enjoy the story in the written word, audio, artwork, and in audio through the podcast with improv synths.
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ReadDear child,
Humanity’s stubbornness has allowed us to thrive beyond our primal counterparts. Colonizing a new world is by no means an easy task. Especially when we consider the harvesters – gene freaks – that prey on Earthlings. They were once us. At the time of this letter, those monsters pick us off like cattle to understand their own lost lineage. It’s disgusting. We can only wonder what the old world must have been like before the gene editing and the split of humanity. Time has a funny way of erasing history – with war. Understanding the details of how our people were divided seems more unlikely than ever now that we are so far from home on this new exoplanet.
My fellow crew members and I were on the seventh expedition to leave Earth. We captured a number of the harvesters’ superior technology, bypassing their self-destruct systems. Humans are crafty. We’ve adjusted their ships to obey our command, letting us fly far beyond the solar system. I often think about home, where the remainder of humanity is struggling to survive from the harvesters, one by one. It’s impossible to know how the previous six expeditions went, as we cannot communicate with Earth anymore. Our crew operates as if we’re the last of humanity, for the better of our people.
The exoplanet is named Archean II, as this planet is so young. There’s much to explore, despite being smaller than Earth. We’ve seen fungus and other bacterial life growing around the waters. The rest of the environment is rocky, volcanic, or cold, depending on which part of the planet you are on.
Life has a cruel way of throwing a wrench into something good. Just look at what is being described on this paper. Our crew encountered some hostile . . . radiation or . . . creature . . . during our travel to Archean II. This thing clung onto our ship, like some kind of spider web, as we entered hibernation. Now, Captain Ross, Lydia – who serves second in command – and I are left.
That damn green hue . . . I swear it was alive. A part of it attempted to follow our escape pods as we descended onto the planet. Something about the atmosphere caused it to dissolve as we entered the new world. We had never been so relieved in our lives as we opened the pods’ hatch to see such vibrant colours in the sky and inhale the rich air.
Earth is shrouded in ash, radiation, and violent storm clouds that block out the sun. Apparently, centuries ago, the war of humanity destroyed the planet, altering the weather drastically. I’ve seen pictures of the old-world Earth from our digital archives. The planet was a beautiful blue and green. Still, it is nothing like Archean II’s two atmospheric purple moons and the orbiting twin sister planet.
Archean II certainly is foreign to us. We believe it takes about sixteen Earth hours to complete a day and something around two-hundred Earth days to finish its yearly rotation. None of us are astronomers, but we have some measuring tools from the supplies we brought down with us. Our estimation is a safe bet.
We’d like to visit Archean II’s sister planet. Realistically we cannot as the spaceship was manually set to self-destruct during our descent, preventing any chance of the harvesters tracking us. Just because we knew how to reverse engineer their ships doesn’t mean that there are more layers to the harvester tech we don’t understand. Harvesters are smarter than us, faster, and more robust. They always have one more trick up their sleeve, and we aren’t taking any chances. I wouldn’t put it past them to have some tracking system in as a fallback. Yet, time continues to go by, and we have never seen any sighting of a harvester. There’s plenty of people back on Earth still, and our new planet is far, far away. Who knows? Perhaps they will come for us one day.
We’ve been here for over two Archean II years. A life of agriculture has a way of humbling you. Let’s not forget humanity’s future resting on your shoulders makes you reflect on everything you’ve ever done. I’ve never had so much physical labour in my life. The tools we have help, but we can’t rely on them forever. There are no backups, no repair supplies, and how long can the energy sources last? We barely understand how the harvesters made these self-sustaining batteries work.
The four computers are protected in the main hall, archiving as much as we can. Personally, I’m uncertain about the lifespan of these machines – hence writing this message on paper. Paper! Our settlement is made of military tents – clearly not a long-lasting solution. We’re learning to build with rock, but it is no easy task to carve bricks.
At the time of this message, Captain Ross and Lydia expect a baby in our new colony. I reflect on what my role is going to be. Our population will be small for many generations. The three of us have discussed expanding our people’s chances of survival by conceiving more children with Lydia and me. This strategy will strengthen the human gene pool with two family trees. We’ll focus on the second family lineage after Lydia births her first child with Ross.
Truthfully, I cannot believe we are having these types of conversations. Life on the run, back home, from the harvesters, is all we knew. War, anger, fear, hate, violence, aggression, and primeval are everything we understand. Archean II gives us new hope.
Unfortunately, on Earth, we never discussed strategic procreation to save our species. The topic had come up once during our mission briefing before we left the planet. It was then okay, as I was fond of my crewmate Zoe before that damn green hue took her life. Zoe is certainly someone I would have liked to have as a permanent partner at any settlement – another wrench thrown by life. I still think about her . . .
In the back of my mind, I know we are humans. We dare the unknown; we are versatile; we adapt to our environment; the human spirit will live. We are the founding parents of Archean II. Hope is alive and well in all three of us. Very few of our supplies were damaged during our landing. We continue to plant crops – preparing for the third season – and have a safe home. Humanity will live on. My only sorrow for Archean II is that I will not live to see it thrive due to inevitable old age.
Writing with charcoal on what little paper we have is not ideal, but this personal letter will serve as the first physical, historical document of our time here on Archean II. Again, who knows how long those computers will last. May you preserve these words and cherish these words as humanity enters its new era.
I will show the newborn the location of this document when they are old enough. It resides here, higher from the ocean shores, just before the snow begins on the mountain. Here, in this cave, where I had first found those two chrome marbles almost two years ago.
There’s a pattern of twos on Archean II . . . and I wish we had answers, but neither I, nor Ross, nor Lydia have any conclusion to what these two chrome marbles are. They appear harmless as nothing has occurred when we brought them back to camp for inspection. There was nothing else in the cave either. Ultimately, we returned the marbles to the cave beside this letter, respecting their origins.
Whether it is life on this planet, or simply a visitor, we know these chrome spheres are no natural formation and we are not alone in the universe. When the newborn is old enough, they will pass down this message to all of you for future generations.
From your loving founding parents:
Alan McLeod, Ross Nesheim, and Lydia Ocano
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January 13, 2021
Horror Author Jennifer Anne Gordon’s The Hotel series finale, When the Sleeping Dead Still Talk
For January’s guest, we welcome horror author Jennifer Anne Gordon to discuss her The Hotel series with the new finale, When the Sleeping Dead Still Talk, the sequel to From Daylight to Madness.
She has been a contributor to Ladies of Horror Fiction, as well as Horror Tree. Jennifer Anne Gordon is the Winner of the Kindle Award for Best Horror for 2020, as well as the Winner of the Authors on The Air Award for Best Horror for 2020, and a Finalist for American Book Fest’s Best Book Award for the Horror Category. She is the creator and a host of Vox Vomitus, a video podcast on Global Authors on the Air Network. She also guest hosts the YouTube channel “Talk Horror to Me”. Jennifer is a member of the Horror Writers Association.
Let’s welcome Jennifer to the blog!
Jennifer Anne Gordon, thank you for joining us. Can you introduce yourself?Hello! Thank you for having me. My name is Jennifer Anne Gordon, and I am a horror and speculative fiction author living in New Hampshire. I am also a professional ballroom dancer and choreographer.
The Hotel is a two-part series with the finale being When the Sleeping Dead Still Talk. Can you tell us about the series?The Hotel is a dark Victorian Gothic Horror series. The series centers around two very lost and damaged souls, Isabelle and Francis. They both have found themselves at a summer “Hotel” which is actually an asylum of sorts. Isabelle has been sent there after the death of her infant son, and Francis…well I can’t say too much about why Francis is there, as that is the basis for the book When the Sleeping Dead Still Talk.
Even though the story is done, any plans for spinoffs, prequels, or related stories? If not, what’s next?Isabelle and Francis’ story is done, but I have thought about a couple of novellas that would be paired together. A prequel, centering around the deeply disturbing antagonist Dr. Hughes, as well as another story that would center around one of my side characters Agnes, which would tell the story of what happened to her in her “post hotel” years. I am on a break from the Hotel world right now though.
I have been working on a new novel, which is literary speculative fiction, sort of a combination of Contagion and Lost in Translation.
You write Gothic Fiction, and your visual work follows similar themes. What pulls you into the darker side of art?I have always been fascinated by darker things; I am not really sure why. I could blame reading Pet Sematary when I was 10, but I think the fascination started before that. Maybe it was because I used to play in a cemetery when I was young. I love the ephemeral nature of time, and how fragile our lives really are. All of that plays into the writing…and I have always loved the past, and memory, so gothic fiction is the perfect vehicle for that. It also allows me to write in a more lyrical way, so sometimes the language borders on poetry.
Tell us more about your career in the entertainment industry, you’ve had quite the background.I studied acting at the New Hampshire Institute of Art and worked in regional professional theatre for years. I stopped doing theatre when I moved to the Midwest, while living there I started to take ballroom dance lessons. I had danced for 10 years growing up but I had never danced like that before. Within the year I had been hired at the dance studio I was taking lessons at. I have a wonderful dance partner (he’s my husband now) and together we really developed a unique way of dancing, and we were lucky enough to be able to travel and perform in some incredible places. I was also the choreographer and creative director for the cabaret and burlesque troupe Absinthe and Opium for five years.
What got you into writing, and did your previous professions help shape it?I’ve always been a writer in my heart, and have written my entire life, mainly poetry, and for a short time I wrote an indie comic book. I think the thing that has helped my writing the most is my background in theatre, and my skills at character development. I do the same work on the characters in my book that I used to do to make a character believable on stage.
You’ve been in many creative industries, any advice you’d like to offer new writers?I would tell them just to write. Put words on paper, even if you think they are terrible, or that it’s all just “word vomit”. You can always edit or rewrite, but you can’t so anything with a blank page.
Let’s thank Jennifer Anne Gordon for joining us to talk about her new novel, When the Sleeping Dead Still Talk!
Jennifer Anne Gordon’s NovelsJennifer on Social MediaFacebook – https://www.facebook.com/JenniferAnne...
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/jennifergen...
Twitter -https://twitter.com/JenniferAnneGo5
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January 7, 2021
Before Planting – The Making of the Seed Me Horror Novel.
Learn how the Seed Me novel sprouted. We’ll cover the origins of the premise, how it evolved, and the research that went into it. We’ll also look at some of the inspiration such as the novel score collaboration and the artwork inspiration for both the album and the novel.
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December 31, 2020
What Worked and What Didn’t – A Year of Learning
2020 has come to an end, and like everybody, it was not a pleasant year. Yet, the severe isolation we have experienced offers perks to dive deep into our craft. 2021 will hopefully be promising, but we certainly aren’t out of the woods yet. Now, in the nature of the Unprocessed Thoughts blog posts, I’ll share a reflection on the month. I’ll also elaborate on what worked and what didn’t in 2020 with the writing career.
Welcome to Another Edition of Unprocessed Thoughts
Before the pandemic, we all expected 2020 to be like previous years. I was prepared for more conventions and promoting a couple of new releases – Fire, Pain, & Ruin and Mortal: Part 4 of Mental Damnation. Instead, we were thrown into lockdown, and everyone started the surf the web aggressively. Despite a fallback, there are opportunities with the writing craft and marketing.
What Worked
Thankfully, some things I’ve done turned out okay this year. Other things didn’t work out. We’ll look at that shortly. First, let’s dive into what did pan out and maybe they can be applied to your own creative endeavours.
Adapting to The Moment
Don’t get stuck in your ways. I certainly did with conventions for the past eight years. Now, they’re gone.
E-books! Digital books are a given in this industry, and we saw the boom about a decade ago with Kindle. I have been exceptionally late to the game and have finally got on board with distributing and promoting e-books. Previously, I focused entirely on print and local conventions. It built personal connections, networking, and gained a loyal following, which I am super grateful for all of you. You rock, and are an inspiration to keep sharing new stories.
On a global market, e-books are an entirely different ballgame.
So, I learned effective ways to format e-books, build reader magnets, and promote these works to people worldwide. Slowly but surely, the reader base is growing. Promotional sites like Book Cave and Fussy Librarian work quite well, and I plan to explore them further. Personally, I’ve had little luck with Facebook ads.
Isolation – The Perfect Writing Environment
I like to write in pubs, but too bad. The time in lockdown has forged the perfect opportunity for us to focus on our crafts. We’re all at home and can lock ourselves away in a room – forcing us to face the art. No one is knocking on our door, and we don’t have any events to go to. The pandemic is the perfect playing ground to dive deep into your craft.
With this time, I was able to finish up two manuscripts that were previously semi-complete. I have a short story collection titled Into the Macrocosm and a horror/thriller titled Rave set for release in 2021.
Who wants to go dancing in the woods?#raveNovel #horror pic.twitter.com/klmnqyemzf
— Konn Lavery (@konnl) December 30, 2020
Audio Exploration
The time inside also provided me with the chance to learn how to engineer audiobooks. I’ve done plenty of readings with the monthly short stories and book launches, yet I wasn’t aware of properly EQing and mixing. In 2021 I will continue to convert more of my previous works into episodic versions until the full audiobook versions are complete. Again, there is lots of time in isolation. Especially here in Alberta.
The EQing and Mixing I learned from the YouTube channel of Ken Marshall. He gives excellent tutorials and in-depth case studies of his previous work with Skinny Puppy and Front Line Assembly. His teachings have given me the chance to amp up my audio quality with the podcast and music I make. Expect to see that with the Rave and Into the Macrocosm scores.
What Didn’t Work
We’ve reviewed all the dandy stuff that happened this year about pivoting, learning new things, and having all sorts of success. Now, let’s get to the dirty juicy stuff about what didn’t work!
A Healthy Balance
Just because we are in isolation doesn’t mean we aren’t busy. Some of you have kids and have had to do homeschooling, others have demanding jobs like the booming IT world, and others are struggling to make ends meet. I’m in the graphic design and web development industries. There has certainly been a high demand now that everyone surfing on the tides of the web.
Throughout the year, there have been several occasions where I’ve taken on more work than I can handle. This resulted in tight deadlines, mutating scopes, and long workdays bleeding into each other. I’ve mentioned the struggle of balance in previous Unprocessed Thoughts – it leads to project burnout and a mental breakdown. 2020 brought a new spin on the old ramblings because we are working from home. The desk is there, and every client is staring at their screen. The task list is long – making the temptation to work that much more intense.
The isolation isn’t healthy for social creatures. We’re meant to interact and connect with one another. When you’re stuck at home, working all the time without interaction from friends and co-workers, it wears down the mind. I am no exception and have felt the effects of social isolation.
Stop Saying Yes
Okay, this is contrary to what you commonly hear from entrepreneurs. You’re supposed to say yes to get more work, build strong personal foundations and blah, blah, blah. You can’t say yes to everything. As I mentioned about the healthy balance, you can bite off more than you can chew. You’ll keep saying yes until there’s so much on your plate you’re going to pay one way or another. You might slip up, and your work quality goes down, or you have a panic attack. Maybe a mix of both! Saying no is a bold statement when you’re thirsty for work – especially if you’re contract-based. Contractors must take the food while it’s hot; otherwise, they are going to starve. Knowing the balance is difficult, and I certainly struggle with it from time to time.
We are in a damn pandemic. If we’re not essential, we can pump the breaks a bit.
Onwards and Upwards
There’s a summary of 2020 for you. Looking back and reflecting on your life, year, week, or day is a healthy mechanism of improving yourself. Nobody is perfect, and there are always new things to learn that will make us smarter and wiser. Take the time to get familiar with yourself and build long-term healthy habits. Some of the examples above are useful pointers for that.
Take time to slow downAlways learn something newDon’t get stuck in your waysUnderstand when to say yes and don’t be afraid to say no
That’s all I have to share. I’m excited for 2021 as I have many new things in the works for you. Into the Macrocosm and Rave aren’t the only things . . .
Keep pursuing your writing career by learning and growing. Always work smarter – onwards and upwards! If you get stuck in the past, it’ll make you jaded, and that’s a one-way ticket to a short writing career. Have a wonderful New Year’s, stay safe, and catch you all in 2021.
A new Unprocessed Thoughts is up! It sums up 2020 about what worked and what didn't for writing.
— Konn Lavery (@konnl) December 31, 2020
Also here's my face. Happy New Year's and see you in 2021.https://t.co/8mR6skvBzQ#authorLife #yegWrites #author #GoodBye2020 pic.twitter.com/24T1VvUBKR
Beer note: Fahr Pils
The beer describes itself as a traditional German beer strictly brewed in Alberta. It’s exactly as advertised: Clean. Balanced. Golden. The flavour is light, as you expect, and makes for easy sipping. I’d recommend having it if you aren’t looking for any crazy flavours commonly seen in microbreweries. Of course, I enjoy pale ales the most, but it is good to change things up a bit, just not like what 2020 did to us.
The post What Worked and What Didn’t – A Year of Learning appeared first on Konn Lavery.
December 29, 2020
Podcast: Seed Me – Episode 15
Chapter 15 of Konn Lavery’s horror novel Seed Me. The final episode of the novel which includes a bonus deleted chapter.
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The final chapter in the Seed Me novel. We learn what happens after Logan reaches the centre of the pentagram ritual. In addition, we get a a bonus deled chapter of Emily’s road trip with Dwayne prior to the events of Seed Me.
What’s Next?
Next week there will be a behind the making of the Seed Me novel. Following that episode, keep watch for the next episodic audiobook coming in February 2021!
Missed the previous episode? Starting out? No worries:
See Past Episodes
Enjoying the story? Get ahead with the novel
Seed Me Horror Novel
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Podcast: Seed Me – Episode 14
Chapter 14 of Konn Lavery’s horror novel Seed Me. Enjoy the podcast below and share it around:
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Logan arrives at the man-eating flower ritual site. The finale that decides Logan’s fate. He must make it to the centre of the pentagram, surrounded by these damn flowers to cleanse the evil seeds from within, if he doesn’t, well . . . he’s seen what happens before.
Missed the previous episode? Starting out? No worries:
See Past Episodes
Enjoying the story? Get ahead with the novel
Seed Me Horror Novel
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