For those of you who don’t know, my formal education is in music. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Composition and Theory that I’m not using. But music has been a very prominent force in my life since I was a preteen, if not sooner. It’s around age 10-11 that I really remember just how hugely important it became, but I have older memories of it permeating my life as well. 

Anyway, I mostly listen to instrumental music while writing. Songs with lyrics impede my ability to create words of my own. I can’t help singing. But I do very much prefer some sort of background sound while making words. 

While I do have a strong love for classical music (I’m a huge fan of a lot of Russian and Slavic composers, such as Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and Shostakovich (Dvorak is my favorite)), I don’t often turn to classical for my writing music. Not anymore, anyway. Back in college and right after, I regularly turned to modern concert music, particularly the works of Robert W. Smith and David Holsinger. Then again, I performed a lot of their music in high school and college.

No, what’s always been a fallback for me is video game music. Some movie soundtracks hit that itch, like the soundtrack from The Last of the Mohicans. But video game music (VGM) ties together two of my great loves: music and video games. I mean… seriously. 

What’s great about it is that VGM is made to invoke atmosphere and feeling. It’s supportive in nature, contributing to the ambiance of the situation. It can be catchy, emotional, tense, relaxing, cheery, ominous, all sorts of things. And there is a massive library, going back decades. It’s frequently remixed, covered, medleyed, and mashed up. Some pieces tell stories, like boss music or some from cutscenes.

I’ve been building a couple playlists for a while now, but they’re not specifically for writing, nor do I tend to make playlists specifically for any projects. Same playlists for everything. But I have two main ones: one that is shorter instrumentals and one for extended versions. 

Sometimes I want to active mental trigger of mood changes, especially since I put my short instrumental playlist on shuffle. I believe the longest piece on that playlist is around 8 minutes (yeah, that’s a boss fight theme.) So the songs are familiar, but the order is not. It keeps the mind active and the creative juices flowing and reactive. 

The extended versions playlist has fewer pieces on it, but they’re longer. The shortest one on that list is a 16-minute version of background ambiance that just loops. Many of the pieces there are. I have an hour-long repeated loop of a Legend of Zelda piece that I just sink into. That playlist does have longer songs that are say, an album of instrumental pieces from one video game, but a lot of it is just extended repeat loops. That playlist is great for sinking into and letting the mind flow. It’s honestly good for things like blog posts or exercises where I can stream-of-consciousness write. Much better for longer writing sessions.

Both of my playlists are on YouTube, but I keep them private mostly to keep them from being displayed in my actual content.

So that’s about it. Mostly video game music, and it’s the same for all my writing. Call it one of the particulars of my writing practice. I’m not the tortured artist who needs certain locations or a routine to get the words flowing. I don’t even really need the music. It’s just a bonus that makes me happy, activating a different part of the brain.
​
Find what works for you!

Okay, to start out, I’m not particularly feeling great about this post topic in general. It feels a little baity to me, mostly in a sort of “anything you don’t list here isn’t really important” kind of way. But I said I want to at least attempt all 52 of these blog post topics, so here’s this one.

So let’s just disclaimer that right away and say that:
1. These opinions are my own.
2. They are not my ONLY values.
3. This is really personal and generally speaking, I like to try and separate my art and my personal beliefs separate. My characters think, do, and say things I never would. That kind of thing should be a basic understanding as far as I’m concerned, but whatever.
4. This is not open to debate in general. At least not online. If you have a problem with me, talk to me like an adult. I’m not attacking anyone in stating what I value, and I expect to be treated with the same courtesy.

So what are my values? Honestly, it’s pretty simple.
Everyone has value and deserves the best life available. 

That puts in about as simplistic a term as I can put it. No one person has more or less value than any other. No one belief is greater than any other. Your rights end where anyone else’s body begins, and the same goes for me. As long as no one is being harmed by your words, actions, or beliefs, that’s all that matters. Want to have gay BDSM orgies? Great. Keep it away from unwilling eyes, go have fun. Want to flog yourself and pinch your nipples thinking about the pedophiles currently in US political power? Enjoy. But the second you start forcing your wants and beliefs on someone else is the moment I lose patience and write you off. You don’t get to preach to me about how I’m going to Hell if you won’t listen to me tell you why my “sin” is no greater or worse than yours. I have no desire to try and “turn you gay,” so why do I have to endure your judgmental rant about my haircut not being something you like? It’s not your hair.

Okay, let’s put that rant aside.

If I had to pick one thing above all else to value, it would be kindness. Not niceness, not love, not tolerance or acceptance or conviction or faith. 

Kindness.

I’ve heard it said before that the difference between kindness and niceness is apparent in culture on the US east and west coast. That people on the west coast are nice but not kind, and on the east coast, they’re kind but not nice. He example I’ve heard: your car is broken down on the side of the road.

Kind but not nice: You dumbass, how could you let your tires get that bad? Here, I have a carjack, idiot. Let me just change this tire. Oh hang on, my girlfriend’s calling. Hey Baby. Yeah, I’m on the side of the road helping some moron change a tire. I’ll be home late. 

They’ll call you names, belittle you even, but they’ll help fix the problem. Now the other side.

Nice but not kind: Oh no, you poor sweet baby, are you okay? Flat tire? That sucks. But you’re okay? You have water and a cell phone to call for help? Great. Hope you get home safe. Bye!
They’ll express worry, make sure you’re okay, but not lift a finger to help.

That’s why I prefer kindness. Insult me all you want, but if you are able and able to help, do it. There’s a whole lot of this world and its greater human culture that would be improved if we’d just make kindness more common. I simply don’t understand how people can be so horrible to one another. Sure, I understand the psychology of it. Hurt people hurt people. Sure. But dammit, we should be better than this. 

Be gentle with yourself first. It’s hard. It is SO hard. I’m 41 and still working on it. I’m getting better. From there, practice kindness. Something as simple as a genuine compliment can go a long way towards brightening not only the recipient’s day, but your own. Such a thing feels awkward at first; it did for me when I started a few years ago. Passing by a stranger in the grocery store and thinking, “Wow, that dress looks great on her,” is fine, but dammit, SAY IT. There’s no reason not to! I have no problem now telling people what great smiles they have, that the color they’re wearing really works for them, their hair is awesome, or that they just look happy.

Spread love recklessly. Maybe that should be a value.
​
Do it. I dare you.

I’ve been writing for a long time. It was in sixth grade that I remember first really getting into words, so that was around age 11 for me. Seventh grade was when I got really serious about it, and in the thirty years since then, I’ve tried a fair few technologies. I’ll briefly talk my history, but the bulk of this post will be about my current uses.
So back in the 90s (ow), I was just a kid/preteen, so I was really just using pen and paper. I might get a chance to type up something on a basic word processor like Microsoft Word, but it was handwritten all the way. I’m pretty sure most if not all of my writing is long since trashed by now, which sucks, but it’s fine.
By the time I went to college in the early 2000s, I had my own desktop computer, and I switched fully to word processors. That would have been Microsoft Word again, and I was on that for quite some time.
When I graduated college and moved into the workforce, I did a lot more writing in simple word docs, like Word Pad and even in an email browser. Probably not my smartest moves, but in downtime at work, I’d write on my work computer and email myself whatever I’d written. By then, I’d discovered WordPerfect and got very attached to it. I think the only reason I had that was because I’d gotten a new laptop and Microsoft Office suite was unreasonably expensive and I wasn’t needing it, so WordPerfect became my go-to. Again, that lasted a few years.
Then things changed.
This would have been… 2009. It’s hard to say when, honestly, but it was somewhere in that summer or MAYBE early autumn, that I started doing NaNoWriMo. I’m sure I’ll talk about that sometime in another post, but the point is I started seriously outlining and needed tools to better manage that planning. It was also around that time that Groupon started, and I was in that “searching for deals” mindset.
Enter some sort of promotion for like 75% off Scrivener software.
I bought like 3 licenses at the time, thinking that it would last me my next three computers. This program looked like everything I needed.
I was correct, which was great. I still use Scrivener to this day, and I’ll talk about that in a moment. What’s funny is that that first license lasted me a VERY long time. After a few years, I finally did upgrade computers, but when I went to activate my second license key on the new laptop, it didn’t work. Cue contacting support. Idiot me didn’t actually properly redeem the codes I’d purchased, so I was out those other two license keys. Not a ton of money, and long past time to be able to do anything about it, but the great news was Scrivener’s license keys are for HOUSEHOLD/LIFETIME. I only ever needed the one. I could put Scrivener on multiple computers of my own so long as I was primary user/owner, and anyone else in my household are the users.
Well, my cats don’t know how to type, but it’s perfect for little old me.
I still have the support email saved with all my info, so I should never have to worry again. Apparently this license/computer switch happened in early 2019.
So yes, I still use Scrivener as my primary writing software. In fact, I’m typing in Scrivener now. All of my novels published to date have been written in Scrivener. I organize my blog posts in it. I organize my short stories in it. When I was running The Melting Potcast, everything was organized in Scrivener.
Oddly enough though, my Dungeons & Dragons work is organized in Obsidian Notes. I bought a single license for that for D&D, but long term, I might end up just putting D&D in Scrivener too. Time will tell. But Scrivener is definitely my go-to word processor and main writing software. Love it.
As for HOW I use Scrivener… honestly, it’s pretty basic. Folders and files. I don’t really cross-reference or link things in it, but I probably should. For a good decade and a half now, I know I’ve been underutilizing what this software can do. But I’ve been very happy with it.
I’ll say right now that I’m not a paid promoter for Scrivener. I’ve just been a user for a long time. It’s inexpensive and a great tool. If you’re interested, here’s their pricing page.
As a side note, I'm still on the original Scrivener, which stopped getting updates a few years ago. Scrivener 3 is the current supported version.
https://www.literatureandlatte.com/store/scrivener

July did not mess around, and August is about to get hectic, but I'm still afloat. I feel like I really worked on making decent use of my time this month. Anyway, here's what's up:
Dungeons & Dragons: Bard Campaign - Session #7 fully planned. No new update. We haven’t played session 7 yet. In short, no update.
D&D Single Adventure - No progress, which hurts, but I'm prepping for my first pro DMing session. I think once I start seeing how modules really work, I'll be better set up to really write my own.
Criminal from Birth sequel - This was where most of my effort went. I got a good deal of time spent on this, all things considered. Second Draft Status: 35 of 37 chapters edited. (5 since last update.) Only two left! Then it's off to my editor. Third draft will be once they're done with it.
LitRPG book (working title Subscription: Life) - Bare bones outline is pretty well done, but there will be a good bit more detail to add as I start developing characters. The prologue is actually already a paragraph long, so there are words to this project. The meat of the story is going to need to be more outlined. The prologue is solid enough for me to have started writing, so I'm thrilled!
New Short Story (My Stories) - I got some work done on it this month! Really trying to finish this one so I can share it, but I didn't quite make it this month.

I need to make some short writing exercises happen. It's been a bit.