CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

December has been a busy month. I’ve applied the lessons learned in my Back-on-Track Challenge pass-fail . Pass, because I’m back on track; fail because I learned I was being unrealistic in what I thought I could achieve, and realised I had to change what getting back on track meant. Pass, because I can actually achieve what I’ve set as publishing goals for next year. And, yes, it bothers me that I didn’t succeed in the goal as set, but I’ll get over it—too much else to get done to wallow in it. And speaking of December, and making changes, and setting goals for next year, it’s important to try and plan ahead. I’ve cut my study load by one subject, since I can’t finish my degree any faster by doing the extra one, and I could better use the time elsewhere. I also rejigged my publishing schedule so I am taking into account the fact I am a full-time student and I need to improve my grades by about 10 per cent, in order to keep a future option open. I also had to factor in the fact ...

I don't think I've written anything for an RPG since I was published by Raging Swan Press, a while back, and I haven't had time to play, for a while, either. I've been focusing a lot on my other writing, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to where to start here. So I'm going to ask you guys: What are you interested in seeing in this space? What's your favourite system? Fireborn? DCC? Open Licence stuff? D&D 5th? What would be useful to you? Monsters? Locations? A Mini-Adventure? Would you like to see different terrain types explored? Different monster ecologies? Different genres? Let me know. I'll start thinking about the next entry, but it would be more fun to write if I knew there was someone interested.

Well, I was wondering what I was going to challenge myself with next, and this one has been sitting at the back of my mind, so when Dean Wesley Smith mentioned this in his third chapter of Heinlein’s Rules book, I decided it would be a good way to push myself into what I was contemplating with, anyway: to write one short story a week, and submit it, until I needed it to fill a hole in my publishing schedule. Also, until the semester starts next year, I want to try and write a Carlie chapter book each week. That should keep me fairly busy, as I have to do the publishing side of things as well. So: The Story-A-Week Challenge The Challenge: Write and submit one short story each week for the next twelve months.   Story-A-Week Start Date: December 13, 2015.   Story-A-Week End Date: December 17, 2016.   Short Story Addendum: This does not include flash fiction. Each short story must be between 1,500 and 12,000 words long. The Holiday Extension Chall...

Way back in August, I started the Back-on-Track Challenge whose sole aim was to be back on track with my publishing and writing by the end of the year. Along the way, I learned a lot, about the time I had, the time it took to do things, and the demands of the things I had committed to, the priorities of what I’d committed to, and the challenge checkpoints changed—as they were always bound to do. Did I fail? If you look at the checkpoints I didn’t hit, then, yes, I failed, but, if you look at the overall goal, then, no, I didn’t fail. And I succeeded in ways I didn’t know existed. Successes: Discovering the real demands of my activities: in other words, I had no idea of the real time and effort my studies would require, or what my family would need, or even the real time it would take for me to design covers or write the poems, short stories, flash fiction and other things I was writing. I also discovered exactly how tricky some of those short-piece collections can be ...

You've probably seen this hanging around on my progress reports from this week, but here, officially, is the cover for the third book in the Otherworld Adventure seried: Rocky and the Great Teddybear Rescue : Rocky wakes up from stasis, and realises he’s nearly home, but he hasn’t been awake for five minutes when things start to go wrong. His little sister’s teddybear is missing, and it’s not the only thing. A cat has gone missing from the animals’ deck. And then his sister goes missing, too. Can Rocky find her, and maybe Teddy and the cat, before the ship arrives and all three are lost forever? Rocky and the Great Teddybear Rescue is the third book in the Otherworld Adventures series, which is set on Rocky’s journey to the new world, where his parents will farm alongside the aliens who have asked them to help.