I'm in a very odd position right now. The physicality of my current job is no longer new and so draining, and it's rapidly coming to a point it will be dropping off my radar. At the same time, I'm gearing up for another new temporary gig that I'm very much looking forward to (See you guys at the TN Renaissance Festival in May!)

I am, at my core, a creature of routine. Yet I'm also in need of adventure and unexpected stimulation. I can potentially welcome disruptions to the routine, but not always. It's weird, but then again, so are most people. There are plenty of others out there who are the same way.

Being me, the nature of my current life situation right now has me feeling ever so slightly but constantly off balance. I don't have a regular work schedule right now, so I don't get to plan my days like I would really like to to accommodate the weird ways my brain works. This is, really, good for me, as much as it makes me grumble. For a long time, I was able to whip out a few sentences of writing at the drop of a hat. I could pick up and put down projects when I only had a few minutes to do so. From about 2017 on, though, I really got myself into a sort of... routine rut, I guess. My job and life schedule made it possible for me to carve large chunks of time to devote to creative endeavors.

I have a tendency to weigh everything in my life as a worth/transaction sort of deal. Is it worth the time to set up for this activity if I only get to do it for a few minutes? Do I want to bother getting out my paints if I only have 30 minutes to actually paint? Will I feel like it was worth getting settled in to write even though I only have time to edit one paragraph or write 2 sentences?

I have to keep telling myself that the answer is YES. It is emphatically yes.

​At my core, I am and always have been a creator. It's so hard to talk myself out of thinking I need to maximize my time, or that it's not worth the effort to put myself in the mindset to actually do the creating.

It's time to reclaim what I've let atrophy. It's absolutely worth the effort to crank out one sentence, one line of that drawing, a couple stitches of that project, or whatever it is you're picking at.

The point is not to maximize the creation in hopes of money. It should be for the passion of the creating itself. The making. At least for me, I need to remember how I used to be able to click over into a creative mindset at the drop of a hat when I had a moment. Those big time investments have great value, but so do the little ones.

Even just glancing at a current work-in-progress for a bit can help. It puts it back at the forefront of the mind, lets it stay fresh in perspective.

I didn't start this post with a real goal in mind, but I think I found one. This week, my goal is to at least write a sentence a day. Those days I don't have earmarked for writing, I still need to pull up my writing files and pick at something, just to keep the brainjuices flowing.

It's pretty easy to see where a lot of my writing upkeep fell off my own radar. I've mentioned before that finishing The Deadly Studies project turned out to be a blessing and a curse. I set myself goals and accomplished them, despite the project turning out about 33% bigger than I originally planned. It ended up taking an extra year and a half of concentrated effort I hadn't initially planned on.

I think that is what burned me out so bad once it was finished. I strained for quite a while to plan, write, edit, and release the series. Mostly just didn't want it to be like so many other projects of mine: 80% finished and then abandoned. So I pushed, I completed, I burned out. When 2021 came around and I hadn't done more than a tiny bit of token writing, I was mostly okay with it. I knew I needed to recover from the Studies. When 2022 hit and I still hadn't written, I got scared. Most of 2023 was me reconciling with maybe not ever being able to write again.

In early 2024, an idea hit me hard. The juices started flowing again, but like a long-closed faucet, it was rusty and slow to really gain any pressure. I did begin to plan a new novel... which is currently in that 80% completed and now abandoned maybe status. 

I digress. Current thoughts is to make first blog post of the month the current project status report. Partly to remind me of all the juggling balls I have in the air. So without further ado:

CURRENT PROJECTS MARCH 3 2025

• Dungeons & Dragons campaign 1: Bard Campaign - Session #6 fully planned. I have 2 options for Session #7 fully planned, depending on how #6 ends, with the possibility of a 3rd option if needed (not likely). Loads of worldbuilding done, and I have a good general sense of where this campaign is going for the short term.​
• D&D campaign 2: Tootskies Campaign - This one's new and very experimental. This campaign is really one of my big excuses to learn D&D 5e and familiarize myself with DMing virtually. I know what the planned endgame for the campaign is, but getting from here to there will be interesting. Currently working on session 0.5.
• Criminal from Birth sequel - This is my biggest personal project right now. Criminal came out in 2018. I actually wrote the sequel's first draft in, I believe, 2019, WHILE WORKING ON DEADLY STUDIES. What the hell was wrong with me? Anyway, I did finish the draft, but it got set aside to finish the Studies, and then fell by the wayside when the burnout hit. It was only when talking to my best friend a few weeks ago about writing that I remembered it. Found the files, dusted them off, and, well, it's really coming along. And wow do I see the changes in my maturity and writing ability this long break gave. Second Draft Status: 8 of 37 chapters edited.
• Magic Items book - This is the project idea that came barreling into my head early last year. Still outlining this book, but my outlines are pretty detailed, to the point I consider them more like a .5 draft. Haven't worked on it for a while, not sure if it's viable at the point I have it. Not sure if I'm happy with the first 2/3 of what I have. Outline Status: Roughly 60-65% through with planning, maybe?