BrianJarrett.com

So 2009 came and went and 2010 is here.  Overall 2009 was a positive year for me.  Thanks to Traci’s decision last year to push herself to try new things I’ve now been exposed to some new people as well.  It’s been nice connecting with people of a similar nature with similar interests again.

Personally I’ve grown quite a bit in 2009.  I learned how to deal with an incredibly difficult person at work and how to better handle stressful situations there.   I was also able to use what I learned and apply it to my personal life as well, reducing my overall frustration level.  This person has now been effectively neutralized and poses very little actual threat anymore.  I also came off a successful project right at the end of 2009 that, combined with my improved skillset, will help to solidify my role and hopefully ensure my longevity.

2009 ended with me in a very different place at work and in my career.  My confidence level has increased dramatically and I’ve produced some work I’m very proud of.  I’m also steadily moving back toward the type of role I’d played at CPI before I left.  I’ve been at my new job for two years now and it pleases me to say that it’s feeling more and more like home.  My career is back on track again and I feel like I can grow where I am.  I’d love to be able to spend some time here; five or six years (or more) would be great. Read more…

Popularity: 17%

So just a little background; I started working for my current employer back in December 2007.  Their reporting was a mess, as were some other things, but now we’ve got a brand-new, from scratch data warehouse.  Our internal team worked with an external team to build it out and it transitioned over to us  officially maybe a month or so ago.  Now that we’ve got it, we’re uncovering a few things that need to be fixed or re-engineered.  We expected that; it was a tight deadline and we were already aware of certain areas that would required our attention once the transition occurred. Read more…

Popularity: 28%

So my stated goal was to update my writing journal at least once per week; I’m finding now-almost a month after-that that might be a little too ambitious.  I’ve been so swamped with work and the kids that I just haven’t had the time or energy to do it.  I have a couple posts I started but then I just ran out of steam half-way through.

I’m responsible for bringing on a new section of our data warehouse and the deadline is fast approaching.  They’re looking at sometime in November and it’s already almost November.  That means I’m scrambling to get this finished and, just like tonight, I’m working some overtime to make that happen.  That’s cutting into my “creative” time.

I’ve also been sick for the past four or five days and had to stay home from work yesterday.  I really felt like shit.  There’s no way I’m going to be able to churn out anything in that state. Read more…

Popularity: 21%

So now that I’ve been back in “writer mode” for a bit I’m falling into the writer’s mindset again.  Just about everything in life is an opportunity for reflection, even some of the most mundane things.  But isn’t mundanity somewhat subjective?  I feel myself wanting to write about these things, to extrapolate on them primarily, to some end that might not be obvious.  I feel compelled to write something down, that transference from the brain to written word so important.

The enemies of this process-at least for me-are lack of time and distraction.  The real conundrum though is when the lack of time and the distractions are spawned of one’s own choosing.  For instance, my lack of time and my distractions come from my work and my family, primarily.  In the case of my family I chose that, I continue to choose it, and have no regrets about choosing this distraction.  They force me to interact with other humans, they keep me from becoming a recluse or a digitized version of a real person.  They provide me with real life, with experience, and with feelings I’ve never had before.

In other words, in so many ways they’re actually my muse. Read more…

Popularity: 29%

So I’ve decided to keep a writing journal.  I figured I’d update it at least weekly to ensure I keep it in the forefront of my mind and in it I’ll chronicle the creative writing process for me.  I’m not a professional writer by any means but I enjoy writing (and enjoy writing fiction in particular) and have found that I tend to let myself get distracted easily and end up not writing at all.

So this little “journal” of sorts will really just be postings that fall under the writing journal category.  I’m looking forward to enforcing a bit of discipline back into my writing schedule again while trying to balance it with the hectic life I now have.  Should interesting, at least for me.

Popularity: 22%

I added the remaining 4 fictions works I’ve written to the site.  I call these “practice” stories since they were written so long ago and were primarily written to provide an opportunity to get some much-needed practice.  I’m giving them their day in the sun, mostly because I just feel obligated to them.  :) Read more…

Popularity: 17%

I added another short story from way back in the day.  This one’s called The Junkyard, and is about a group of kids who see something terrible and have to carry it through life.  You can read it here.  Feel free to comment or rate it.

I’m on a roll with these things; of course all the work is already done.  I’m just glad I finally got the guts to publish these out here.

Popularity: 17%

I added two additional short stories, a hard science fiction piece called “Outreach” from 1995, and a short horror story called “Walking at Night” from 1996.  These are old ones, so please keep that in mind when you read them.

They both hold a lot of nostalgic value for me.  You can comment on them and rate them on their respective pages.  Hope you like them.

Popularity: 15%

I added my first (and to date only) novel to the site.  It’s called In Dreams and the Remains of Cities.  It’s a speculative fiction novel set after the world is destroyed by a global war.  You can read the pdf here.

Read it if you’re interested and feel free to comment and/or rate it on the download page.  I hope you enjoy it.

Popularity: 14%

I just posted “The Forest” to the site; a short story I wrote back in 1997.  It’s not perfect and probably not great, but it is what it is for the time.  I’m probably my own worst critic, I’m sure.  You can view or download the pdf here.

Feel free to leave comments on the page about the story and assign a star rating for the story as you see fit.  I hope you like it.

Popularity: 7%