Desk Work – The Climb #244

Friday 22^nd September 2017

Urgh! I’ve only been back at the day job for 2 days and already the weekend couldn’t come quick enough. I’ve decided that I have a new pet hate. It’s when you get asked to do a job in a rush… because the information is needed urgently.
There’s a large part of me that wants to throw my hands in the air and ask why I should work at breakneck speed just because someone more senior is unable to plan? Of course, I’d get the answer that the job has been judged to only take a few hours, which is bullshit because we all know senior management skip over the complexities of projects.
So I have to rush around like a blue-arsed fly because of other people’s inadequacies.
As a result today has been one of those days where I’ve just sighed a lot and thought how I much prefer the stress of my own deadlines.
Perhaps my mood hasn’t been helped by the fact that my back has been really hurting today. I’m not so much upset about the setback as I am the fact that I constantly injure that part of my body. I don’t like having weaknesses and have been wondering what I need to do to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
I also (finally) finished reading a friend’s script for him. Critique is often difficult because you want to encourage but still be honest. So I never know how heavy to go in with people first time round. I know full well what it’s like when you get a critique back. You only see the bad points none of the good. You feel you’ve failed when in reality all a critique is doing is pointing out where it needs to be improved. Of course, it never feels like that when you are on the receiving end.
It’s been an interesting process reading a script. Film is obviously a different medium and I wondered how easy I’d find it to read and provide constructive feedback. But in reality, through doing this I feel I have a solid understanding of scriptwriting. I’m not sure I’d ever want to write scripts myself, but it might be fun to do one time.
Anyways, I sent it back with comments on how it could be tighter, and now I wait to see if said friend speaks to me again. Some people take critiques badly and you can never tell.
In the meantime I’ve been really starting to think about the second draft of book 2. I’d intended to use the period from my birthday until 1^st October to do some planning, but there’s part of me that thinks I should just get stuck in. I just worry that with my back it might be best to have a couple of days away from the computer.
But what else am I going to do? There’s little left for me to do in Warcraft now I’ve got another 2 characters to level 110 and that involves sitting at a desk as well.
If you want to follow more of my journey, then be sure to check me on my social channels. Likewise, if you’d like me to expand on any point mentioned above, please say so in the comments.