Carpe Blogiem: 2018 – A Year In Review

Here are how things went for me in 2018:

The Good (What I did well or that went well)

• I got contracted for a small item (which was published in GURPS Monster Hunters 6: Holy Hunters and in Pyramid #3/122: All Good Things). That was novel and very cool
• I was among the privileged few to participate in the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game as an author. As I’ve noted elsewhere, the other list of names included Phil Masters, David L. Pulver, Matt Riggsby, and Peter Dell’Orto. That is heady company. Dungeon Fantasy Traps is among some of my finest work to date.
• I was published in Pyramid a bit this year: #3/111: Combat II (5/5 stars), #3/112: Action II (5/5 stars), #3/113: Dungeon Fantasies (5/5 stars), #3/114: Minds Over Magic (5/5 stars), #3/118: Dungeon Trips (5/5 stars), #3/120: Alternate GURPS (5/5 stars), and #3/121: Travels and Tribulations (5/5 stars). I was published twice in #3/116: Locations (5/5 stars) and #3/122: All Good Things (5/5 stars). As of this year – and since Pyramid is no defunct – I have been published 66 times in Pyramid or about 54% of its total issues for it’s third iteration. That’s not too bad.
• I played the guessing game and just wrote what I could on the 2018 Wishlist.
• I outlined and contracted a new GURPS volume. Codenamed “SNO-51” this is something gamers have asked for repeatedly, but has not yet been done for GURPS.
• My Patreon continues at a pace. To all my patrons: Thank you. You keep the lights on figuratively and metaphorically. With Pyramid gone I will be pouring even more into Patreon this coming year. I’ll need to move some goals around (I know, I know, again) because Pyramid went kaput.
• I did some indexing work for Doug – that turned out pretty good, but I need to learn InDesign to do the heavy lifting and that’s a worthy goal.
• I continue my journey to the dark side of grammar usage. Beth has drilled in some of the more basic stuff into my skull now and I rarely miss commas or their proper usage. Next up this year more sentence diagramming, dialogue, and more.
• Home life is still pretty decent, I wish there were more that could be done, but we have a roof over our heads, bills are paid, and food on the table. That’s not something you can complain about.
• Both cats have acclimated to one another and Aurora remains obstinately affectionate – it’s funny to see a 6 lb. cat hold down a 14 lb. cat as she cleans him.
• I outlined a fiction series I want to put out in 2019. I have lined up a layout artist, an editor, some beta readers, and someone to help me not end up like Charlie Day and his infamous board of conspiracy. I just need a cover artist now. We’ll see how the search goes.
• My mother’s health has greatly improved and she’s back home (where she belongs!) I have missed her greatly and I know she’s happy to be back as much as I’m happy she is back.

The Bad (What I could have done better or had no control over)

• Pyramid magazine died. I intend to write a blog post about my journey with this magazine (and this company), but it might be a while. I’m honestly still trying to get my head wrapped around it.
• I still didn’t publish anything in the fiction market in 2018. 2019 I am. It’s just happening.
• I kept off the Steve Jackson Games forums most of the year – too much stuff to do and not enough free time.
• I ended my Dungeon Fantasy campaign, started a psi-based one (Halcyon), and ended that to start back with The Chronicles of Ceteri. This year, I’m not jumping campaigns like that. I’m going to do my damnedest to make sure that I stay on message for the campaign. My jumping around cost me a few players and may cost me another by the end of it. Not much I can do there.
• Posting remained sparse in the early part of the year and at the very end after I got sick. I want to get back to 3+ posts a week. That’s the plan anyways.
• Mental Health: It has been another year of suck and my sanity is suffering for it. Lots of night terrors, lots of anxiety, lots of…well…just lots. BUT, it’s getting better.
• Physical Health: My weight continues to flux very badly. My A1C remains steady, but needs to drop more. Overall. I’ve been ok. I got very ill mid-December (I should have gone to the ER and maybe been hospitalized according to my doctor); ended up at the doctor’s office – had a total of five different infections and ended up with a huge amount of meds I needed to buy (which some of you lovely people helped me purchase, thank you again).

The Ugly (I don’t know how to categorize this or too early to tell)