Steve’s Update 11/28/2021

Posted on November 28, 2021 | Leave a comment

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Here’s my latest update. Slightly complicated by one busy Thanksgiving week!

The Way With Worlds series: The Man-Made Disasters book is in editing, out by or before mid-December.. I’ll start the “Misinformation, Disinformation, and Propaganda” in Q1 with the roundup “Disaster Response” in Q2/Q3.

Other Books: As noted I have two “maybe” books that are compiled from columns. I’ll review them in December.

The Seventh Sanctum rewrite: I’ve got the deployments working, and sussed out a few oddities of Flask and Python I’d missed on my old device (directory structures, mostly). I also found a way to avoid a bug in the current sanctum if I do an upgrade before the new code goes out!

Giveaways and Sales!

Steven Savage

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Good News – You’re Not Worth It!

Posted on November 24, 2021 | Leave a comment

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Many creatives spend time bashing themselves. They’re angry they’re not doing more work. They’re enraged their writing isn’t better. They worry they’re not making enough at their supposedly “fun” calling.

No one can be crueler to a creative than themselves. Creatives know their weaknesses and have the imagination to find new ways to harangue themselves.

I’d lay odds you do the same thing to yourself.

Normally I’d advise compassion for oneself, in the vein of Pema Chödrön and similar philosophers. Much to my surprise, such self-care doesn’t fly with everyone. Some people invested in hating themselves as a twisted version of responsibility.

To those trapped in self-loathing creativity, let me suggest another tact.  You’re not worth hating.

Are you blessed with a great destiny that you’ve failed to reach? If you were failing your great mandated fate, maybe you’d be worth some anger. But you’re just a person, so why waste time hating on yourself?

Are you a person of fantastic talent unmatched in history, a skill that will define the future of all humanity? It’d be nice, but in reality, you’re someone trying to do the best they can and trying to grow. So if you fail now and then, it’s just being human, so why burn cycles despising yourself?

Are your works epics that the world has to experience lest it is forever impoverished? Probably not; you’re just another person trying to do what they like and contribute. Epics are declared such in hindsight. So since you’re not supposed to make The Greatest Work Ever, are you worth your own contempt?

Guess what?  You’re not worth your own hatred! You’re just a person, just like me, your friends, and so on. You’re not worth the time you take to be angry at yourself.

So let’s all go forward, we legion of screw-ups, weirdoes, and flawed humans. Let’s stop wasting time hating ourselves. If anything, wasting time hating ourselves is another one of our mistakes.

Maybe then we can find some compassion for ourselves when we’re not busy being disappointed in who we are.

Steven Savage

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Posted in mental health, Psychology

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Steve’s Update 11/21/2021

Posted on November 21, 2021 | Leave a comment

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Whew, another busy week. But a lot getting done.

Consider some of these future plans a little tentative. During the Christmas holiday I want to really re-evaluate my plans for the next few years.

The Way With Worlds series: I got the cover done, and now it’s just waiting on my editor. Shout-out to the friend who helped me A/B test the art. You’ll get to see the cover in my newsletter 😉

A School of Many Futures: Marketing is going slow, and I’m really going to hold off until after the holiday.

“The Agile Writer’s Mindset” and other Agile books: Still planning to start these next year.

Other Stuff: I do have two nearly done possible books made from old columns, some quite rewritten, I may want to put out. I’ll evaluate them in December.

The Seventh Sanctum rewrite: I’ve sorted out a few bugs with the deployment, but there is a strange directory issue I want to work out first. As for deployment, I think I have it down to a science, AND I think I sorted out a way to do more effective and safe versioning for easy delivery (and easy reversal). So once I address that odd bug, then it’s time to start converting generators – and then address two remaining pains.

Steven Savage

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