Journalling
The problem with trying to keep a journal is that everything happens when you're not. Keeping one, that is. At least, that's *my* problem, anyway, your own experiences are, well, your own. So when I post things like "crumbs, not been here in a while, I should start this up again, see you soon," and then don't, well, I'm fooling no one but myself really.
So, what things have been happening lately?
I self-published two stories on Amazon's Kindle thingie. They're okay stories I think. At least, most of the people who have read them (some of whom actually paid for them, the silly fools - and I mean that in the most affectionate way) seem to think they're pretty okay. I've been trying to keep writer-y, with varying degrees of success. I haven't written anything on The Novel for too long, and nothing for me in even longer (part of my problem is that perhaps I see these two things as separate), but I have been doing small things for Schlock (very small things), and I've started another roleplay game.
The last one died a death, you see. The action moved far afield, the game mechanics I'd thought were ace turned out not to be, but you should never wait until you find a perfect system because such a beast does not exist. The stories and tropes I'd hoped to use didn't seem quite as shiny or clever, but the players seemed to be enjoying it, but they didn't mind when I retired it as long as I promised to run something else straight after. I said okay, and now we're playing Ars (tee hee) Magica, a game of wizards set in the 13th century.
The first session went okay. I hope session two (next Monday) goes just as well. The encroachment of technology upon the gaming table has finally taken me down with it though. The game is so involved and requires so much preparation, and so many files and books that I've taken to running my game notes right off my netbook. Some of my players; Chris and Adam in particular, have long brought their electronics to the table. Chris runs his games off his ipad, Adam has a macbook. Last session the only players without laptops were Yannick and Johan, and they both have smart phones...
I'm still not sure how I feel about all of this. On the one hand, I can keep all of my files organised and updated much easier on the netbook (and if I have internet access, I can just plop everything on googledocs or dropbox and have access to it anywhere). I can also bring my music and play suitably stirring bits during appropriate in-game moments (though I am shit at pulling this off, honestly). The downside is not knowing if, when your players are staring intently at that little screen, they are paying attention to you, or fiddling with something else, or watching pr0n or playing solitaire. Those are the hazards, I suppose.
Well, this turned into a post about rp gaming pretty fast.
What else;
I've been trying to keep up with reading, so much so that I feel a bit out of sorts if I don't have a book in my hands and if the book is something I don't really feel like reading right now I'll put it down in favour of something more exciting. I've just finished reading Machiavelli's The Prince, which I've been meaning to read for, oh, all of fifteen years or something like that. Before that I read a little sci-fi YA book by Garth Nix called A Confusion of Princes. It was good, not great. A nice little one-off of a pulp sci-fi story. Before that, Looking For Alaska, by John Green. I'd been told it was good, and it is. In hindsight, the manner in which the characters speak (juniors in High School) is somewhat contrived, and I wouldn't expect modern day American teens to be so hip to 80s pop-culture, but that might just be because of the separation between me and them, so who knows. Still, it was good, enjoyable. Moving, even.
Currently I am reading the Collected Dorothy Parker. I've just waded through the first five or six short stories and hit the nugget of poetry in the middle. I'm not sure yet if I'll soldier on with this or put it down and pick up something else. I like short stories, but I have to be in the mood for them, and often they're over so fast, and if they're written well or manage to evoke a mood or atmosphere, I have to sit down and appreciate that, mull it over, before soldiering on to the next one. My favourite story so far: The Waltz. I love the split narrative, the glimpse at the woman's inner monologue coupled with the responses she gives to her partner. These stories are all rather bleak, though. There's a darkness to each of the people she describes. You could call that realistic, but some of them descend into outright evil. The evil of the civil servant, not dyed in the wool Shakespearean, chewing on the scenery sort of evil, but the kind of dull, repressed evil of a soul who no longer remembers how to do good.
So, what things have been happening lately?
I self-published two stories on Amazon's Kindle thingie. They're okay stories I think. At least, most of the people who have read them (some of whom actually paid for them, the silly fools - and I mean that in the most affectionate way) seem to think they're pretty okay. I've been trying to keep writer-y, with varying degrees of success. I haven't written anything on The Novel for too long, and nothing for me in even longer (part of my problem is that perhaps I see these two things as separate), but I have been doing small things for Schlock (very small things), and I've started another roleplay game.
The last one died a death, you see. The action moved far afield, the game mechanics I'd thought were ace turned out not to be, but you should never wait until you find a perfect system because such a beast does not exist. The stories and tropes I'd hoped to use didn't seem quite as shiny or clever, but the players seemed to be enjoying it, but they didn't mind when I retired it as long as I promised to run something else straight after. I said okay, and now we're playing Ars (tee hee) Magica, a game of wizards set in the 13th century.
The first session went okay. I hope session two (next Monday) goes just as well. The encroachment of technology upon the gaming table has finally taken me down with it though. The game is so involved and requires so much preparation, and so many files and books that I've taken to running my game notes right off my netbook. Some of my players; Chris and Adam in particular, have long brought their electronics to the table. Chris runs his games off his ipad, Adam has a macbook. Last session the only players without laptops were Yannick and Johan, and they both have smart phones...
I'm still not sure how I feel about all of this. On the one hand, I can keep all of my files organised and updated much easier on the netbook (and if I have internet access, I can just plop everything on googledocs or dropbox and have access to it anywhere). I can also bring my music and play suitably stirring bits during appropriate in-game moments (though I am shit at pulling this off, honestly). The downside is not knowing if, when your players are staring intently at that little screen, they are paying attention to you, or fiddling with something else, or watching pr0n or playing solitaire. Those are the hazards, I suppose.
Well, this turned into a post about rp gaming pretty fast.
What else;
I've been trying to keep up with reading, so much so that I feel a bit out of sorts if I don't have a book in my hands and if the book is something I don't really feel like reading right now I'll put it down in favour of something more exciting. I've just finished reading Machiavelli's The Prince, which I've been meaning to read for, oh, all of fifteen years or something like that. Before that I read a little sci-fi YA book by Garth Nix called A Confusion of Princes. It was good, not great. A nice little one-off of a pulp sci-fi story. Before that, Looking For Alaska, by John Green. I'd been told it was good, and it is. In hindsight, the manner in which the characters speak (juniors in High School) is somewhat contrived, and I wouldn't expect modern day American teens to be so hip to 80s pop-culture, but that might just be because of the separation between me and them, so who knows. Still, it was good, enjoyable. Moving, even.
Currently I am reading the Collected Dorothy Parker. I've just waded through the first five or six short stories and hit the nugget of poetry in the middle. I'm not sure yet if I'll soldier on with this or put it down and pick up something else. I like short stories, but I have to be in the mood for them, and often they're over so fast, and if they're written well or manage to evoke a mood or atmosphere, I have to sit down and appreciate that, mull it over, before soldiering on to the next one. My favourite story so far: The Waltz. I love the split narrative, the glimpse at the woman's inner monologue coupled with the responses she gives to her partner. These stories are all rather bleak, though. There's a darkness to each of the people she describes. You could call that realistic, but some of them descend into outright evil. The evil of the civil servant, not dyed in the wool Shakespearean, chewing on the scenery sort of evil, but the kind of dull, repressed evil of a soul who no longer remembers how to do good.