Well, this is another blog post subject from the list I got that’s pretty much a defunct question, but let’s go with it anyway.
Aside from the fact that FB is no longer really worth much of my time, I was never a huge participant in the “following pages” practice of social media. That said, I do have an official page: A.F. Grappin Fans that, to be totally honest, isn’t particularly active. I do post weekly updates about these very blog posts, but that’s about it.
In short, I don’t do much Facebook anymore.
Generally speaking, I’m a few years out of having a large writing community I’m involved with. Covid and my own burnout removed me from a lot of the writing podcasts I was a big listener to, and it’s possibly some of them aren’t even active anymore today.
But, when I was very into them, here are the writing podcasts and resources I was a big fan of:
Writing Excuses https://writingexcuses.com
The Drabblecast https://www.drabblecast.org
Podcastle/ Escape Pod / Pseudopod (Escape Artists) https://escapeartists.net
I Should Be Writing https://murverse.com/podcasts/isbw
And there’s always the backlog of the writing podcast that I did for five years with my other writerly friends, The Melting Potcast https://themeltingpotcast.podbean.com
There are plenty of other resources out there. Go see who and what you like, if that’s your jam!

Oh, you’re going for the interesting questions, huh? Well, fine.
I’ve talked before about how I was an odd child. I really was. When I was growing up, there were a bunch of books called something like the Great Illustrated Classics. They were exactly what they sounded like: abridged, illustrated versions of classic books. From Robin Hood to Treasure Island to The Three Musketeers. They came in two sizes: big hardcovers and tiny, fat paperbacks. I think we had maybe one or two hardcovers, but mostly I had the small fat ones. And when I say small, fat paperbacks, these weren’t even the size of trade paperbacks. They were as thick as fantasy paperbacks, but these were maybe half the height of a trade paperback. These were square and flimsy. They were 2 for $1.
I ate them up as a kid. As a result, I was the 10-year-old who knew the plots of a lot of Dickens and Dumas. I knew Swiss Family Robinson, Robinson Crusoe, Heidi, and Jekyll & Hyde. That was just for starters. Being overly familiar with these books had me going into more advanced reading and English classes as a teen. I’d already read the 9th grade classics for the year— granted, I knew the abridged versions, and class was reading the unabridged— so when my teacher gave me a basic plot pop-quiz on the two books for that year, I had no problem answering. Great Expectations and The Count of Monte Cristo were favorites of mine. I knew the stories well. So my teacher, Mr. Dodd, had me read along with his 12th graders at the time: Les Miserables and Ivanhoe.
In short, as a child, the classics were my favorites. I discovered The Hobbit at age 10 or so and read the entire The Lord of the Rings trilogy by the time I was 12. I even tried The Silmarillion around that time… yeah. No. I’m 41 now and just tried that one again like last year and STILL no.
As a kid, I’d say Dickens and Dumas were my favorites. The Count of Monte Cristo remains one of my favorite stories to this day, and I just love Dickens anyway. I think David Copperfield was one of my favorites.
But I don’t know that I’d have called any of those classics “my favorite book as a child.”
No, that honor goes to a book I randomly picked up at a Scholastic book fair when I was around 11 or 12, maybe. It’s a book that was published in 1993, so I was 9 when it came out. I might have gotten it pretty quick on release, but I doubt it.
Anyway, the book was Gemini Game by Michael Scott. It was a middle-grade-aged sci-fi novel set in the early 21st century, centered around a pair of teenagers who created VR video games. One of their games started causing people to go into comas, and the police were after them. To prove their innocence, the two teens— twins named BJ and Liz— had to go into their own game and find out what the problem was.
Keep in mind, this again was in the early 90s. Mainstream video gaming was still in its early years, with the SNES and Sega Genesis ruling the roost. The N64 and PlayStation were still a few years away. I, however, had already become very video-game obsessed. That started young, when we got our first Nintendo Entertainment System. By the time Gemini Game appeared in my world, I was hungry for books about video games. And this one, where players went inside the game, was a dream book made real.
I want to say I reread it at some point in my 30s. It’s not long, but thing is, I read it so many times in my youth that I remember a great deal of it even now. I even still have my original copy of it. The cover has been taped back into place where it came off, but it holds a very special place on my bookshelf.
How fitting that I’m finally writing a LitRPG story of my own. Only took 3 decades.

This is a silly question for me. I am notorious about putting myself and my friends in stories. Sometimes, it’s just for the thrill of using their name, or a variation of it. More often than not, that’s it.
Second-most frequently, I’ll use their description as a basis for a character. I know a lot of people of wondrous variety, so why not put their visages in books? It keeps me from getting too lazy when it comes to describing characters, if I have a living reference to draw from. I’ve done that for ages, but it turns out I had a good reason why I couldn’t just imagine people on my own. Turns out I have aphantasia to a very high degree. If you’re not familiar with aphantasia, well, I wasn’t either. In short, it means I have no mental visualization. I legitimately cannot visualize things in my head. Ask me to picture a red apple, and I could absolutely describe one to you, but I’m not “seeing” it. For so long, I thought people were just being metaphorical about “picture this in your mind.” Or the concept of “the mind’s eye.” I don’t have those. It was kind of a blow to find out people actually CAN see things in their heads.
So I’ve always needed to think a little differently, which is fine. I can describe things well. Call it a coping mechanism.
But I absolutely do fully base characters in books off people I know. As I said, I’m the most common inserted one, but it’s been getting less and less as time goes on. Most likely, you’ll find the me-character in a supporting or even cameo role. Sometimes the name might be reminiscent of mine, like my character in The Deadly Studies. Oh yeah, I’m there. And I die. It’s great.
I’ve also stuffed my best friends into a few stories. It helps to be able to lay out a situation to my friends and say, “How would you react?” or even to possibly play out some dialogue. My best friend is a pro at that. They’ve helped me far more times than I can count. I’d be lost without my best friend.
Anyway, the short answer is yes, I do this A LOT.
If you’re not careful around me, you might end up in a book. 

Oh, geez. You’re really going to make me talk about this, aren’t you?
Okay. Well, it was in middle school (~ages 11-13 for those not familiar with US public school in the 90s) that I really started writing, and it was in maybe 7th or 8th grade when I wrote my first novel.
It was a weird parody/homage to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was trying to emulate farce movies I was fond of as a kid, movies like Hot Shots! and Robin Hood: Men In Tights. But it was a TMNT homage in that the main characters were four guys who knew martial arts.
The Kung-Fu Cockroaches.
I honestly don’t remember a whole ton of the plot. None of it, actually. I don’t even remember the Cockroaches’ names, even though I know I finished one book about them and started the sequel. Then again, this was all handwritten, and I have no idea what the word count was.
I do vaguely remember one of their weapons. At the time, since I was obviously finding my voice, learning techniques and storytelling and all, I was very hell-bent on the “subvert expectations at the end” lists of things. So I want to say the first three had somewhat expected weapons. Maybe not actual nunchucks, more like… a single throwing star. But I very strongly remember the last Kung-Fu Cockroach’s weapon was “a seed wrapped in a band-aid.”
It’s pretty obvious I was a weird kid.
The only other thing I really recall about it was that I was changing narrative POV every chapter, cycling through the four protagonists.
As for where the book is now, I’m sure it’s long been incinerated. I can’t say I’m upset about it. There’s probably a great case to be made that reading it will show the roots and foundation of the writer I’ve become now, around 30 years later, but… no. I honestly don’t want to be cringing at that mess. It feels embarrassing enough admitting to that silly-ass weapon.
I had a lot to learn about humor.
But, while on the topic, I’ll briefly discuss a few other projects I recall from around that time:
My Best Friend Exploded Last Week - This was a “book” I wrote that was probably around novelette length, and it was definitely all about the title. I did the narrative technique of starting the book with the KABOOM of the friend exploding, then explaining the whole store until it repeated the explosion with all context at the end. Again, I don’t remember much of plot, characters, or anything, but I do remember there was a whole thing with a mad scientist who was making human-animal hybrids, a la Dr. Moreau (I saw that movie way too young). And I do recall one of the characters being told their DNA would be merged with that of an amoeba.
Weird kid.
The Dough That Ate New York City - This was a short narrative poem, and I actually do wish I still had this one. It was maybe 15-20 stanzas long, simple rhyming quatrains, talking about a lump of dough— like bread or pizza dough— that grew so out of control it… well, it ate New York City.
In those days, I was fairly prolific, but it’s very true you need to get a good million words under your belt before you really start getting a good feel for the craft. I’m glad I started that young, but holy crap does it make me cringe!

I wasn’t wrong about August being a huge change. With the full-time job again and all, time is a crunch, but the great thing is that I do get some time to write there if the shop’s dead and I’ve gotten my inventory projects done for the day. So there has been progress!
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 said last month I was kind of waiting to see how modules run for me so I can get a better grip on what others would expect from a written adventure. My first session is behind me now and the second comes up tomorrow, so I’m getting that exposure I’ve been wanting.
Criminal from Birth sequel - Guess what! I finished the second draft pretty quickly into August! It’s currently with my editor!
LitRPG book (working title Subscription Life) - I am getting SO FREAKING EXCITED about this project. I’ve been through a main overarcing outline, as well as 7-pointed the character arcs of 4 main characters (1 protagonist and 3 supporting characters including a secondary antagonist), and I’m into my full outline now, which is my Draft Point Five that I’ve mentioned before in my outlining series of blog posts. I have a long way to go, but I have a strong sense of the ending of this book, which is a first for me. Not just the actual end, but the climax. That’s not normally something I have figured well. But right now, it’s the details of the first half of the book that are sparse. I have an easy time building up, so I’m really hoping this will all go smoothly!
Current chapters in Draft Point Five: 8
New Short Story (My Stories) - Same as last month. I got some work done on it, but not enough. I kinda got obsessed with Subscription Life.
I did get one writing prompt done in August. Not as much as I wanted, but I also did pick another I plan to write, so there’s that. I need to do more exercises, like I said last month. In fact, I've done one already for today's Patron post!

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.

A month to write wherever I want, huh? What’s funny is I don’t necessarily dream of writing in other places, or fantasizing about my ideal writing place. I’m such a creature of habit and disassociation that I can write anywhere, as long as I have my writing file in front of me. Laptop, desktop, doesn’t matter. I just need a word file.

Hell, I’ve written by sending myself emails before. I’ve also written bits and pieces in the bathroom on my phone. Frankly, I need to start doing that again.

But that’s beside the point.

The point for me is that I’m not overly concerned about where I write. For a lot of people, the expected answers will be places like:

• Beaches, Mountains, Riversides - wherever a nature view will suit their temperament.
• Museums, Art Galleries - where inspiration is only a few steps away.
• Coffee Houses/Cafes, Busy Plazas, Tourist Locations - where people-watching is abundant
• Totally Secluded Place - where there are zero distractions

I totally see the draw of all the usual answers, and to be fair, my gut response is going to be in that first and fourth category. Probably a secluded mountain cabin with a view. Maybe a stream nearby, of possible.

While I would absolutely love being in that kind of place and situation, assuming my needs would be met for a month via grocery delivery or whatever, I don’t feel like it would do anything for my writing. Sure, I would revel in being steps away from a gorgeous view, but like I said, my writing happens wherever I am, regardless of location.

The biggest draw about this question for me is the promise of a month to just write. The time is what I need, not an ideal location. That would make the biggest difference. Frankly, being in a place I really want to be might be more of a distraction, at least at first until I got used to being where I was.

I guess what I’m saying through all this is that I’m not one of those creatives who has specific wants or needs, or who dreams about certain atmosphere for that ideal creative juice flow. Some people have a routine to get their brains in gear, and that’s fine. The point is to do the making. 

For me, can I just have a fully all-expenses paid month at home, complete with housekeeping and a good cook, so I can focus on writing? 

Thanks!

P. S. - I mean, I’ll take that month in a mountain cabin with good weather and a view if the offer is on the table. Thanks again!