Oct 23, 2023·edited Oct 23, 2023Liked by john sundman
I spent a good portion of my weekend getting the latest issue ready for printing for my own self-publishing project (weirdfictionquarterly.com) ready for an Oct. 31 release date, so I FEEL this post. It's been an unplanned journey for me that started earlier this summer when my friend had to bail on the project he started, and tapped me and a couple others to pick it up and run with it.
As a software creator who has sunk my own sweat, blood, and tears into apps and other projects that failed to take off as well as I excitedly envisioned them in the early days (I call it my "Laboratory of Failed Monetization Experiments"), I understand what it means to sink yourself into something that you don't feel like you have a lot of choice in, mainly because it's something you simply think Must Exist, and you can't bear to live in the alternative universe where it Does Not Exist, and you're forever questioning what you gave up on to midwife The Thing into The Real World.
Potential and Opportunity are strange beasts, and it's something that I think folks who are wired to just bring home a paycheck every week don't grok on a fundamental level, in the same way that I can't grok folks who are content just working for someone else (even as I envy their stability and overall work-life balance). My feeling on all of this is that we're all extremely fortunate to be around and exist and be conscious of the fact for less than the blink of a cosmic eye, and while whatever we do here in the end ultimately won't matter (we're silly monkeys playing silly monkey games on a water planet orbiting an insignificant star), there's NO replacement for the rush of Creating something, even if it's destined to be snuffed out when our Sun starts fusing silicon and goes supernova.
In the interest of saying something more productive than the idle musings of a middle-aged equivalent of a college freshman who just took his first philosophy course, I DO believe strongly in the power of network effects to do good things for people. If you ever get the itch to write a 500-word weird flash fiction tale, you have my e-mail address. I will not promise that it will make you enough money to compensate you for the time spent writing it, but it may be a way to get your name and more valuable catalog out in front of some newer audiences.
OK I will write a 450-word weird flash fiction story & you will help me get the most benefit from it. Please post here or email me a link to a representative story or two, or to a site that hosts same, etc.
Now I'm off to walk my pal Spot, following our usual path through the woods to the overlook at the lagoon & back. Maybe I'll come up with some premise on our walk through the spooky woods.
I spent a good portion of my weekend getting the latest issue ready for printing for my own self-publishing project (weirdfictionquarterly.com) ready for an Oct. 31 release date, so I FEEL this post. It's been an unplanned journey for me that started earlier this summer when my friend had to bail on the project he started, and tapped me and a couple others to pick it up and run with it.
As a software creator who has sunk my own sweat, blood, and tears into apps and other projects that failed to take off as well as I excitedly envisioned them in the early days (I call it my "Laboratory of Failed Monetization Experiments"), I understand what it means to sink yourself into something that you don't feel like you have a lot of choice in, mainly because it's something you simply think Must Exist, and you can't bear to live in the alternative universe where it Does Not Exist, and you're forever questioning what you gave up on to midwife The Thing into The Real World.
Potential and Opportunity are strange beasts, and it's something that I think folks who are wired to just bring home a paycheck every week don't grok on a fundamental level, in the same way that I can't grok folks who are content just working for someone else (even as I envy their stability and overall work-life balance). My feeling on all of this is that we're all extremely fortunate to be around and exist and be conscious of the fact for less than the blink of a cosmic eye, and while whatever we do here in the end ultimately won't matter (we're silly monkeys playing silly monkey games on a water planet orbiting an insignificant star), there's NO replacement for the rush of Creating something, even if it's destined to be snuffed out when our Sun starts fusing silicon and goes supernova.
In the interest of saying something more productive than the idle musings of a middle-aged equivalent of a college freshman who just took his first philosophy course, I DO believe strongly in the power of network effects to do good things for people. If you ever get the itch to write a 500-word weird flash fiction tale, you have my e-mail address. I will not promise that it will make you enough money to compensate you for the time spent writing it, but it may be a way to get your name and more valuable catalog out in front of some newer audiences.
Thank you. Further comment in the cogitator; will post in a day or so, most likely.
OK I will write a 450-word weird flash fiction story & you will help me get the most benefit from it. Please post here or email me a link to a representative story or two, or to a site that hosts same, etc.
Now I'm off to walk my pal Spot, following our usual path through the woods to the overlook at the lagoon & back. Maybe I'll come up with some premise on our walk through the spooky woods.
I'll shoot you some information over e-mail this week.