After nearly two solid months of working on projects and scrambling around trying to complete those projects (while at the same time undercharging for those projects,) I’m back to work on the Writer’s Block. A lot of exciting stuff has been happening around here. First of all, I’ll be moving to a private server soon rather than using WordPress.com in order to have some more freedom with customizing the site and make it easier for you to get updates and for new people to find my site. I’m also talking with a very talented artist I know about getting some official artwork done for the site which I’m very excited about. I’ve also been working on and off on several “Stories that Never Were” articles which will include Star Trek: Into Darkness, the Red Dawn remake, and World War Z (the movie). They really need my full concentration though, so I wasn’t able to complete any of them in the short periods of rest I got during the chaos that was my October and November. They’ll be coming soon though.

Today though I want to talk about a new project I’m taking on. As you may have read previously, I’m a bit of a shy guy in real life and one of my goals in life is to become as outgoing in person as I am in my writing. To that end I’ve managed to get some tutelage from one of the awesome guys over at Ara’Kus Productions, because if anyone knows how to be confident its someone who gets up in front of a stage and erotically rub their guitar strings together. Anyway this awesome bald dude made a suggestion so amazing I couldn’t not do it; it’s brilliant but simple, which is the best kind of brilliant.

The idea begins with Green Lake, a small lake in North Seattle with a long trail running around the edge of the lake where hundreds (literally) of people go walking every day. Of those hundreds of people, a fair portion of them are of the attractive female persuasion, the very kind I usually have a big issue talking to. The idea is to then interview these people about their experiences with shyness: both being shy and interacting with shy people.

This is brilliant for several reasons:

1. It gives me a job – I’m always more confident when I’m actually working; I have a purpose and a reason to be talking to someone beyond just social interaction. Plus it gives me a huge boost to my motivation, it’s no longer just a intangible concept like “bettering myself” but there’s a concrete end product that I can be working toward.

2. I get Exercise – Though I do go for walks around my local neighborhood, they’re so close that it’s almost too easy to not go or change my mind if I do go. If the park is only a ten minute drive down the street, then I have plenty of time to work on this project for a client and then after I’m done it’s still only ten minutes away, I can play a game for a while. And now it’s time for lunch. Oh, I better read the next chapter of that book too…

And even when I do get down there, if it’s too crowded or if I’m just feeling lazy, it’s easy to just go back home. It’s not like I wasted too much gas or time getting there. Green Lake is a good 30 minutes away though, and walking the trail took me about an hour, so I have to make a commitment to going. You might think that would make it harder, but really its better that way because I have to do it earlier rather than later if I want to avoid rush hour traffic and its too big a pain in the ass driving down there to turn around because it’s too crowded. (Plus it’s always crowded.)

3. I meet new people – I’m going into this without any expectations of finding a romantic partner, which takes a huge load off my mind, but I am planning on finding interesting people and maybe some new friends if things go really well. I made a new years resolution to meet at least one new person a week, and I pretty much blew that one (along with all the others,) but this will be an excellent way to catch up.

And the best part:

4. Finally Publish a Book

Of course self improvement is good and all, but let’s face it, I’m a writer and I want to publish something. The lovely thing about the internet is that I don’t even need to find a publisher for this book, I can self publish on Amazon or just post it right here on my blog. In fact I’m thinking of posting each chapter as I write it. I’ll definitely be keeping everyone updated as this project progresses, so stay tuned and if you have any thoughts or ideas about questions I should be asking people, feel free to chime in!

In the meantime, look for The Trek That Never Was coming this Monday, in which I explore the rich, character driven epic that Star Trek: Into Darkness could have been but wasn’t.