Keith's March Newsletter

Keith's March Newsletter

March 01, 2021

Hello Everyone, and welcome back to another episode of What Are You Doing With Your Life, Keith?

This month we have a yoga update, progress on the work front, a nice piece of writing to share, and where to watch the entirety of The West Wing for free, should you be so inclined.

Let's drive right in shall we.

Two Hundred Oms And A Job Interview

This Saturday just gone marked my two hundredth day in a row of yoga. Oddly enough, it was one of the toughest days for me in terms of getting down on the mat. Honest to God, if it hadn't been the two hundredth day I might have skipped it altogether (although I'm glad I didn't).

There has been some progress in my flexibility, but not as much as I would have liked. My forward bend is still woefully inadequate. I put it down to not giving it my all every time. When I really go for it I can do some deep stretches, but a lot of the time I leave it too late and rush because it's supper time and I wants me food! If I ever want to be able to touch my head to my knees I've got to stop doing that.

The only other thing I've got going on right now is that I have a job interview next week. It's the same type of work that I did before, so I know I can do it, and they contacted me asking me to apply, so I'm confident I might get it, but still, it's hard not to feel nervous when you know you're about to be judged.

Anyway, it is what it is, so there's no point worrying about it. This time next month I'll either be gainfully employed again or I won't. Wish me luck.

News from the Steam Factory

Progress continues on

The Dragonfly Delivery Company

. The word count is up to 46,000 words (150 pages) and there's some pretty sweet little moments appearing among the usual dumpster fire that is any author's off-the-top-of-their-head first draft.

I don't normally share stuff unedited with people, they always have helpful "suggestions" which I could generally do without, but I'm quite proud of the following extract so I thought I'd offer it up for your delectation. It's from when Dexter first starts to have an affinity for the little deaf girl, Sue. It gets across his reasons for feeling protective of her (later in the book) quite nicely I reckon.

Extract from The Dragonfly Delivery Company:It must he hard, he thought, not being able to talk to people. Sure, you had the hand thing, but if the other person didn't know that, or wasn't very good at it, what then? Probably something similar to the way he'd had to be for the first year of his life. He'd only been allowed to talk to a few people, keeping his real nature secret to see if he could pass for a real cat, so he'd had to amuse himself when those two weren't around. Mostly that involved napping and chasing mice, both with varying degrees of success, but a lot of the time it meant coming up with little games and such to distract yourself from the truth; that you'd give anything for someone to talk to, if only for a little while. Things had gotten better since Sinister had arrived on the scene, but it was still hard.

He just wanted to be the same as everyone else, to laugh and joke and complain all the time, but he knew it would never be. Even if they could deal with the idea of a talking cat, he'd never be the same as them. He'd always be different, part of the Other, and there was nothing he could do about that.

Good eh? I know it still needs work, but the concept is sound.

I love it because it came out of nowhere, yet fits perfectly with what I was trying to achieve. That doesn't happen often, but when it does it's the absolute best!

Other than writing, I'm still working on my steampunk board game, although the exact mechanics remain somewhat elusive at the moment. I can't decide if the player should be the one building the machines, or if they should be acquiring the machines ready-made from workshops run by a bunch of NPCs? It's a question of which is more fun, and how the game should be scored. Also it's about player interaction, and how one player's goals might affect someone else's. You need player interaction. You need conflict to keep things interesting. Nothing says 'let's go do something else' than a game that is boring to play.

I'll get the eventually, but in the meantime it's fun coming up with ideas to see if they work. It may be frustrating at times, but this to me is the good stuff.

When I'm Not Writing

You can't write all the time, and sometimes you just don't feel like reading, so what then? Well...

Aaron Sorkin knows how to write great characters, great dialogue, and he knows how to keep a story interesting. He's also brilliant at seeding information into a script, so you understand what's going on without realising you've just had something explained to you. That's why I'm referring to my complete rewatch of

The West Wing

from start to finish as "research".

If you haven't seen it, or you have seen it and want to see it again, all seven seasons are

. (It may not still be called 4OD but it was when I worked there.)

If you're in the UK you can watch it there for free, and if you're not I'm just going to mention the phrases VPN and proxy server and simply walk away. What you do with that information is entirely up to you.

Man with gun go boom boom, pow pow, vroom vroom. You can attach helium balloons to a cow, wingsuit into a cave, and there's something about blowing up a tornado machine. Need I say more?

I got

as part of my PS+ membership. I probably wouldn't have bought it myself but since it was "free" I thought I'd give it a go. It's not bad, although the controls can be a little clunky sometimes. I like to do a mix of mission stories and little side quests, with the occasional homicidal rampage thrown in for good measure (you get rewards for creating chaos, so it's not as bad as it sounds).

I've no idea if I'll get to the end or not. There's a lot to do, I tend to lose interest in open world games as they get a little repetitive after a while, but for now it's a good way to kill a few hours every now and then. If you like the Far Cry games you'll like this one. It's the same kind of thing only way crazier.

I have a new blog post out in the world, about what I'm calling

. If you're a writer yourself, or you're interested in the little tricks writers do to keep a reader interested, go check it out. I think you'll find it rather enlightening.

And that's it from me for now. Stay happy, stay safe, and I'll see you next month.

Toodle-pip for now.

Keith