Consolidating Efforts?
War Game stuff.
That’s where I’ve been the last 2+ years; playing with toy soldiers.
Four tabletop rule sets, six supplements, numerous one-shots. Add to that the current slate of WIP: another stand-alone game for Osprey Wargames, two new five-part adventures, and a full-length second edition/variation of an existing game.
I run both weekly and monthly war game/RPG sessions these days, and now have a hobby-related FB Group with roughly 1.8K people from a dozen or so countries.
I’ve even managed to hammer out a novella at some point: Soul Cache. Which is included in the print collection of short stories, Fits and Orisons. Currently on my office computer is third Exclusion Zone short story, the first draft of a dungeon crawl novella, as well as the mountain of notes, drafts, and research for the four-part post-apocalyptic fantasy series , Shattered Worlds. (link to part 1, Broken Moon) And let’s not talk about all the other, previous projects languishing in digital limbo.
So yeah, I’ve doing word stuff the last three years. Just not here. *
By this point however, it’s glaringly obvious my war game/RPG work draws several orders of magnitude more attention than my fiction ever did. (oh well…) Which brings me to the question of merging HSSJ with Stalker7. Seems to me what I need is a central hub, a single site that highlights both my games and my stories. I need to not only work smarter, but respect the support I’ve received over the years by offering consistent content and engagement to anyone interested in either facet.
That said, in the coming weeks I’ll investigate the procedure, time, and expense required to merge the sites without losing connections and content. For now though, both HSSJ and S7 will stay as is. Updates as the situation develops.
Thank you. Have an excellent day.
there was a legal FUBAR in there too – a spurious shakedown for cash by a B-List SF writer and his gaggle of out-of-state lawyers over the use of the word ‘hardwired’. TL:DR – I got had, trapped on a technicality. I was reliably informed by attorneys that I would have won any case brought against me, but would have had to underwrite the time and expense of defending myself from 2/3rd of the way across the country. Cheaper to take the hit and pay them off. Live and learn. My brush-pass with the big time, I guess.
newest »
Hey, Good to hear from you. Glad you're ok and still fighting the good fight - and it is a fight, at times.
I've wrestled with a few of own struggles and changes too, particularly since Covid.
I appreciate the kind words but don't see myself especially productive; I'm slugging it out, learning as I go, one clumsy step at time. It beats doing nothing or feeling sorry for myself though.
I'm circling back to Shattered Worlds this month, in fact. So... more on that soon.
Have an excellent day.
"I'm circling back to Shattered Worlds this month, in fact. So... more on that soon."Fantastic! Going to re-read the first part again soon (I still think about the "pig chewing a mouthful of gravel" description every time I think of that book). Actually, I'm getting ready to go through all of your old works very soon! Just haven't been finding a lot I've been enjoying to read lately, so figured it's time for a treat!
"I've wrestled with a few of own struggles and changes too, particularly since Covid."
Aye, life changed a lot for me too. Now I'm working in a different field and trying to get into carpentry/woodworking, while still trying to do something with writing. A lot of prospects and not a lot of time for any one thing. But you're right, one step at a time is the right approach, that's how I've been handling stuff for the past year and a half.
Cheers!
I wish I had the creative output that you do! It's very inspiring to see just how you've been growing so many facets of your writing. I had a big setback last year with my creative work, but now I'm trying to pick up the pieces and go back to working on my own projects. But that's life--eternal struggle.
I'm still eagerly awaiting more of Shattered Worlds :)