Sometimes We Fall
and then we autumn get right back up...
Remember 6,827 years ago when I said I would hopefully get into a groove with my new job and start creating on the regular? Yeah. Maybe I didn’t even say it out loud, but that was my plan a full year ago when I lost my job and then started a new one.
I’m making training for CBT Nuggets, but instead of the Linux training I made for them years ago, now I’m making Google Cloud Platform training. If you’re not an IT aficionado, it’s basically like having a proctologist switch roles to heart surgeon. Sure, the former butt doctor knows what a heart does, but if she has to do a triple bypass, she’ll probably do a crappy job. (see what I did there? *snort*)
Anyway, I haven’t really gotten any more efficient at my new training, I’ve just come to the realization that my schedule has to change permanently. I now study and cram for 10 days or so, and then scramble to create training modules in the last days before the end of a pay period. (CBT Nuggets training compensation is based on how many modules are completed in a given pay period) It’s not ideal, because my schedule feels like finals week at college over and over, forever. But it’s decent income as long as I can pump out the training, and I *am* learning more about cloud computing that I’d ever know otherwise.
Still, heart surgery is hard, ya know?
State of the Nerdlingdom
Here’s a quick breakdown of all the things I can think of that either I’m doing now, have done in the past, or hope to do in the near future:
My Comic
It blows my mind that I drew My Big Round World 6 days a week for almost 2 years. I mean, I even published a BOOK full of them!!! About a month ago, I decided that while it’s not feasible to draw every morning, drawing a comic once a week would be a nice way to ease back into it. And honestly, I forgot just how much I enjoyed drawing. After a few consistent weeks, I understand *why* I drew a comic every day, even if I can’t fathom *how* I was able to do it!
If you want to see me draw, I livestream the process every Thursday morning at 7AM Eastern. It usually takes me a couple hours to complete the whole thing, but if you’ve ever thought you weren’t talented enough to draw something like a comic; come watch my total lack of skill turn into something oddly compelling every week.
The YouTubes
I’m mortified that I haven’t completed the Linux+ course I started on YouTube. Part of the problem is that I get so burned out from cramming video training modules at my DayJob, that creating training videos for YouTube sounds like torture. But more than that, the particular place I’m at in the course require a LOT of prep-work and planning. Hopefully I’ll just hunker down and push through this tough spot. Or maybe I’ll skip over the tough spot and come back to it. Either way, it’s not fair to folks who start my course only to find it’s not finished. I’ll try to do better, y’all.
I have been consistently livestreaming every Sunday afternoon (3PM Eastern), and while there’s not a lot of training that takes place during the stream, it is a time folks can ask me tech questions, or just shoot the breeze. If there’s a, “consistent gathering” of Nerdlings, it’s probably best represented at the Sunday afternoon livestreams.
I’ve also started livestreaming early in the morning (7AM Eastern, T/W/Th) during the week. Like I mentioned above, Thursdays are when I draw my comic. The other two days haven’t quite found their purpose — but hopefully they’ll get some sort of format in the near future. HERE is a Google Calendar link showing all the livestreams.
NOTE: While all my livestreams are streamed on multiple platforms, the Sunday livestream goes to my main YouTube channel, while the morning livestreams go to my secondary, VLOG/Personal channel.
The Scrivenings
If I could only do one type of content creation, it would be writing. Sadly, it’s also the first form of creative outlet I tend to abandon when life gets crazy. I’m not sure why that is, honestly. If I had to psychoanalyze myself, perhaps since it’s what I love most, it feels like it must be the least valuable. (Brains, you see, are jerkwads…)
Anyway, I do write in several places, and while the consistency is hit-or-miss, it really is my favorite thing to do:
My blog, which has been active to some degree for 20 years or so
My journal… the least well-written of my content. On purpose. If I think too hard about the quality of writing, it sorta misses the point of a journal. (Why a public journal? I think better “out loud”, and sometimes my personal struggles help others figure out their own dumb brains.)
My newsletter. I mean, you’re currently reading it. It’s changed platforms a couple times (this is coming to you from Substack, last month it was self-hosted on Ghost), but I think of it like a quick summary of all things Nerdling. Sorta like the first part of a serial television episode, “Last time, on Shawn’s Crazy Universe…”
My social media. That link is to my “landing page” which contains as many links as I can think of. The little icons across the top are the links to my social media accounts. I was really active on Twitter when it first came out (and was even John Scalzi’s cat Ghlaghghee), but Twitter got icky of late, so I’m not strictly on a specific platform, just sorta all over. Lots of cross-posting.
My NEXT book. Technically, my first book is My Big Round World (in a Little Square Book) — but I’m working on putting together a tech book, based on my Linux Journal column from years ago. “Open Source Classroom” just has to go through editing, and according to the progress tracker on my website, I’m about 43% done with the final edits. It would be spiffy if I could get the book done for holiday shopping time, but that’s really getting close…
What I’m Reading
While I *have* been fishing a lot this summer, as I mentioned in my last newsletter, my main form of entertainment is reading books. That usually means audiobooks. (I also listen to those audiobooks while fishing, so win-win) I reviewed a few books I’d recently read in a blog post, but here are some of the reads I’ve really enjoyed since that post:
If you look at that blog post linked above, I reviewed, “The Riyria Revelations” — and I really loved it. Then, one of the folks who works at the coffee roaster where I have a coffee subscription emailed me saying I HAD to read the prequel series.
I’ll be honest, I generally don’t like prequels. They always feel forced, and when you’ve already filled in the unspoken back-history in a book universe, prequels usually stomp your mental vision to pieces. Also, they’re just usually not good.
These prequels are amazing. And I say that as someone who DOES NOT recommend prequels. But Michael J. Sullivan has somehow cracked the code, and written prequels that don’t suck. I like these books as much as the “original” series, and there is another installment due out in a bit, which I’ve already pre-ordered! I HIGHLY recommend them. (And thanks, Lana, I’d have never given them a try without your recommendation!)
OK, I’ll stop there. I have a few other books I’ve read, and a final books in a series by one of my favorite authors that was just released. Once I read it, I’ll be sure to review it.
If you made it this far in the newsletter, spiffy! If you didn’t make it this far, well, you’re not reading this, so, um… Heck, I think you’re cool too. I get easily distracted as well, I don’t hold it against you.
Until next time, remember to: Learn Everything, Do What You Love, and Most Importantly: Be Kind. :)
Welp, this issue ended up in my SPAM folder. That doesn't bode well for the transition back to Substack. Hopefully I'm the exception and not the norm!