My Writer's Journey

Everyone has a story to tell. So many lives intertwined through time and circumstance, so many funny stories, heartbreaks, and struggles waiting to be shared. We all have something to say, something to contribute, and something to share. And in today's world; with social media, e-publishing, and micro-publishing, there are so many ways for us to share openly. The world has become a sea of voices, a forest of talking heads. Some more popular or sought after than others, but each as important.

For me, starting out with a fresh manuscript, a hope to be published, and the desire to be widely accepted as the writer I am, this sea is intimidating. If we all have a voice, if everyone is talking, who out there is looking to hear what I have to say? What chance do I have? I suppose this self-defeating aspect is partly why it took so long to complete my tale. That negative voice inside that whispers just loud enough to stifle the enthusiasm to write, that questions the validity in just the right way for doubt to grow. We all have that self-doubt, it is part of being a person.

What I have found through years of struggling to trust myself, to finish the piece for the sake of the story, and to give my characters the voice they deserve, is that it boils down to probability. I have seen an inspirational poster many times that depicts an empty basketball court, stating "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Who can argue with that? If you don't try, you won't succeed; if you don't ask, the answer will always be "no". Taking the chance doesn't mean you will always succeed, no one makes 100% of the shots they take. But, if you want the chance at succeeding, then you have to take the shot.

Second Session Highlights

Continuing with my highlight coverage of our first few role playing sessions so far, I present the second session recap:

Camping at night in the dense woods to the south of Woodwall, Katan took the first watch of the night and Olly took the second when they were set upon by some kind of monstrous beast. Olly wakes everyone and Katan casts entanglement to entrap whatever the beast is. Katan and Talys, exit the tent to explore a noise that roused them from sleep. Seeing a wolf like creature but larger, knobby, and shabby in appearance. It is trapped in the middle of the circle of entanglement and has not noticed them. Upon examining the thing closer, they find that is a diseased looking wolf, a large hump in its shoulders, split skin under matted fur, and puss colored eyes. Katan feels instantly sorry for it and coos at its misfortune. 

Hearing her, it breaks free of the entanglement to move toward them. Talys has the blade drawn and readies for combat. The wolf struggles but manages to break free of the spell's effective range to attack Talys. She is ready for the hit and uses the blunt edge of the blade to push the wolf's muzzle away as its teeth chomp for her leg. She held her ground for the next attack. Katan rushed off a ways and flung a stone from her sling, just glancing off the fur. Talys makes a significant strike to the back and side of the wolf, cutting deep into the shoulder. It bites but misses her again, turning to flee and chase after Katan, being the easier prey of the two. 

Katan attempts to clock the wolf with her cudgel, however, does little more that push the head to the side. Before the wolf can land a bite, Talys feels a rage boil within her and she charges to drop the blade upon the wolf's back, bisecting it at an angle. It roars a final pained cry and falls dead at Katan's feet. She balks more at the appearance of Talys in the throws of a receding rage than the dead wolf at her feet and heads back the tent right away. There she finds an etching in the tree that had not been there when they arrived earlier that evening. Being the second such mark they've encountered, she marks it in her journal. 

Thoughts on Emotional Intelligence

I find the very concept of emotional intelligence, or EQ, to be interesting. Not in the sense that we have developed our psychological understanding of humanity to a point of harnessing the wild torrents of emotion for our own benefit, as advertised in business settings. But in that we've continued down a path of discounting anything that doesn't fit into the purely logical structures of our present society to the point of finding a new and rational way to tout the benefits of suppressing or manipulating emotion as a healthy practice.

I have recently seen emotional intelligence summed up in the following statement: The ability to experience an emotion without reacting to it. A very grown up concept. At face value, it should certainly seem mature and beneficial. How many immature outbursts, tantrums essentially, have we seen thrown by people who should know better? Individuals overcome with emotion in moments and in places where such outbursts disrupt the feeling of safety and security of those around. Though, this take may be more a result of the boiled-down, buzz word aspects of our society more than the actual study of the subject. So what is the study of EQ?

First Gaming Recap

Hello dear reader, what a crazy couple of weeks its been. The stomach flu hit our house, as well as several of our friends', hard at the end of January leaving us reeling a bit as February began. However, it is a brand new week and I am back at the keyboard. As promised, I am beginning a weekly recap of our role playing sessions.

We're all pretty big nerds here and have been enjoying role-playing games for many, many years now. Over the years, we've had friends come and go in our lives but they've always shared in our love for a good time, a good character, and a good story. Little wonder that, with so much of our lives wrapped up in the love of stories, I choose to pursue a life of writing.

We play a couple of the bigger, staple RPG games such as Dungeons and Dragons (3.5) and the Star Wars RPG, both d20 system and published by Wizards of the Coast. We also occasionally venture into other systems and games, though less so these days. It seems we've found our comfortable style.

With the new year my wife Jen, our good friend Bill, and I began a fresh D&D adventure in a new land. Allow me to introduce the world and the player characters:

A great darkness has fallen over the land of . The might and majesty of the former empire, a thriving civilization that spanned the whole of the mainland and the islands to the south, has expired. Extinguished in fire, conflict, and disease.

The plague, violent and indiscriminate, ravaged all peoples of the Empire, claiming 8 of 10 lives and left a crumbling, decaying world in its wake. Those few that escaped this wasting disease found themselves in a constant struggle for their very survival. These starving souls are prey for the unchecked wild beasts and growing bands of marauders who kill, plunder, and burn.

As much of the cultivated, civilized knowledge had been lost with the deaths of those that horded it, superstition has risen to predominance. Blindly, the denizens of this wasteland attempt to hack a living out of what remains. The slender thread of life hangs perilously in the fickle winds of fortune. Fear of ill omens and curses drive many to shun the unknown as ancient prejudices resurface. For many, the only law is that of the mob and those that twist it to their advantage.

Far in the north, a day's travel inland from the coast, lies the small village of Fowlglenn. Removed from the influence of the empire and spared the great dying, these farmers and herdsmen live a peaceful life. This is where Talys, daughter of Arda, was raised. Born under the sign of a comet that pierced the sky and steeped in mixed omens; her shock white hair, a powerful presence beyond her stature, and her chosen companion in the form of a serpent, Talys never quite fit amid the simple farmers.

Her father, a Walling (pronounced Vailing) raider from the large island to the north, and her mother, his stubborn conquest who refused to leave her land, reared her and her two brothers in the relative peace of a simple life. Never one for farming, Talys' father took to trapping, fur trade, and keeping the herds safe from native predators.

Talys, the middle of the three children, took after her father, joining him regularly on his hunting trips and learning the ways of the sword. Her brothers, by comparison, stayed home with their mother to tend to the land. As such, when Talys came of age, her father passed his large, two handed blade to her to carry.

Being of his Walling disposition and her mother's stubbornness, she regularly challenged others of the village to test her mettle. Quickly proving too much for the basic broom stick combat shared among the villager youth, Talys yearned for true tutelage. With her parent's blessing and a vague rumor of a notable swordsman in the town of Woodwall to the south, Talys set out to find her teacher and learn the ways of a sword master.

The cities can be a dangerous place in the wake of the great dying, as Katan Roy discovered early. Born wanting, Katan is of a slender frame and short stature at just under five feet tall. Orphaned at a young age, the small red head had to rely upon her own cunning and skill to survive. Rarely stealing directly from pockets and never from those that had less than herself, this young burglar took what she could to stave off starvation.

Where her fingers are deft and skilled, her eyes are less keen when it comes to discerning treasure from trinket. Many times her bounty turns out to be nothing more than common items; the brass buttons she snipped off a fine coat are merely painted wooden toggles, that bronze bowl is simply a cheap copper one, etc.

Avoiding the dangers of the cities often left her in the wilds, discovering small tricks to keep herself alive in the woods to the north. Food, shelter, water; Katan learned quickly how to secure them all and became more accustomed to life on the road than the town she was raised in.

Now, Katan travels from town to town with her only companion, a small raccoon named Olly, looking for her next score. With a light coin purse and rumbling belly, she finds herself heading east to the town of Woodwall.