Next week is finals week!
Well, my students don’t really have finals, just projects they have to turn in. My sound design students have to design a full show of their choice. My creative writing folks have a portfolio that requires a new piece of writing (can be fiction, script, poems, or whatever else they can come up with), a reflection, and a revision of a previous piece. After that, it’s the end of my teaching journey (for now). I’m not returning to my current position in the Fall and, as of writing this, no prospect for the Fall, but that’s okay. I’ll figure out where to go after a break from thinking about the monetary struggles that will soon be more apparent to me than ever before.
That’s a joke. Sort of.
I’m applying for jobs, of course. I have my eyes set on a teaching position that I would consider a dream. Though, if I want to work in higher education as a creative writing professor or theatre artist, I need traditional publishing credits. I’m lacking in that field, in part because I don’t know where to begin and the other part is fear. I have production credits for theatre, but I want to teach playwriting… And, well, I only have two credits for plays I wrote almost a decade ago.
So, I’m in a bind. What does a person do when they have no real trade skills and no publishing credits to pursue their passion of teaching?
Stream.
Write.
Hope.
Hope is doing the heavy lifting here.
Right now, I’m working on the Lavender Knight. A short story turned into a novella. However, the more I write, the more I’m realizing that this could very well turn into a full fledge novel. My original vision was to share chapters of the novella on the website… That is still, somewhat, the goal. The chapters I’m sharing, I’m dubbing The Lavender Knight: Rough Draft Chronicles. I’m going to share the first 7 Chapters in rough draft form (I may share more beyond the seven).
I’ve said this before, but I’m a big fan of showing early work to showcase that not everything is perfect or realized in the beginning of the writing process. That holds true here. I want folks to see the origin of my stories, if they are ever curious how, where, and what state the ideas took shape. It might be silly to some, but to me this is absolute joy to share. If I never get published, at least random people can stumble upon the silly stories I’ve crafted.
While I may be unemployed soon, at least I can take comfort in these passion projects. Streaming is a great distract (though I’ve fallen off a good deal this past month). Writing is my first love. The unknown of what is coming doesn’t scare me. I know I’ll find something that will help pay the bills… It may just take a bit of time.
So, come on finals week! Let’s wrap up the semester so we can chase after big dreams and passion projects.
Shoehorning this in here.
With The Lavender Knight taking on a larger role than expected (I thought I could make it a short story), I’m changing the original release schedule (found here). Instead of the last day of the month, I’m going to make it the last Monday of the month starting in May. This is to ensure a consistent day of the week rather than being all over the place (week wise).
On a side note: Chapter names have also changed.
From April 30 onward, expect a writing stream on my Twitch channel every last Wednesday of the month. I will work on the rough drafts for the Lavender Knight live. So, if you want to hangout, ask questions, and/or write together, feel free to join me (here). I may read the stories out loud but, mostly, I’ll focus on the writing part… With occasional commentary.
So, the release schedule update (for the rest of the year)
- April 30 – Chapter II: Uncomfortable Truths
- May 26 – Chapter III: Shadow Fox
- June 30 – Chapter IV: A Timely Arrival
- July 28 – Chapter V: The Choice
- August 25 – Chapter VI: The Final Bout
- September 29 – Chapter VII: Dreams of Love
- October 27 – The Spirit of Crystal Lake (Spooky short story)
November & December: Projects pending… I hope you like stars. I hope you like water. I hope you like remote islands with a silly crew of outlaws (not pirates, but pirates are there too).
Jesús M. Rivera 