Wednesday, February 4, 2015

From The Vault: Tabletop as Brain Food

From The Vault: Tabletop as Brain Food — Blue Ink Alchemy

I'm working on some board game write-ups and reviews, and it's worth remembering why board games are an awesome way to spend our time.

I've put myself on a path to improve my physical well-being. Being more mindful of what and how much I eat, walking with the intent to start running, looking into a local gym, and so on. Mostly, I fear the atrophy that comes with a sedentary day job and an equally low-impact life at home, and if I'm honest, I'm unhappy with the amount of flab I currently have on my frame. However, making such a change is relatively easy. The body can adapt to adjustments in schedule and activity rather well, all things being equal, and it's really a matter of establishing and sticking to habits than anything else. But what about the brain? The most vital of organs also needs maintenance and attention as we age. It's important to keep the mind engaged and not just feed it something distracting or shallow all of the time. I mean, I won't begrudge people who really enjoy "Dancing With The Stars" or "Two And A Half Men", some people do need to unwind with that kind of fare. I'm simply not one of them. As much as I like the occasional campy pleasure like Flash Gordon, more often than not I look to have my brain fed, to keep it trained, to present it with challenges it must overcome. That, in part, is why I enjoy tabletop games so much. It took me a while in my youth to really grasp how important it was to me to keep playing them. For a time, I simply enjoyed spending time with my dad, even if I would sometimes let myself get bored between moves rather than studying his strategy and planning my response. Nowadays I can't imagine sitting entirely idle during an opponent's turn, though I do occasionally get distracted. Not only is it necessary to pay attention in order to look for victory, it's an exercise in putting yourself in another's position, or imagining the other as a complex being instead of just someone to beat. That, to me, is just as important as winning. I am quite fortunate to be in a place where I can spend time around other gamers who are engaging in this way almost constantly. My co-workers play and even design games on a daily basis. A fantastic store is within easy driving distance to present all sorts of challenges. My father lives a bit further up the road. When I get home, I have the option to play something like Civilization V, Magic: the Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers, or Blood Bowl with other human beings. And on rare occasions, a game of Chez Geek or Dungeon Roll might break out. To me, the important factor in this is that other people are involved. No programmed response or solitaire experience really throws a wrench into your thought processes like another live human being. It makes the problem solving more complex, and thus more rewarding, even when you lose. On top of that, being in a situation with another person as your opponent builds character and social skills. Trite as it may sound, we learn more from losing than from winning, both about how we play and how we act. It's one thing to gnash your teeth and swear at something like Super Meat Boy or Hotline Miami; doing so at a stranger or even a friend is quite another issue. Fun as it can be amongst people who know you to engage in name-calling for the sake of in-game banter, when it comes to playing with strangers or in a competition it's important to know your limits and when and how to gracefully bow out of things, or the optimal way to accept and celebrate victory in front of those who've lost. You can only get that through this sort of play, and you learn it as your brain is trained. Boring as it may seem to some outside observers, when I'm engaged in a game like this, I assure you, I'm never really bored.

Blue Ink Alchemy

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Rise of the Craptop

Rise of the Craptop — Blue Ink Alchemy

The author and the subject, in their natural habitat. Writers have a long and storied history of being mercurial creatures. We're moody, we tend towards solitary behaviors, and our passions run hot, even if writing has nothing to do with it. We also get distracted by shiny objects. And the Internet is full of shiny objects. Modern writers do a great deal to curtail their distractions. Some have special rituals they enact. Others put together special areas in which to work. The Hemingwrite was kickstarted succesfully because writers need the sort of mental isolation provided by a device that facilitates writing but it still cut off from the big distractions. For me, that device is known as the Craptop. The Craptop came from the old office, released from their IT department when it outlived its usefulness. It came with a copy of Windows XP, but that too started to give up the ghost on me. This was before the holidays, the travel, and everything else that happened. After some trial and error over this past weekend, I finally got it up and running, with no problems from the operating system (which is now Xubuntu) and a nice, stable user experience. I know ther are some people who would disagree with me, in that the Craptop has trouble running more than one application at a time with any sort of alacrity or smoothness. However, for my purposes, this is perfect. The Craptop can connect to wifi, facilitating loading of files from the Dropbox and backing up my work, but the ways in which it runs means there's little chance that I would be opening a web browser while I'm working on my writing. I have ways to get media in my ears (tablet, phone, etc), and the Craptop can go just about anywhere. Well, anywhere with an outlet. The Craptop needs a new battery, since right now its charge is only held for about a half hour. I have an old-fashioned breifcase for carrying it, and with several of my bags developing holes from strain, I see a Bag of Holding in my future. Or perhaps something nice from Chrome. Anyway. Say hello to the Craptop. It and I will be downstairs after lunch, making words happen.

Blue Ink Alchemy

Monday, February 2, 2015

New Year, New 'Do

New Year, New 'Do — Blue Ink Alchemy

Well. This is looking a bit more professional and whatnot, isn't it? It's been over a month since my last entry here at Blue Ink Alchemy. That I can only chalk up to travel, changing seasons, a few unpleasant cycles of mental states, and general shenanigans involving real life things like looking for work, juggling financial woes, and finding tiny moments of catharsis. It's been a rough ride. But here we are! It's 2015. A new year has dawned. New challenges await on the road ahead. And new projects will be hatched and, hopefully, nurtured into fullness with a little time, attention, and care. The second novella, Bloody Streets, will be assembled and readied for publication as soon as I can afford a professional photographer and designer to tackle its cover. I plan on contacting the same team I used on Cold Iron (ladies, you know who you are), but I need to be a little more financially solvent before I can do that sort of outsourcing. I have some information on freelancing that I plan on capitalizing as you read this. I continue to interview for dayjobs of various kinds in an effort to keep the lights on, the pantry stocked, and this very site going. I might (emphasis on might) begin streaming my efforts to improve in Hearthstone, discussing various topics of the day while yelling in frustration at Priest players I encounter. And on top of all of that, I've started work on a new novel in earnest. I will not say much, other that it is aimed for young adults, has been rather carefully researched so far, and deals with witchcraft, other worlds, tolerance, hard choices, and intestinal fortitude. This year is going to be a good'un. I can feel it.

Blue Ink Alchemy

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

"We're All Fine Here, Now, Thank You. How're You?"

"We're All Fine Here, Now, Thank You. How're You?" — Blue Ink Alchemy

So Balthazar, my desktop PC, is currently bricked, awaiting a new power supply. My laptop, or more appropriately, "Craptop", has officially crapped out once and for all. I'm hammering this post out on my iPad, using a tiny bluetooth keyboard, which is not ideal for extended periods of typing. I'm still writing out notes and thoughts for the new novel, awaiting feedback from test readers of the novella, and on the hunt for a day job. In other words, I'm fine, but my equipment isn't. Early - very early - tomorrow morning, I am flying back to Allentown to spend the holidays with my family. I will be back after New Year's, and I'm hopeful that I can finally lay out the changes I want to make to Blue Ink Alchemy to further promote my business and grow my brand - things I never thought I'd say with a straight face. It will make for an interesting new year, that's to be sure! Until then... yeah, yeah. Boring conversation anyway.

Blue Ink Alchemy

Monday, December 22, 2014

"We're All Fine Here, Now, Thank You. How're You?"

"We're All Fine Here, Now, Thank You. How're You?" — Blue Ink Alchemy

Blue Ink Alchemy

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Fit To Write

Fit To Write — Blue Ink Alchemy

Writers don't get days off. I mean, staff writers and salaried folks tend to work certain hours. If you're writing freelance or working towards a goal in fiction, you can and should be cramming words into every spare moment available. Even when a writer is sick, or dealing with external issues, time must always be carved out for the writing. I've been trying to do that lately, and I keep running into issues or out of energy. So I am turning to you, hivemind, for your help. Writers: how do you push through the negative things between you and your words? It is just a matter of writing through the pain? What inspires you? What makes things better when it feels like they're getting worse?

Blue Ink Alchemy

Monday, December 15, 2014

From the Vault: "What do you mean, I'm doing it wrong?"

From the Vault: "What do you mean, I'm doing it wrong?" — Blue Ink Alchemy

Still on the hunt for a dayjob, still struggling day to day, and still encountering more failures than successes. In light of that, here's a post from 5 years ago about dealing with failure.

Human beings, being mortal creatures, are bound to mess things up sooner or later. This is true in every endeavor an individual undertakes. And sometimes, it falls to others to inform us that we're incorrect in the manner with which we've been proceeding. In other words, sooner or later, you're going to be told you're doing it wrong. Cheez

Marital disagreements, family drama, storytelling, cheeseburger construction, you name it. It's going to go pear shaped on you. It could be because of outside influence or because of your direct actions, but the bottom line is the end result is going to be a mess. In writing terms, maybe your protagonist is more annoying than you think. In family terms, you could have maybe timed or worded something a bit differently. Regardless of how you arrived at this point of failure, the question is not so much how you failed but how you recover from it. First, of course, you need to realize you've failed. Sometimes this is obvious in the moment of value - those "oh shit" moments when your sphincter tightens as you brace for the physical or emotional impact that comes on as a result of the events that've been botched. Other times, you could be cruising along happy and content, and it's pointed out to you that something isn't working out the way you imagined. You might rail against the idea, but when you calm down and re-examine the situation, you'll see what they've pointed out and agree with them. But rather than dwelling on the failure itself, a more constructive goal is: how do you correct the failure? That was easy.

Just like admitting you're wrong, fixing the problem isn't always easy. A workplace misstep can haunt you for quite a long time depending on the nature of the management. Some family members may be forgiving but others might have long memories that focus especially on slights. And finding a failing in a work may be as simple as excising a line or going back and doing a complete rewrite. Funnily enough, this post is turning out to be something of a failure. It's ambling a bit more than I expected and seems to be talking about things in a very broad sense rather than having the tight, narrow focus required for good writing. Hopefully upcoming posts will be a bit more cohesive. In the meantime, here's a parting bit of advice: When I realize I've hit a wall of fail, at times I picture getting the bad news from Carla Gugino.

Somehow, that helps.

Blue Ink Alchemy

Blue Ink Alchemy

Wednesday, February 4, 2015