Publisher On The Move

I've gotten to the point that I'm just not productive without reasonable Internet connectivity, so I cut short a free (if unplanned) lakeside vacation in N.H. and moved into a Best Western motel for a few days. I originally showed up in town for an immediate move-in that lingered in limbo all week, though I just got word that I can start moving in tomorrow afternoon. The DSL equipment is already on the way. Every time I go down to the motel lobby to work (the room connectivity is bad) my firewall informs me that it's assigning the "Laptop on the move" profile. I should rename the option "Publisher on the move."

A common fantasy among authors and self publishers I know is to get away from it all. To hit the road with a backpack or an RV, depending on the age of the dreamer, and travel the back roads of America or the world. I'm not immune to this fantasy, and I've poured over the details of Amtrak unlimited travel passes and similar "all you can tolerate" travel deals. All this from a guy who doesn't like to travel, except for the feeling of freedom I get from an empty highway at night. But thanks to my experiences apartment hopping in Jerusalem last winter and this latest fiasco, I know that what I really want is a place to call home and work for a while.

Sure, I could buy a cellular modem for the laptop and navigate from coverage area to coverage area while blogging away about everything under the sun, but I've done enough free-form journalism the past two years to know that it's not something I want to hang my hat on. I've been putting off doing a serious writing project about the economic future for some time now, so I've decided to take the short term lease I just signed as a motivator get moving. In order to start my days in the right frame of mind, I subscribed to the Wall Street Journal today, and I'm working on a publishing framework for the research progress and writing. My plan is to combine a new blog with what will eventually be a dozen or so static website pages that could double as a draft for a book. The combination of a blog and a site might be called "blight" but I'm short a few letters.

Although I should be established in my new office by Monday, my guess is that I'll have less and less time to give to blogging about self publishing, unless some of my financial research turns out to be dual purpose. At the risk of giving away the ending, I'm thinking of naming this project Bubble Bath, for the bath we're all going to take when bubble upon bubble bursts. When I told a non-publishing friend what I'm hoping to produce, he replied, "Don't be a pessimist! Work harder." I've known him long enough interpret it to mean "Work harder than that," and I can't agree with my interpretation of his meaning. I do work hard, and hard work has its rewards, but it never stopped the rain from falling.