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Elf's Random Musings

Not Emo, I Swear. More Iron Maiden than Linkin Park . . .

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by
Elf
, April 12th, 2012 at 10:49 PM (2498 Views)
So at work, doing more overtime, I found a copy of "Writer's Digest" in my desk that a coworker had given me. I was leafing through it, and a lot of the tips in it I have in more detailed format in a book on how to write horror. So I'm flipping through and find an interview with Robert Kirkman.

You know, the guy who created "The Walking Dead" and "Invincible" as well as working on numerous other comic projects. Hell, the guy even writes for the TV show based off of his "The Walking Dead" comics. So, curious I began to read.

The first part of the interview was talking about how he use to work his day job and then at night write. That sometimes he went only on a couple of hours of sleep due to his self publishing. It really made me think. Then I remembered a section in the awesome horror writer's guide I just mentioned talking about finding time for writing. Sometimes you just have to abandon stuff to do so. After all, the end goal is more important than procrastination.

Like this posting a blog here is procrastination.

Anyway, I started pondering and realized that there's about an hour and a half where I'm doing nothing a night but playing on the web and talking to people on line.

Don't get me wrong, I love talking to my on line buddies. Especially since other than my husband I really don't have that many friends in real life to talk about stuff too. Like I'm sort of the tag along with him, which is fine most of the time, but I value my on line friends. Plus I sort of really suck in person; at least on line I can appear cool and witty instead of stuttering all the time.

I realized that if I gave up my on line socialization for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday every week I'd get at least three more hours to write. At least. Probably closer to four or maybe five. Then I realized how much I can get done in just an hour and then having at least three extra hours a week?

Well, I just might have that novel done by January if I keep at it.

So next week I am going to try this. For my friends who I talk to online this isn't because I hate you, no I love you all very dearly. This is because I need to do this. For me to succeed I need to put my nose to the grind stone and kick some ass.

Besides, I'll still be on Monday and Friday nights.

Plus, this may be a way to get more done on "Utopia" and "The Hound and the Blacksmith" too.
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Comments

  1. Aiden's Avatar
    On the one hand, I enjoy the idea of you having more time to be productive.

    That's never a bad thing.

    However, this means less time being able to see Elf around!

    Cognitive dissonance! *despair*
  2. RadiantBeam's Avatar
    Do whatever you need to do, Elf, we're not going anywhere.
  3. Five_X's Avatar
    What, Beam? No, we're switching the domain of BL around, so that more people can find us. Sadly, Elf will be away around then, so she probably won't get the new site address... :P
  4. RadiantBeam's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Five_X
    What, Beam? No, we're switching the domain of BL around, so that more people can find us. Sadly, Elf will be away around then, so she probably won't get the new site address... :P
    ...

    Goddammit.
  5. Elf's Avatar
    But there maybe more writing!
  6. Dark Pulse's Avatar
    It's why my own story ground to a halt. My job is stressful as hell, and my days off became days for me to simply unwind. Worse, since they're both about as far apart in a week as is humanly possible (Wednesday and Sunday), it means that I don't feel very "rested" even when I have them, and before I know it, they're over and it's back to work the next day. It just sucks.

    I guess the only "good" out of it, as it were, is that I intend to leave there in eight weeks. I look forward to catching up on sleep I've been missing, games I haven't had the time to play, and getting back into writing.

    It wouldn't be too hard to work it in with a flexible job, but by the nature of this line of work, flexibility is flexibility for the company, not for you. I can get fired just for bringing up anything on google that's not work-related at all, even if it's just to check when the bus home would be.
  7. Mike1984's Avatar
    Really?

    That sounds like a really shitty job (note that I am actually currently at work...), and it sounds to me like they're just exploiting you (things like that are why I think anarcho-capitalists are deluded when they describe a capitalist society as "free"). Still, if you're leaving in eight weeks, I guess that's something, at least....
  8. Elf's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike1984
    Really?

    That sounds like a really shitty job (note that I am actually currently at work...), and it sounds to me like they're just exploiting you (things like that are why I think anarcho-capitalists are deluded when they describe a capitalist society as "free"). Still, if you're leaving in eight weeks, I guess that's something, at least....
    I believe DP works at a call center, and yeah, most call centers are like that. I use to work at a call center and the schedules were bad unless you performed really well. (Most of the time I got a cush schedule because I made sure to perform well.)

    Most call centers are more relaxed because they know how taxing it is, but his seems stricter than most.
  9. Mike1984's Avatar
    Wait, but if you're in a call centre, aren't you essentially doing nothing unless someone calls you? So, why do they restrict personal use of the computers so much?

    But, regardless, yeah, I can see why a job like that would suck. My job has essentially zero contact with customers and can be done essentially any time (other than when I need to communicate with others), so there's far less of a limitation on what I can do. I still fail miserably at actually getting myself to do any work, though, at least when it's not interesting....
  10. Dark Pulse's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike1984
    Really?

    That sounds like a really shitty job (note that I am actually currently at work...), and it sounds to me like they're just exploiting you (things like that are why I think anarcho-capitalists are deluded when they describe a capitalist society as "free"). Still, if you're leaving in eight weeks, I guess that's something, at least....
    Yes. I hate the job. Ask anyone who talks to me even remotely often - I'm sure I've bitched to them about this job.

    Originally, I was going to leave in August of last year. That then got pushed to December. That was then to be pushed to March, then it was to be this month. Now I'm simply leaving in June, whether I have this new job or not, as I'll have saved up enough money to pay for my college regardless, especially since I've got another job probably lined up - that's a question more of "when" then "if" according to that person, but I'm the type who will say "if" only if I get some hard documentation on it. (That said, I'm very certain I will like the new job far, far more than this one. And it will pay me more, too. And let me work from home, as well, which is even better, and be way less restrictive, so all-around, it will simply be awesome for me.)

    If you want to know what I do, I handle call-center work (as Elf said) which basically entails customer service and scheduling for technically about 15 different US and international chains, handling everything from retail stores to computers, and for a few clients (TigerDirect and Dell) we also handle Canada, as well. Which means if someone's angry, I'm the prick who's getting yelled at, regardless of who ultimately fucked it up by setting wrong expectations, selling wrong services, et cetera. Hell, Dell doesn't even do service upsells like most of our other clients do. For most clients, you can contact the store, or simply refer them to their customer care departments. Dell? Nope, they got this little program called IDD that's slow as shit, absolutely awful, and half the time it literally takes minutes for it to pull something up, because it's doing a virtualized connection to some computer who the hell knows where with 128-bit SSL encryption. Sometimes it won't even launch.

    Furthermore, every client has their own little systems, so what applies for Dell does not apply for Sony, which does not apply for Staples, which does not apply for Target, which does not apply for hhgregg... lots to remember, lots of ways to screw up, and our minimum passing score is 90% - the maximum you can get without incredible leaps is 94.83%. They even call it "Extreme Quality." Quality is good, yes, but we're talking little things like too many "um's" taking points off. (More than three, specifically, will nip 1.5%.) Using slang counts too, and not just obvious slang - this job has forever burned into my mind that "Yeah" is technically slang. And it will also cheerfully have them remove 1.5% from my grade, if they hear it even ONCE.

    Somehow, despite this bullshit, I've only failed 2-3 calls in the whole time I've been there (usually for policy nuances that are different for the clients). The calls are supposed to be each handled in 7 minutes tops (3 1/2 minutes for the call, 4 minutes for documentation) but the problem is that's fucking impossible when they have questions - if it's a Dell call, 8 times out of 10 I'm guaranteed at least 10 minutes on the call because I have to explain shit, and then I get a finger wagged at me saying "You have to do this faster" with my weekly evaluations. We're also somehow supposed to "ideally" handle 500 calls a workweek, which is damn near impossible - I think on average I pull about 50-75 calls a workday, depending on how busy it is.

    All for $10.10 (I got a 10-cent raise...) an hour.

    Needless to say, I'm not fond of the place. I love my co-workers (they're actually all pretty awesome, save for a few idiots... not personality-wise, they just constantly fuck up on procedure and I'm correcting their shit) but I can't stand the work. What was going to be two months has turned into a year (actually, I'll be quitting a week or two before my one year anniversary) and needless to say, I'm fed up with it. It's stressed me out, it's robbed me of sleep, and since I have to wolf down food in half an hour for my lunch, it's definitely added pounds to my weight (which I'd like to work off, and then some, this summer). Oh yes, and if I'm more than one minute late on my lunch, they don't like that either.

    But what can I say, college and laptops don't pay for themselves, and I need both. And I doubt someone's going to give me the $3000 or so I'd need.

    ...Of course, if I would've won that $680 million lottery they ran here a few weeks ago, I would've been buying a nice home right about now. But oh well.

    ......And if someone is crazy enough to give me $3000, message away so I can put in a two week notice. I might even name my firstborn after you.