I’m an author. I’m a blogger at RandomC. I’m a night auditor at a hotel. I’m a salesman of craft beer. I have four jobs at the moment, and I’m working 60+—usually 80+—hours a week.

This is what I was talking about when I said some cool things were going on in my life. Turns out cool can actually mean hectic. I’m dyin’ over here, y’all.

“But wait!” you might be saying. “Two of those don’t really seem like jobs. You like to write books, and you like to write for RandomC. And selling craft beer? That sounds cool!”

You’re not wrong, hypothetical interrogator. Why do you think I’m doing them all?

(The hotel is a bit of a puzzler, until I tell you that the other three don’t currently pay all that well, or at all. Book writing income is variable at best, the brewery I work for is new and still ramping up production, and RandomC never paid. The hotel gives me income I can depend on. I also occasionally freelance, but I’ve mostly shelved that at the moment, because yeah. Busy.)

Here’s where I fear I’ll sound like I’m complaining, or making excuses, because the ulterior motive of talking about my ‘orrible workload is to say that my writing has been shit lately. That’s why I haven’t been blogging much, and why emails have been sporadic. I’m also working on an exciting prequel short story to replace Adv5 as the bonus for signing up for said email list, and that too is going horribly. ‘orribly even!

(Side note: I might not have told you about this at all, if not for what I talked about in my previous post, and because I don’t consider this an excuse for my crappy production. It’s a reason. As I’ve said before, I consider an excuse to be a reason why it’s not your fault, whereas a reason is an explanation for why it is. It’s still my fault for not carving out time and paying myself first, but I’ve got a damn good reason for it.)

I tell you what though, I’m learning all sorts of things about myself, and in general. I’m relearning how useless I am without sleep, how dangerous an irregular schedule is to writing, and that I need to exercise and meditate even when I’m busy. I’m learning how to balance writing with sales, a job which requires me to be constantly plugged in—which is to say that after the work day ends, don’t fuggin’ bother me. I also might have finally broken my bad habit of refusing to go to sleep until after midnight, and partially given up on writing first thing in the morning. Those are still up in the air.

I’m also learning valuable lessons about the tolerance of the human body and mind for work. There comes a point after days of working constantly where I say “Fuck it!” and go completely off the rails. Best to plan for those times, I feel.

You also wouldn’t believe the kinds of people you meet when you sell beer during the day and work a hotel desk at night. (Not both on the same day, by the way. Usually. Sometimes, though. I don’t sleep between the hote Sunday night and brewery sales Monday morning. Which is great for resetting my sleep schedule when I then pass out at 7pm.)

Anyway, the people. I’m getting so many new stories. So many! An author ought to live an interesting life so he or she has interesting things to say. I’m doing that, in spades.

The good news is that, even if I’m still working way too much, I think I’m starting to get a handle on it. My writing has been abysmal for the past few weeks, but it is getting better, hence the past two posts (and an email to come). The bad news is that the situation is liable to continue for a while, probably at least until next year. It’s going to make getting much done on Book Three difficult, which annoys me to no end.

I’ll manage, though. Like I said before, I got this.  It’s just, if it takes longer than I want, this is the reason. At least I have a better one this time.

On the plus side, I’m a fantasy author who works for a craft brewery. Even if I’m working crazy hours, I can’t complain too much. I’ve damn near got both of my dream jobs, and I’m not even thirty. That’s kind of friggin’ awesome.