Why am I so Bad at Publishing Articles Consistently?

Now I really have a good reason for it this time: in 3 weeks, I moved, produced 2 new (and 2 revised) books for, and attended, a (mini) Comic Con. So I’m late, I get it, and I really shouldn’t be, but it seems that of the things I’m late for, doing my articles on Friday are the one I’m most consistently late at (not counting videos, and editorial cartoons).

I have wondered why this was the case in the past. And I really don’t know. I’m (for the most part) on time with most of my reviews and especially my comics. It’s just something about the “medium” form writing that makes me late.

It might be a lack of inspiration, or ideas, rather. What in the world do people read on the internet these days? And it has that Blogging problem of most people’s lives not actually being interesting enough to maintain a Blog. It’s also the fact that I started them as a comedy thing, and longer-form comedy is not how my brain works.

That’s why I’ve mainly switched away from comedy. Doing articles on things I’m interested in, or things that are happening right now, is just easier.

They are also posted on a traditionally weekend day, Saturday, (or now Friday). And while almost all of the rest of my life has completely forgotten about any artificial day/week structure, maybe it’s still there in that sense for this article writing. And while for anything else I can wait until the night it’s scheduled for to do it. For Blogging, that really doesn’t work. So waiting until the last minute on a Thursday night/Friday morning might be a terrible scheduling idea.

It’s all still excuses. I really just need to do it, which I have been making a new routine to do more easily. I know that it is something I can do since I usually can catch up. It just needs to be done in a more organized fashion. So I’ve been reading about time management, and I’ll get back to this topic in a few months and see if it’s worth another post about my progress.

Lessons From Board Games – Xiangqi and Intimidation

Xiangqi is a hard game to get to the table, for various reasons. I could really have picked a lot of games here. But the simplicity and abstract character of Chinese Chess allow me to easily make points about what makes it difficult to get people interested in playing games.

Traditional Xiangqi Set

Traditional Xiangqi Set

Theme – While one could say Xiangqi has a war theme, it is fairly clear once one learns about the game that it is essentially theme-less. The theme is conflict in a general sense, and the pieces don’t really behave in ways their names would suggest. This is a problem as the theme of the game both serves to get people excited about playing it, and also to give them a grounding in reality for when they might not understand why certain game mechanisms are the way they are. Essentially the game is more fun after you’ve played it a few times. But why would you play it if it doesn’t seem interesting?

Iconography – To many people icons symbolize complexity. Games like Monopoly have words written on them. And when the game mechanisms require too many words to fit on the pieces and are replaced by pictures, people don’t want to deal with them. And when the icons are things the have to learn, like a foreign language in Xiganqi’s case, they tend to tune out and look for other things to do.

Strategy – Abstract games and European style games have a lot of depth and strategy, and while hardcore gamers (of both the video and board varieties) relish strategy, regular people tend to know when experienced people will beat them, and don’t want to commit the time to learning something complex that they will lose all of the time at and feel bad afterwards. Glancing at Xiangqi will make it seem simple, but really looking at it will reveal complexities people just don’t want to deal with.

Time Investment – Chess has a reputation for being a long game (an undeserved one in my opinion), and Chinese Chess comes with this baggage as well. People don’t want to commit much time to something new, especially if it has the previously mentioned problems.

Player Count – People don’t like things that require very specific numbers of people because they want to be inclusive and to socialize. Two player games are hard to play for this reason, but so would be games that only play five, or only play eight.

Really, Xiangqi is just a bad game to try to get people to play. If they already like chess and want to learn new things, teaching them might be fun, but playing with people who already know the game is best, either from their heritage, or from discovering it online. People need to be eased into games, especially abstract games. That’s why “gateway” games like Ticket to Ride, Love Letter, and Catan are so popular. People need to be introduced to games that you as the gamer might not like as much but can still enjoy. Starter abstracts like Gobblet and Blokus should be used before introducing some one to Chess and Xiangqi. It’s important that people know they like games before letting these ones intimidate them. And more people gaming means more fun for you.

Table Topics Family 25 #49-50

QUESTIONS

1. When was it most difficult to persevere when you wanted to quit?

2. If you were offered one million dollars could you get straight A’s next year?

ANSWERS By: Austin Smith

1. I might say right now, I’ve never really wanted to quit anything I was doing, and  now isn’t an exception, but the lack of things moving forward in what I’m doing makes it tempting to consider “regular” work.

2. I am no longer in school, but when I was I got straight A’s on the promise of a dollar for ever “100” and 5 for every A on my report card, so I’d say I could do it. (I could’ve done better, but that was the only way my parents could keep me from being so bored I just didn’t do any work)

Speak Your Mind 135 #671-675

QUESTIONS

1. Have you ever run a stop sign by accident?

2. Do you have a hard time taking tests?

3. How many years have you been going to school?

4. Do you think 5 year olds should have perms in their hair?

5. Do you like frozen snicker bars?

ANSWERS By: Austin Smith

1. Yes, well, a yield sign, on a motor scooter (cycle), nearly got hit by a car.

2. Not at all.

3. I went to school for twelve years before graduating.

4. Depends on what their parents think.

5. No, I think they are to hard to consume.

 

If You Can’t Write… Don’t.

Articles are hard, just sayin’ that. Depending on the definition of article being used they can be even harder. What exactly makes an article is really up to either the author or the publisher. The same thing applies to when a short story becomes a novella, a novella a novel, and so on. But other than that they’re just plain hard. Writing is hard, every writer is the first to admit that (every high school “artist” wouldn’t in a “million” years). And contrary to popular belief, writing is becoming harder. While anyone can now become a writer, attention spans are becoming shorter. People who “write” write very little. Bloggers even have to force themselves to come up with interesting content. At least the interesting ones do. How many times have you come across a dead Blog with a promising start, that just disappeared. Or, more realistically, just sucked and piddled out. Everyone has a Blog, everyone posts words, or videos or something on the internet. However most just wither and die. Most “writers” don’t have the attention span or the drive to continue writing. Even people who are attentive to their Blogs fail because they can’t push themselves to continue creating content. Eventually preconceived ideas drain and nothing new comes. It seems cliche now to say that every writer finds it hard to write and most have to force themselves to start, but it is true. The difference is that most people say that to encourage people to write. I am not trying to encourage you: writing is hard, really hard and time consuming. But I don’t mean to discourage you either, if you write well then write, if you can force yourself to. Just because writing on a computer is easy, doesn’t mean you have great ideas, just because you have great ideas, doesn’t mean you can force yourself to write them, or that when you do it will be good.

Most writers that continually create content write as either their job or as a major hobby, and it works like any other hobby. Just like how the movie buff spends most of his free time watching movies, or that model collector you know spends his putting together little plastic pieces and painting them, writers spend theirs writing. It takes time and dedication to do, and if that is not applied, it is crap. And as much as the writer in me wants to say it’s hard because you’re continually being attacked by dinosaurs, going to parties, flying pigs around Mount Everest, and communing with the soul of William S. Burroughs, that is simply not the case. Any writer able to continue creating deserves commendation, but those unable to should not be concerned. The ubiquity of the Blog is unnecessary. Not everyone needs to be a writer. There are other ways a voice can be heard, or maybe it won’t even be your voice but your actions. Writers may be able to write more and arguably better then you, but you can do better than them at something. And if you are a writer continue to be so, the amount of dead Blogs grows every day from forgotten passwords to lack of content, don’t let yours fall into the same hole. But my intent is mainly a caution: do what you do, and not what the internet does.