Right now I’ve four games and nine short stories under review, that is, a publisher has them on her desk and is considering whether to publish them. Or more accurately: a publisher has them in her slush pile and hasn’t taken the time to go through it yet.

It’s not much but I’m a traditional one-submission-at-a-time kind of guy (that’s suboptimal, but I’ll can of worms that topic for later). I know writers who’ve got literally dozens of submissions out. I know game designers who have tens (game design tends to have a somewhat lower turnover and longer lead times). But numbers aren’t the point. The point is that every writer or game designer, including me, had to do one thing in order to get their works into the hands of publishers:

Accepting a loss of control. (more…)

I’m a writer and game designer. I haven’t published anything and gotten paid for it. Even so, I am a writer and game designer. No matter my day job, no matter how I live or how I make my money, I’m a writer and game designer. I just haven’t gotten published yet.

In my opinion, if you write and finish what you’re writing, and edit what you finish, then you’re a writer. You’re working on mastering your craft.

A job has a title, a craft has a name. There’s a difference. If you lose your job you lose your title. You don’t lose your name until you chose to give up your craft. You. Chose. Key words, those. (more…)