A Few Covid Notes

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

As the Omicron variant crosses the world, here’s some resources that have helped me. Note I am not an expert, these are things I dug up listening to far more experienced people. Please double-check me of course and provide feedback, I hope these can be a starting point.

Vaccinate and Boost

Well, that’s a given. Vaccinate. Boost. Check with your doctor. I figure I don’t have to say it, but I said it.

Masks

Oooh, I have opinions on this – and reviews!

Livinguard Masks – I discovered these via Andy Slavitt. They’re good masks designed for reuse for a few months, and I and my GF have been using them for a long time. I recommend the safety mask.

If you use “regular” masks I recommend mask braces – to help hold them tighter. Read this article from Popular Mechanics, which tells you how to make your own as well. I’m going to give Fix The Mask a shot for others, because I’m trying . . .

Elastomeric Masks

I decided to try Elastomeric Masks, masks with an elastic fit and changeable filters as some medical people I follow mentioned them. I’ve been hearing good things, though they need cleaning and filter changes depending on use. As I also live in an area with forest fires, I figure having a system of swappable filters is useful.

Just remember you want the right filters.

I’ve tried the GVS SPR644 Elipse with P100 filters and like it. This is a serious filter that makes you look like Darth Vader joined Daft Punk. It’s got a nice seal and is breathable, though you can feel the difference from regular masks. A warning is that it is plastic, so you can break it – I snapped a strap hook, but to the company’s credit, I was able to fix it with krazy glue and it works fine.

I recently heard of Castle Grade masks, and they sound promising. You have to change filters more often, but also you don’t have the giant GVS mask. Again, you might not have the same concerns I have.

Ventilation and Filtration

First, if you have people over or have concerns about your home do research on ventilation. As I had to have people come to do work, I read up on flushing air, etc. for my particular place. The problem is that weather, placement, type of central air/heat, windows, etc. affect the best way to flush the air – so you want to read up. For instance in my place a mix of windows, powerful fans, mild weather, and a bit of central air let us cycle out the air.

I’ve been reading up on Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, simple air purifiers you can even rig up at home. out of fans and MERV 13 filters. Wired had a great article on them. If you are concerned about air purification, its a good read.

I Hope This Helps

So there’s some resources I found. Hope it helps.

Steven Savage

Steve’s Book Roundup 12/1/2021

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I write a lot and have quite a few books.  So now and then I post a roundup of them for interested parties!

The Way With Worlds Series

This is what I do a lot of – writing on worldbuilding!.  You can find all of my books at www.WayWithWorlds.com! 

The core books of the series will help you get going:

  • Way With Worlds Book 1 – Discusses my philosophy of worldbuilding and world creation essentials.
  • Way With Worlds Book 2 – Looks at common subjects of worldbuilding like conflicts in your setting, skills for being a good worldbuilder, and more!

When you need to focus on specifics of worldbuilding, I have an ever-growing series of deep dive minibooks.  Each provides fifty questions with additional exercises and ideas to help you focus on one subject important to you!

The current subjects are:

Fiction

Take a typical fantasy world – and then let it evolve into the information age.  Welcome to the solar system of Avenoth, where gods use email, demons were banished to a distant planet, and science and sorcery fling people across worlds . . .

  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet – Two future teachers of Techno-Magical safety find trying to earn their credentials hunting odd artifacts backfires when they’re hired to put some back . . . on a planet where gods go to die!
  • A School of Many Futures – The crew is back, and finding having secrets and keeping them isn’t the same thing! Unfortunately they also find “very normal” is a cover for “anything but” . . .

Creativity

I’m the kind of person that studies how creativity works, and I’ve distilled my findings and advice into some helpful books!

  • The Power Of Creative Paths – Explores my theories of the Five Types of Creativity, how you can find yours, and how to expand your creative skills to use more Types of Creativity.
  • Agile Creativity – I take the Agile Manifesto, a guide to adaptable project development, and show how it can help creatives improve their work – and stay organized without being overwhelmed.
  • The Art of The Brainstorm Book – A quick guide to using a simple notebook to improve brainstorming, reduce the stress around having new ideas, and prioritize your latest inspirations.
  • Chance’s Muse – I take everything I learned at Seventh Sanctum and my love of random tables and charts and detail how randomness can produce inspiration!

Careers

Being a “Professional Geek” is what I do – I turned my interests into a career and have been doing my best to turn that into advice.  The following books are my ways of helping out!

  • Fan To Pro – My “flagship” book on using hobbies and interests in your career – and not always in ways you’d think!
  • Skill Portability – A quick guide to how to move skills from one job to another, or even from hobbies into your job.  Try out my “DARE” system and asses your abilities!
  • Resume Plus – A guide to jazzing up a resume, sometimes to extreme measures.
  • Epic Resume Go! – Make a resume a creative act so it’s both better and more enjoyable to make!
  • Quest For Employment – Where I distill down my job search experiences and ways to take the search further.
  • Cosplay, Costuming, and Careers – An interview-driven book about ways to leverage cosplay interests to help your career!
  • Fanart, Fanartists, and Careers – My second interview-driven book about ways to leverage fanart to help your career!
  • Convention Career Connection – A system for coming up with good career panels for conventions!

Culture

  • Her Eternal Moonlight – My co-author Bonnie and I analyze the impact Sailor Moon had on women’s lives when it first came to North America.  Based on a series of interviews, there’s a lot to analyze here, and surprisingly consistent themes . . .

My Sites

Good News – You’re Not Worth It!

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

Many creatives spend time bashing themselves. They’re angry they’re not doing more work. They’re enraged their writing isn’t better. They worry they’re not making enough at their supposedly “fun” calling.

No one can be crueler to a creative than themselves. Creatives know their weaknesses and have the imagination to find new ways to harangue themselves.

I’d lay odds you do the same thing to yourself.

Normally I’d advise compassion for oneself, in the vein of Pema Chödrön and similar philosophers. Much to my surprise, such self-care doesn’t fly with everyone. Some people invested in hating themselves as a twisted version of responsibility.

To those trapped in self-loathing creativity, let me suggest another tact.  You’re not worth hating.

Are you blessed with a great destiny that you’ve failed to reach? If you were failing your great mandated fate, maybe you’d be worth some anger. But you’re just a person, so why waste time hating on yourself?

Are you a person of fantastic talent unmatched in history, a skill that will define the future of all humanity? It’d be nice, but in reality, you’re someone trying to do the best they can and trying to grow. So if you fail now and then, it’s just being human, so why burn cycles despising yourself?

Are your works epics that the world has to experience lest it is forever impoverished? Probably not; you’re just another person trying to do what they like and contribute. Epics are declared such in hindsight. So since you’re not supposed to make The Greatest Work Ever, are you worth your own contempt?

Guess what?  You’re not worth your own hatred! You’re just a person, just like me, your friends, and so on. You’re not worth the time you take to be angry at yourself.

So let’s all go forward, we legion of screw-ups, weirdoes, and flawed humans. Let’s stop wasting time hating ourselves. If anything, wasting time hating ourselves is another one of our mistakes.

Maybe then we can find some compassion for ourselves when we’re not busy being disappointed in who we are.

Steven Savage