the NPC who tells you the bridges are open

This is a very me comment:

<phoenix> hm, that reminds me. either i hit someone in the balls the other night or they were very convincing at acting like i did
<phoenix> i thought it was the latter at the time. i'm not so sure now. aww. i'd rather my first punch to the nuts be to someone who deserved it :(

Make of that what you will.

Onto a topic that harms few balls: I've signed up to getyourwordsout with a year's goal of 150k. While small relative to what some of the other members are going for, it would be a major achievement for me. I think it's within reach, too.

I know a couple of you are members or have been. How do you find the comm? Does it motivate you?

Edit: oh, hey! There's a comm of that sort on DW, inkingitout! Should I sign up for both of them? Can I count my writing towards both?

How Games Saved My Life - a tumblr collecting personal stories about videogaming as life-affirming. I know a lot of people who can relate, whether through finding meaning in JRPGs, community in MMOs, or friendship through game fanfic.

I've decided that this year I'm going to attempt Nanowrimo. It's a challenge that I'm finally in the right place to try. I've mentioned before that I've been having trouble feeling creative - having ideas, having anything in my head beyond the mundane - and I've made a few breakthroughs lately. A lot of the motion has been internal, but here's one of the big external pushes, a post from Kristin Cashore:

If "writer's block" refers to the hopeless confusion of not knowing what to write, having an "I don't wanna" feeling, and knowing that if one sits down to write, it's going to be hard and the product isn't going to be very good... well, then OF COURSE I've had that. I've had it for weeks and months at a time. That's not writers block. That's writing. Or more accurately, it's one of the possible states of writing (maybe I should write a post sometime on the multiple states of writing). Welcome to writing! Get used to all those bad feelings and don't let them make your decisions for you. Understand that the only way out of that kind of blockage is through (to paraphrase Robert Frost).

Yeah, I'm not going to lie, I feel that way and assume it's because I'm "not a writer". Technically that's true, since when I feel that way I don't write, but that's because I'm assuming how I feel is true. Realising that a good, professional writer feels like that and works through it by writing is emboldening.

I've also been putting myself in the way of streams of ideas. I recently started following ailelie, whose journal is a collection of snips from works in progress, ideas she's had, and notes on fics she'd like to read or write. I've also been reading the Changeling: The Lost core sourcebook and it's *brilliantly* inspiring - it's full of 'what if's and story seeds that spawn independent 'what if's in my head. I have no intention of taking an idea wholesale from either of these places - it's getting the juices running in my own imagination by permitting them movement, showing them what other people do. I might reread Catherine Valente too; she's one writer whose books I read and then think "you're allowed to write like this? You're allowed to use ideas like this?" And I'm collecting photos that have moods and visuals that spark something in my writing mind. Using photos as prompts works pretty well for me! Same thought with the Tarot cards, which are visually more flexible but limited in number.

Other things: I've been playing the Night Circus, a game from Failbetter Games (makers of Echo Bazaar), which has enchanting textual images. (Want to play? Sign up through me!) It's an 'advert' for a book by the same name - now that's fecking cool, a interactive fiction game specially for your debut novel.