For better or for worse, I'm not the same writer I was when I started this novel.

It seems my writing's taken a hit. I've been so bent on consuming content that I haven't created anything in months. This is the "perpetual sandwich" I am cursed with. I always want more, no matter how much I've had already, simply because there's more to have. I've done no writing, no editing, no blogging, no drawing, and very little photography. But with a full-time job there isn't enough time in the day (or the week, for that matter) to eat dinner, watch TV or a movie or catch up on a series that's ended, play video games, read, photograph things, write or draw, and spend time with real people on top of it all.

The only way to get all these things done is to designate evenings: I'll watch The Wire tonight (just finished season 3), I'll play Resident Evil: Revelations and Fifa 12 tomorrow, I'll photograph my friends this weekend, and I'll read The Color of Magic or the latest issue of Chew on the train. But it's never satisfying to split it all up. My interests are so split that I want to do everything at once, or at least all in one day.

The reality is I stay up late to do as many things as possible and feel terrible the next day and don't want to do anything. So I've lost a day either way. The irony is I make sure schedules I stuck to for a living, but I can never seem to apply that to my personal life.

I've begun editing my completed fiction novel, at least. And by "begun" I mean I've edited the prologue. It's about five pages, maybe. Double spaced. It's a less-than-200-page manuscript. There's no excuse for how long I've taken to clean up this story, to strengthen it. But I started another one in between which, after spending so much time on this first novel, was a needed break. Unfortunately, after writing the beginning and coming up with the ending I didn't have the slightest idea of how to fill in the middle to make it a full story. But after recently talking about it out loud I have a better idea of what will bring the characters to that end point. Still, the execution could be shot to hell if it's not done believably. That will take some serious sit-down time to outline and write out, but I want to finish the first novel before getting invested in another writing project. Maybe get it ready to be submitted somewhere. I've heard some interesting things about the Kindle self-publishing program, but marketing's my biggest concern. Getting 70% of profits (or whatever the figure is) is great--if you can market it well enough to actually get enough purchases for that 70% to mean something. Of course, any amount of cash advance from a publishing company would be more than welcome, and their marketing would be vastly superior to anything I could do. Besides, I'm a new author with a first novel--I need it to be seen in bookstores/on websites, promoted by reviewers from popular publications, etc. That's difficult to do without a publisher backing you. Otherwise it's all word-of-mouth, and that will hardly get my book or my name out there. So the plan is to submit to a bunch of publishers until it's either picked up or I get impatient, and a literary agent's a must. I can do it, I just need to make the time.

We live in a world of blogs, social networks, and portfolio sites, but how do you determine which site should get which of your work? I've now joined Flickr, 500px, Instagram, and Picasa. Then there are the blogs/streams, like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Posterous. All this, and I'm not even a full-time professional photographer!

So my question is how can we gain balance? What type of work should go where? I've seen various methods of organization. Some post their best work on either Flickr or 500px and put the other shots they liked but don't think are THE shot on their blog. Some use Google+ or Facebook as a Flickr/500px substitute, showing off their best work from a shoot or outing as an album. Twitter often just links Twitter followers to one of their other sites (as opposed to uploading the photo to Twitter itself or a Twitter-integrated photo host like TwitPic or yFrog). People who use Google+ heavily use Picasa, because that's Google+'s photo host.

But then where does that leave Instagram - the so-called casual photo app for people who want a quick filter from a smartphone shot without taking the time to edit the image? I've seen semi-professional and pro photographers use it for good photography, but I've also seen celebrities and non-celebrities (us regular folks) use it as a photo blog akin to Flickr.

With all these options, why do so many people choose all of them? And why have I? It's probably because they all do something well, and because there's no one site that does it all perfectly, we grasp at everything to build many networks instead of creating one humongous monopoly of a network that does it all.

I exhaust myself trying to find the right uses for all my networks, and often fail in the process, ending up so annoyed by the whole thing that I don't upload any photos at all.

Such is life. I guess. Any thoughts?

Last night I swung by the last day of "Coco Moca" with Steve and Anna at the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, NYC. That would be art pieces representing Conan O'Brien, on loan from the Museum of Conan Art. It was compact but awesome. Great art by very talented people. Below are some pieces from the exhibit.

[Note that these are straight from my phone and were not edited/enhanced. Some are a little darker than I'd like, but I wanted to get them up.]

 

Fantastic. The owl has a pipe, too.

 

Pierre Bernard, star of the "Pierre Bernard's Recliner of Rage" sketch (and Sgt. O'Brien on Stargate SG-1) drew a characiture of Steve (inexplicably with no beard). Pierre did not seem as angry as he is portrayed.

Conan himself made an appearance, but it was before I'd arrived.

 

I prefer to call this one "The Man and The Myth".

 

Entitled "Conan and Daughter". I thought it was a re-enactment of his daughter's dismay when he shaved his beard, but Steve pointed out, "But what about the way it's shaved?" I guess we'll leave this one open for interpretation.

 

Amazing.

 

Called "Beardpocolypse". Notice the missing pixel in the "after" drawing.

 

The Conan Cone! (As seen in the documentary about Conan's between-TV-shows comedy tour.)

 

Stuffed Conan!

 

Conan Pencilism, is what they called it.

 

Trippy...

 

Poor Andy... Looks like it was drawn in MS Paint.

 

OWL!

 

Binary art!

 

Pixel art! We agreed his hair was one pixel too low.

 

Alas, the portable museum has packed up and moved back to its hometown, but I hope this sample has amused you enough to start your weekend off well.

I wrote this about three years ago, I think, but it still holds true. Please excuse the poor formatting. My poetry has always been a bit rough. Maybe I'll post some prose soon.

"Wake"

I stay up late-
      -ly, perusing through
       all hours of the night.
       And when I finally fall
       asleep
       I never even know it.

In what feels like moments later,
       after journeying through hours
       of dream footage,
       cut up and poorly edited,
       leaving me
       incomplete,
       I wake.

It's that moment I live for, of bliss-
     -ful forgetfulness
      before I know who I am,
      before the memories
      come flooding back.

I'm looking forward to another gluttonous Thanksgiving with friends and weirdos at the classy L. Sherry's. Exec. Chef only known as "Gus" (no relation to the Breaking Bad character of the same name) is masterful in his experimental work with cooked meats and unusual combinations of spices/ingredients, especially when combined with the establishment's original owner's Saucier skills. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that their food is so good you'll want to smack your mama!

Good times are coming. Gobble gobble! Happy November!