James McGowan Reader Group- In Habiting

Hey, y’all.

This is the first reader group email after all the authentication rule changes with Yahoo mail and Gmail recipients. I already had much of that set up, so I expect it should be a non-event. But if something goes off the rails, I shall fix it before next month’s missive. (This is a non-issue for anyone reading this on my stelfire.com blog.)

I’m in the habit of sending these after all.

While I like to think I mix in some spontaneity in my day-to-day activities, habits also play a significant part in my behavior. From morning tea, to banana and apple breakfasts, to listening to podcasts while I exercise, I try to establish good habits. Though bad ones like doom scrolling do occasionally sneak in.

Writing falls at the top of the good column.

It’s very inertia driven. It’s sometimes hard to start, especially after a long day. However, once I push through the resistance and get started on a daily session, each subsequent word has a little more mental grease on it.

This very intro section is an example of pushing through that mental blockage. I only had a dim idea of how it would flow when I sat down, but it got progressively easier with each word. And I wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t in the habit of creating these monthly emails/blog posts.

Habits also sneak into my writing style. Bad ones like focusing way too much on a POV character’s breathing, which I strive to minimize. And good ones like ending a session mid sentence so it’s easier to start again by finishing the sentence next time.

And inane habits that I cannot and will almost certainly never change. Two spaces between sentences. I grew up with the two space rule. Once I’m done with a manuscript, all I can say is yay for find/replace to remove the extra space.

Like a certain rule in Zombieland, my thumbs cannot stop themselves from double tapping between sentences.

Can. Not.

Players of the Game Works in Progress

I’m pleasantly surprised with the second draft progress this month. I had a few off days, but I appeared to make up for them.

This month clocked in at 15 chapters revised or rewritten in The Game War. That’s better than last month’s 11, so I hope to maintain that pace.

I also am likely going to switch from YWriter over to Scrivener for putting together an outline for the next bonus content novella, tentatively titled The Game War: Hidden Fronts. I watched a few videos on Scrivener’s capabilities, and I want to give those a try.

Also, I’m still aiming to get Book 4, The Breakers, released sometime this year. Just need to get some coats of paint on the cover and the description blurb. And perhaps some collected ebooks of the earlier novels too.

Irons. They are a glowin’ in the fire.

Players of the Game Out of Context Quote of the Month

Arwith: “They tricked us into sending the right people to the wrong place.”

Ashe: “Maybe. Or maybe we’re right enough to get the job done.”

Recommendation Corner

Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall by Zeke Faux

I read nonfiction books every now and then when the topic is especially interesting to me. This book fits the bill. Perhaps more so because it got vastly out shined by Michael Lewis’s book “Going Infinite” that came out at the same time. However, I got the gist of Lewis’s take from his Judging Sam series on his podcast.

This book does indeed speak of the same central character. I especially loved the deadpan humor with the beginning sentences:

“I’m not going to lie,” Sam Bankman-Fried told me.

This was a lie.

Faux’s reporting goes way beyond the whole thing with SBF, though. From chasing the Tether white whale, a dollar-pegged crypto currency that will not reveal where or how it’s keeping its dollars. To countless Filipinos who got caught up in a speculative crypto game that led to financial ruin. To literal compounds of enslaved people in Cambodia forced to engage in “pig butchering” scams that leverage crypto for their payments.

Let us just say that this book’s accounts reinforced my ongoing skepticism of the actual utility of crypto currency as a store of stable value.

Very compelling stuff.

The Iron Oath on Steam

And surprise, surprise. I am not Lando in disguise.

That is in reference to a decades-old Kenner Star Wars commercial. A deep cut for the two of you who remember it.

Instead, I speak of yet another turn-based tactics indie game on Steam. The Iron Oath.

This one focuses on a group of mercenaries who are betrayed by one of their own at the beginning. And also must deal with a death mist breathing demon dragon who periodically sprays a random city with death mist, mutating inhabitants and creating a bunch of rifts that demons pour through.

Naturally, I love the premise of this.

I ended up naming my mercenary crew the Storm Riders, and we had to hop to it to earn money, get clues about the traitors, and help out whenever the demon dragon sprayed death some place.

I liked the hexagon grid and all the unique character classes like Pyrolancer fighters with their flaming pole arms and the kung-fu monk Pugilists. I also liked the skill trees, especially the overwatch mechanics for the Huntresses, which repeatedly saved my team’s bacon.

I’ll admit that it gets a bit repetitive with identical dialogue for the random contracts. And I wish they’d put more of a resolution for the demon dragon’s plot in the main game, rather than relegating it to a later update.

Even so, I had a bunch of fun.

So I say, give it a whirl if you are a tactics-o-phile like me.