Goals for 2025

So I did the ‘year in review’ and then forgot to come back and set out my goals. That doesn’t mean I forgot to set out my goals (I set up my progress thread on WriYe) but it’s helpful to record them here. I often add extra context (aka rambles) and that’s helpful when it comes to write the year in review – not that I want to think about the end of the year!! Honestly years disappear far faster than I am comfortable with already.

In my ‘year in review’ post I said I would come back to two topics:
– Readers
– A side project
I’m not going to address these directly but I haven’t forgotten and they will be included in this post.

So what do I want in 2025?

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WriYe 2024: Year in Review

So this was a quick year, huh?

Seriously how it got to be end of December is mystifying. I feel like it was just last month it was January. Anyway, it is the end of the year which means it’s time for a retrospective, time for the usual introspection. I bring up in tabs the review I did last year, and then the goals post (which I actually made this year). I quote myself and go over how it went.

How did it go?

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Gear as a ‘Reward’ in Warcraft

So I don’t usually comment on stuff but SoulSoBreezy posted a YouTube video about the datamined ‘18 gilded cap’ from delves for season two. He invited comments and I had thoughts.

My first argument was basically that I don’t think there should be a cap at all.

NO delve specific cap. That’s what I think. I mean I started the season running 8x delves every week to max vault. I did that for like a month on my main and then I didn’t need to anymore. I did it sometimes on an alt but truthfully I didn’t have time. For someone that just does delves? Let them play! Equality. Fun for everyone.

I raid. My guild gets Ahead of the Curve every tier. In The War Within I switched classes (from Prot Paladin —-> Prot Warrior) and tried M+ for the first ever time. I’ll only run guild groups and we don’t have a regular M+ time slot like we do for raids, so I will go weeks in between runs. Currently sitting at about 2.2k score.

I say all this to establish my ‘bonafides’ because I feel like the argument for “cap of 18” is to somehow ‘pacify’ players that raid/M+ and that feels like absolute nonsense to me.

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Twenty Years and Player Housing

Just found this in my drafts. I forgot to finish it haha.

So player housing huh? Did anyone have that on their bingo card? Honestly no I wasn’t expecting it. I figured they’d have to have an announcement of something for the 20th anniversary but I pegged my expectations a lot lower, I was thinking a new allied race. I remember reading an interview with Ion I think and he said player housing would take so much dev time, that it would only be something they’d do if they were effectively ‘sunsetting’ the game. Like you can have player housing, or you can have new raids/dungeons. I mean that was the joke when garrisons happened. They actually put a gravestone in the garrison of ‘Ray D Tear’ or something like that.

Part of me is worried. I mean are subscription numbers dwindling so much they need to pull out the ‘big guns’ like this? On the other hand content pace seems to be increasingly massively (I can’t keep up!) so it’s not like they are slowing down on patches. I don’t get the vibe of a game sliding into retirement. Maybe it was simply that they wanted something super big to celebrate 20 years and it doesn’t get any bigger than player housing!

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Lego: Horizon Adventures

So I picked up Lego Horizon Adventures yesterday because of course I did – it is Lego + Horizon!

I love the Horizon games. I have a bit more of a “love hate” feeling with the Lego games, but I always get drawn in because Lego. I think I always think I will like the game more than I actually do. I have a very fond memory of playing the first Lego Marvel Superheroes game. I still miss Marvel Heroes because there is just something soothing? I don’t know if that’s the word but I like running around places like Avengers Tower, or the X-Mansion. For Star Wars I like that I can be Hera or Sabine from Rebels because I don’t know, I feel closer to the media I love that way? It’s hard to explain.

Anyway I probably didn’t need this preamble ^^ but I just wanted to explain how I was both looking forward to the game but also expecting to be disappointed. All Lego games I have before I have dipped in and out of over long periods of time because I just feel so meh after the initial “shiny new thing” has worn off.

So what about Lego Horizon Adventures?

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Can you have a writing ‘bucket list’?

So this months WriYe blog topic is – What’s on your writing bucket list? Which one is the most achievable?

I think that’s an interesting question so first let’s define ‘bucket list’. A quick google kicks back:

“a number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime.”

Now I think there are two keywords there ‘have’ or ‘accomplish’ – this isn’t pie in the sky dreaming. It’s not thinking “man I would super love to write the screenplay for the movie and have it gross a billion dollars” (to be honest I don’t think I would actually like that, but it was the most over the top thing I could think of as an example). It’s still talking about ‘hope’ but it’s more of a realistic dream, akin to a ‘to do list’.

So what is my ‘realistic’ dream?

Well obviously making a viable career as a storyteller. I’m not taking big bucks, just enough to pay my bills. That’s all I really want. Is this achievable? – That’s the rub because there’s two conflicting parts to it. 1) I control because it’s about producing a product, 2) I don’t control because it’s whether anyone likes or buys it. I can do my best to produce a quality product, I can do everything within my power marketing-wise etc. and it could just not work out. There is no guaranteed ‘win’ button when it comes to a creative career.

How about achievable then?

Basically this is everything to do with hard work and personal persistence, and nothing to do with anything external. I never wrote a list but I am trying to imagine what writers might put on it, and things like “write a novel” or “write a million words” or “write a story that cracks triple digits” or “write a novel in a month” etc. those all seem like challenges or milestones – and I have already done them.

I think the big challenge I have left is basically “write a complete series”. I have a lot of first drafts littering the place. I have written various drafts of book two’s (I even wrote some of a book three once). I have a lot of plans and notes and outlines etc. but I have never written a complete series. This is definitely my big goal moving forward.

What else?

  • I think I might have written a holiday fanfic story but I want to write an actual novella/novel. I have some notes on it but I’ve just never fleshed it out and written it.
  • Last year I started writing a serial and I would like to finish and develop that further, right now it doesn’t feel like I can tick ‘serial’ off the list because there’s still a lot of work to be done.
  • I kinda want to write an ‘archaeological adventure’ story because I absolutely love the genre (think Nathan Drake of Uncharted or National Treasure type thing) but I have to be honest the ‘research’ requirement terrifies me. I can just imagine me getting something wrong, or using a bit too much artistic licence and getting roasted. Still I do love the genre and it’s nothing like anything I have done before, so it deserves a spot on the list.

There’s probably a LOT more stuff. Honestly I don’t imagine I will ever stop writing so hopefully I’ll have years to write dozens of stories. Anyway I’m going to leave it there for now, before I get too carried away with imagining all those potential fictional universes (remember I need to finish my current series first).

Music is Magic

October’s Blog topic for WriYe is – Your favorite writing playlist. Who’s on it?

Now I haven’t done the blog topic every month but I quite liked this one because I always have music playing. I have stopped playing music when playing video games, and instead just listening to the integrated sound track. Partly for immersion/appreciation and partly because I listened to one playlist (as it was the playlist of th moment) so much when I was doing dailies in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms (Pandaria) that I can’t hear those songs now without instantly flashing back. Which brings me to my first point!

I don’t exactly have a writing playlist

For the most part when writing I listen to the music I’m in the mood for, aka the ‘music of the moment’. The albums, artists etc. that is my focus right then. Now there are limitations to this, for instance even when I was really into the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds musical soundtrack, I never wrote to it because that would have been weird – it already had a strong association. Also sometimes the vibes are wrong. I can love the music but it’s just not what I need for how the book is feeling. Sometimes the music has to match my mood – do I need something high energy, something easy on the ears, an old favourite etc. – or do I need it to match the mood of the characters/scene?

BUT I do have some “writing associated” music

There is a Shinedown song “How did you love” which I will forever associate with my big novel series that I’m currently writing. I think the line “cause castles crumble, kingdoms fall and turn into sand” hit first but honestly the vibes of the whole thing match really well.

Another song which had a line that made my head snap round is “Fly on the Wall” by Thousand Foot Krutch = “the other night / I had a dream / it was a world full of kings and queens / but it was cold / dark as the night / we were the fire on the moonlit skies / we were divided / we were the same / and we were free but we all wore chains”. In fact for a long time the first book was called ‘Divided’ and the series ‘Divided Destiny’. That’s not so now but it still again fits very well.

Finally there was an attempt at a ‘writing music’ playlist to try and condition my mind. If that music was playing = it was time to get to work. I picked Apocalpytica because instrumental is supposed to be better for that kind of thing. The result? Well I certainly associate it with the novel I was writing at the time (a crime/time travel thing) but otherwise that experiment didn’t last.

Anyway I love music. My headphones are among my most valued possessions (I’d never survive the grocery store without them). I definitely like to have it playing when writing but just not often anything in particular.

Animation > Live Action

So I finally finished watching Star Trek: Prodigy last weekend. Don’t worry I binged it on Netflix the day it dropped (I just didn’t watch it as it streamed). I wanted to savour it because it might be all we get and that is damn sad.

Anyway! As good as Star Trek: Prodigy was (seriously watch it, you won’t regret it) this ramble is only tangentially related to it.

Right or wrong nostalgia is riding high in media right now. Some hits, some awful misses. We also need new stuff and shouldn’t just recycle existing IPs but that’s a whole other post. To keep it zoomed out, I think there is an element of human nature that likes more stories in worlds we already love. I’ve seen posts explaining why people love fanfic vs. reading new original novels for this reason. They already love the characters, they are invested. There is a warmth and certainty to it. When this is done in media it can go horribly wrong. If something is revisited and done badly there is like a taint… I’m getting off topic.

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Motivation – Myth or Muse?

August’s WriYe blog topic is well-timed because I’m really struggling right now.

I have never liked questioning motivation when I’m not doing things. I get upset and say “it’s not that I don’t want to because I really do!!!” as to me motivation means desire and actually that’s not exactly right.

Motivation isn’t bribery either. That’s another thing. It’s saying “I have to do X and if I do it, then I can have a little treat”. It’s not punishment – “I have to do X and if I don’t do it, then Y bad thing happens”. These are external pressures that can aid motivation but it’s not motivation itself.

Once upon a time I think I would have talked about “pulling the rabbit out of the hat” here. Because I used to push it sometimes, and then that external ‘motivation’ pressure meant I then got the task done – until I didn’t. Until that pressure wasn’t enough, and I failed. The thing did not get done and I had to face the consequences (punishment). This is why I don’t think bribery/punishment is much of a factor for motivation. It can be like the ‘cherry on top’ but the task was likely to happen anyway. It’s like the 5%, maybe occasionally it tips the scale and makes a difference but isn’t a big thing.

So what am I saying?

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WriYe: Let’s Talk Distractions

I’m not doing all of the blog topics, only the ones in which I feel I have something to say. The topic this month though is close to my heart – “Define your biggest distraction and how you deal with it.”

My focus is actually not as terrible as it used to be. Really that’s what distraction is to me – lack of focus. I can’t say a specific person, situation or circumstance is a distraction because it doesn’t matter what it is. I either focus – or I don’t. If I’m not focusing then my attention could be caught by watching paint dry (as an extreme example). It’s never what calls me as the ‘distraction’ because if it wasn’t that, it would be something else. The fault lies with me.

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