This column is a cross between some somber feelings and hopeful ones. I don’t need to tell you, but most people jumping onto this site will notice that nothing has been written on here for about a month and a half. There are obvious reasons for that and I will go into them shortly. But the major thing here is I’m not giving up on this site, things might change and until events especially in my work life settle down, you might not hear from me for a while. Trust me, I much rather be writing than pretty much anything on the planet (except for time with my wife and son). Everything else and everyone can seriously screw off. However, in order to have money, some of those activities must continue. Maybe someday my writing will actually produce money (for me) instead of just taking it. This will all become hopefully clear in the next few paragraphs.
So why haven’t I written in the last forty five, fifty days? I mean after all, I did watch a few movies both on disc and in theaters. Hell, I even have notes scattered down somewhere, all I have to do is form them into a few paragraphs and hit publish. The short answer is finding the time. My new work schedule requires me to be in the office more than ever before, both in time per day and also days per week. I am busy from the moment I walk in and until the time I go home.
Furthermore, when I get home, I want to do nothing except read a chapter or two of my current book and go to sleep. Sometimes, even eating becomes secondary and forgotten. On the weekends, I make sure to catch up on spending time with my wife and son and zone out with a Xbox game or two. Then Sunday comes, and the same pattern starts again. It is in large part due to I do not understand the work I am doing. I have been in my profession for over twenty years now, and this particular project is completely different than anything I have encountered. It’s irrational, depressing and I have to keep reminding myself that this is only going to last a few months (that’s the schedule anyway).
The limited time for this project is the silver lining in this conversation or else this post might have been very different news regarding the site. For those who don’t know, I pay every three years on this site for anything that’s not related to domain name registration (which is every year). The next expiration is coming up at the end of this year. I have not been very happy with my provider. Ever since they got taken over, their support has dropped to absolutely nothing and I’m pretty much on my own if the site goes down or has issues. That does not leave me with a warm feeling, and furthermore they keep increasing the cost of the site to the point where it is unsustainable. Anyone can look at this site and see it is not that complicated. I keep things that way on purpose because I want to focus on my writing. The truth is I could switch providers and save a few hundred bucks a year I figure.
However, I have to go find said provider (I have looked into a couple of options already) and then make sure everything on here can transfer over. That takes time. So I’m hoping that my work lets up towards the holidays and then I can do what I need to move over. What I don’t want to do is get caught up in another three year contract with a provider that’s going to take my money and give very little back. It hurts everyone even casual viewers to the site.
Also, I have not received really anything from my former site (Upcomingdiscs.com) to review either which usually jump starts me more often than not. Honestly, I highly doubt if I will see anything in the near future either. That’s not their fault, unless you are a top tier site, disc companies don’t want to send out product to review anymore. I’m not sure if I would have any luck if I contacted some of the smaller companies on this site’s behalf to receive review copies.
For example, I have probably in the neighborhood of two dozen un-watched Well Go discs in my blind pile (which is about sixty or seventy deep at this point). I would pick out about eight or ten of those, watch them, review them and then post them here. Those eight to ten reviews which if dedicated would probably take me a month to produce. From there, I would then contact a Well Go, show off the links in hopes they would say hey, we’ll send you a few discs and you post them within a couple weeks of receipt. Well Go is actually right here in the state of Texas, so to me they would be an excellent starting point. However, if you were to ask me what chance do I have of a positive response? I’d say I have an one in ten chance.
Unfortunately, as I’ve stated above, that time is not available to me. At best in my current situation, I could put out maybe three to four reviews a month and that’s only if I completely alienate my family which is not something I want to do. So I am rather stuck at the moment and the fact you are getting a thousand plus words out of me in this blog is a miracle. Frustrating to say the least.
With that, I’ll go ahead and bring this column to a close. I’ll spend the next couple of weeks especially and try to come up with a plan where I at least put up a couple of reviews every month. I wish it were more. I would love nothing more than watch a movie in a night or two and then write the review. Done and done. But that plan got a severe detour and now I have to figure out a way around it. More to come hopefully very soon.
Thank you for reading and enjoy.
