There is one massive disadvantage about being a self-published author, you're limited to writing in your free time. It doesn't matter how passionate you're about your project, it will eventually have to take second place to the stuff that pays the bills (and, if you have a family and/or anything resembling a social life, to that as well). It's true that you don't have any contractual deadlines to meet, but you still want to get that thing out, perhaps because you want to start working on another project—as it is my case—or simply because of pride and ego (which is also my case).
When I started work on the 2nd edition of “The Pisshead's Pub Guide”, I set myself a 2nd half of May deadline. The first part—the introductory sections—went really well, but I hit a bit of a wall when I was set to start with the crawls; first, with finding time to do the research, and then to actually writing the bloody things—the new ones and the updates to all the rest, because they all need to be updated. Basically, it was hard to feel again the enthusiasm I had when writing the first edition. But I overcame that, eventually, and set a work schedule that I believed would help me reach that self-imposed deadline. But just when I had found my groove back and was picking up steam, I got sent a lot of work, really demanding stuff that would take most of my waking time and would leave me exhausted every day. I'm not complaining, it's well paid, and welcome in its own way.
I finished with all that at the beginning of the month, but getting back to writing has been proven harder than expected—it might be because I need to rewire my brain from translating technical documentation of a bunch of things (some of it awfully written) to creating contents that are supposed to be fun to read. The thing is that I'm not going to make the deadline, and I'm not sure when I will be able to finish the book, which, given the news, might not be such a bad thing, after all.
At the beginning of the month, Dno Pytle announced on their FB page that they were moving to a bigger place. I knew they were looking for new facilities, and I had hoped that they would find something close to their current (well, ex) location, so I would keep it in the same crawl. It didn't turn out like that. Their new address is in Vinohradská, and should open before the month is over. I will need to re-write one of the crawls I had already finished, but I'm happy for them, they deserve their success.
This month should also see the reopening of U Klokočníka. A few days after the pub closed, it was announced that an agreement had been reached with the Municipal Authority of Prague 4 (the owners of the premises) and the pub should reopen in May, after renovations.
I looked for news on the reopening, and ended up back in the place where it had first head of it, this excellent obituary by Pivní Partyzán. If two of the most recent comments can be given any credit, things don't look very good. One of them was posted last week by one Ondra, who says he had been around and saw that there hadn't been any changes and that the place was still empty. The other, posted by an Anonymous a month earlier, claims to have heard from a former staff that is very unlikely that Kácov will be the beer on tap once the pub reopens. I guess I will have to go have a look for myself and ask around to confirm.
The one pub that is sure to reopen very soon is U Šumavy, in Štěpánská. The Budvar tankovná closed last autumn for renovations following a change in ownership. The new owner is Vodouch, the same of U Vodoucha, U Slovanské Lípy and Černokostelecký Pivovar. For what I've heard, the place will follow a similar, if not the same, template of the others. I will have to see once it opens.
That's pretty much it. As for the book. It will have 16 crawls, maybe 17. In total, it will cover well over 100 pubs. Stay tuned.
Na Zdraví!
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