I just took a look at this page and discovered that I haven't updated it in over a year. Sheesh. It goes fast.
I get messages asking what's happened, or what's happening, or what's going to happen with the NonStampCollector channel. The answer to those questions is the same as I've been giving since 2013.
Look, when I started making NSC videos in 2008 I was working part time (at best), having just arrived in the country I now live in (Japan), with a girlfriend (now wife) who worked odd hours (in the healthcare field), giving me a lot of time to myself. Back then I could open up a script document and know that I'd have a few hours to concentrate, play with it, channel ideas from the ether, and polish the shit out of it. Nowadays, not only do I have a full time job that is very satisfying creatively, but I have TWO KIDS, 3 and <1.
We knew, when we decided to have the first, that it would change everything and we'd have less time to ourselves. That was fine, and we both opted for it. Now we have two. 'Spare time' now comes in small windows of about 30 minutes at a time. Scripts simply can't be written that way. Especially if when they do come I'm prone to fall asleep within minutes.
I have a video project in Final Cut Pro now that needs probably about eight-to-ten more hours of work, and I don't expect to be able to give it any time before the middle of the year. And in the middle of the year I'm going to Australia for a few weeks so it won't happen then, either. Plus an idea that I had whilst reading James Tabor in the bath a month or two ago that I'm BUSTING to write, but which will require not only time for writing, but extensive reading from a wide variety of sources if it's going to be as devastating as it has the potential to be. The idea came, and I just stared into space realising that it is as good an idea as I have EVER had for a video. Just unrebuttable. Nail-in-the-coffin shit. I just have visions of believers staring at the screen sputtering, then going and checking their bibles and realising that I'm right. Damn straight; I want to produce that video.
I'd love to. It would feel like I'm 30 again living the dream. The thought of sitting there drawing my pathetic MS Paint characters gives me a little thrill. Imagine having time to do that!
I have a Patreon account, but even the promise of a good wad of cash doesn't make time materialise out of nowhere. I've tried to prioritise video-making time a number of times over the last year with Patreon money as a justification, but it just doesn't fly. It doesn't help me get home from work any sooner, it doesn't justify leaving my wife with two kids hanging off her for the entire evening as well as the entire day while I sit somewhere quiet trying to nut out biblical history after a full day at work,... It seems ungrateful of me to not accept money from people who have offered it, but... shit man, I just don't have time.
So - that's where I am. Raising kinds. Working on creative projects in the real world. And sleeping. Early. Like - falling asleep whilst reading stories to my boys at 7:30pm.
I'd love to do more NSC work, and I intend to. The family and real-life work is taking priority these days.
I'm glad my videos are still being enjoyed and that they mean enough that people ask for more. The popularity that my videos had (have?) was truly life-changing back in the day, and the benefits I gleaned from it really did bleed into other areas of my life and set me up for much of the success (?) I am enjoying in my real life work. Through the evolution of my NSC videos I developed a creative process that worked, a bolder creative voice than I'd ever had before, a sense for accurately predicting what would 'work' and not work during the writing process, a sense of argument/persuasion; that kind of thing has stayed with me and lends itself in valuable ways to academic writing, presentations, and resource development.
I want to do more with NSC and the platform it gives me, because not only did I enjoy every aspect of the creative process, I know how important it has been to people. I remember the emotion that filled some of those messages I used to receive from people crediting my work with changing their lives. It was surreal. Maybe there's more of that in the future? I'd like to think so.
I'm grateful for the support that has always come to me from the kind viewers of NSC videos! I hope there's more enjoyment in store for us all in the future.
I get messages asking what's happened, or what's happening, or what's going to happen with the NonStampCollector channel. The answer to those questions is the same as I've been giving since 2013.
Look, when I started making NSC videos in 2008 I was working part time (at best), having just arrived in the country I now live in (Japan), with a girlfriend (now wife) who worked odd hours (in the healthcare field), giving me a lot of time to myself. Back then I could open up a script document and know that I'd have a few hours to concentrate, play with it, channel ideas from the ether, and polish the shit out of it. Nowadays, not only do I have a full time job that is very satisfying creatively, but I have TWO KIDS, 3 and <1.
We knew, when we decided to have the first, that it would change everything and we'd have less time to ourselves. That was fine, and we both opted for it. Now we have two. 'Spare time' now comes in small windows of about 30 minutes at a time. Scripts simply can't be written that way. Especially if when they do come I'm prone to fall asleep within minutes.
I have a video project in Final Cut Pro now that needs probably about eight-to-ten more hours of work, and I don't expect to be able to give it any time before the middle of the year. And in the middle of the year I'm going to Australia for a few weeks so it won't happen then, either. Plus an idea that I had whilst reading James Tabor in the bath a month or two ago that I'm BUSTING to write, but which will require not only time for writing, but extensive reading from a wide variety of sources if it's going to be as devastating as it has the potential to be. The idea came, and I just stared into space realising that it is as good an idea as I have EVER had for a video. Just unrebuttable. Nail-in-the-coffin shit. I just have visions of believers staring at the screen sputtering, then going and checking their bibles and realising that I'm right. Damn straight; I want to produce that video.
I'd love to. It would feel like I'm 30 again living the dream. The thought of sitting there drawing my pathetic MS Paint characters gives me a little thrill. Imagine having time to do that!
I have a Patreon account, but even the promise of a good wad of cash doesn't make time materialise out of nowhere. I've tried to prioritise video-making time a number of times over the last year with Patreon money as a justification, but it just doesn't fly. It doesn't help me get home from work any sooner, it doesn't justify leaving my wife with two kids hanging off her for the entire evening as well as the entire day while I sit somewhere quiet trying to nut out biblical history after a full day at work,... It seems ungrateful of me to not accept money from people who have offered it, but... shit man, I just don't have time.
So - that's where I am. Raising kinds. Working on creative projects in the real world. And sleeping. Early. Like - falling asleep whilst reading stories to my boys at 7:30pm.
I'd love to do more NSC work, and I intend to. The family and real-life work is taking priority these days.
I'm glad my videos are still being enjoyed and that they mean enough that people ask for more. The popularity that my videos had (have?) was truly life-changing back in the day, and the benefits I gleaned from it really did bleed into other areas of my life and set me up for much of the success (?) I am enjoying in my real life work. Through the evolution of my NSC videos I developed a creative process that worked, a bolder creative voice than I'd ever had before, a sense for accurately predicting what would 'work' and not work during the writing process, a sense of argument/persuasion; that kind of thing has stayed with me and lends itself in valuable ways to academic writing, presentations, and resource development.
I want to do more with NSC and the platform it gives me, because not only did I enjoy every aspect of the creative process, I know how important it has been to people. I remember the emotion that filled some of those messages I used to receive from people crediting my work with changing their lives. It was surreal. Maybe there's more of that in the future? I'd like to think so.
I'm grateful for the support that has always come to me from the kind viewers of NSC videos! I hope there's more enjoyment in store for us all in the future.
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