I really hoped to go to GenCon this year. The annual event takes place this year from August 4-7 in Indianapolis. I hoped to go in order to get connected to some new publishing houses and really start pushing hard forward in this RPG writing career. I need to do this, because getting locked in on one game is dangerous, especially if that game is potentially going in a direction I am not completely right with. When it goes the other direction the choices are to continue finding your voice in that new place, move on, adapt to be part of the voice of that new direction, or fight hard in the other direction and try to force the ship back towards the course you feel is right. I’m not doing that last one. I think I am moving in the direction of finding my voice in the new, but all of it leaves me feeling like I need to also find my voice somewhere new. Moreover, I need to expand.
I’ve been writing shadowrun for Twenty years. That is a remarkable long time to be doing anything at one level and not truly growing from it. I believe writing is about growth, and while I’ve grown the amount of writing I have done in this genre, I have failed to elevate the genre in any significant way. Still, I’m enjoying putting out really good stuff (when I put out really good stuff) and I find myself feeling grumpy when I skip a book and it changes how things work in the game for a decade.
All of this is to say that I (again) need balance. In this case it means growing outside of the boundaries of the game while learning to cement my own natural voice inside of it. This is key. It is good to have your own projects and I have a bunch of those floating around in my head (and occasionally on paper). It is time to dig some of that out and get to work.
But first: More Shadowrun.