Whatever the Cost, Ever Forward

Without a doubt, my job has kicked my endurance way down the Fibonacci scale.  I appreciate knowing that others are out there, noticing that I haven't been posting lately.

The worst part is not in lacking the time or energy to write . . . but in lacking the time and energy to think.  Some of these posts appear after days, sometimes weeks of introspection or consideration, as I mull over the best way to express the subject or myself.  Writing, I have learned, takes a great deal of energy; oftentimes I am done with a post or an afternoon's work on a book project only to find myself dripping with sweat, as though I had just been out for a long run.

I suffer as much as anybody from the age old blogger question: what to write about today?  The way I usually master this is to collect, as each day progresses, several small ideas that I then work into larger ones.  I keep these shuffled in my head and, if I feel well about them, they eventually make their way onto the blog.

But there's been no peace of mind and thus no quiet contemplation, no opportunity for inspiration.  Thus does another day on the blog pass uninterrupted by my injections.

It is no accident that I would end in writing a post about exhaustion.

This evening I'm doing some ordering of books for the Edmonton Comic & Entertainment Expo, where I will be from Sept 25 to 27.  I'm getting a little help on the cost of these, trusting that we'll do as well with sales this year as we did in Toronto last year.  I'll be selling the main book of course, How to Run, along with the two essay books found in my sidebar.  I had hoped to have another ready in time, but it has encountered some problems and I'm not ready to release it yet.  Thankfully, Edmonton is close and I will be staying with friends there, greatly cutting down on my expenses.

The event has me thinking about what a pleasure it was to meet people in Toronto who felt the drive to be better DMs, who felt a positive thrill in picking up the book and talking to me about it's potential.  It promises to be a real shot in the arm.  If any readers are in Edmonton or thereabouts, I hope you'll come around and see me.

I continue to feel that there is no greater need in the game than for better and more useful materials that speak towards making us all better at playing or DMing.  Even when I read posts or reports from people who declare they have no interest in playing the complex game I usually describe, they still talk of strategies to play that they are in hopes of employing.  It all speaks to the same thing: improvement.

D&D is a performance art.  I would never want to play in a world where the DM felt their contribution was 'adequate.'