May 17, 2000
Inspired
I got ten hours of sleep last night. How scary is that? And that's without taking any Klonopin before bedtime. I got up and nine and wandered in to the computer room to check my email, and found my horoscope for today in my inbox (yeah, I know, it's bullshit, but it's still amusing):With only the slightest effort from you, the creative process takes root and begins to flower immediately. It appears effortless, but somewhere along the way you've had a hand in it. Be proud of the creative flow you've got going on and explore it to the fullest. You can have the things you've been longing to achieve.And it's true. You see, yesterday I made my first submission to Dream Pod 9. I turned the story I wrote the other day into a full-fledged mini-adventure, complete with character write-ups and possible plot ideas. It's the sort of thing they post on their webpage, which gives me a start at least. Beyond that, I found out that I'm most likely going to be helping a few friends write a book for Tribe 8. Assuming their proposal for it gets accepted and all, of course. And... are you ready for this? I came up with a book idea of my own. It's so amazing and scary! Changeling inspired me to write, as evidenced by a lot of stuff in the writing section. But Tribe 8, due to the nature of the game books and the attitude of the company itself, is inspiring me to write things that might actually be saleable.
I'm not saying anything about the quality of the writing, mind you. I've written some very good stuff based off Changeling, it's just that White Wolf is much more distant, and the stuff I write isn't the sort of stuff they want to publish. I think what I'm developing for Tribe 8 is what they publish.
And I'm starting to wonder if this is 'it'. I know it's extremely premature to feel that way, but writing has always been a love of mine, and obviously, roleplaying is an obsession as well. I've always combined the two but didn't think I could go anywhere with it. Finding RPG companies that want the kind of writing I do... this has some definite promise. I don't know that I could do it full-time, or even if I'd want to, but doing freelance stuff when I want to and doing only projects that interest me? Sign me up!
I'm an idea bouncer. The best work I've ever done has almost always started out with me talking to at least one other person, sending ideas back and forth like ping-pong balls. For some reason, I've always thought of that as a weakness. I thought it meant that I wasn't a strong enough writer to do anything on my own. That's a silly idea, especially since I'm fortunate enough to have someone with whom I collaborate extremely well. More than one someone, in fact. I'm part of a sort of budding cabal of writers, and we're working on some great ideas, brainstorming project ideas together. Most encouraging to me: they all really liked my book idea. Now I'm just waiting to hear from the T8 editor.
I'm psyched and I'm inspired. I'm still feeling a little tentative because of the depression, but yesterday was an awesome day, and today is turning out well too. And that's how I have to deal with things, as cliched as it is: one day at a time.
Posted by Lisa at May 17, 2000 12:27 PM
