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Steve’s Update 2/16/2020

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let’s see where all my projects are – you’re also going to notice slight schedule switchup. I’m doing these the same time as my newsletter so everyone gets an update.

So what have I done since last time?

  • Way With Worlds: The Gods and Deities Book has been published! You can go buy it here!
  • Way With Worlds: I’ve also started the next book – Conspiracies And Secrets!
  • A School Of Many Futures: I’m now editing the first draft, a mix of re-outlining and rewriting.

What’s next?

  • Way With Worlds: Work more on Conspiracies and Secrets. I think the likely publication date is late March.
  • A School Of Many Futures: I want to heavily edit the first three chapters and replot the remaining nine or ten chapters.
  • Seventh Sanctum: I’ve gotten some help on the Python coding as there’s real subtleties. My goal now is to get the advanced generators coded in the next 2-6 weeks.

Steven Savage

Cooking With Steve: “Northern Pizza”

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In my book series, there is pizza. Sure the worlds around the star Avenoth are fictional, but pizza exists there. In fact, in two forms: Northern and Eastern.

Eastern pizza is like the pizza we’re used to, with a bit of a Korean/Mediterranean flair. Thin crust, lots of stuff.

But Northern Pizza, the original pizza, is different – its thick bread baked with mashed beans, greens, and spices. A one-stop lunch that originated in large bakeries and working-class restaurants.

So I decided to try and create it. Here’s the recipe – so far

Ingredients:

  • One whole wheat pita or thick, large slice of German Farm Bread or similar thick, dark bread.
  • 1/3 to 1/2 cup Hummus (or mash up garbanzo beans, 1 tbsp crushed garlic, 2 tbsp lemon juice).
  • 1 cup highly shredded greens like spinach or highly chopped broccoli. Add some onion if you want.

Instruction:

  • Mix greens and hummus.
  • Spread evenly on bread.
  • Bake until toasted and top is slightly browned.
  • Serve.

I’ve made this a few times and really enjoy it. I’ve got to perfect it a bit, but as a kind of “open face hummus burrito” it’s good. Doubtlessly I’ll experiment more – and maybe tweak my backstories a bit.

Sharing Your Work And That One Person

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

We want our creative works to reach people – to inspire, to guide, to entertain, to salve pains. We want to change the world in our own way. So do many other people.

Being a creative puts us in a curious position of feeling like we’re competing. If you had someone say they wished to feed the hungry, they wouldn’t worry about competition. If you knew someone who wished to clean up the environment, they’d welcome all comers. But creative works tend to make us competitive because people have limited attention.

There is rarely a shortage of the poor. There are no shortage of environmental challenges. But when we wish for attention, well, that’s a limited resource.

Which is why, if we want to make people laugh, educate, and overthrow tyrants, we have to rethink how we reach out.

We have to think “how can I help.” If our creative work has value – and let us assume it does – then the real question is how do you help people out.

How do you get the right people to read your book, appreciate your art, and change the world because of a single poem? There’s no right answer, because every work is different. But asking that question of “how do I help” is important.

(If creativity is your career, “how do I help and make a living” ramps up the challenge).

However, there is one thing to consider – have you reached one person and changed their lives?

Many an author or artist or musicians knows this experience. There’s that one person that follows your book, hung up your art, or told you your song got you through a tough time. That single moment is valuable, unshakeable, and powerfully personal.

Those are the moments to look into. How did you reach them? Why did you make a difference? What happened?

Then you can ask how to repeat this moment. How do you repeat that success in having your comic or game get into the right hands? That one person may be the key to transforming the world.

Sadly, you may not be able to find a lesson. Many of we creatives keep shambling forward and trying. But consider the following:

Even if you reach only that one person, there’s hope you can find out how to reach more.

Even if you reach only that one person, that’s one work. Your next work may reach a million.

Even if you reach only that one person, if you reach the right person, they change the world.

That one person is your sign to not give up. After all, that person didn’t give up on you . . .

Steven Savage