Yesterday, the Age of Theer Kickstarter campaign launched and I, of course, backed it because over the past year, I’ve fallen so in love with roleplay gaming. Dungeons & Dragons was something I was aware of growing up but never got involved in. It’s hard to when you are directly excluded/judged or you feel unsafe, and that was my experience as a female nerd. Not just in regard to D&D, but fandoms like Star Wars and even my beloved Doctor…
I will caveat this post by saying there was no way on God’s green earth I was going to manage 50K in 24 hours. I went in with the slightly saner goal of 25K and even that was a stretch. I ended up with 14,158 words and a new perspective on writing. It’s the latter I’m going to talk about, for prosperity (lol). I don’t need perfection I’m a micro-editor. I will write a sentence or two and then twiddle…
Although I had an anxiety attack at Cross Roads, I dismissed it as a one-off – a result of a stressful week. Then a week last Saturday, it happened again. I’d signed up to join Bolton Pride with my choir, but couldn’t find parking with the road closures in place. My anxiety spiked and I just went home. The following Saturday, aka the one just gone, I was watching Todd Stashwick’s usual live and he mentioned anxiety… I honestly forget…
Two weeks before Cross Roads, my anxiety was hitting hard. I’d not attended a convention since 2020 and Cliff Simon’s untimely death. So, when Todd did his usual coffee chat, I got into the questions and basically pleaded for reassurance. “We’ll look after each other,” he said. It’s an easy thing to say, but following through? It’s not that I didn’t believe he meant it, but… it was a convention. It’s busy. There are other people, all wanting his attention….
Us writers are neurotic beans. My house is never cleaner than when I’m trying to write. It’s useful procrastination but it’s still procrastination. See, I don’t really plan my books. I get a general idea, a few scenes and a couple of characters, then charge into writing like the Men of the West against the forces of Mordor. However, I have three things that shift me from complete pantser to a somewhat organised plantser. Thing 1: The Back Page Blurb…
