Steven Savage's Blog, page 46

Farewell To Overwatch

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

I stopped playing Overwatch. For those of you that know me, that was hard. It was my go-to relaxing game, lots of fun, great FPS.

What changed my mind was watching the layoffs at Activision Blizzard. It was unnecessary and it felt like I was somehow supporting that. I thought about how the company could be focusing on making the game better, wondered about how much of management pay should go...

Steve’s Update 4/16/2019

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Here’s our latest sprint roundup! But first . . .

Seventh Sanctum got mentioned and used at Drawfee!

So what have I done since last time? In General: I had a tough week – hurt my back. I’ve recovered, but ouch.Way With Worlds: Chugging along on the Fashion book. Figuring it’ll be out very late May or early June. It’s gone deeper than I expected, which is good – amazing how much clothes are par...

Creative Friction

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I’ve been watching myself and some friends get blocked on various creative projects, or find them hard going. This occurred at the same time I was working with some Agile teams. So Agile and Creative efforts? Yeah, you know I got thinking about why we were having creative trouble.

As often mentioned, I actually don’t believe in writer’s block as we normally think of it – it’s at best a descriptive te...

Can You Be A Professional Writer?

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Yes, you can be a professional writer.

Every now and then I have a discussion with someone who wants to be a professional writer. I’ve decided to compile my advice to help clarify it, and of course, make it easier for people that ask me that question.

Where does this come from – since my writing is more of a side thing? It comes from:

Knowing professional writers.Knowing people wanting to be professi...

Random Thoughts On Commuting

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I live in Silicon Valley. I commute (usually by car as I have someone to carpool with), and have been in a variety of commuting arrangements. This has led to Me Having Thoughts on commuting.

Oh and hearing about my friends in various cities also dealing with commuting has led to More Thoughts.

As The Bird Flies is Nothing

Though I shouldn’t be, it’s fairly obvious if you do any commuting and have gon...

Steve’s Books For April

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Here’s a complete list of all the books I have available for folks interested in creativity, geekery, worldbuilding, and careers. I figure I’ll post this every month or so for my readers!

Fiction

A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: A Tale Of Dead Gods And Living Stories – Kindle, Print

Culture

Her Eternal Moonlight: Sailor Moon’s Female Fans In North America, An Unauthorized Examination – Print, Kindle

Wor...

Steve’s Update 4/1/2019

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As noted, I’m now putting these out every two weeks – in time with my new Sprint structure of bi-weekly sprints.

So what have I done since last time? Way With Worlds: The City Worldbuilding book is out! Go and check it out.Seventh Sanctum Book: I’ve expanded the book while writing it, finding out other things I should tell people about. It’s really becoming a kind of multi-section textbook, wh...

An Experiment In Perspective And Productivity

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By now if you read my blog or my posts anywhere you know I’m kind of obsessed with Agile philosophy, Agile methods (Scrum with a heavy helping of Kanban), and I use them in my regular life. I’ve started experimenting with some of my practices and wanted to share my findings.

So first up, my basic way of being productive is a month-long sprint (a period of time where I decide what I’ll do and f...

Fear Of Fragmentation

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Right now it’s a challenging time for many of us. Politics is a nightmare. Wages are stagnant and the inevitable recession looms while US economic policy is made by tantrum. The planet is heating up. Medical care costs skyrocket.

It’s also a challenging time for people I know, and doubtlessly you’re in the same boat. I get it.

I’ve got several friends and family dealing with medical issues.

Ot...

Steve’s Update 3/17/2019

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Hey gang, so a quick update here on my, well, updates.

The weekly thing really isn’t cutting it for a number of reasons. First, not enough changes in one week. Two, weeks are variable enough that half the time I’m discussing interruptions that wouldn’t matter in the big picture. Third, I’m shaking up some of my personal productivity choices, so two weeks work.

So last weekly update!

So what ha...