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

We’re heading into a tough time with Omicron. So I just wanted to wish you all well as we try to get through this.

As of this writing, covid struck an old acquaintance, one of my best friends, one of my best friends family (possibly), and I’m probably missing some people. This is going to be hard.

But I want to know, personally, I want you to make it.

I want us to get through this. Not just to survive, but to do something with all this crap. To overcome the problems that got us here.

A lot of us are creative types. I hope we can sincerely use that power to entertain, inform, comfort, and change.

So get vaccinated, get boosted, get an N95, buckle down, and let’s pull together.

Steven Savage

• www.StevenSavage.com
• www.InformoTron.com

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

As a new year starts, it helps to think about our vacations.  I wanted to share something that I learned over the years that provide relaxation.  Or to have time to be creative instead of relaxing, but you can deceive yourself over your plans on your own time.

Years ago, one of my employers had long breaks twice a year – at least a week – and I’ve seen other companies do the same.  It was very relaxing to stop twice a year, regularly, and recover.

In the years that followed, I never really duplicated this.  Sure, I’d take a holiday break and then some days here and there.  Often, I’d take time only when there was an event or I was tired and needed it.  Being a consultant, my available free days fluctuated wildly anyway.

Now, I’m seeing the wisdom of longer, regular breaks, because I’m taking them again.  Oh, and because COVID-19 and working from home showed me how I won’t take time off.  I took all but Monday off the week of Thanksgiving.  I’m taking two weeks for Christmas.  Despite COVID-19 I feel much more relaxed.

I suggest, in the new year, you look for time to take extended stretches off.  Don’t try to cram relaxing into one day or a long weekend.  Take actual breaks if you can.

Considering the Pandemic, we probably all need it anyway.

Steven Savage

• www.StevenSavage.com
• www.InformoTron.com

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

A School of Many Futures: The print copy is approved and should be ready in a few days! I’ll be updating my sites once it’s approved.

The Way With Worlds “Man Made Disasters” is outlined and I’ll start writing shortly. I’m also thinking of doing a book on Misinformation and Propaganda in worldbuilding as we oft don’t cover that and it’s timely.

“The Agile Writer’s Mindset” and “Agile Success”: The “Writer’s Mindset” is my next goal, and will be another bingewrite. “Agile Success” is still a maybe but might be a fun smaller book.

The Seventh Sanctum rewrite goes well. I’m going to do a test deploy on another site this week. If that works, the next one is a test deploy of the incomplete site. However as it’s been awhile since I made a new generator for the current site, I’m thinking of that since I’ve got at least 2-3 months until launch.

Giveaways!

• Get a free copy of “Way With Worlds Book 1” in this giveaway – https://books.bookfunnel.com/endsnov15thmultigenrefreebies/7y45g0f9x1

Steven Savage

• www.StevenSavage.com
• www.InformoTron.com