Monday, January 2, 2012

A Brief Interlude...Or Is That a Prelude?

Normally at this time of year, Nathaniel and I pat ourselves on the back(s) and tell you how great we are by ranking our best posts of the past 12 months. We won't be doing that today but rest assured, our egos won't allow us not to do exactly that sometime this week.

Complicated double negatives aside, the reason we won't be doing our yearly recap is an interesting one. And, come to think of it, there are actually two reasons. First and foremost, I start a new job today--I know, it's kinda weird that it's on the day after New Year's, right?--and I've been a bit preoccupied with getting things in order for my first week.

And second, my wireless router at home is acting all kinds of strange and I haven't been able to get online without interruption since Friday. My connection is still a bit wonky today, and I'm starting to think it's because of the (several) new devices I've introduced to the network in the last week or so.

It's working fine now, but it's been going in and out and driving me just a tad bit insane so I'm not overly optimistic that I won't get bumped offline before I finish writing this post up.

Even so, I will trudge on and attempt to provide you all with something (moderately) entertaining for this first Monday of 2012.

I haven't talked much about making this most recent transition to a new job, mostly because my last two weeks at my previous gig were filled with finishing up a book or two and tying up as many loose ends as was possible. More than that, though, I wasn't thrilled with the way things ended there, and I guess not enough time has passed to heal those wounds.

I can say that leaving turned out to be an incredibly emotional experience, and there's a long list of people I will miss quite a bit. I made enough friends there to warrant co-worker lunches and dinners for two weeks straight and I plan to stay in contact with as many of those folks as possible.

Sometimes you need to make a decision based on what's best for your professional life, and you cannot allow your personal life to get in the way, no matter how hard that may be. That was certainly the case for me, and while it's been tough to come to grips with my leaving, I am very excited to start something new.

Which is an entirely appropriate statement for New Year's, I'd say.

I'm incredibly fortunate to have this new opportunity in front of me, and I plan to dive into it just as I've done at my previous jobs.

Oh, and speaking of something new, I've got a couple things planned for this year that have me pretty jazzed. One's a book project that you'll be hearing about very shortly-- a children's book, to be exact--as my artist and I ramp up the production schedule heading into the spring.

The plan is to have the book ready and to the printer by May, and available for sale in October.

If you're interested in taking a quick sneak peek at the book's main character, you can check out this page, where my artist--the incredibly talented Abigail Larson--has posted the first teaser image.

Let me know what you think, or better yet, leave a comment on Abigail's DeviantArt page and let her know what you think. Needless to say, I can't wait for this to take shape and I plan to keep you guys updated as things move along.

I've decided that 2012 will be--for better or worse--the year I try a bunch of things I've either been planning for a while or that I've been thinking about planning for a while. (Don't worry. It makes sense to me.)

So here's to a new and exciting year, Exfanders. I know I'm looking forward to it.

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