Weekly Hustle & Creative Wins: WEEKS 41-44 (10/3/16 – 10/30/16)

THOUGHTS, RAMBLINGS, WHATEVS

DUDE, The Given is back in Amazon’s top 100 Free list (for New Adult & College) ONE MO’ ‘GAIN! This time it’s rocking out at #99, and I’m STILL feeling pretty darned good about it. Dancin’, dancin’, DANCIN’! 

Check it out here and see for yourself!

So yeah. Lol. This semester has literally DRAGGED me away from the blog kicking and screaming. It’s actually dragged me away from a lot of things kicking and screaming. Many things have been happening, both good and bad, constructive and destructive, in all areas of life. Still, I know that this is all the fire that will forge me into the person, creative, and professional that I need to be.

More below in Thoughts, Ramblings, Whatevs! But let’s get one MAJORLY OBVIOUS THING out of the way:

It’s NaNoWriMo 2016, y’all!

So get your butts in gear and get that novel banged out. No matter how crappy the first draft might be, you can always craft it into the work you want it to be.

So write on, rock on!

THOUGHTS, RAMBLINGS, WHATEVS: Weeks #41-44 (10/3/16 – 10/30/16)

I’m not going to lie: October was a struggle. As I sank deeper into my graduate program, I struggled constantly with life-work balance, health (because the little one brings everything home from daycare), and the stress of not getting SUCKED into academia such that my art, and my time to make art, disappeared.

But unfortunately, that’s exactly what started to happen.

So I’ve had to take a step back, stop drinking the academic kool-aid, and reevaluate my priorities. What do I actually want creatively, and how can I go about getting it? How can I make progress towards my degree and fulfill the requirements, but also make room for my art and for growing my business in a physically sustainable way? (Because cutting down on sleep and not showering are not options for me.)

These were all questions I had to start asking myself as the academic agenda of the program began to swallow my life a bit. I had to remind myself that while the workload was heavy and academic perspectives are certainly important, I AM AN ARTIST first and foremost. I had to look in the mirror and remind myself that:

I possess a creative project slate with over 65 IPs and creative ideas for novels, prose, film, TV, and scripts, and another non-fiction creative project slate with over 100 IPs, courses, and book ideas for helping creatives to make a living with their art.


I’m an urban fantasy, dystopian, and sci-fi thriller novelist.


I’m a game writer and game designer.


I’m a director, film producer, and filmmaker.


I’m a blogger, course designer, writing coach, and creative entrepreneur.


I want to build a foundation that will help women and single moms make full-time livings as creatives and artists.


I am building a five-corner creative f’empire, Rebel Ragdoll, that encapsulates these five areas of deep creative interest and passion life.


I am building quantifiable creative skills in filmmaking, editing, VFX and CGI artistry, novel writing, screenwriting, and more that will help me to become a creative who may not be able to do it all, but who can do most of it.

I. Am. An. Artist.

These are things I’ve had to remind myself of as my blogging for The Bohemian Badass got behind schedule, as my novel writing fell to the wayside, as my screenplays and filmmaking ideas started to collect dust, as my new podcast still waits to be launched, and as I got dragged further and further away from why I came here in the first place.

I had to literally STOP, kick academia in the face, and say: “Enough is enough. Get the fuck off me. You’re are not ON the way, you are IN the way.”

So I’m currently renegotiating my time, energy, effort, and focus. I am reprioritizing and reviewing the 3-year creative plan that I wrote for myself earlier in the year before I got here. And omg, I am SO glad I did that! It’s totally helping to keep me focused and on track! I’m actually still on schedule to an extent, but it’s time to cut the academic anchor loose and find a way that it can support and propel my artistry forward, rather than stand in its way (as it’s currently doing).

As we close in on the end of the year, I’ve been forced to take a long look behind me: at all the challenges, trials, tribulations, successes, failures, and at my personal and creative journey as a whole. I have strong feelings and signs of progress, and that’s great.

Still, I yearn for more.

I want to leave the year not just with more knowledge and experience, but also with massive deliverables under my belt amongst the smaller ones. I want accomplishments I can hold, treasure, distribute, and monetize, if that makes sense.

I also want to be exactly where I want to be career-wise, money-wise, family-wise by the end of 2019, so all my thoughts are focused on creation, execution, and staying on task.

So I guess that’s my mantra for the end of the year and for 2017: get back to my production schedule, create high-quality novels, scripts, and films, nurture and grow The Bohemian Badass, and start making the Rebel Ragdoll f’empire the badass creative house it’s meant to be.

Move over, academia. Colby the Artist is BACK.

“Always forward. Forward. Always.”

— Luke Cage in Marvel’s Luke Cage

ANYWAYS, yes, lots of stuff going on. Reclamation, and such. But as usualy, this post is getting long so FINALLY here’s the:

LAST 4 WEEKS’ HAUL (10/3/16 – 10/30/16)

What I wrote these past 4 weeks:

I honestly got so lost in the ether that I didn’t keep track of my word count. BUT I did work on The Iron Maiden (Books of Ezekiel #3) and Rose n’ John Does (The Hitmen of Happily Ever After #1). 

What I read / watched / listened to these past 4 weeks:

I’ve been staying up on my usual podcasts, but one that has really risen to the top for me is the Indie Film Hustle Podcast with Alex Ferrari. All he does is produce knowledge and content on an insane level, and I’m learning SO much from him and his guests!

Check out his website here: Indie Film Hustle Website & Blog
Subscribe to his podcast here: Indie Film Hustle Podcast

I finished The Blacklist (Season 3), Luke Cage (Season 1), and am in the middle of both Jessica Jones (Season 1) and Daredevil (Season 1). I’m LOVING all the Marvel series right now. They are so well done, and they integrate the factual and sociological aspects of the Marvel Universe seamlessly. But what I love and what I find masterful is that while each series is a part of a larger universe, each manages to maintain its own signature brand, style, and palette. The characters are all unique in their histories, struggles, and cultural contexts as well, which is a pretty incredible feat.

Luke Cage in PARTICULAR made me feel so damned Black and that felt so damned good, lol! I also loved its historical and cultural gravity, the beauty of Harlem (where I spent a lot of my childhood), and the all-Black cast (which I actually didn’t even notice until some angry racists net trolls pointed it out). But that was a GREAT series.

Of all of them, though, my fav Marvel series at the moment is Daredevil. Holy hell, is it good. There are still other series I need to finish, though, like Orange is the New Black and House of Cards. There are other series airing right now I need to catch up on, like The Walking Dead, Scandal, The Blacklist (AGAIN), and How to Get Away with Murder. And there are other series I need to start like Mr. Robot, Orphan Black, The Americans, Homeland, The Get Down, Atlanta, Queen Sugar, Queen of the South, Fear the Walking Dead, and Shameless (I saw the pilot and LOVED it).

There’s honestly so much good television out right now (and movies), that it’s impossible to keep up with, but I’m trying, lol! As for reading, I’m literally in the midst of reading six books right now:

The Successful Author Mindset by Joanna Penn
Mugging the Muse by Holly Lisle (this is my second time reading it, but it’s changed significantly)
Author Indie Survival Guide by Susan Kaye Quinn
Divergent by Veronica Roth
New Play Development by Lenore Inez Brown
Police Procedure and Investigation: A Guide for Writers by Lee Lofland

Trying to finish these before the year is out, but we’ll see what happens!

What I’ve developed the past 4 weeks:

I guess despite my displeasure at having most of my time co-opted by academia, I was still on my hustle and flow. Getting it in, where it can fit in, I suppose, lol. So, yeah, I did quite a few awesome things in October, like:

Art directed and received the first two covers of the new fairy tale retelling series I’m working on: The Hitmen of Happily Ever After. I told you last month that I’d started the commission, but they are now FINISHED. (For the first two books, at least.) The covers and the branding? Fucking AMAZING.
Like I said last month, the series is basically fairy tales meets crime noir action. Like, happily ever after folks mixed with Sam Spade and Sin City. The first book will be out on February 14, 2017, exclusive to Amazon, so stay tuned!


Finished my sample production book that I was working on! Of all my classes, I’m taking one that is actively putting “deliverable” portfolio stuff in my hands. It’s called Theatre Management, and it’s divided into two parts: Stage Management and Arts Administration. We finished the Stage Management portion, and I got a full-on production book out of it for my portfolio! The final book included a ground plan, a calling book, a blocking book, a prop list, a production calendar, and lots of templates like daily schedules, info sheets, and more. It was challenging, but I feel really happy about the end results.