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Steve’s Update 4/9/2018

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Hey everyone, it’s Steve’s update.  So let’s find out what’s up!

So what have I done the last week?

  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Pre-readers are chugging away – with the error-corrected copy.
  • Agile Creativity: Agile Principle 9 went out.  This one was an odd one, so let me know what you think
  • Epic Resume Go Rewrite: I took my break.  More below.
  • Seventh Sanctum: I got more feedback on the Nexus!  People are for it, and the consensus seems to be doing it but making it at best 50% of my effort.  I’ve got a few ideas on that that’ll come out in a bit for new generators.
  • Other: Some speaking and various chores, nothing noteworthy.

What am I going to do this week:

  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Sitting on this one.
  • Epic Resume Go Rewrite: This week I’m going to try to do the whole thing, from using editor’s comments to getting it out.  Can I do it in a week?  STAY TUNED!
  • Agile Creativity: Agile Principle #10 is next and its possibly my favorite as it focuses on the value of not doing things.  Really.
  • Seventh Sanctum: Processing the Nexus feedback, and getting ready to do some new coding.
  • Other: Taking it easier this week.

– Steve

Hollywood is Having A Tough Time Recently

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Lone Ranger joins some other poor-performing films.

We’ve also had some real hits (Trek, etc.) and Despicable Me 2 did well (I would argue, personally, it quite deserved it).  But it’s worth noting since we’ve been following a string of concerns about Hollywood potentially having a collapse.

– Steven

 

Focused Fandom Countdown: 9 weeks to go

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So where am I on? "Focused Fandom: Fanart, Fanartists, and Careers."  Well first, late with this post – I was a bit under the weather.

First of all, if you noticed the header, it got pushed out two weeks.  I'm quite busy and am likely to be changing apartments – which easily kills a weekend.  So I figured better to delay it ahead of time.

Our big lesson for the week?  Well that has to do with the rescheduling – namely, plan ahead to add space for the unexpected.

Last book I did for the series I plowed through it.  I worked weekends.  I did an entire book in 3 months.  Yes, I did it – but it doesn't mean it

In giving myself more time on the second book, I got under the delusion that I'd be fine – but just adding extra time doesn't mean you're estimating well, preparing for interruptions, etc.  If I didn't have a self-imposed deadline, it'd be one thing, but . . .

So when you're doing your own projects remember – don't just set aside time, if you at all have a deadline, project ahead, estimate your time, try and get some sense of hours, days, etc. to work.  Think ahead about interruptions.

Then?  add about 10-30% time onto that.  Seriously, rare indeed is the person who gets their time estimates right.  Take it from a Project Manager.

Next book?  I still want to keep putting these out reguarly (I'm thinking every 6 months), but you can bet I'm going to put timelines and estimates on that just to be sure I'm not full of it . . .

– Steven Savage