Jennifer M. Baldwin's Blog

The Pact: For the next seven days, I will work on Shards of Stolen Breath (working title), a fantasy novel for children. The Procedure: Schedule a one-hour chunk each day and write during that time. (I’m not going to specify a particular time until the day-of. My schedule varies too much to commit to the […]

So Stephen King said about how long it should take to write a rough draft for a novel. I can’t begin to count how many times I’ve failed at this. I always take too long. Before anyone starts in and says, “The story takes as long as it needs to take,” let me explain that […]

There are differences, of course. The end goal, for one. Solo role-playing is (often) not for any other purpose than to play the game, whereas prep is intended to facilitate a better group gaming experience at some future point. Unless the GM is going to make everything up on the spot by using improvisation and […]

I know I JUST posted something about my ideas for a homebrewed DCC-based Middle Earth role-playing game, but now I’m starting to doubt all my noodling and tinkering. Why use DCC’s rules and characters if I’m going to change so many mechanics? (Like combat/damage rules, etc.) Better to stick with the DCC rules-set and add […]

Making my Middle-Earth role-playing game heartbreaker using DCC RPG as the chassis and adding in various other elements from games like The One Ring, Nimble 2e, Dolmenwood, Shadowdark, MERP, Pendragon, and others has been both exhilarating and dispiriting, often in equal measures. As I got deep into the weeds of character stats, magic systems, Luck/Hope/Despair […]

I want to believe this rule. I want to live and make art and teach within the bounds of this rule. Like a mantra, I want this rule to be a constant refrain within me. But this is a hard teaching. I want badly to win, whatever that will mean. Maybe it means more readers, […]

This morning, as I made ready to drive into work, I tried opening my Hoopla app. Error messages ensued. I tried again. More errors. I tried a third time. Errors all the way down. I grew frustrated. I considered deleting and redownloading the app, but the clock was ticking on my commute (I was still […]

It’s been awhile. I’m going to try and be as upbeat as possible, but the results speak for themselves: I haven’t achieved most of my goals. And yet! I’ve achieved some, and that ain’t nothing. Failing to success, right? Would I have achieved even these small things if I hadn’t set myself the goals? Some […]

I love fall, and I hate it. I love the weather, but I hate that I can’t always enjoy it. Fall is busy. It’s the new school year, it’s making lunches again, it’s three birthdays in our family, it’s letters of recommendation and summer homework that needs grading. It’s always getting started on the wrong […]

I know it is not efficient or even very “productive” to write my notes by hand or write comments on student papers by hand, but every time I sit down to do my teaching work, I find myself drawn to writing things out with pen and paper. Right now I’m reading through beginning-of-the-semester student surveys, […]