Well That Was Exhausting!

After 10 days of tireless editing, proofreading and design by me and my team, the PDF version of Zen Madman's Flash Fiction Folio is finally finished. I found the actual writing of the material relatively easy and got through it very quickly. Despite numerous careful reviews, we kept finding little things that needed fixing. It didn't help that Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign got along about as well as Oscar Madison and Felix Unger. Hopefully you'll find the final result just as entertaining as The Odd Couple.

After thinking about the comments received on the first three cover ideas, I decided to go with a fourth one. It looks like this:


January 2012

I've been a bit MIA for the past two weeks. I was lost in the Writing A Book Very Fast Zone. Now, I'm entirely capable of writing a book in under a month, but it feels a bit like holding my breath under water. If I get distracted or relax too much, I'm likely to drown.

In reviewing this first month in Germany, things have been a mix of awesome, good, and moderately frustrating. I've written and/or revised about sixteen-thousand words in the past few days, so I'll just fire out some bullet points. The awesome:

  • Thanks to friends and strangers alike, my Kickstarter was a complete success.
  • Zen Madman's Flash Fiction Folio is complete. The design is mostly done, too. Just a few adjustments here and there, and we're ready to go to print.
  • I've gotten to know a new country, home to delicious caramel soy pudding and "Happy end" toilettenpapier.
  • Reached my goal of weighing 80kg, despite my new Nirwana Noir addiction.
  • I started playing Heads Up Limit Holdem again. Man is this game fun!
The good:
  • Got set up on a few Euro poker sites.
  • Published the Poker Player Bill of Rights.
  • Made some decent cash playing HULHE.
  • Kept up with my blog for the first couple weeks.
  • Learned enough German to avoid the soup with Schweinefleisch in it.
The moderately frustrating:
  • Failed to reopen my PokerStars account. This was a mix of logistics and distraction on my part.
  • Importing a Word document into Indesign resulted in some data loss, slowing the process.
  • Still feel like an ignorant American who can only speak one language.
To review, I'm happy with the month, but I'm already working hard for a better February.