I am surrounded by cards. Twelve complete sets of the tradeable card game I’m working on. This is part of the fun of working on a TCG, but it also creates quite a mess! The cardlist is finalized and we’re in the process of tweaking and fine-tuning while waiting on our artists to provide us with missing artwork.
A few days ago, the IP-holder for the cardgame asked me to take a break, placing the project on the backburner for now. This is because we don’t want to hold our second convention during yet another mask mandate. Assuming the mandate is ever lifted, we’re hoping we can hold the convention early next year instead. But this is an extremely fortunate turn of events for me, as even this blog was suffering for that card game, and I was finding myself spread thin.
You’d think that would leave me with plenty of time to work on my short story and novel, but not exactly. My wife and I are working on a flooring project. We’re doing a marble epoxy treatment in our laundry room, which, it turns out, is pretty involved.
Then there’s the fact that my work recently approached me, hoping to train me on Cognos (and other data analysis tools) to possibly get me on the DA team. As I’ve mentioned, my degree is in data analysis, and Cognos is in huge demand right now on the job market. I’d be a fool to say no. But, for the time being, I have to do this internship in addition to my normal job … which will suck up any free time I would’ve otherwise managed to scrounge during my work hours. Not to mention, work’s been unusually busy the past few weeks.
And the funny thing about completing a professional editing job is that you will inevitably get asked to do more projects. This is how editing careers are born, I suppose. This time, it’s a fiction project, the writer is much better than the last, and I get carte blanche on all aspects of editing (developmental, line, etc.). Also, there’s no NDA. I was kindly asked not to share the author and book title, but I don’t have to keep everything a secret this time around.
What’s more, there’s no hard deadline. I know: My brain just said, “Uh-oh.”
Considering all that’s going on in my life right now, I was tempted to say no to the project. It is a science fiction yarn and I do prefer fantasy. But the person who made the offer is extremely busy himself, and he really needed the favor. I explained the situation I’m in, but he was so thrilled with the results of my last edit, he said he wasn’t worried about it and figured I could handle it. In the end, he convinced me to move forward, with assurances that “there’s no hurry”. I told him I’d try and see how it goes, pace-wise. But no promises. He then insisted on paying me immediately, maybe hoping it would seal the deal.
Not long after I got paid, I was hounded asked to give estimates on how long this editing project will take, and I honestly have no idea. I’ve edited plenty of single chapters and short stories, but a full developmental plus line edit for an entire finished manuscript is something I’ve never done before. Tentatively, I said eight weeks. I’m hoping that I’m under-promising and over-delivering with that estimate, but I am a perfectionist, and I don’t know how to turn that aspect of myself off.
Nick Enlowe 