A Wild May Appears!

So, April was a pretty quiet month on the doggans dot com front, huh?

Since last month saw not a single video and ONLY a single text post on this blog, I suppose the least I can do is give you a little update on all of the things I claim I do.

I. SCRIPTFRENZY

My final tally was…52 pages. Well, I got *halfway* there! AND now I have 52 more pages than I had the month before! They’re not GOOD pages, not even remotely, but at least it allowed me to stretch my writing muscles. Well, for the first half of the month, anyway. In the second half of the month, every moment not spent at work was spent in more or less a vegetative state. More on that later.

THE POINT IS, I started a bunch of scenes, sketches, and vignettes that I will now proceed to ignore in favor of other writing projects (hopefully). And who knows, perhaps someday I shall return to one of these vignettes and figure out how to salvage it into something good. And if not, well, at least I know what premises to avoid.

There *was* something freeing about writing without pressuring myself to make anything good, but at the same time, there was something…unsatisfying about it. When I removed all the pressure, it got me to write stuff, but the knowledge that said stuff would probably never amount to anything meant I didn’t find a whole lot of joy in it, which is one of the reasons I didn’t quite finish.

So, I don’t write when I pressure myself to be perfect, and I don’t write when I remove all of the pressure. I just need to find the amount of pressure that’s juuuuuuuust right. (Dammit, I didn’t get into writing because I wanted to be Goldilocks! I got into writing because I wanted to be Hansel and Gretel! When am I gonna kill a witch and eat some gingerbread, huh?)

II. EMPLOYMENT

My new job at SeaWorld has its ups and downs. It’s no worse than any other “summer job” type of work, but it can be a bit draining, hence the vegetative state. My hours are quite limited, and my paycheck reflects that. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay afloat on this salary alone, but I also don’t know where I’ll find the energy to work more hours or find a second job. But it’s too early to tell, and I’m sure as I continue to get used to the job I’ll find a better internal balance.

It’s a shame, though. I’ve been working at SeaWorld for a month now, and I still haven’t seen the vast majority of what the park has to offer. Shocking as it may seem, these days I’m actually not in the mood to go to theme parks in my free time at all. Which brings us to…

III. DAVE DOES DISNEY

I’m still editing the Resorts episode and the Beauty and the Beast bonusode. Blame the aforementioned vegetative state for the lack of progress. The Fantasmic bonusode hasn’t been shot yet–there are a few pretty exciting things I have to line up before I go full steam ahead on it–but progress is being made. The script has a first draft, and it’s longer than anything else Dave Does Disney-related, but I think it’s also funnier. If you’ve seen Fantasmic, you know how much material I have to work with, and I’m really looking forward to this episode coming together.

IV. THE SITE ITSELF

You probably noticed that I went from that barely-legible white-text-on-dark-blue theme to a modified version of WordPress’s default Twenty Eleven theme. I’ll be using my EXTREMELY limited knowledge of coding to try out some tweaks, attempting to make the design more customized and interesting. If you have any suggestions for the layout, let me know!

After I get a look for the site I’m happy with, I’ll be working on releasing all sorts of new content. (Style before substance, that’s my motto.) I’ve got a couple ideas for a very simple specialized vlog/review series or two, ideally allowing for more regularly updated content amidst the eternal wait for the theme park reviews.

Of course, what I *really* want to do is more narrative stuff and sketches, but that takes more time, energy, people, and money to put together. I have some time, little energy, and no money. I *might* have people, but I haven’t approached them yet, so I don’t know how interested they’d be. Hopefully in my ongoing quest to actually write stuff, I’ll write something actually entertaining that can be done in little time with no money and few people. (Again, if you have any suggestions…)

So! That’s what I’ve been up to. How was YOUR month?

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