50,000 Monkeys at 50,000 Typewriters Can't Be Wrong
Yesterday, I had the brilliant* idea to drink two cups of matcha tea at 4pm.
I have a little matcha set, and I enjoy the whole ritual and experience around making it. I measure out a little bit into my bowl, use my fancy whisk to mix it all up, and then savor the result.
It was so delicious, I made myself another bowl immediately after.
SMASH CUT TO MIDNIGHT.
So here I am. I finally have the time and the opportunity to write some fiction. My whiteboard is nearly full of one-liners and bullet points, and now it’s just time to pick one and finish the first draft.
And so, of course, I don’t want to make a choice. I don’t want to commit to one because WHAT IF IT’S TERRIBLE AND ALL OF THIS IS A WASTE OF TIME screams my stupid idiot brain.
But I will. Maybe it’ll be the zombie thing that’s been around for a long time, even though I’m super done with zombies, because the zombies aren’t what the story is about. Or maybe it’ll be the thing that’s kind of a Twilight Zone thing. Or the thing that I started in January, stalled out on, and lost interest in finishing because of reasons.
Yeah, it’ll probably be that one because there’s a lot of work in it already, and even though I don’t like where it is, I can get it to where it needs to be. That’s the key and the real secret to this whole thing: even when you want to stop and give up and do something else, you keep on going because nobody sits down and does ten thousand words at one go that can be published exactly as they are.
So there’s a little pep talk that I needed to give myself. Maybe it’ll help someone else who is struggling with something similar.
Keep reading, if you want to experience some flash fiction I wrote to keep myself engaged and in some kind of shape while I was working on Tabletop.
I didn’t realize I was even that tired. I’m lucky, that I got to sleep until my body decided that it’d had enough rest and was ready to wake up.
Of course, the day is half over and I haven’t done anything, but that’s what happens when you sleep for eleven hours.
It was a really good season. I had the most fun I’ve had since the first season, primarily because I reclaimed much of the stuff that had either been taken from me, or I’d given away.
We played games that we wouldn’t have been able to play in previous season, like Fury of Dracula and Eldritch Horror, and rather than try to go for lots of games that are heavy on strategy, I recalled my primary focus in the first two seasons, and looked for games that were accessible and varied, so that more people in the world will want to play more games. I played games that I never would have considered, because they have a lot of luck involved, but are still fun because they’re fast.
I stopped worrying about what The Audience was going to think, because I realized that I had allowed my fucked up brain to turn The Audience into The People On The Internet Who Hate Whatever I Do Anyway So I’ll Show Them. Recognizing that (with clarity I wouldn’t have had without my reboot) gave me permission to make the show that I wanted to make, the way I wanted to make it.
And I can’t overstate how good it was to clean house and get rid of the toxic garbage that was dragging me and the show down. If I’d only done that, this would have been the best season, ever, from a personal standpoint.
I also won a game this year, so that’s a thing.
I’m tired, but it’s a good tired that feels earned instead of imposed, if that makes sense.
Lanterns was the first game I officially locked into our schedule for this season. It was the first game I was able to announce, months ago, when I played it with Ivan Van Norman and Becca Scott (#BeccaCheats) on their show Game the Game.
Then, as it happened, Ivan and Becca (#beccaistheworst) were the first guests I was able to announce, because we decided to have a rematch on Tabletop. We also invited the former G&S Twitch Overlord, Zac Eubanks, to fill out the game.
Lanterns has enough strategy to make it satisfying for experienced gamers, but it’s also so easy to teach, learn, and play, it’s perfect for players as young as 8 years-old. It’s also great bridge to more complex games, regardless of your age.
I’ve experienced a lot of shitty and cruel stuff in the popular online boardgame forums, but I discovered this game because someone in r/boardgames was talking about how great it was. If my memory is correct, the same post brought another game we’re playing this season, Harbour, to my attention. I mention this because it’s so easy to just ragequit and want to burn the whole internet down when shitty people are shitty. We tend to focus on the garbage, because the garbage smells the worst and if it isn’t thrown away, can totally take over a place, but we need to remember that there are a lot of good, kind, enthusiastic people out there in the world who want to share the things they love with us, and who want to build and cultivate a positive community. I’m doing everything I can to make Tabletop part of the positive and awesome gaming community that has meant so much to me for over thirty years of my life. After last season, I didn’t know if that was possible, but this year I feel like it’s come back to what I always wanted it to be. It was a good idea to take out the trash, it turns out.