Juggling (or Not)

in which our hero shares some thoughts and some old photos

Dear Readers,

There was a time when I juggled two jobs, a series of acting gigs, the writing of a novel, the occasional recording of music, and the raising of a couple of kids. From about 2010 until early 2014, I was on fire. As time’s gone on however, my ability to keep so many balls in the air has diminished to the point where it seems daunting to breathe and perform a task at the same time.

The photo above is from the 2014 production of Temptress, a play I wrote which eventually formed the basis for my novel The Boot of Destiny. Though I certainly had my crises of confidence during that time, and though I was troubled by all manner of anxieties, I look back on that picture and wish I could get back to the person I see there.

And not just because he’s 12 years younger and nearly 100 pounds lighter than I am now. I’d also really like to hold that big-ass sword again.

But no. Instead of feeling like the guy in the bathrobe and the Voltron t-shirt with the Anime-sized weapons, I feel more like this:

In the play, I played Michael Silver—an art professor who’s being confronted by his niece over his supposed “crimes against femininity.” On the left is Crystal Lisbon, who played Michael’s wife Jenna. And on the right is Lizbeth Myers, who played Michael’s ex-girlfriend Robin Gates.

We staged this photo to capture the feeling of Michael being pulled in two directions. His wife is the present and his ex is the past, but it really could represent someone being pulled in any two directions. And that’s why I got to thinking about it today.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to balance two big projects. I’ve been trying, and I’ve been failing, and I think it needs to stop.

On the one hand, I’m prepping the Kickstarter for The Blood of Seven Queens #6. That’s scheduled to launch on March 24 and I’ve got to get the page to Kickstarter for review by the seventeenth—a week from today.

On the other hand, I’m itching to start work on the art for issue #7 and I’ve been doing the prep work necessary for that. But the truth is that both projects are suffering because there’s not enough time in the day to split between them—especially not when you factor in that I’ve got work and family obligations too.

Oh, and don’t forget time to worry. I’ve got to leave time for that!

So, for now, for this week, I’m going to put the pause on working on the next issue—even though I’ve been having so much good luck with it over the past few days—and I’m going to focus exclusively on the Kickstarter. I really want this one to go well, or at least to know that I did everything in my power to make it go well. I don’t want to stumble to the finish line as I did last time, with a sloppy video and a half-baked marketing plan.

Yours,
Chris