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The State of Chatty: Fall 2009 Edition

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Disclamer, this is not a RPG post, at least not directly.  I’m going to update readers about the state of my project and my general health.

I usually always write these posts when I’m in the throes of some sort of crisis or from the depths of depression.  Well I’m happy to tell you that I’m actually doing this one while feeling quite good!

As long time readers know, I was diagnosed with Type 2 Bipolar Disorder last winter.  At the time, I was slowly recovering from a severe depression triggered by a hypomanic phase that started during Gen Con 2008.  I started treatment for my condition  in spring and I have now fully recovered.  I’m happy to report that like most illnesses, depression and bipolar disorder can be alleviated and treated.

The reason I started with this piece of very personal history is because, during my darker periods last winter, I made a plan to go after what I wanted in life…. and what I want is to write and teach.  The plan was really simple and long term.

The short version of it was:

  • Get Better before taking any life changing decisions
  • Explore how I could work part time to feed my family and get more time to write
  • Pitch writing ideas to create a predictable revenue pipeline
  • Write a novel

And that’s what I’ve been doing, planning things slowly, deliberately.

Well this week, results have started to show, in spades!

After spending the last few weeks brainstorming D&D 4e adventure ideas for publication, I whittled down my list of 30 ideas down to 6 which I pre-pitched to Wizards of the Coast.  Out of the 6, five were flagged as ‘go ahead and make a proposal for Dungeon/Dragon magazine’.

That was a great start for the week.

Then later, I got a call from a local university that has these 1-3 days corporate training seminars on Quality, Management and Software use.  They hired me to create and teach three courses I pitched to them a few weeks back (Starting a Blog, Using Social Networks, Preparing for an Audit).  The courses would be part of next winter’s session.

They, then called me back the same day, asking me if I could teach a class (Time Management and MS-Outlook) next week (!!!).  Trial by fire anyone?

Oh and that gig pays 3X my current hourly salary.  Irregular but very lucrative!

And just so you know, I love teaching… I would do it for free… and I have.

So this was already an awesome week in and of itself when my friend Yax of Dungeonmastering.com sent me a message asking me if I’d like to collaborate on one of his Expy Games project for next winter.

Man, when it rains, it pours!

I slept on it and accepted.  I’ll let you know how it turns out.  While I’m on the subject, I also want to mention that for all these projects, I intend to collaborate with many friends, chief of which will be Dave:The Game, whose general awesomeness needs no more introduction.  Dave and I will be partners in many upcoming projects… unless we get into a huge feud about creative differences and geek substance abuse (like Mountain Dew and Coffee Crisps).

🙂

Now I was ready to call it a night on a generally incredible week when, right before I left for my Star Wars game yesterday, I got this little piece of Twitter:

@wilw: @ChattyDM Have I told you how much I love your blog? If I haven’t: I love your blog.

(Brain explosion)

For those not on Twitter, @wilw is actor/writer Wil Wheaton who many of us have enjoyed listening to during the Penny Arcade/PVP D&D podcasts (and that Sci-Fi show with the bald starship captain).

Oh crap! I hope he doesn’t dig up my first trope post… 🙂

I often say (in half-jest) that one of the secret goals of each blogger is to get the world  to acknowledge they exist.  Well, I can say that I hit a geek jackpot yesterday!  Thanks Wil!  🙂

All right all this means that I now have to produce 5 D&D adventure outlines before year’s end and I need to create a 16 hour course about Outlook and Time Management before the end of the week. Given that I still work full time, this means that I need to cut somewhere and that’s going to be the blog, at least for this week while I prepare the course and write the first outline.

I’m also going to skip last game’s report, not much happened last Friday that can’t be recounted in 2 weeks when the final confrontation against the campaign bad guy will be done.

So I’ll see you all later this week, or next week.  Wish me luck!

Comments

  2. Good Luck! Of course we all know you are going to do an awesome job at each of these tasks. That goes without saying. Also, if you ever needed input, I think I can say that your legions of fans would all be more than willing to help however we can.

  5. with the amount of projects you have on the go, asking you to teach a class about time management is either genius or crazy 🙂

  6. Thanks for sharing such awesome news, I’m personally happy for you. Thirty adventure ideas??? I’m happy when I get one new adventure idea. 😉 Good luck.

  7. Kick ass.
    I’m genuinely thrilled for you. The teaching gig, while the least RPG-oriented, is such a tremendous game-changer.
    And if it seems to be pouring, take some pcitures to remind yourself during the next dry spell.

    Today’s quote for you…
    “Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.”
    – Arthur Schopenhauer
    .-= LordVreeg´s last blog ..edited The Upper Hill-Steel Isle =-.

  8. Wow! Thanks so much!

    @Greg: You can be sure that I’m reading the coursebook VERY attentively!

    @Kevin: Some people have called me an idea furnace. Only now, I get to work on the ideas instead of discarding them.

    @LordVreeg: The teaching gig.. if it becomes more frequent will, as you say, define the whole game plan. That’s why I want to ace it. Plus, in terms of what we all ‘are’ deep down, I’m as much a teacher as I’m a writer.

    Great quote… now let me go and get my crossbow 🙂

  11. some people have called me an idea furnace.

    Does that mean you burn ideas to produce heat, or do you burn something else to produce ideas? 😉

  12. Congratulations Chatty. You’re living the geek dream.

    In fact, this all brings to mind a certain hobbit that had to travel through the stench of mordor and the fires of mount doom before emerging into sunshine and travelling happily off into the west.

    I look forward to seeing those Dungeon adventures. WotC is obviously hoping to harness your popularity 😀
    .-= Colmarr´s last blog ..SoW: The Summons =-.

  15. Congrats and have fun! You’ve earned it.

    Awesome to see the love from Wheaton. There’s a geek with Tao.

  16. Congratulations! Great to hear things are going you’re way. I hope you get much satisfaction out of tackling all of these challenges – enjoy them!

  18. Thanks for sharing with us, your fans, Chatty! Glad to hear you’re having the time of your life. Don’t forgot to blog every now and then, ok?

  20. Thansk for the kind words everyone. I’m truly touched. I’ll be back soon.. I just need to chop a few trees first.

    @Eric: An ideas furnace is where you dump inspirations, bad Sci Fi shows, comic book readings and lots of caffeine. The resulting inferno releases heat that are infused with ideas! Everyone knows that! 🙂

  21. Holy cow and other divine mammalian species! I vanish for awhile and come back to find you’ve got all kinds of amazing things going. Best of luck and I hope you have some of the manic still in you ’cause it sounds like you’ll be doing your one legged man impression. 🙂

  22. Outstanding work, Phil, all around. I hope your next week is as fruitful as the first. All of your blog followers want to see you succeed. It gives the rest of us hope. Best wishes.

    Gary

  23. Keep a butcher knife handy… so much good news makes me think about the piggy bank guy from the ‘feed the pig’ commercials saying “Of course its not real!” It would be time to carve up some BACON then. mmmm bacon.

    The bummer is that my anti-spam word for this post is NOT bacon. 🙁

    That would have been perfect.

  24. Just wanted to say thanks for posting this i ma in the proses of trying to get my life to be were I want it to be which involves starting a writing career. This made me see it is possible and that patience and hard work will be rewarded. Good luck with everything and congratulations on the successes you have had so far.
    .-= Quinn´s last blog ..The personal compass Part 3: Commitments =-.

  25. I’m super excited about the Expy Games bit of that news – I love Zombie Murder Mystery (currently running a game set in the Scooby Doo universe on Wave), and with that game they’ve pretty much sold me on anything they could possibly release in the future. Can’t wait to see what you add to their lineup!
    .-= Aaron´s last blog ..SPUC – Week of November 11th =-.

  26. As someone who is periodically mangled by the kindred bipolar affective disorder I wish you well. You’re right that it can be relived with treatment but as the UK’s Manic Depression Fellowship suggests I got the most mileage out of sticking with my meds and adding psychological therapy. One can learn how to improve the way one deals with the ups and downs.

    At school in the 70s they said to us ‘If you want to become an author _write_ everything, even shopping lists.” Seems they knew then the principle of the 10,000 hour rule. From such a high point quality-wise you have a good chance of achieving something more than mere excellence.
    .-= Andrew Lindley´s last blog ..GURPS 4th Edition (4e) the re-read =-.

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