A crowded harbor

At work, my job is changing a bit. I'm keeping some of the responsibilities that I like the best, but I am adding a whole slew of new ones. This will be a busy job. I'll have my own piece of real estate--two pages in the Sunday paper--and I'll have to fill it each week. As with any new job, there's dread and excitement.

What if I fail? That's always one of the top worries for me, followed by, I don't know how to do it, I don't understand everything that's required of me, I'm not sure of the deadlines, I have a lot of ideas but how will I implement them once I get rolling on that regular treadmill of weekly production, what if I miss a big story, and What if I assign a bunch of stuff and nobody meets their deadline -- how will I fill my pages?

Also, Will I ever be able to go on vacation again?

That kind of thing.

Meanwhile, I expect to soon have in my hot little hands a book contract from a regional publisher who wants to turn the Hack stories into a book. Well, to be more precise, he wants me to turn the Hack stories into a book. This will take a lot of work. For one thing, I need many more Hack stories. For another thing, I need a thru story line. I also need context, I need background, I need to do some research.

I knew this was a possibility in May, right before we went Up North on vacation. I had lunch with an editor who said he liked the manuscript and wanted to present it to his publications committee. It was right around then--almost the same damn day--when this new job came open.

Now what? I thought. I can't do both.

And now here I am, a month later, about to do both.

I know what you're thinking: What does this mean for me, the faithful Three Dog Bog reader, and will I get a free copy of Hack once it's published?

Answers: Not that much, and probably not.

What it means is I might blog a little less here--there are only so many hours in a day, and only so many different directions my brain can go. It also means I might have to try out some more Hack stories on you, sprung in a random way, as I write them.

So don't write me off if my postings get sporadic or more rambling than usual.

The harbor tends to get a little crowded when a whole bunch of ships come in at once.