What I am calling Year of the Hindsight has started with a fizzle. Lofty goals and intentions have petered out and been replaced with the same old lethargy and laziness that has plagued my existence since I can remember.
Let’s break this down:
WRITING IN PUBLIC
When the word-count goal was first conceived, I intended to include words typed for blog posts as well. (These things are pretty long, as you know.) Then I threw in that awful, limiting word: FICTION. I thought having a huge and lofty goal for the year would drop-kick my motivation into at least giving it a half-hearted attempt. So far, that is not the case.
As of the time of this writing (not sure how many hours in advance of posting it is), I am 20,000 words behind. Considering that this is being posted on January 21… well, you can do the math.
The issue is that I have a lot of ideas but no drive. I have sat down many times in the last three weeks to write (on January 1, even!) only to stare at the blank screen, mocking me with its indifference.
To combat this, I am considering jumping into A Round of Words in 80 Days again. Not sure if I will use this blog space or my old ROW80 blog for the requisite updates.
I have also already failed my first 2020 goal. It is now past mid-January, and Comedy of Terrors has yet to surface. I have worked on it, to my credit, but it has not gotten as much attention as I intended.
(For the record, this is not intended to be negative, whiny, “woe is me” garbage. It is transparency — you know, that thing no one really wants from the writers in their lives and especially not some random writer from the internet.)
Also, I’m noticing that I use parentheses quite a bit in these posts.
GAMING THINGS
OrcCon 2020 is open for pre-registration. As much as I would love to be in attendance, I am going to have to pass this time. There is an upcoming move and a trip to Texas that must take precedence. Adulting is a cruel taskmaster at times.
I am also taking a brief sabbatical from Thursday Game Night. This is more personal in nature than I will share here. I expect to give it another go in February.
My last bastion of gaming for the time being, then, is Monthly Game Day. The end-of-December Game Day was fun, though we did not get to play Pathfinder because of reasons. Although we got to give Marvel Champions a try — and I was right about being able to fake my way through the turns — it was an incomplete game because it was our last and we ran out of time. You know, rules explanations and learning curves.
I think I’m going to love being Spider-Man, though!
January’s Game Day was a blast, as it so often is. I introduced the gang to the Funkoverse strategy game (Harry Potter edition, though I also have the Batman sets). We also got to play Dungeon Mayhem (twice) and Just One (our best score yet), brought by one of the others. There was a round of Marvel Fluxx. We ended the day with a session of Pathfinder Core and actually WON the scenario. So next session we will jump into the story proper.
Roomie had weekend plans, so I was also able to sneak in a session of my solo Pathfinder campaign, Skull & Shackles. Won the scenario there, which closed out Adventure 2. Next time I get to play that, I will be starting #3.
WRAPPING UP
With so little to report, you might be wondering what the heck I do with all of my time. Well, having to JOB gets in the way of having fun, let me tell you. There is some reading some nights on the way home, Spider-Man 1994 on others. (I’m enjoying Disney+ at the moment, even though I swore to myself I would not get it. Call me a sucker for Marvel animated fare.)
On weekends I sleep, chat with my writer friend in Canada, and waste the days away on YouTube or Disney+. As I mentioned in Writing in Public, I do open a blank document with the intention of writing, but nothing wants to come of it. I’ll train my brain to get past that eventually
Until that day comes, however, I will be doing what I can to stay my own course. No, I don’t know what that means, either.