It’s an odd experience drafting a blog post on paper, but here we are.
Continue reading “A New Writing Implement”A Potential Change to This Blog
Whenever I think about this blog, I feel slightly disappointed in myself. My internal impression is that many of the posts are written at the last minute about nothing with any lasting interest. Most frustratingly, I want this blog to be a tool to improve my writing and communication, yet I’m not convinced I’ve set up a framework that lends itself to that goal. I began to think about a change.
Continue reading “A Potential Change to This Blog”Kurt Vonnegut
I first started drafting this post in January of this year. As time has gone by, and it’s been yet a little bit longer since I stormed my way through many of Vonnegut’s novels, my words feel increasingly inadequate to describe how much I admire and enjoy this great American writer. So it goes.
Last Question Update
Two months ago I revisited The Last Question, a basic RPG I wrote at the start of the pandemic. A group of friends has agreed to start an actual campaign with me later this year — we’ve had trouble finding a good time to get started — so I decided to retool the game itself. I wasn’t happy with the initial set of mechanics; it didn’t seem to mesh with the intent of the game.
After some research, I settled on the Motif system, which focuses on asking questions. A natural fit. I wrote a gameplay guide in Affinity Publisher1I learned InDesign at work, but am certainly not in a position to subscribe to the Adobe Suite, so Publisher was a great option. that I’m pretty proud of, and will provide below.
I’m excited to play this game with some friends. It’s a creative outlet just for us. There’s no spinning this into an actual-play podcast. There is a lot to be said for having fun in a way that isn’t performative for someone else.
- 1I learned InDesign at work, but am certainly not in a position to subscribe to the Adobe Suite, so Publisher was a great option.
Journaling Update
I’ve been journaling consistently for a few months, and it felt like a good time to quickly reflect on how this habit has grown.
I’ve been using the app Journey to give me a daily prompt for a gratitude statement, just a single sentence, and have handwritten in a journal each evening. I made it through a Moleskin notebook by the end of February, and have since upgraded to a Rhodia WebNotebook. It’s a huge upgrade in quality, particularly since I’m using a nice rollerball pen that bled through the Moleskin pages.
Writing each night has not been the burden I thought it might, nor have I become complacent. Even on the few nights where I was unexpectedly up late, I took the time to jot down my thoughts. It offers a consistent outlet, a place to examine the day and reinforce the parts I want to remember. It is a meditative act as well, a time of solace, where I sit down alone without any other distractions.
I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon. I’m hooked on the routine, and it has kept me accountable to myself in a way that my habit trackers and other systems never quite managed. While they are good for a quick glance at the past, they don’t provide a running narrative; they lack subtlety. I’ve already bought refills for my pen, and look forward to a few months from now when the current journal is filled.
Practicing Missing
I’ve watched and listened to hours of disc golf content across YouTube and podcasts over the past few years. Since I started playing about 9 months ago, an increased portion of that has been focused on instructional content: specific videos about form, techniques, tips and tricks, anything to help me feel more comfortable and consistent on the course.
Just like with regular golf, putting is the most frustrating aspect of the game. Particularly in disc golf, where you are approaching this relatively large basket and all you need to do is throw the disc in from 20 or 30 feet (ideally), it looks childishly easy. Yet I have a lot of trouble with consistency. Sure, I can make a few, but overall I’m missing in pretty much every possible direction during my round. In fact, both on the course and during my warmup I am practicing how to miss.
Continue reading “Practicing Missing”Rediscovering the Journal
My older sister gave me a lovely leather-bound journal one month into sixth grade, when all students in my grade went on a week-long trip to a nature center called Eagle Bluff. She encouraged me to use it to keep track of the experience, and I wrote in that journal for most of the next year or two. Looking back, many entries were a bit dramatic, but I think they were accurate to how I felt at the time. It was my first time using a journal, and in particular my first time doing serious introspection. I enjoyed the process, but eventually lost the habit and didn’t try to pick it back up regularly until college.
Continue reading “Rediscovering the Journal”2021 NaNoWriMo Result
I failed.
There was a part of me that anticipated this. In 2019, I was almost finished by Thanksgiving, which was important since I wouldn’t be able to do much writing that week. This year, I was “on pace” by the time Thanksgiving week rolled around, and I had very little time or focus to continue writing.
I ended up reaching just over 30,000 words in November, and finished three of the six stories I was aiming to write. However, I’m happy with the basic drafts of those three, and am still motivated to keep writing the others. I can make the time to do so, even if it isn’t under the auspice of NaNoWriMo. I won’t be updating the NaNoWriMo page though, as the PDF linked there is a record of my actual progress during the month.