Author: Jacob Swift

Swift is a US Postman, writer, RPG player, husband, and father, based in a small town in Louisiana. After ten years of not seeking publication, he’s decided to try again. In the meantime, he works a manual labor job and cares for his family. This blog site is a spot for him to put his notes and thoughts down, as well as brag about his family’s accomplishments.

1/02/2025 Kicking off Resolutions!

1: Keep up with daily blog posts, even if it’s just a check-in.
2: Daily word goals for SWRPG novel and personal novel.
3: Keep self at low-key energy and not allow stress to control the day.

I wish I could hold myself to a loftier new year resolution, folks, but after all these years, I’ve learned the wisdom surrounding the concept of resolutions: they’re not for big and life-changing struggles.

In the past, I would’ve said “I’ll get my book published this year!” and would genuinely strive to accomplish that goal. I’d also suffer burnout and depression at the fact that the story I wanted to publish was getting away from me, because I was focused on ‘finishing’ the story, not ‘writing’ it.

This time, I just want to write those stories. If they are finished before the year is out and I can get them published, I’ll figure out what to do. Until then, I just want to enjoy the story that’s in my head. I have other, more stressful things to handle in the coming months, so adding such a lofty goal seems…counterproductive.

The daily blog post goal is doable, I know. I’ve done it before; I just kept losing my way on maintaining it. This time around, I’ll work to actively make a posting, even if it’s like it’s stated above and I’m just checking in.

Kind of like today, where I will show off an accomplishment: I made bread!

My first baking attempt that didn’t ruin the dish.

01/1/2025 Happy New Year, folks!

Just so we’re clear: I’m alive!

Still grumpy, but alive!

We made it to midnight here at the house but endeavored to keep it a low-key milestone. 2024 was a tried and true kick-in-the-teeth year, folks. I’m not sure what 2025 will bring but I’m promising myself to not push myself too hard this time around. There are writing goals, to be sure, as well as career goals and wishes.

December wound up being the most progress I’ve made in several stories, as well as a study-heavy month while getting ready for the Security+ exam and hopes of a different line of work. I’m not sure how I managed that, but I’m not questioning it.

I hope all of you stepped into this new year without holding on to the stresses of 2024 too tightly, and you take the time to breathe and ready yourselves for the coming months. Check in on your people, especially yourselves.

Stay safe out there, folks.

-JB Swift

PS~ Old Man Corgi!

12/01/2024 A Quiet Post before Peak Season

To say that I’ve been “too busy to write” would be both an understatement and, ultimately, a false analysis…

I’ve been officially elected as Local Branch President of my postal workers’ union! I take office in January 2025, and local management has grown to hate me personally while maintaining their professional aloofness. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

But when I get ‘here’, I try to put that hat back on its hook. I have to do that all the time at work, now. Here, I get to be the traditional nerd and writer. With that, I have an update!

“Pawn Predicament” is over 50% finished! I set the goal to be finished next Star Wars Day. The website’s ‘chore list’ is erratic and lengthy, but I’ll be tackling each entry as I can and will continue building the series.

I’ll have to get back to putting up the Christmas decorations, but before I go, an obligatory picture of the new Golden Retriever, Cooper!

He’s a psychotic puppy, but he’s adapting to the Swift life.

Stay safe out there, folks!
-JB Swift

10/23/2024 Being Political without the Platform

Here’s something they don’t tell you about Union leadership: you become a politician when you sign on.

I’m not much of a public speaker (I know, what a surprise), and in fact I hate public speaking. But I’ve taken classes on the subject and have learned how to give speeches and sound convincing.

We’re going to ignore the fact that I wax exposition every RPG session. That doesn’t count.

Today was a full day of being Chief Steward. After setting up my mail route to be carried by others, I went into my little office, set up my desk, and spent the next several hours on the phone, writing emails, and holding 1-4 people meetings, including talking to staff members for State Representatives.

I have, basically, been a politician all day.

Ain’t a fan, but it’s what’s needed for this area.

I’m more exhausted from today than I’ve been from being out on the mail route. I think I’ll take it easy for the evening and try to write a little before I pass out at this desk.

Narrator: He will, in fact, be asleep in his chair maybe 20 minutes after putting his children in their beds.

Here’s hoping! Stay safe out there, folks!

-JB Swift

The Uphill Battle of Responsibilities (Old and New!)

Never let it be said that I will shirk my responsibilities, but I keep getting told to not forget my responsibilities to myself and my own well-being.

That well-being is best handled by letting myself have time to write, but the moment I sit down and think about it, there’s a moment of pure terror as I start to get overwhelmed by everything in my head.

Is there a hill I can run screaming towards?

…oof. I need a secretary, or a program that’ll function as one and whack me with a stick when I start to wander off.

It doesn’t help that more ideas keep cropping up and crowding my attention span, but that’s what you get when you pare down your writing/creative work to the minimum for several weeks. But I have a morning to get at least three or four things done.

That list doesn’t include checking in with players in my campaigns and setting up the next Side Arcs or finishing out Solo Arcs for other players. They’ve been so patient with me and I’m stupidly grateful.

So, what do I do when I am confronted with the Sticky Note Secretary?

Why, ponder a different and completely unnecessary project, of course! Specifically: taking the knowledge I’ve gained about lightsaber fighting (I’ve been teaching Basics and Shii-Cho with a few likeminded local nerds) and trying to put it into a new style that is based on my Kung Fu education.

Soon to be filled with notes that’ll never see the light of day!

Not that this will take over my free-time, but I will occasionally jot down notes after practice and having figured out a possible form.

Now, to use an hour for writing sprints before I feel guilty for using my time for myself!

Stay safe out there, folks. Take care of yourselves.

-JB Swift

Three Months Later…

I’ve finally had a quiet moment to remember that I have a website!

Holy hell, it’s been a whirlwind of a time over the last three months, folks.

I’ve been fired from the Post Office, enrolled in a Cybersecurity course, made Interim President of my local union, got my job back, and then I had to scramble to keep the new plates spinning along with all of my other ones.

I’ll be honest, folks. I’ve been exhausted for weeks, and I keep finding things to look into. Somehow, I still write, though it’s been sporadic (at least one paragraph a day) and it has to compete with both an upcoming newsletter for the local and some eight grievances a week (which are 25-30 pages each) and my own physical exhaustion from the day-job work.

I went from having absolutely nothing to do to having to plan out every half-hour on some days.

But I’m still here! I’ll have to set up a reminder to make a daily post (and pencil it into my calendar), but the practice and daily life-writing will do me good. At least the daily writing prompts have gotten more interesting!

Stay safe out there, folks.

-JB Swift

07/25/2024 Suddenly Busy, So… Vacation!

The past week has been a whirlwind.

After hearing that our union local’s president was stepping down, I called the other officers and told them I would take the job.

Two days after that announcement was made public, my postmaster called to say I had my job back.

Two people emailed me to say they wanted to join the Sidewinder Stories campaign, and one old player stepped up to say they wanted to contribute to Dungeon Mastering.

Online school has ramped up considerably and pulling my attention back to my desk to pore over my study guides.

In all of this, I carve out bits of time to write and make for 600 words in every 30-minute sprint.

So what to do when suddenly the world has gotten overwhelming?

A vacation! To Florida! In late July… during storm season…

I didn’t pick the dates.

Onward! There’ll be photos of the beach!

Stay safe out there, folks!

-JB Swift

07/07/2024 Day of Rest

Nearly three straight days of working on the property, practicing the recently-learned Kung Fu form (Tong Long Tao Dow, I think it’s spelled), drilling the Shii-Cho lightsaber routine, along with back-to-back camping sessions, player discussions, and writing sprints.

Photo by Cooper, the helpful golden retriever.

I need to remember that just because I’m not pulling 60-hour work weeks, I don’t need to push myself to my own limits every day. There’ll be another writing sprint later tonight, but I’m going to rest a while.

Stay safe out there, folks.

-JB Swift

07/05/2024 A Needed Break (With News!)

Needed to take a break from daily posts for a while, namely because life got busy for a while.

First and foremost, school is going to be starting next week, so I’ve had to make a few changes to my schedule and workplace. I’m now typing on a desktop for the first time in nearly twenty years!

Yes, it feels weird, but I’m liking it.

Secondly, you might have noticed that I’ve expanded a bit on the SWRPG page. Took to revamping the wiki-article section after a few self-education sessions on website design. Pretty soon, if they agree, I’ll also have some of my players contributing articles as they expand on their own home-brewed content.

Wiki (Swift’s SWRPG Games)

Thirdly, Bakka has returned! Where he’s been, I don’t know, but the full belly makes me suspicious that he’s been adopted in the subdivision behind the property, so I’m happy.

Boy’s gotten big! He’s survived!

Fourth (!), we got a call from a friend with a unique problem: a male golden retriever nearly two years old needing a home. My family, from the in-laws to my wife and children, to even my parents, said that I needed to take him, that it’d be good for me, and that after the last year and the pummeling it’s taken, my soul would heal a bit.

So, meet Cooper (Buddy), folks!

Like looking at both of my old boys at once.

We’re getting used to each other and taking all the time in the world to help him acclimatize, letting the other dogs around him slowly, and getting him through as much training as possible.

Writing-wise, I had a hiccup of point-of-views for the past week, but after a few false starts I’ve gotten over the hurdle and dived into the Big Friggin’ Middle of the Interstellar Tall Tales rewrite. It’s now nearly 25K words long and will be getting into the real fun of that story. Stampeding asteroids, a chase from ‘the law’, and making a tall tale prove his legend by taking on a challenge that’s supposed to be, by every count of relativistic physics, impossible.

Published or not, this has damn fun to write.

I’ve been swamped with house projects as the family realized that I’m home almost every day, now. So much so that they wonder why it takes forever to get any of the projects done, up until I explain how much work needs to be done to get something to a manageable level and how it was put off by my working 60 hours a week at the Post Office.

Reading-wise, I’ve gone to one of the classics and picked “Ender’s Game” up again. I’ll give a review on it after a while, though it’s a debate if I’ll look at other books in the series. “Speaker for the Dead” was the only other book I had read, so I’ll have to look through the “Used” section for the next novel.

With the day coming to an end, I’ll try to get one more writing sprint done before a player discussion session this evening. Stay safe out there. folks.

-JB Swift

06/24/2024 Assessment for IT Education

I passed!

Some of the information I’ve learned just as a hobby actually stayed in this withered cortex! Classes begin in July!

Intimidating but also exciting.

Now I have to update all of my old school information.

It’s been 20 years. I’ll have to retake the ACT. Ho’boy.

Stay safe out there, folks. Life’s about to be very busy, but this time it won’t just be “I’m delivering the mail”.

-JB Swift