So, I’m trying something new today. It was introduced to me by Jess, and it’s called don’t break the chain. It’s pretty simple. You get a big calendar (mine is on the internet) and you set a goal and every day that you work toward that goal you get to put a big red X on that day. The idea is to get a big long chain of X’s on your calendar that show that you’ve done something. I guess that might help, but it was part of what I wanted to do anyway. More motivation, perhaps? I think it could help, but I’m not sure. There is a problem though. A big one.
What constitutes an X?
A blog entry like this?
A short story for Apokryphos or another chapter on Joresch?
Does it count if I just sit and write on my role playing game stuff? I don’t know. I suppose the goal is output for me, because I want to put something up for my blogs to get people interested in my writing so that I have the motivation to keep writing and get my books out, so it will have to be something to do with Joresch, Apokryphos and this blog. If things get going well enough maybe I’ll start drawing again. Maybe it seems greedy, but I want to make money doing the things that I like, enough that I don’t have to work anymore (even if I do like my job… in small doses). I would love to be a full time author, or artist, or both. That’s been my dream since Mrs. Osmudson got me hooked on writing back in sixth grade. That’s seriously how long I’ve been trying to write and actually writing. Now I do the self publish thing (cause, self publishing does include blogs oddly enough), but I don’t consider it a win or even much of a goal. It’s great to get people interested, but I want to have actual books. I want physical books in my hand. I want to go to a book store (or more likely Amazon.com) and see “William Otto’s latest book – Insert Title Here”. Eventually I want television series and movies made of my stuff (but only with my permission and me writing the scripts. I will NOT have an X-Men Origins Wolverine or an Elementary on my hands, no sir!). I can easily see Apokryphos as a television series, and Joresch too. I’m visually oriented, but I’m a better writer than artist, and I can’t animate, so y’know, books.
I think I’ve got ideas how this whole don’t break the chain will work. They’re ideas only, and my BIGGEST goal is to WRITE every day. I’d like it to be something new, but if I work on my role playing stuff, I’ll be just as happy. I want to produce, but just writing is tough and I think it’s something I need to do more of just as a matter of fun. The more I do it, the easier it gets and the more things flow when I write these things. This is the fifth thing I’ve written in two days, and while it’s nothing special, it’s going quickly and easily. I just need an idea to lead in with and then the rest just sort of comes out (even if it is a bit rambly).
I can’t say that I’ll post something every day, but I’m going to try. Monday through Friday blog posts on all three blogs (cause there’s about to me a third one for Joresch) is my actual goal. Joresch might just be the books, cause I don’t really have any short stories there, not like I do for Apokryphos which lends itself very well to short stories. I mean, Joresch should too, cause it’s a nice big fantasy world and I loved Dragonlance but I can’t seem to think of any short stories there. Nothing comes up properly. So, I’m sort of stuck. HOWEVER… if I am forced to write a chapter of Joresch a day, that could end up being something good, right? I mean, it forces me to do stuff.
That might sound weird, but it works. I work best under pressure to an extent. Let me give you an example. I have a friend named Amos. He’s a good guy, but he loves to role play. So, he’d come over while I was cleaning my house (cause I used to do very little else) and he’d ask me to run him in something. I’d be forced to make something up on the spot and we’d go. And I came up with some great stuff out of nowhere. Apokryphos bloomed out of the same thing, except Sammi is much less demanding than Amos. Apokryphos all I had was the idea of Talon and Arus and they were basic, but as Sammi and I played those first few sessions the world opened up into something wonderful and now it’s one of the stronger things I think I have to offer. Probably stronger than Joresch in some ways cause it’s not quite the same old fantasy like Joresch could end up being (but I don’t think it is, then again, I might be biased).
Over the next few days, I’m going to revamp the Apokryphos site. I want to fix some problems I’ve found with my stories, put other one’s in, and put the whole thing in chronological order. I might not get everything put up the way I want especially with days to nights and stuff. I might fix things on Saturday and put something up then cause I’m only really interested in putting stuff up Monday through Friday, so long as I’m typing. I would love to be able to have a story for Joresch and Apokryphos every day, but that might be pushing it. We’ll see how things go. Again, I just want to make sure I keep working on things and typing.
Anyway, now my goals have been put out there. I need you guys to keep my honest. If you like what you read, let me know. Drop me a line on Facebook. Leave me a message on Yahoo. Hell, leave comments on the stuff on the sites. It helps to know people like it and want more. For now though, I’m going to get stuff uploaded and ready for the first day of posts. Wish me luck on the rest of the days.
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