Starting to write, make a game

Starting something is so hard. Like, I have a couple of book ideas, but just getting started on writing them is almost too much than I can bear. There was that one short story I wrote about a year ago, but I was only able to do that because I just sat down and wrote the whole thing. With a book it's a lot longer and so not really possible? 

With games it's a bit different. Because I can sit down and start making a game. And then improve on it, add mechanics, figure out cards, and so forth. Except, you know, with a written book you know when you're done, because it's, like, written out and people can read it. I've only finished a very small handful of games I've started. (And some, like We Three Kings, I've finished completely but they haven't been played.)

So why can I start making games but not start writing books? It's like, all I need to do is write a chapter or something. And then the next chapter. Except often I never write the next one. (For example, Paths of Zarahemla, where I wrote the first chapter, but then just outlined the next chapters instead of writing them.) 

So what can I do?

Beats me. 

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

Easter

Did you know that the word Easter has its roots in a pagan goddess of fertility and Spring? And yet this one website tries to say it has its roots in the religiousness of the Jews and Passover: "'Passover' comes from the Hebrew word 'pesach,' which means to pass or spring over. And in most European languages, the word for 'Easter' also has this root."

Like, dudes, it's okay if your religious holiday doesn't have 100% of its roots in religion. It doesn't need to. It's fine. But some people get so hung up on the pagan origins of some Christian holidays that they freak out.

Like, Christmas was created around a pagan holiday in order for it to be a big deal. "Around the time of the winter solstice, Romans observed Juvenalia, a feast honoring the children of Rome. In addition, members of the upper classes often celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun, on December 25." This huge celebration was happening, and so the church leaders decided to celebrate Christ's birth on that day to make the holiday more important.

As a result of these pagan roots, some, uh, let's just say "interesting" people on my mission were completely turned off from celebrating Christmas. So much so that they wouldn't even consider getting baptized, because our living prophets celebrated Christmas. (It was pretty funny and sad to watch as they tried to prove to us that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints celebrated Christmas, and I'm just like, yeah bro, I already know.)

The moral of this story is: an unhealthy or unnecessary fixation on one point could prevent you from embracing the fullness of the gospel. Those guys on my mission were too over-fixated on Christmas not having purely Christian roots, which led to them not joining the church.

Don't be dumb. Easter is a celebration of the resurrection of Christ, even if the roots of the name are pagan.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

Welp, I'm 32.

 On April 2, 2022, I turned 32 years old. Assuming I live to be 96 years old, 32 is a third of 96, so right now I should be having my tri-life crisis. (Kind of like a mid-life crisis, but a third of the way through instead of half.)

I made a motivational video (posted on April Fool's Day):

I am also working on an idea for a new game, again, and it's coming along. Okay, I say new game, but it's not a new game, it's an old game idea I had a long time ago and I'm dusting it off to see if I can actually make it work this time.

I do that sometimes. I have an idea for a game, and work on it for a bit, and then it stalls and I get stuck so I shelve it for a bit and work on other stuff. And when I come back to it later, it looks fresh and I'm able to look at it through fresh and new eyes. Plus by then I'll have had that much more experience. 

I've mentioned this before, but when working on a game there comes a point where you have to playtest it. A bunch. And as of right now, I don't really have that. But that's fine, because I haven't really reached that stage with my prototype anyway. So hahaha.

General Conference was this weekend, too. It's funny, with all the crazy stuff that's been happening in my life right now my birthday was/is one of the last things I've thought about.

So I'll close my post to a link to a couple of Kickstarters I've backed in the last few months, one of which I won't get anything from except for bragging rights that I helped back the most successful Kickstarter ever, and one where I will get something, a game, but in, like, a year. Because that's about how long it takes Kickstarter games to get to you.