“You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.”

That quote from Saul Bellow is why I write.  Not Saul Bellow himself, but the words.  If you have ever been driven out of bed by a thought or an idea then you know what I mean.  If you haven't you can never understand; it is neither good nor bad; and yet it is terrible and amazing.  I am both very happy for you that you can sleep peacefully and weep for you that you will never feel that impulse that keeps a writer going.

I am a writer.  I haven't done any writing in years; but I know that I am a writer.  I am even a published writer.  In the way back I wrote gaming things.  I will NOT rest on those laurels.  I have now the capability to go far beyond what I did.  However, I am a creator so my brain cannot do just one thing apparently.  Despite knowing how terribly I multi-task I am now in the middle of:  Starting this blog, creating a brand new world and gaming system AND preparing to participate in NaNoWriMo.  I have obviously gone insane.  The voices in my head at least tell good stories!

Thursdays will be dedicated to writing.  Today is Thursday so we are going to talk about writing.  Shocking how that happens isn't it?  I grew up in the 80s.  The home computer was just becoming a thing.  In the 90s, when I was writing last, most people had computers of some sort; at least at work.  I was, and still am, a pen and paper girl.  I do my best work not typing but actually writing. However, my best work isn't the book, game or poem itself.  It is the notes, outlines, and side ideas that come with each piece of work and lead to the next.  I use notebooks to create and each time I am working with a new idea I go back through those old notebooks and see where my brainstorming from past and present might lead.

As I said above I am currently working on developing a gaming system.  Not an electronic one, but a pen and paper sit down and look at people Role Playing game. I am creating a world.  This is not always easy; but the hardest part right now is making sure I don't use someone else's ideas and pretend they are mine.  Sometimes things are consistent through out a system even if it is also a specific name, having a coke or using kleenex does not always mean those specific products.  I have not been participating in gaming for two decades so the words that are specific to gaming have been lost.  Ideas like character alignment and the titles of game master or player handbook were game standards when I was playing in the 80s and 90s.  Then again there was really only one company making RPGs.  Are those words things that if I use them I will get sued?  What happens if I accidentally plagiarize game mechanics? Jungian philosopher Joseph Campbell posited that there are only so many stories to tell; it is how we tell them that differs. I want to be Shakespeare, I will be happy if I don't fall on my face!

Do you want to know more about the game system?  Let me know by commenting!