Category: WWdN in Exile

Remember when I said

Felicia is working on a Secret Project™ that I'm lucky enough to know about … holy frakking shit balls on fire, you guys. When you know what it is, your mind will be blown right out of your skull so hard it will bounce off the wall and land on the ground next to your socks, which were also knocked right off your feet and through your shoes.

Well, Felicia announced her Secret Project today:

Star of The Guild, costar of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, general Joss Whedon go-to guest star and geek dream girl Felicia Day is set to write and star in a six-episode web series based on BioWare’s Dragon Age franchise. The web series, dubbed Dragon Age: Redemption, will follow Day’s character and elvish assassin (of my heart) Tallis, who is in search of a rogue mage in the land of Ferelden, which is the world in which Dragon Age: Origins took place, as well as the world in which the upcoming Dragon Age installment will take place. 

I know, right? I've known about this for months and I couldn't say a thing about it. And you know what? [REDACTED SO FELICIA DOESN'T STAB ME IN THE NECK].

Oh, the terrible burden of secrecy, how will I ever shoulder it? Oh, I know! Guinness is +1 to Strength.

All kidding aside, I'm really proud of Felicia and as happy for her as a person can be. I know what she went through to make this project happen, and let's just say that it was a lot. She's one of the most remarkable people I know, and I consider myself lucky to be her friend and occasional co-worker.

While I was drifting off to sleep last night, a short story idea seized my mind and refused to shut up until I scribbled down enough about it to ensure I didn't lose it during the journey to sleep and back to waking.

I got out of bed, made some barely-legible notes, and fell asleep rather quickly. About an hour or so later, the cats decided that it was time to play, which involves running around the house and across my bed at a speed and noise level that just shouldn't be possible for two animals whose combined weight is less than twenty pounds.

The first time the cats woke me up, I grabbed a drink of water and drifted back to a sort of twilight sleep, where the amorphous blobs of story ideas began to sharpen into ill-defined shapes. I got out of bed and made more notes.

This process repeated itself a number of times overnight, so though my body spent eight hours mostly in bed, my brain didn't get much, if any, rest.

Anne woke me up at 10. "You're going to sleep the whole day away," she said.

"Mrrzzbffgggmmmblllzzz," I said. But, having grown accustomed to dragging myself out of bed when I wanted to stay safely and comfortably wrapped in the covers, I did the same. This time, though, I walked into the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee instead of stumbling into my office to scribble down notes.

That was about two hours ago, and while my brain is beginning to shake off some of the cobwebs, I still feel a little numb and stingy.

"Don't you hate it when you do something really funny and nobody notices?" Anne said to me about fifteen minutes ago.

"Um, yes?" I said.

She stood in the doorway of my office, rocking back and forth on her feet. "Yeah, it's like it's just killing you that you did something very funny but nobody notices."

"…what did you do?" I said.

"I kind of want you to just find it on your own," she said.

"That's probably not going to happen. I'm only forty percent here right now."

She looked pointedly at the wall above my desk.

"Even if it's, like, staring you right in the face?"

"Yeah, even if it's –" I followed her gaze and saw…

Click More, because the reveal is worth it.

(more…)

Here's a stupid cell phone video I made with Chris right before we did the @nerdist podcast at Smodcastle last night.

Chris and I have known each other for 20 years, and we were roommates when we were in our early 20s. I'm happy to say that we haven't really changed all that much since then, as this video demonstrates.

The podcast was incredibly fun to record, and will be released on Monday.

Last night, on the way home from dinner, I asked Anne, "Do you remember Highlights for Children?"

"Of course I do," she said, "I remember how I hated going to the doctor when I was a kid, until I started reading Highlights in the waiting room."

"Turn right at this intersection," I said, "and Trader Joe's will be on the left in a block. She turned right, and I realized that Trader Joe's was actually to the left. "Oh, my bad. It's actually back there."

As we drove under the freeway to a place where we could make a U turn, I said, "Did anyone ever read Highlights in someplace that wasn't the doctor's or dentist's office?"

"The library at my school had a subscription, so we'd read it there," she said. 

We got to the next intersection, which featured a nice big NO U TURNS sign.

"Well, this quick stop at Trader Joe's is turning into quite an adventure," I said as we waited at the red light.

We were quiet for a second, and I said, "I bet seeing Highlights in someone's house would have been like seeing your teacher at the grocery store, you know? Like it was something familiar, but totally out of context so you wouldn't know what to do."

The light turned green and we made a left onto a dark, industrial street.

"You know what I always hated about Highlights?" Anne said, "some idiot kid had always circled the hidden pictures."

"Seriously!" I said, "fuck that kid, man. That kid's a dick."

"And what kind of parent gives their kid a pen to draw all over a magazine that's obviously intended for more than one kid to read?"

"Asshole parents," I said, "it's called Highlights for Children, you jerk, not Highlights for your Children."

"Because doctor's offices don't exactly have pens just lying around," she said. She pulled into a driveway about halfway down the street and turned around. 

"Yeah, some mom had to go into her purse, dig around the used Kleenex and that giant checkbook/wallet thing moms carry, and find the pen." We turned back toward Trader Joe's. I raised my hands over my head as we went through the freeway underpass. "Wheee!" I put my hands back in my lap. "I mean, that's a lot of time for her to think, 'Hey, maybe I shouldn't be giving little Johnny Snotface this pen to ruin the magazine for all the other children.'"

We turned into the tiny Trader Joe's parking lot and parked the car. As we got out and walked in, I said, "Highlights should have done a Goofus and Gallant about that, man."

"You've spent a lot of time thinking about this," Anne said.

"It's what I do," I said. I pulled a cart out of the stall and pushed it into the store. It had a wobbly wheel and pulled to the right.

I silently cursed the shopping cart gods, and caught up to Anne in the produce section.

If everything goes according to plan, I should release Hunter later today. It's 2500 words, about the length of what you'd read in a magazine, I think, and I'm pricing it at 99 cents, for people who want to buy it. I'll eventually put it here or wil wheaton books for free, for those of you who are horrified at the idea of dropping a dollar on something that short. I am equally excited and terrified about doing this, which seems about right.

A couple of upcoming appearance notes that may be of interest to some of you: 

March 4 and 5, I'm going to be in Seattle for the Emerald City Comic Con. I love this show, and it's great to be back again. The show is three days, but I have a family commitment on Sunday, so I'm going to be there Friday and Saturday.

For the first time in almost fifteen years, I'm going to Europe for a convention. For the first time ever, I'm attending FedCon in Germany from 28 April to 1 May.

I'm super bummed that I can't make it to PAX East this year, but I plan to attend Prime this summer.

There is a very good chance that I'll be at a show in the near future that I've never been to before, in part of the country that keeps asking me to come visit. My agent is working out the details, so hopefully I can be less cryptic about it before the end of this week.

I've been talking with Paul and Storm about doing a w00tstock-ish program where I tell stories and they play music to go with the stories. Think of it as my part of w00tstock, except it's for an entire show. We're working on brand new material, because we all love The Trade and Rocky Horror, but pretty much everyone's seen that, so it's time for something new.

Speaking of w00tstock, we're looking into another show at Comic-Con, because last year's show kicked so much ass. #freemolly!

I can't talk about Eureka … except maybe I just did.

That's all. I have actual deadlines for actual projects that I actually need to get finished today, so this goof off blogging ends… NOW.