It is Friday of week 10 of term 3.
For anyone who has anything to do with schools, you will know what this time of the year feels like and I feel exactly like that. I didn’t get time to do a week 3 post. Too busy, too tired, and too many words this month.
However, it is also the end of my time as Thinker in Residence at Part of Things. This feels me with a range of emotions that are, together, confusing and reassuring. I went into this month with a clear idea of exactly what I was going to do. That clarity quickly became slightly hazy, then mirky, then I was walking in a completely different direction.
And I liked it.
I found myself planning a story. Something I have never done in my life. I usually just start writing and see where it goes. Planning though, that has worked well. The structure it gave me ensured I knew what I was writing and where I was going. It resulted in a little over 5,000 words written just on that story. The first draft Oscar the Apprentice is on its way to being completed by the end of October. That’s my goal.
Having a space to work also helped me to focus on some of my other projects.
I have now completed the first draft of a Dungeons & Dragons supplement. It’s a little book that details the places, people, and secrets of a town called Largshire. Named after the suburb I grew up in. It’s also the town that Oscar is from. I am going into editing mode for that next week. Can’t wait to have it done. Once the editing has been completed it will be available to Patrons of the Committee Quest Podcast on Patreon.
Speaking of Committee Quest. We started recording Volume 2 this month as well! I am really excited about it. I spent some time at Part of Things writing for that too. Planning adventures and such. I also got us some sweet merch! Threadless now makes it really easy to set up a little shop and we earn money from every item sold, so that’s cool. Check it out if you need some new tees from summer, or a crew neck, or a badge, or a magnet!
On Wednesday night I held the first meet up for The Conjurer’s Table. This is something that has been on my mind for a while, but never really had the time or space to get it going. Essentially it is a place for people who run tabletop role-playing games to get together once a month and talk about what they do and then create some stuff for their games. The idea is that we share our stories, then focus on collaboratively creating some content, share it, and everyone goes home with a collection of whatever that weeks topic is. For example, next month will about people you find in a village. We will all make up a character or two that could be found in a village and share them, and then BOOM! You have yourself 20 to 30 simple characters you can pull out and use at your game. Our first meet up went really well. We discuss what the group could be about, what everyone wanted out of it, and how we will run it. Thirteen people came. Which is twelve more than I expected, so I am really happy about that.
All of this stuff was great. It’s tangible. I can look at it say, ‘There. That’s what I did as Thinker in Residence.’ However, the thing that has most surprised is the conversations I have had. It’s been fantastic to talk to people about writing. Writing has been something I have done for a long time, but not something I have discussed publicly. I have been involved in online communities before but I have never really spoken to people in person, and it’s been wonderful.
So, my time as Thinker in Residence is done but there is plenty more to come.
I am writing every day, which is… I’ll say good. Writing is not a mystical & magical experience for me. It’s often quite hard. To start at least. The words start to come easier the longer I sit there and bash away at the keyboard. Even though I find it hard to start I feel fantastic when I finish. Getting into that state of flow makes it all worthwhile.
The Conjurer’s Table has just started and I am keen to see what happens there.
Committee Quest’s Volume 2 is in production, so lots of writing, editing, and gaming happening around that.
NaNoWriMo is just around the corner and I will be jumping into that with my collection of short stories. I think I will organise some write in’s for people in the Riverland. So, keep your eyes peeled on Part of Things FB page for updates about that.
I have enjoyed writing this blog so I think it will continue. I would say it will be a little less frequent maybe once a month.
Finally, I’d like to thank Alysha for giving me this opportunity. It has opened my eyes and inspired me to continue with my creative prospects. I’d also like to thank anyone that has been reading these little posts. It means a lot to me. Also, thank you to my wife Hayley for listening to my stories, editing them (and my constant spelling mistakes), and supporting me in this little journey.
Stay tuned folks.
