It seems that the beginning of September marks my “busy season” each year. Over the past few years September, October and November have brought with them GenCon Oz, Conflux, NaNoWriMo and a whole lot more besides. This year is no different. While GenCon Oz was cancelled this year, I will still be heading to Brisbane for Uprising, a replacement game event. While there I will be attending the Stockade games launch, with my own offering The Beast of Limfjord. This is very exciting, as Andrew Smith and I put this little project together just before GenCon last year and now we get to see the games that participants have been working on over the last twelve months. We started with about 13 participants and I think we might see three or four games unvieled at Uprising, which doesn’t seem too bad. While at Uprising I will also be busy recording interviews for Here Be Gamers! I am hoping to chat with Steve D, Timothy Ferguson, the guys from Monty Haul and start a new project with Andrew (but I haven’t mentioned this to him yet, so let’s keep it under our hats…).
I still need to do final layout on The Beast of Limfjord. In fact, I should be doing it right now, but I am easily distracted, dammit! The goal is to have it fully optimised for reading on my iPad, with chapter links at the bottom of every page, hyperlinks to cross-reference information and that kind of thing. On the bright side, the text is finished, edited and somewhat readable.
The start of October has traditionally been when I head to Canberra for Conflux. Due to WorldCon being held in Melbourne this year Conflux won’t be running. I was disapointed not to make it to Melbourne for WorldCon (a real missed opportunity, I know), but between work, birthday parties and the overall cost of two days in Melbourne, it was all just too much. While it is a shame that Conflux is not on, as I really enjoy the small, close-knit atmosphere, my darling wife won’t be complaining that we get to spend our anniverary together! It also gives me an extra weekend to prepare for NaNoWriMo!
I am very excited as November and NaNoWriMo approaches. I had a blast last year, met some new people, made some international friends online and even completed 52,000 words of the world’s worst novel! Having a definite timelimit and goal is a massive boon to my productivity and I only wish I was that productive all year round. I need to get myself into gear, though, as the big lesson I learnt from last year’s NaNoWriMo was that I need to plan the whole story, not just the first chapter or two. This year I am thinking of writing a story of Victorian Scientific Romance, through the lense of a 30’s pulp writer – something between what is identified as steampunk and dieselpunk. I am somewhat inspired by Dr Grordbort.
All this on top of regular Here Be Gamers! podcasts, fiddling about on a bunch of games, trying to get another review or two ready for the next issue of Thru-The-Portal and all those things one associates with “life”. Best strap on my life vest and dive in. Yipee!
