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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
Well folks, I tried. I tried to keep up the pizza delivery work as a possible alternative to staying at home while the grievance process went through, but the pay wasn’t enough to make it worthwhile.
Having the kids cry and seeing the worried expression on my wife’s face at my leaving for a night shift, after getting used to me being around them so recently, was a factor, I’ll admit. But economics and quality of life were the driving influences in that choice.
It was costing more in fuel and planned maintenance for the vehicle than what I could make at the best possible chances in a week’s worth of shifts. In effect, I was losing money by working that job again. Coming home to a darkened house every night, knowing my family hadn’t had me around when I was so near, and missing out on the routines we had made over the years, was driving me back into a depression from which I had just managed to get free so recently.
I turned in my cap and shirt. I’ll still be on payroll if we ever get desperate, but I’ll turn my attention to something else. Something I know I’ve wanted to learn and work at (but never had the chance to further my education, thanks to the career), and would challenge me.
I’ll write about it once I’ve confirmed my choice.
In any event, it’s time for an event! A gaming session! First one in nearly a month!
I’ve managed to sleep soundly for once in over a week.
Fine, fine… I’ll keep following doctor’s instructions…
But for moments when I can’t do something, I can at least teach something, so Han will have a bit of time going over Right Hand Staff for Kung Fu. It’s the first weapons form we go over when we reach the Intermediate Levels in our training, and it’s something I can explain while keeping my ass parked in a chair.
And having been told, quite bluntly, by my wife that “You aren’t going anywhere today,” I’m going to put my headphones on and whittle away at my stories. Namely, I want to take another look at my Tall Tales short story.
A beta-reader looked it over and told me why it had never been published, which was humbling.
It’s also Game Day! We get to go back into the SWRPG Campaign, where the Field Group are hurtling towards the Rising Action of the Main Arc!
I just hope that I’ve written that well enough to get their interest!
Stay safe out there, folks! I’m slowly recovering but at least I can feel the progress.
It would have been hilariously ironic if I didn’t write up a post for today, but I am here!
For all that I am not a holiday person, a few notable days like today are special to me. It’s an easy excuse to celebrate one of the little niches of my nerdy interests, but I also get to use it as a day to make announcements related to the day’s noteworthiness.
Firstly, I’ve mentioned that we now have an artist for Sidewinder Stories. What I haven’t told you is that he has given the Sidewinder Stories two incredible pieces of art: our logo and our banner.
It’s one thing to say that we play a Star Wars themed RPG. It’s also one thing to say that I write fan-fiction. But it’s something else entirely to say that other people are joining in that fan-fiction building and that it has something of permanence to it.
(We are currently debating on the various types of the logo that Alex has given us, but as the GameMaster, I’ve decided that this one will be used when I’m writing a story or building a page on the website. Stay tuned for other writer contributions and/or artwork!)
While I will be adding on a page dedicated to Alex’s work, I did want to start promoting him here, so if you’d like to consider him for commissions, please check out his Instagram at Alex!
I do have a lot of writing to attempt to wade through this evening. I’ll be adding to the Subscriber pages, namely explanations and a little of the history, plus the most recent chapter edits! There’s also homework for me, as I need to learn how to properly set up a wiki format here for the Sidewinder Stories.
…it’s a bit startling how big this has grown, but that’s what happens when people are passionate about their hobbies.
Stay safe out there, folks, and May the Fourth Be With You, Always.
Guess who fell asleep at their desk while handling back-and-forth’s between four individual players, arranging new projects, reformatting site pages, and agonizing over an outline?
If you groaned audibly with the phrase “Dammit, Swift”, don’t worry. You’re not alone. I’m waiting for the day my kids use that line; they hear me say it often enough.
But it was a very creative evening, for all that it was cut short by circadian rhythms. Players are coming forward with not just session requests but stories of their own, with project requests and questions for their plots.
It wasn’t until after helping one player with establishing a story background that I had a moment of self-realization: this has become a fan-fiction franchise.
… awesome, but daunting.
One big thing that’s occurred will be jump-starting my drive to update and organize the ‘wiki-style’ pages for the campaign: we have an artist! In due time, we’ll be giving these characters their own visuals. I’m going to set up a page dedicated to the artist so they’ll be able to be contacted for commissions and otherwise show their work, so expect that announcement soon.
You damn right I promote the artists I work with.
Along with that, it’s been editing established site pages and attempts to push my stories further along. At which point, exhaustion hits.
After a month of delays, depressions, and schedule mishaps, we’re finally gathering around the metaphorical game table for an evening of dice and shenanigans!
Sigh. It feels good to be ‘home’.
Now, with the damaged vocal cords (yes, I’ve been through the ringer lately) and my voice being that of Batman on a time limit, I don’t know how well I will be able to act.
Swift's Corner 