My Varying Interests

Perhaps my biggest benefit is also my biggest drawback, my varying interests.  I've always had a wide array of likes and hobbies.  I can never settle on just one thing; it makes me restless.  This is also one of the main reasons I'm a storyteller; I always want to jump to another world.  Had I chosen a different profession I would be stuck in one world.  Speaking of telling stories, I've never understood the concept of always writing in one genre.  It feels like when one does that, they're taking away the greatest benefit of writing.  I know it's better for building a platform and making more money, but I would feel so trapped if I did that.

But I digress.  I was speaking of my interests, and I have recently narrowed them down to three basic categories:

Writing
Filmmaking
Game design

Thanks to the wonders of self-publishing, Youtube, and print on demand, I'm able to do all three.  This has, in a way, caused a problem for me.  You see, for years, I was trying to pitch projects in all three of these categories to those who could make them a reality.  I got turned down so much that I have a huge backlog of projects.  Ever since self-publishing in all three categories came out, I've been doing them myself.  And the floodgates have flown wide open, overwhelming me with the ability to make whatever I want and get it to the public.

The problem is the irritating finite of time... and the fact that I need to sleep, and do a job that brings in enough money to live.  Plus, and this is a big one, I need to promote the projects so I'm not just whistling in the dark.

And so I have had to organize these into specific projects set for specific times.

Writing includes the two books I'm putting together this year along with the short stories for Relic Worlds, plus the promotions for the past titles.  The books I'm making this year are coming out at the beginning of the year and end of the year, while the promotions will be scattered throughout.

Filmmaking has become the gaming channel I have on Youtube called Command Combat Battle Reports, as well as a show I have that supports Relic Worlds that centers around geocaching.  These are fitting in during the middle of the year.

Games would include a wide host of games I've invented, but since I'm short on time and this is the lowest priority, it's centered around finishing Command Combat: Civil War, which I started years ago, and games that support the promotion of Relic Worlds.  These are being done sort of around the center and end of the year.

Gearing Up for Command Combat Battle Reports

Those who found my blog from me being an author probably don't know that I run a Youtube channel that involves wargaming.  This would especially come as a surprise to those who know how much I believe in trying to avoid war.  It is, truly, the most horrendous thing invented by man.

However, my biggest hobby has been gaming of all sorts, regardless of whether it's miniature gaming, board gaming, or computer gaming.  I enjoy relaxing with a game far more than watching something, as it occupies my mind more than any show or movie.  It also brings people together and gives them something with which to interact rather than having the same long conversations about the same topics they've gone over time and time again.

I wound up making my channel about war gaming specifically not because they hold a higher spot in my mind than other games, but as a sort of fluke.  I invented a miniatures game called Command Combat: Civil War, and I intended to promote it by taping some games and placing them on Youtube to show what it's like.  When no one watched, I taped a battle report of Flames of War.  Jamie and I recorded it together and treated it like a football game.  The episode got picked up by the makers of Flames of War, and pretty soon we were getting tons of views, and the show was becoming successful.

So I continued it and stayed with the theme.  Over the last few years I've refined it, and found that I'm really onto something.  This year I'm going to have seven shows, one for each day of the week, for three months.  It will cover board games, miniature games, computer games, how to videos, reenactments using miniatures, and even a live action show with historians doing gladiator combat, (with dulled weapons, of course.)

This is the one year I'm going to do this.  I need to find out if this is going to work as a series.  If it gets enough views, or if the show gets picked up by something like Geek & Sundry or Wargames Illustrated, then I can continue.  But if it only gets a few views per video, I just won't have the time for it anymore.  I'm off to start taping these games,so let's hope for the best.

Happy gaming everybody!

Regarding Mothers of Aritsts

I know that just about everyone credits their mothers with being their inspirations, and with being their biggest supporters; but we artists owe a special debt to our mothers.  In my case, we both moved out to Los Angeles at the same time, and, though I have been a grown adult ever since I’ve lived here, she has been my safety net.  Emotionally she was there through the very big ups and downs I’d go through, celebrating when I thought I had that film deal, and being there for me when it fell through.  She was like a second mother to my girlfriends, and was there with my like my buddy when they left.  She has, in essence, been my best friend through thick and thin.

Having a child who’s an artist is like a curse.  Parents might as well have a doctor come out and tell them in a sorrowful tone that they have been stricken with some horrible disease for which there is no cure.  Unless their child is one of the 1% that “make it,” (in which case the parent has won the lotter,) he or she will always be poor, and will constantly be calling asking for a “loan,” (which is really more like a “borrowing” money that never comes back.)

Despite all of this, my mother has stuck it out with pride and supportiveness, despite my not always being as grateful as I could be.  Thank you for all you do for me, Mom.

May the 4th Be With You

I only learned about this pseudo holiday last year, and it even took me a little while to get the alliteration.  ("May the Force be with you," only spoken by Elmer Fud.)  It's cute, and like so many cute things, a lot of people take it way too seriously.  But then again, it really got me thinking about the source of holidays, and I even wondered, is it truly that different?

Most holidays have been created to celebrate some mythology, (or religion.  Is there really that much of a difference?)  These mythologies were generally created in the form of a central story with a moral behind them.  We celebrate them as tradition, forgetting the stories and simply enjoying the excuse to take a day off and party.

Star Wars is, in many ways, our generation's mythology.  Though we are still in the midst of keeping the stories alive, and even telling more of them, eventually they will fade from the masses, and will be remembered only by the scholars.  But May the 4th may still remain as much as any other, perhaps even supplanting another mythological holiday.  And when that happens, the question becomes, will people still dress as the demonic Darth Vader, the roguish Boba Fett, or wear the large buns in their hair like Princess Leia, much the same way that people today wear bunny outfits on Easter or Santa ones on Christmas?