WeeklyWritingWrapup.20250208
This week: work harder vs work/life balance; an update on my writing; The Spike-related links; and being inspired by Sufjan Stevens.
heigh_ho_heigh_ho
Almost from birth, we're told we have to work hard to get into a good school, to get a good job, to earn enough for retirement. We're told that, if we put the effort in, we'll get the rewards. And if we don't succeed, we obviously didn't work hard enough. Try harder.
It has become part of our culture, almost accepted as a given, an undeniable truth like a Call of Duty game will make a lot of money, or if a company collects data on you, they're going to sell it.
Increasingly, more and more people, and especially the younger generations just beginning their working lives, have come to the conclusion it's a con.
Government after government has told us we must work harder to bring growth. They've stigmatised everyone not working, demonised anyone on benefits. But growth for who? Who benefits from this growth?
When workers work harder, they don't earn more for themselves. They earn more for the elite.
Employees have got wise to the trick of believing they are competing with everyone else. Promotion and wage increases are rare, and even if they do come, the expectations rise concurrently. There are tales of people getting promotions and needing to work so many extra hours, they were actually paid a higher pro rata rate before the promotion. What good is a little more money if you're too busy to enjoy it?
Why no-one wants a promotion.
The ratio of house prices to earnings doubled between 1983 and 2022. That's ridiculous and unsustainable. Young people are losing hope they'll ever be able to afford a home. So what's the point of working harder? All you do is stress yourself out, make yourself unwell, and have a miserable 50 years until retirement. If you can ever afford to retire at all.
Like in our political views, we're becoming increasingly polarised around the idea of work.
The bosses want us to spend more time in the office and give them more hours for less pay.
The workers want 4-day weeks and to have flexibility to work from home.
How will this end? I haven't a clue. But if people don't see any benefit from working harder, why would they? And if a high enough proportion of employees decide to prioritise life over work, the hardest taskmasters will have trouble finding anyone to work for them, no matter how much they pay.
For my part, I've never had any interest in the rat race. I don't need a big home or a flashy car; my free time is more valuable to me than money, and that was true even before I wrote novels. If I could work less and still afford to keep my current standard of life, I would rather do that than work harder and earn more money.
I believe each person needs to decide what is most important to them and work accordingly, without being drawn into the key capitalist lie that you always need more. Consider this: when you look back on your life, are you more likely to wish you'd had more time; or that you had more money, more stuff, more things?
I think it's an easy choice.
progress_report
I needed to put in overtime on my day job this week, which cut into my writing time (on the positive side, it gave me the idea for the theme of this blog).
But, on the two days I had to go into the office, I stayed late and did some writing there.
It's similar to the theory of going to the gym on the way home instead of going home first. Once you're home and you've switched off, it can be difficult to motivate yourself to restart again.
So, two more chapters done this week. My pace is too slow, but I'm hoping to pick it up over the coming weeks, beginning this coming week when I'm on leave from my day job. I intend to make some good progress and report a better weekly wordcount than the 3180 of the past seven days.
status.vol2
The Spike Volume 2 will contain three separate books from the perspective of seven characters.
Part 1 - draft 2 complete; further chapters to add.
Part 2 - draft 2 complete!
Part 3 - draft 2 written up to chapter 24; forty-two chapters to go.
The intention is to complete draft 2 of part 3 by the end of March.
Part 1 is currently much shorter than the others, and I want them to be closer in length, so I will need to decide how to tighten parts 2 and 3 slightly, and add more to part 1 - I have some exciting ideas to expand it.
Then a readthrough of all parts will determine how much revision is required.
The ultimate aim is to have Volume 2 finished by the end of 2025 for publication early 2026.
connecting_links
The Spike is set in our world, incorporating real events; the links below are relevant to the themes and overarching storyline, and may or may not provide clues to the direction of the series.
I do not necessarily agree with or endorse any of the views within.
None of the world’s top industries would be profitable if they paid for the natural capital they use
UK demands access to Apple users' encrypted data
“Torrenting from a corporate laptop doesn’t feel right”: Meta emails unsealed
Declassified CIA Guide to Sabotaging Fascism Is Suddenly Viral
Concern over Google ending ban on AI weapons
Australia bans DeepSeek on government devices over security risk
weekly_inspiration
Every week I share something that's inspired my creativity.
This week, I've been listening to the 2023 album Javelin by Sufjan Stevens. I've enjoyed his stuff for years, he's wonderfully creative, and it's impressive how much he does on his own.
For this album, he wrote and recorded it mostly by himself in his home studio, with a few additions (mostly backing vocals). He's credited with vocals, guitar, drums, keyboards, piano, production, mixing, and recording. He even did all the artwork for the 48-page booklet that came with the album.
As someone who likes to do it all himself too, it's inspiring to see someone create such wonderful pieces his way and also be successful with it.
"So You Are Tired" was the lead single.
What's inspired you this week? Please share in the comments.
See you next week.
heigh_ho_heigh_ho
Almost from birth, we're told we have to work hard to get into a good school, to get a good job, to earn enough for retirement. We're told that, if we put the effort in, we'll get the rewards. And if we don't succeed, we obviously didn't work hard enough. Try harder.
It has become part of our culture, almost accepted as a given, an undeniable truth like a Call of Duty game will make a lot of money, or if a company collects data on you, they're going to sell it.
Increasingly, more and more people, and especially the younger generations just beginning their working lives, have come to the conclusion it's a con.
Government after government has told us we must work harder to bring growth. They've stigmatised everyone not working, demonised anyone on benefits. But growth for who? Who benefits from this growth?
When workers work harder, they don't earn more for themselves. They earn more for the elite.
Employees have got wise to the trick of believing they are competing with everyone else. Promotion and wage increases are rare, and even if they do come, the expectations rise concurrently. There are tales of people getting promotions and needing to work so many extra hours, they were actually paid a higher pro rata rate before the promotion. What good is a little more money if you're too busy to enjoy it?
Why no-one wants a promotion.
The ratio of house prices to earnings doubled between 1983 and 2022. That's ridiculous and unsustainable. Young people are losing hope they'll ever be able to afford a home. So what's the point of working harder? All you do is stress yourself out, make yourself unwell, and have a miserable 50 years until retirement. If you can ever afford to retire at all.
Like in our political views, we're becoming increasingly polarised around the idea of work.
The bosses want us to spend more time in the office and give them more hours for less pay.
The workers want 4-day weeks and to have flexibility to work from home.
How will this end? I haven't a clue. But if people don't see any benefit from working harder, why would they? And if a high enough proportion of employees decide to prioritise life over work, the hardest taskmasters will have trouble finding anyone to work for them, no matter how much they pay.
For my part, I've never had any interest in the rat race. I don't need a big home or a flashy car; my free time is more valuable to me than money, and that was true even before I wrote novels. If I could work less and still afford to keep my current standard of life, I would rather do that than work harder and earn more money.
I believe each person needs to decide what is most important to them and work accordingly, without being drawn into the key capitalist lie that you always need more. Consider this: when you look back on your life, are you more likely to wish you'd had more time; or that you had more money, more stuff, more things?
I think it's an easy choice.
progress_report
I needed to put in overtime on my day job this week, which cut into my writing time (on the positive side, it gave me the idea for the theme of this blog).
But, on the two days I had to go into the office, I stayed late and did some writing there.
It's similar to the theory of going to the gym on the way home instead of going home first. Once you're home and you've switched off, it can be difficult to motivate yourself to restart again.
So, two more chapters done this week. My pace is too slow, but I'm hoping to pick it up over the coming weeks, beginning this coming week when I'm on leave from my day job. I intend to make some good progress and report a better weekly wordcount than the 3180 of the past seven days.
status.vol2
The Spike Volume 2 will contain three separate books from the perspective of seven characters.
Part 1 - draft 2 complete; further chapters to add.
Part 2 - draft 2 complete!
Part 3 - draft 2 written up to chapter 24; forty-two chapters to go.
The intention is to complete draft 2 of part 3 by the end of March.
Part 1 is currently much shorter than the others, and I want them to be closer in length, so I will need to decide how to tighten parts 2 and 3 slightly, and add more to part 1 - I have some exciting ideas to expand it.
Then a readthrough of all parts will determine how much revision is required.
The ultimate aim is to have Volume 2 finished by the end of 2025 for publication early 2026.
connecting_links
The Spike is set in our world, incorporating real events; the links below are relevant to the themes and overarching storyline, and may or may not provide clues to the direction of the series.
I do not necessarily agree with or endorse any of the views within.
None of the world’s top industries would be profitable if they paid for the natural capital they use
UK demands access to Apple users' encrypted data
“Torrenting from a corporate laptop doesn’t feel right”: Meta emails unsealed
Declassified CIA Guide to Sabotaging Fascism Is Suddenly Viral
Concern over Google ending ban on AI weapons
Australia bans DeepSeek on government devices over security risk
weekly_inspiration
Every week I share something that's inspired my creativity.
This week, I've been listening to the 2023 album Javelin by Sufjan Stevens. I've enjoyed his stuff for years, he's wonderfully creative, and it's impressive how much he does on his own.
For this album, he wrote and recorded it mostly by himself in his home studio, with a few additions (mostly backing vocals). He's credited with vocals, guitar, drums, keyboards, piano, production, mixing, and recording. He even did all the artwork for the 48-page booklet that came with the album.
As someone who likes to do it all himself too, it's inspiring to see someone create such wonderful pieces his way and also be successful with it.
"So You Are Tired" was the lead single.
What's inspired you this week? Please share in the comments.
See you next week.
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