Top Ten Things I’ve Learned About Video Gaming

10. Nobody cares what difficulty you play a game at.

9. If you haven’t had fun with a game for a while, stop playing it.

8. If you feel that you need to start an RPG over again, don’t do it right away. Play a different game.

7. A great story will only make up for poor gameplay on the first play-through.

6. The most effective way to play a game is never the most fun way.

5. Games you have played with friends are never as good by yourself.

4. Nobody cares how many trophies, Easter eggs, or achievements you’ve unlocked.

3. Even among gamers, video games are a terrible topic for conversation.

2. If you like a game enough to play it all the way to the ending more than once, never sell, trade, or lend it out.

1. Play the way you want to. It’s your game!

Expressing Gratitude as an Author

With Thanksgiving coming up next week, I’ve been thinking about all of the supportive people that I’m grateful for. They say that it takes a village to raise a child, and I think it must take a whole community to support a writer. Of course, authors do have some unique ways to express gratitude for special people. Many of our books start with an Acknowledgments page where we list a few specific individuals that were instrumental in seeing the project all the way to publication. We can also dedicate books to people who have touched our lives in a special way and who deserve more honors and accolades than we could ever provide.

Even so, I’m often worried that I’ll forget to mention someone that I’m truly grateful for. I’ll often do my best to compensate for this by thanking groups of people like my beta readers, street team members, and friends. While this may result in some person somewhere feeling slighted (though I sincerely hope nobody ever is) my hope is that I can better show my gratitude by the way that I treat my friends and fans on a regular basis. Sure, seeing your name in the front of a published book can be exciting, and having a book dedicated to you can be touching. But isn’t it more meaningful to have a relationship that demonstrates gratitude and appreciation? The kind of relationship that goes beyond the books?

I know that I could probably get more sales and reviews if I hounded my friends for them, but I prefer for my friends to be friends first and fans second. If they do buy a book or write a review, I would want it to be because they either liked the story or wanted to support me in my craft. That’s the sort of fan that I’m truly grateful for, and I want to express my thanks, once again, for all of you that have shared in this wonderful adventure thus far. I couldn’t do it without you.

Concept Art for the Magic, Mystery and Mirth Cover Image

During the book launch party for Magic, Mystery and Mirth earlier this week, we raffled off a poster-sized print of the cover's artwork. Today, I thought it might be fun to share a few of the rough sketches and concept art that went into making this wonderful piece.

Here's the very first rough sketch, done in a pocket-sized notebook.

This initial color concept was when I really started to get excited about this cover. Notice how some things, like the rider and alligator, remained very similar, while the genie here is very different from what ended up on the cover. We were even considering adding the puppet Lumpy to the image, but he didn't fit with the general theme and had to be removed. 

The alligator was drawn normally at first, with the dress added in later stages.

Similarly, the rider's cloak was added in later versions. 

The genie went through many iterations. Look how dapper he is in the bottom picture!

I like the design in this picture, but it didn't really suggest a genie, so we discarded it.

This was the last version of the genie before the final.

The dirigible in the mountains has always been my favorite part of this picture.

More dirigibles. 

The final version. I love this cover!

A Word for Professional Writers on Measuring Success

Earlier this week, I was tagged in a conversation that had been started by a writer friend of mine who was feeling a little discouraged. She was frustrated by the way our industry often encourages authors to aim for exposure over financial rewards. This often means giving books away in order to receive reviews, writing articles for someone else’s blog, taking a financial loss to speak at a writing conference, and a host of other common practices for professional writers.

As I followed the conversation thread, I could understand the frustration that my friend was feeling. I'm sure that all authors have felt it from time to time. It’s hard to know what sort of value we should place on the various types of work that we do. Should we equate everything to dollars? Exposure? What's the quantifiable value in each activity that a writer does?

I don’t think that there is an answer to this question that would satisfy every author out there, mainly because we’re dealing with the disparate worlds of business and art. There are benefits and blessings that come from doing what you love that are hard to define, let alone quantify. But in order for an author to share their work, there must be also a business plan, complete with tasks, budgets, and goals all designed to put books in the hands of eager readers. So where’s the balance?

I remember spending summers with my grandfather running trotlines in southeast Texas to try to catch enough fish for us to eat every night. It was all about consistent effort, trial and error, and lots of hooks in the water. We enjoyed the process, but we also knew that we needed real results. We also didn’t expect to catch enough fish to sell at market and buy more equipment. We kept our expectations reasonable, and measured success based on our efforts, not our daydreams.

Beyond that, there's something to be said for karma and good will. Sometimes you take a loss somewhere because you have faith that it’s the right thing to do, and hope that you will find success in the future. At the moment, I know that I'm doing much more free writing coaching work for disadvantaged high school students through the Educurious program than I am for paying clients, but there's a totally different reward system in that for me, and I'm happy.

For all you writers out there, remember that you're doing so many things right. I won't say not to get down, because you should have permission to have doubts occasionally. But don't let it paralyze you. Do what you love, and you'll find success, however you measure it.