…even if you’ve run out of patience.
I recently came across an article by Laura Miller about Writer’s Block.
I was particularly struck by these paragraphs:
Most cases of writer’s block are not, however, the result of a biochemical imbalance. Those not caused by being, as Eddie puts it, “depressed off my ass,” are more likely to be rooted in fear. It’s here that something called the Yerkes-Dodson Law applies. First proposed by two psychologists in 1908, this principle holds that the more “aroused” (i.e., engaged and challenged) a person is by a task, the better he or she performs, up to the point that the arousal becomes anxiety or worry, at which point performance declines.
In other words, beyond a certain point, the more difficult a writing task, and the more you think it matters, the more likely you are to become blocked. This may explain why journalists with, say, two deadlines per week almost never get blocked: no individual story ever has to carry that much weight. (The paycheck helps a lot, too. Not long ago, a woman sitting next to me on a plane asked if I had a trick for getting past writer’s block, and I replied, “Yes. It’s called a mortgage.”)
I would say that this rang true for me in the case of Play Sorcerer, because Play Sorcerer matters to me. Perhaps it has mattered too much. As I’ve struggled with the project all this time, I’ve struggled with all the support I got for the project – from you – and my desire to deliver something worthy of that project.
The process of working hard on it and stepping away from it has been the process of me doing the work and learning to stop panicking about it. I really have never experienced any project this way before.
For those of you who funded the project, whether or not you regret having done so, or are still excited about having done so (or both!) let me say, “Thank you,” one more time. Though I’ve had my share of excitement and doubt about the whole thing off and on for month after month, I can safely say I feel great about where the book is going and looking forward to having it wrapped up soon.
March 28, 2011 at 12:02 pm |
Wow, I was just thinking I needed to email you and see what was up with PS! It’s great to hear that things are on track. I look forward to the book, whenever it may come out.
March 28, 2011 at 1:17 pm |
This is me doing the big arms thing!
March 28, 2011 at 4:35 pm |
Sorcerer was the first indie game I bought. It introduced me to the Forge, and to the whole community. It got me back into gaming after years away.
I have no idea how to play or run it.
So, as a favor to me, please finish the book! ^_^
March 29, 2011 at 3:25 am |
You know, in Keith Johnstone’s Impro, he makes the point that the audience don’t want to wait for the perfect line. They want the next line. They don’t want the funniest sketch ever in two years time, they want a sketch now.
Wait, didn’t somebody in their blog today talk about the LUGtrek game they put off for years as they “weren’t ready to do it justice?”, but recently realised worrying about the quality of a game that wasn’t being run was stopping him getting any game run?
Performance anxiety. I know it well. I fight it a lot. And probably less succesfully than you are.
But, with all the sympathy and empathy in the world, just get on with it. We can’t tell you where you went wrong and what to put in the revised version until you finish it.
Why yes, I do come across as an asshole, mainly because I’m using you to talk to myself. So you can use me as a hate figure to prove wrong.
Looking forward to it. Even if my sorcerer books disappeared in the house move.