|
February 2008
February is an anniversary month for me. This month marks 28 years since my wife and I exchanged our vows and began forging a life together, and this year we'll celebrate that milestone by taking an ocean cruise the week following our anniversary. This month also marks six years since this column first appeared in Collector Times, and a lot has changed since 2002.
My focus when this column began was to chronicle my foray into gaming as I started to learn the ins and outs of RPG's and other such specialized games. I delved into a number of different things, from the typical D&D to collectible miniature games, to on-line games, card games such as Munchkin, and others. I once thought to someday run a game as the GM, but the closest I have done to that is staffing in an on-line game. To be honest, that hasn't left me with much desire to run any other kind of game, particularly not having heard too many stories from others who have.
Over the course of the past six years, I've written 72 Newbie columns, 26 chapters of "Cardan's Pod", a few short stories, some movie reviews, a handful of opinion pieces, a smattering of interviews, and even posted two or three pieces of artwork (that doesn't include what I've done that hasn't appeared in CT). I've gone to Comic-Con as a representative of CT, and as a result ended up with my "15 minutes of Fame" on the "Ringers: Lord of the Fans (Special Edition)" DVD. I've met a lot of great people, learned a lot of great things, and generally had a blast doing it.
Some people might wonder why I "give" my writing away like this (others would suggest it's because no one would buy it anyway, and they may be right), and the answer is in the previous paragraph. Writing for an e-zine like CT pays in dividends that you can't take to the bank, but are valuable none the less. I've enjoyed writing "Confessions of a Newbie" for the past six years, and I don't regret for a moment taking this plunge.
That said, I think it's time to retire this column. It started as a gaming column and has since evolved (devolved?) into a rather eclectic assortment of topics as the whim suits me. Over the next month, I'm going to decide on a new title for my column that better reflects the direction my writing is heading (I see the "Hell in a Handbasket" column title is available), and hopefully by March will have settled on the new by-line.
What else does 2008 hold in store? Another visit to Comic-Con, possibly holding a published copy of "Cardan's Pod" in my grubby mitts, seeing just how widespread I can get my "Resurrect Theodore Roosevelt by Popular Demand" campaign, a different style of story in work, and the adventure of a lifetime contained in each new day.
I might even finally get my webpage set up. I've only had the domain name registered for like three years now.
|