Update

Back from the Holiday – Kind of

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

Hello everyone! You haven’t seen me around for awhile this holiday season. So what’s up with me?

My girlfriend and I got sick with a cold, which I suspect was RSV as it lasted over two weeks for us and involved sinus drainage. We tested for COVID repeatedly, and the symptoms were also very different. This pretty much turned the holiday season into sitting around being miserable and occasionally do something when we were sure we weren’t infectious.

It was not fun. I lost two weeks, so now my “plan for 2023” efforts are this month, not over the holidays.

I think there’s a weird lesson in this. My girlfriend clearly got this from someone we know or work with – and the people we know are very careful. What I suspect is that since everyone is careful with COVID, they may not be thinking about other stuff. If you feel draggy but didn’t test positive for COVID, you might write off other diseases – and we’ve got that RSV/Flu/COVID “Tripledemic.”

So, please if you at all feel unwell, avoid big gatherings even if you test negative for COVID or whatever you suspect you have. We’re having a pretty ugly disease season and we’ll probably have others.

So my holiday update was nothing much except watching Drawfee, reading, gaming, resting, and being annoyed.

But I’m back at it. As I noted some weeks ago I plan to slow down my projects in 2023 so I can catch up from the wildness of the second half of 2022. But as I rest who knows what inspiration will strike . . .

Steven Savage

Steve’s Update 12/11/2022

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

Hey let’s catch up with my projects! Things are still pretty nuts here but it seems to be slowing down and I am taking time off.

So right now the goal is to catch up:

  • The next Worldbook (Disaster Response) is off to the editor today!  Expect to see it end of December/early January.
  • The Agile writing guide still behind as my pre-readers got busy.  Still gonna try to get it out end of Q1/early Qw 2023.
  • Seventh Sanctum relaunch just whenever I get to it and get uninterrupted time which has been REALLY hard.
  • The new Worldbook covers (more on that to follow)

I expect to get most of this in the next few weeks to few months, then spend most of my time experimenting and messing around while doing a few projects. I need a year to shake things up try things out like other writing styles, digital art, and more!

Steven Savage

Making Some Changes, Learning From The Year

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

You haven’t seen me post as much lately as things have been continuously insane for the last few weeks, and as you know, the last few months weren’t a picnic.  I try to learn from experience, and that’s applying to my projects for next year.

This last year I was constantly interrupted since August.  As you all know, I was also analyzing my new creative direction.  On top of that, the world continues to be insane.  So these are one of those moments to take a hard look at yourself.

I want to catch up.  Gotta clear the field!

MyfFirst goal is to catch up end of the year/into the next.  That means trying to blog again, get the feedback on that Agile book, launch the new Sanctum, and try to finish Way With Worlds’ next book (which might be interrupted as my Editor is busy).

Scale back to stay focused.  Don’t loose momentum, but slow down a bit so I don’t burn out.

I plan to do about 3 Way With Worlds books, but nothing else is solid book-wise for 2023.  Those are fun, aren’t onerous because I’ve got a system and they’re fascinating, and they’re what I do!  I figure it keeps my writing momentum without overdoing it (I overdid it bad in 2021-2022).  I can slow down more if needed, but I don’t want to just stop.

I want to get back to blogging regularly.  I’m going to start with once a week period, and might expand it.  But right now I just want regularity (seems to be a focus, doesn’t it?).

I will of course keep up the newsletter.  I like the personal touch I’ve cultivated here!

Try some side stuff to inspire me and leave myself space.  This will help me find inspiration and pace myself.

I’ve got various side things I do that don’t always end up here, like computer art, etc.  I’m going to be doing some experimental and outright strange stuff and see how it inspires me.  Who knows what will come of it?  Some of what I’m doing will be “prototypes” for later things you might just see . . .

This also means I’m going to play more.  I think I lost my sense of play the last year, and heck the whole covid mess didn’t help.  I wanted to stay active and focused, and managed to overdo both.  You have to take time for play.

Have a list of side projects but do “whatever.”  Make progress, but don’t pressure myself.

This ties into my experimenting.  I’ve got things like that unedited books of column, moving over Way With Worlds to new covers, etc.  I want to do these, but will more keep it “whenever” for now.  Of course with the way my mind works, one of them may end up in my plans, but I won’t force it.

Self-cultivation.  I want to take more time for exercise, self-improvement, vacations, etc.

I want to keep up and expand my self-improvement and self-care.  Take a few more vacations.  Continue to use the best techniques of mental and physical health.  Read more and diversely and expose myself to more media.  A mix of maintenance and self improvement.

Share what I learn.

I hope this inspires you as well.  Sit down after . . . well, everything . . . ask what you want to do and post about it in your blogs, Tumblr, etc.  Let’s share what we’re trying, we can learn from each other.

Steven Savage