06.29.06
Shut Up And Write, John
Hey, all– a few minutes here before I head out the door. I have been extremely non-focused these past few days. Bouncing from project to project, doing high-level design and not enough coding, thinking up new stories and not concluding any of the ones I have open, that sort of thing. And of course I never get around to actually doing any of that, because I sit and play CoH or FFXI once I get home. So, hopefully this will spur me to action (I do this every couple of months, and I never seem to commit to it, so no comments about “blah blah blah, you know you’re going to fail, give up”).
So, half an hour of writing once I get up in the morning. I’ve got the time, really, which I tend to spend reading 4chan or some other colossal waste of sensory log space. From June 30 to July 31st, every morning. And I do mean, EVERY morning.
Coding will be done in the evenings, when/if I feel like it. The game is a new project, actually, and it’s going to take a long time. I’d much rather delay starting that than rush through it while balancing fourteen other things at once. Besides, every time I said something was going to be a ‘quick hack job’ in my preliminary notes, I was wrong. Why? Because I’m a dumbass. Also because I still don’t quite get some of the code– owing to that whole ‘balancing fourteen projects’ thing.
I made a milestone in CoH last night– got Ayu up to 20. So, I’ll likely taper off of that for a little bit– or, more likely, concentrate on finishing my push to 50 with my other character. I’m in that ‘dead zone’ between 37 and 40 where my missions aren’t nearly as worth it (getting swarmed by baddies tends to kill the momentum of a mission, and absolutely wrecks the end bonus), and grinding Warburg is getting tedious. However, if/when I get into a good group, missions are much more fun; it’s amazing what the simple act of role-playing can do for a game that’s otherwise kinda repetitive. Which, oddly enough, is probably why I like CoH– it’s the first game I’ve actually done any RP in (any serious RP, anyway– my MUD days are kind of murky in that regard), and when I first fired it up (back around Issue 1 or so) I lost interest because doing RP was damn near impossible for me (still in my ‘too shy to speak’ phase). Starting… huh, just about this time last year, actually, I vowed to do more RP and to get myself to 50. And so here I am, still not at 50, but enjoying the game a LOT more.
Time to hit the road, folks. That smell– the one of decaying Plot– will soon be replaced by burning graphite. Metaphorically, of course. I don’t think graphite actually burns. Meh, whatever. The point is, John must write because he is a slacker!
Katyanna said,
06.30.06 at 1:53 am
I don’t know. I’ve always felt that forced writing makes for a more stale sound to the story. Like the writer had no passion for what he/she was putting out. So I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s bad that you’re not writing, just that you should write when the spark hits you and write what you sincerely feel is quality material. That way, when you do write, you feel like you’ve accomplished something worthwhile. So… if you have a morning where you find that you simply don’t know what to write, and don’t know where to go with something, don’t feel bad. But do carry a small notebook with you to work or something, because you may find that writer’s block suddenly drop off with an amazing brainstorm and you don’t want to lose that. Those are usually the most rewarding ideas for any story. ^_^