Heatwave of Doom

Update 4 ( 28 June-4 July, 2021)

I won’t beat around the bush this week. I got nothing done on the novel.

I didn’t write a single page, I didn’t further the outline, no character arcs, no new maps, and almost no time in the chair at all.

My office has no AC, and the heat wave took a lot out of me. I ended up doing side work that would make me some quick money in the mornings when it was cool enough to work. And by afternoon with temps hitting 90 in my office I just quit.

Of course, some of you are asking, “Don’t you have a laptop, or just take a notebook to somewhere cooler and work on outlining?”

Yeah. I do have both. Though I do my main writing at my desktop.

Straight Talk

So, let’s just pop out some truth. I write this journal to hold myself accountable, but I also write it maybe inspire others. And the thing is, I suffer from imposter syndrome, and probably undiagnosed ADHD (I have a LOT of the adult symptoms and when you look back at my history it fits). What this means is that I have these moments where I write a LOT and want to work all the time. But then I have moments where I crash and feel like I’m wasting my time.

In the middle I get to a place where I feel like I’m doing just enough and I’m happy, and because I’m happy I feel I can take a few days off. The problem with taking a few days off is it grows. I end up coming up with an excuse for why it’s ok I didn’t write, or do whatever I’m skipping. Because I have an “excuse” I feel a little less guilt, and it helps me get back to the keys.

Funnily. I have never felt the need to skip one of these posts. This website and blog have been the longest running constant in my writing life. While I will admit that some series were planned to go longer and some side work gets shuffled around, these Monday posts have come out every Monday for more than a year and before that I had other regular series.

Excuses to Make me Feel Alright

I mentioned excuses that make me feel less guilt about skipping the novel writing.

Well, I DID stay busy, when I wasn’t laying like a lump in the 90+ degree heat and sweating. My second podcast went live on Wednesday and we are looking at a weekly release schedule. Links are in the side bar to either Spotify or iTunes. If you’re into gaming, wargaming, ttrpgs, and storytelling you might enjoy our little podcast.

This week we recorded a special double length episode where we acted scenes of characters we played in various games. It was a BLAST! Seriously fun. I was worried as I haven’t used my voice too much in the last few years. Back when I was a regular DM I used to have a whole catalogue of fun and silly voices. And while I didn’t break out the old voices (and nor do I really use them now in gaming) I still found the “voice” of my character again.

So, my very hot week was spent painting, working the comic shop (it has AC so I stayed as late as I could), and acting out a character script. I also worked on my newest gaming character. And I have plans for a new series of posts on the website in another month or so.

I’m going to start with introducing the past of my character in either journals or stories and then I’m going to relate the campaign in a story format. Talking about our adventures. I might do it in a mix of in-character and out-of-character BTS segments.

The next Curse of Strahd Journal might drop this week, but I might save it until later. The game only meets monthly and the material is getting thinner and thinner.

The Week Ahead:

I will be back to the novel today. Word counts will start growing again.

Podcast #3 goes live on Wednesday.

Possible Curse of Strahd post this Thursday.

I don’t know what else I can entice you all with. I’m starting to figure out and plan the next gaming story and anything else I say here will just be repeating myself.

I’ll leave you with a short one today, but know that the extra time will go right into the novel.

Be well and thank you for reading.