One of the things we talk about in writerly circles (an in creative circles, more generally speaking) is the need to periodically stop and “sharpen your saw”. The analogy comes from cutting down trees. As you work, your saw gets dull - so you need to stop every once in a while and take a break to sharpen your saw. You have to make sure your tools are in the right condition to work properly.
When you’re a creative, that tools us your brain. So “sharpening your saw” means taking a break to do the things that rejuvenate you and help recharge your creative batteries. Walking is a popular one, and is a pastime that absolutely works for me. Various other things come into the mix as well. Yard work, painting miniatures, sports, even house cleaning - basically, anything that lets your body move while letting your mind wander.
Then, surprisingly, there’s role playing games.
You’d think that a role-playing game wouldn’t be something that recharges you. It requires creativity, after all. I think the trick is that it requires a different kind of creativity. I mentioned painting miniatures earlier. That’s creative, but it’s not “plotting things out and putting words on paper” creative, so it works. RPGs are similar. It’s less like writing and more like chaotic improv. So for me, it works wonderfully to help recharge.
My wife and I are really lucky to have a small group with a talented GM. She’s been keeping us entertained for a couple of months now, playing off and on. Let’s face it, we’re all adults, getting together once a month is an accomplishment! It’s also a tribute to how much we’re enjoying the game.
What’s really wonderful about this group is that we have a couple of first-time players, and none of us are really terribly familiar with D&D 5e (except for our DM). So we’re all kind of feeling our way through, having a blast, and enjoying surfing the aforementioned chaos. We’re doing serious things in silly ways, doing silly things in a serious manner, and generally just enjoying spending a few hours together saving children from goblin raiders or whomping on evil tree creatures.
We’re off (again) tonight. It’s going to be a litttttle bit different today, though. You see, the groups started off with six players: two married couples, and a couple of singles. Tonight, for the first time, we still have six players… but we’ll be three married couples.
You’re heard of players bribing the DM with pizza? Bah! Slackers. My buddy Joe married his DM. Frankly, I’m not sure which one of them got the better end of the deal. 😎
Time to haul out this spell, I suppose! Joe’s cleric is something of a trickster, so it’s entirely appropriate that he’d know a bard spell or two…
The Business of Writing
A mid-week update on my three major commitments: to write, to edit, and to read.
Finished off the Car Wars story and threw it out for critiques. I’ve already gotten a few back. I’ll let it sit another day and then revise it for submission. Next month, in between working on the anthologies, I’m going to start outlining a novel that I want to complete by the end of the year.
For the Tull anthologies, we’re getting close to starting the next phase. I’ve got the stories sorted and most of the structural edits are in. So it’s time to get contracts out and start working on copy edits. I am simultaneously exhilarated and terrified. It’s not a bad place to be.
We’ve had a lot of folks show interest in the Alpha Mercs. That’s given rise to some solid discussion about where we want to go, how many people we think we can handle while still keeping the same feel for the group, etc. It’s a nice problem to have!
Other Stuff
The Alldaughter is safely in Kentucky, the #1 Minion is passing all her third-year nursing exams, and Snugglepuppy looks like she’ll finish up her first year of college without too many problems. We’re entering into yard work season, so I’m anticipating fresh air, sore muscles, and a lot of opportunities to sharpen my saw in the near future.
In the meantime: enjoy the smell of fresh cut grass again, and I’ll see you all next week!
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I Play occasionally with my son’s group as an add-on NPC. It’s lots of fun. Those teenagers are amazed sometimes that this old fart knows how to roleplay.