Why stepping outside routine is really, really important to your creativity You may remember that back in February, I started a personal curriculum in game design. When I last checked in, I had landed on a rough framework for a two-player game that would produce a created artifact as its output. It was a promising skeleton, but as I got into testing it, the spark just wasn't there and I shelved it. It was easy for me to justify setting it down since April is always hectic, and there was a...

Why starting messy is the only way to make something real While it’s been a little quiet around here lately (it’s overlapping “Tax Season,” “Con Season,” and “I-kinda-just-want-to-goof-around-until-spring-actually-shows-up” season), I’ve still been busy working through my one-month personal curriculum in TTRPG design, now with a bonus month! My goal for the class was to create an 8-page solo ’zine with original artwork. I’m not finished yet, but I’ve reached a point where I have enough to...

I love learning and I love books, but I was never the best student back when education was free ( sorry Mr. Bryant ). That hasn’t stopped my curiosity, though. Over the years it’s taken me down a dizzying array of topics. I mean, I’m basically a ferret down a rabbit hole and some of those rabbit holes go deep . They twist around, double back and then pop up in completely different fields. It’s fun, but also kind of chaotic and unfocused and unfortunately, a lot of what I learn slips out of...