Thursday, November 24, 2011

Cleaning My Plate

[do you think Cheers was as popular as it was, simply for its kick-ass theme song? Sorry for the digression...just distracted by a commercial]

Hope everyone's Thanksgiving Day weekend is off to a wonderful start! I, of course, am in the midst of watching the Lions-Packers. This year, for a change, we have almost nothing to do...my mom is hosting and doing all the cooking, and we'll be heading over to her house sometime after the baby's morning nap. Until then, it's just me, my coffee, and a hard-fought football game on HD.

Man, I am a lazy bum.

Of course, I've had plenty to do with the sick family the last 10 days or so. The baby's been better for awhile, but it turns out the wife developed bronchitis...something I myself have had a tendency to pick up annually the last several years (for me, I chalk it up to a legacy of being an ex-chain smoker...for my wife, it's more an issue of over-work and inability to relax).

But she's got some meds now and is on the mend

[ope! My boy has just joined me...guess he hasn't gone down for his nap yet after all. Ah, well...I'll be picking up some breakfast sausage at half-time anyway]

[Doh...Megatron! You have GOT to make that catch! Oh, well]

ANYway...

Needless to say, my life is hectic enough that I've been unable to do much writing at home this month (duh...look at my blog count for the month!), and I've been relegated to catching what snatches of time I can at work. The good news? I've got quite a bit written on the new game...and I'm loving it so far.

HOWEVER, I realize I have a bunch of other projects that have been sidelined by my constant distractions...like my B/X supplement book that I've got artists already working on (and have had for a few months). And that's not cool of me to leave people hanging like that.

So I'm cleaning my plate.

[sorry...halftime...just a minute]

Yes, "cleaning my plate:" I'm getting all my half-finished products DONE (and with a quickness) so that I can give my total focus to development of the new game/system.

So, yesterday (Wednesday), I spent all my free time finishing up the B/X supplement. And I got it done. At this point, the writing is complete and put together...it simply needs the artwork added and then the final formatting and table of contents added. It didn't take more than a couple-five hours, but it's something I've been putting off (again, duh). My hope is to have it ready for printing/release no later than January (as I told my artists, I'd prefer to release it before the end of the year, but I don't think my holiday travel schedule will allow that to happen). Fortunately, a lot of the challenges/issues I had with my first book (the B/X Companion) got worked out during the process of that one...it was quite the learning experience. I am optimistic that this one will go smoother.

All right, that's the update...a new B/X book will be shortly in the offering from Running Beagle Games. I think I'll have enough artwork with the pieces already being contributed, but if anyone else is interested in submitting something for the book, drop me an email. Folks who contribute at least three pieces get a free print copy.

Have a great Thanksgiving folks! A big thanks to all my readers for the support over the years...you people are the greatest!
: )

3 comments: