June 2012

Took some vacation time and spent some of it in deep reflection... when I wasn't playing Fallout: New Vegas. I did finally get a word count on what I've written so far this year and I blew past the half million mark sometime last month. I think this will be the last blog post where I talk specifically about my progress though.

In January I didn't trust myself to really write at capacity and stay on task. In July, a half million words later, and as I get ready to write the draft for my seventh book, it's lost all meaning. This is just what I do now, and I don't need to quantify my work by holding myself accountable on a blog anymore.

I know when I depart my two weeks vacation on Monday I will immediately resume my schedule. My game accounts will once again go largely innactive, books I hoped to read for pleasure will get set aside, and the quest will continue. My new book will have a draft in about 2-3 weeks and I'll be able to commence going back and editing the two in the series that precede it.

It all feels normal now.

My partner in crime and I will be pulling together a game for the Windows 8 platforms and I've already begun the design work. Our other game languishes on that old (by mobile standards) platform Windows Phone 7. We surpassed a 1000 downloads a while ago and I'm not sure where we are now.

Also, totally normal.

What isn't normal is the feeling that all this is normal. That is a wondrous sensation and that all that remains is to edit, create covers, and self publish... a process that will also come to feel normal probably by the middle of next year. It has me asking myself a question I haven't asked myself since 2009.

What will I do after this?

Non-Fiction/Technical Writing

Whenever I'm writing something that isn't a novel, with a linear story and accompanying outline, the process becomes more difficult and lengthy. I've been pretty hard on myself for taking as long as I have with my Storytelling Sciences books, but I've come to realize recently that such things are written over time. It's why reference books have editions and are revised often.

Things change.

In sitting down to finally write the more arcane portion of the SS System I realized that it was something I've been writing for a long time, little by little. I have files written in MS Publisher format that contain text I'm pulling for my current work, that's how far back this thing goes. Think nothing of recounting the play test hours spent and all the people who sat around a table with me at one time or another. Some I don't talk to any more, while others have moved beyond this life.

It feels good to draw near what seems to be the completion of this particular work. Like anything written in this way, it will require revision over time as I find things to add or change. It'll be nice to sit on the other side of that project and be able to focus on the Setting Books and the novels based on them.

Even better, I might get to play the game that I built. We'll see.

Raging Rickshaw

Last night, I joined a team of guys working a TBS game for the Windows Phone 7 platform.

I'm really excited to be doing something that resides within Mobile OS/Device industry and that I get to work with my childhood friend. I remember when he and I would trade basic code back and forth, running through each other's choose-your-own adventure style games. This time around, I'll leave the coding to him, the design largely to someone else, and I'll be focusing on the visuals.

Tried like heck to avoid doing anything with my art or my web design skills (such as they are) besides push my own product. The only thing that makes it okay this time around is that I'm pushing a product and working with people I can believe in.

As always, my novel writing will continue to be my focus. My only regret is that so many other small projects I enjoy will probably get shoved to the back burner until the game reaches release. Even if it isn't successful, I think we'll still keep trying to break into the mobile app market. They future is a bright, if not incredibly busy place all of a sudden.

Update: Added a link to the Raging Rickshaw Website to my blog. (Left, below the picture of the dazed and confused guy.) Clickorz!