To get the ball rolling on the new blog, my intention was a post-per-week or so, but since the world is on lockdown for likely 10+ weeks-- Why not? A dev-blogpost per day? It's a good plan given the circumstances.
This post doesn't count. It's just too meta. You can skip the rest of this post if you don't want to read a ramble, because it's all feels and not info-rich. =)
Creative Energy?
Writing & talking about my work gets me (excuse the cheesy-phrase) pumped up and digging in to get more done. I'm not strictly talking about motivation. Communicating about creative work feels similar to extroverts describing the energy they get from social events. I'm on the introvert side of the spectrum, but it may be related.
That doesn't carry over for me for everything though:
Last year I tried to maintain content for a video-blog and I found it exhausting. I didn't get into a comfy zone of video production. I expected video content to take a fair amount of effort, but I thought I'd just get myself snuggled into a production-pipeline and get faster as I went. It didn't go like that.
I have an even deeper respect now for people I worked with years-ago at Electric Playground, especially Victor Lucas' apparent ease in front of a camera. For me: I 'hmm' a lot, I pause awkwardly, and I enunciate poorly. I do so many takes that I go back and do more during the edit process. I know that's normal for a lot of content producers, but I don't inherently enjoy editing and it's draining on me. Maybe I'd feel differently if that were my career, but it's been more of a support-my-game work thing. Video-production takes up my energy, rather than supplying it.
Maybe I could create videos again, if I keep it like a live-stream: One take, for better / worse and just fumble through saying what I have to say--
-- but I can write. And yeah, talk.
Writing is enjoyable. I've been doing it awhile and I don't brood about it much as a craft. It is a craft for better / more professional writers than I, but these days I write as means to ends: A journal of sort. Communication. Getting ideas onto paper. Fuel for thought. I do it for myself as much (more) than for whomever else is reading.
Work-at-Home
I hadn't thought of my work-from-home status as such a blessing until this crisis with COVID-19. It's harder during the crisis, because my partner is now home too: As an introvert I get more creative work done when I'm solitary. That's a bit odd, huh? Not solitary enough during social-distancing? Yet I do feel more isolated overall, because I'm not getting my usual time with friends. I like that personal time, between people I know who are engaged and present. I'm especially missing my weekly D&D sessions that have been regular for the past few years. Contrary to some assumptions, us introverts can be very social, just in smaller groups.
In any case, as upsetting as this situation is on a world-health scale and the likelihood that it will touch everyone's lives-- I don't have many complaints about how it's changing my daily life. This post is me trying to roll with the punches and seeing what I can do that feels positive to me. Work, work, work. When I'm thinking about game-design, all of those other anxieties and worries just wash away.
I have no illusions of self-importance though: It's a weird time for any self-promotion. Honestly I'm more interested in an engaging conversation about game-design or what people think of art, etc.. than selling anything. I'm not at that point anyway.
So yeah, an influx of posts coming. The one-per-day isn't a promise, it's just likely. =)
