Where Am I Going? What Am I Doing? And A Bit of Who Are You People?!
I’ve been in such a frantic state of creative immediacy I’ve lost sight of what I’m trying to do. It’s a strange thing to admit since creating is one of the main objectives I want to accomplish! But why am I doing it and what relevant questions do I need to be asking to get there.
I lost sight of something I learned a long time ago when I owned the game shop. The mystical 80/20 rule:
Spend 80% of your time IN your business (making) and 20% ON your business (planning)
A Little Bit About Me
It’s easy for me to lose track of what I’m doing these days. I work from home alone out of necessity. I’ve never really shared this publicly, but I often have episodes of vertigo (the huge instances have been managed after seeing a Neurologist), moments of stuttering, and some outright confusion. There are times I don’t even notice it is happening when I sit still until I stand up or recognize some of the signs.
My favorites are drooling or suddenly losing badly at Marvel SNAP two games in a row without understanding how it happened. I can also tell something is amiss when I find open soda cans around the house, and I have no idea how they got there. The Alexa in our house gets a daily workout when I do laundry to make sure I’m getting it out of the washer, reminding me to get Murphy from school, and to make sure I stop to eat something. If you catch me on a bad day and I just met you within the past three years please don’t be offended if I give you the blank stare every once and a while. Google Calendar is a godsend.
Coming Up for Air
The reason I bring this up is at times I need something to jostle me. I can get into a fugue like one track mindedness that consumes my life. When I cranked out Legends of the Khurst Riders it was the easiest thing in the world to write a 50-page rulebook. The hardest part was nailing down the last 10% of organizing and editing (it always is, that’s just a fact).
But what happened afterwards was my quest for marketing. I put on too many hats too soon. I hadn’t taken the break after the joy of creation to see the world again. I felt overwhelmed and totally helpless to be seen in an ocean of excellent gaming content!
Enter ‘The Question’
So, I posed myself (and others) this question: if you had $100, what would be the best thing to spend it on?
Upgrade editing/recording programs
Joining a professional networking group
Ongoing advertising for existing projects
I got a lot of responses, but the biggest one was…well, it depends (which, I knew but sometimes you really want there to be easy answers…). Which in turn posed a lot more questions. Where are you as a content creator? What is your goal? Do you want to self-publish or work with publishers?
It’s a lot to process but it did help me stop my incessant grinding, forcing me break through the ice I was trapped under to clear my head. Now, I’ve got some new things to obsess about! But first, maybe a grace period to reflect on what I’ve learned from making Legends (now out at both itch.io AND RPGDrivethru), interviewing great ttrpg creators on Will and I Make A Game, and using all the wonderful resources from any number of discord channels/YouTube!
Stuff in the Hopper
Not that I’ll be on my laurels, here’s my to do list while doing some relaxing research:
Creating monsters and equipment for someone else’s project Tales From the Aether Beta