We all recognize that we can only watch so much television per week; there simply isn’t enough time to watch **every** program that interests us. So we prioritize our time based on whatever arcane or heuristic methods we convince ourselves of using. The advent of PVR certainly makes things easier, but it can lead to a steady and daunting accumulation of shows to watch. You have to make time somewhere to watch them. So, if we extend this to all hobbies, creative writing included, at one point you just reach a critical mass where something takes a hit – we reduce or replace a hobby to make room for another, or we start permeating our hobbies into other parts of our lives.
My life includes a number of roles and duties: officer and employee for the Army, husband, father of two children, son to my parents, and brother to my sister. I must sleep, I must eat, I must work to support my family, I watch television and movies to relax, write to express myself, play games to enjoy my time off, et cetera. All of these come with an elemental requirement of my time. Could I sacrifice some family time to devote more to my hobbies? What about sleep? Maybe I could sneak some writing time in at work? Those certainly are options, yet at what cost? Spending more time writing means more chances to complete the works, get those submitted more often, thereby increasing my possibility of success and recognition. Less sleep makes me more creative anyways…. Unfortunately it affects my family time, my productivity at work, makes my appetite go out of whack.
I say all this because I spent some considerable time re-editing my fantasy manuscript and started getting it vetted over at the Absolute Write forums. What a great venue. Then I started hearing things about a couple of games from the local gaming store. I checked out both EveOnline and Warmachine. Let me tell you, these stoked my curiosity enough that I completely ignored the writing aspects of my life for about a week.
EveOnline is a futuristic, sandbox, real-time strategy game;
the science fiction version of World of Warcraft. The irony that I would be more interested in
a science fiction game versus fantasy is not lost on me. But it wasn’t the space combat, or even the
levelling up and commanding great fleets that caught my eye. It was the option to be the economic and industrial
powerhouse, working the in-game economy and markets to your favour. It is the function as the facilitator that
appealed to me, the guy who moves the pieces from the background.
Warmachine is a steam punk tabletop miniature game whereby
two armies fight against each other. The
differences between it and Warhammer 40k are relatively extensive and the
models are, in some ranges, top notch and really support the steam punk
genre. That the objective is to
ultimately kill the opponent’s warcaster and/or complete the mission objectives
is a new and refreshing twist. That it
follows a streamlined system and is from a fledgling company that, to be honest
does not have GW’s previous history of “questionable” decisions, is a
significant point.When I look back on it, there are a number of hobbies and other activities that I have simply given up for newer ones. Just like TV programs, a number simply weren’t interesting enough to maintain my interest, while others went by the wayside for other reasons; the life of a bachelor is certainly different than when married, more so after you have children.
Examining the cloud of activities above, I can honestly say that time management is almost an activity in and of itself. To say that creative writing will remain one of the primary activities is an understatement. In fact, I’d say it has become the newest and primary of my hobbies. With the fantasy manuscript finished and now under review, I’ve the follow-on novels and a few new projects I’ve committed with verve and enthusiasm.
