Steven Savage's Blog, page 49
January 23, 2019
Better Or Blockers
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr. Find out more at my newsletter.)
At a recent Agile Leadership Conference I encountered the work of Ken Rubin, an Agile coach and business expert. I can pretty much say if you’re a Project Manager or Scrum Master, read his stuff.
However, out of the many things he talked about – many things – was about how people can get improvement wrong. See, sometimes trying to improve is the wrong thing.
Which of course, sounds weird for a...
January 21, 2019
Why We Sabotage Fun
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr. Find out more at my newsletter.)
I’ve been on a tear writing about the importance of fun and how fun gets screwed up. Last time I discussed how people deliberately sabotage fun for others, and now want to discuss how we sabotage fun for ourselves.
Ever meet someone dismally unhappy, and you saw how quickly they put themselves there? You get the idea. You may even be the idea and just haven’t noticed it yet.
So let’s look at h...
January 19, 2019
Steve’s Update 1/19/2019
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr. Find out more at my newsletter.)
Hello everyone! Well the holiday may be over, but I’m plugging away as always!
So what have I done the last week(s)? A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Is selling in ebook format and I have what I HOPE is the final print copy. We’ll know more after looking it over this weekend. At this rate I’m thinking any remaining typos be damned.A Reader’s Guide To Avenoth: I haven’t started promoting it yet,...January 17, 2019
An Exercise: Facing Past Choices
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr. Find out more at my newsletter.)
A while ago I caught myself reflecting on my life choices, and my wish to have done things differently. Sure we all do that, but I found myself going over what could be, and it was distracting. There’s a point where done is done, and going over things yields no useful lessons and wastes time.
I also wanted to get this non-productive overthinking out of my system, both to stop doing it but also...
January 12, 2019
Steve’s Update 1/12/2018
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr. Find out more at my newsletter.)
Hello everyone! Well the holiday may be over, but I’m plugging away as always!
So what have I done the last week(s)? A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Is selling in ebook format while I go through the physical copy.Way With Worlds: I’ve started writing the next book – on Cities! That’ll probably be out in March! Also I’ve started expanding the book distributions, so expect more updates later.Seve...January 10, 2019
Why People Fight Fun
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr. Find out more at my newsletter.)
After my last post on fun and how we turn it into work, I had a (fun) brainstorm about many ways turning work into fun affects us and other, related cultural pathologies. Looks like this is going to be a series on fun and the elimination of fun.
I’ll try to enjoy it to avoid an overload of irony.
In fact, let me turn from discussing fun to the more sinister side of “fun control.” When we look...
January 8, 2019
Marketing For Self-Published Authors and Artists (January 2019)
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr. Find out more at my newsletter.)
If you’re a self-published, freelance, or part-time author, artist, etc. you need to market yourself. I market my own books, and to do that I document my efforts and my findings. It struck me recently that I should share my notes.
I probably should have thought of this earlier – and I probably should do this every now and then – but here you go. It’s how I market. Which seems to sell some book...
January 5, 2019
Steve’s Update 1/5/2019
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr. Find out more at my newsletter.)
Hello everyone! Well the holiday may be over, but I’m plugging away as always!
So what have I done the last week(s)? A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Is selling in ebook format and has been repeatedly updated as I edit the print copy. I was disappointed with the typos I saw (I at least figured why), but the print copy is looking great!Way With Worlds: I’ve got a lot of notes on the next book. Mo...January 2, 2019
Fun Is Fine Because It’s Fun
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr. Find out more at my newsletter.)
The ever indomitable MagenCubed had a great comment on Twitter about how we often feel we’re not allowed to have fun. That writing, art, everything fun has to have Some Deeper Meaning, or Some Potential Profit. I have to agree with her, the idea that our fun must somehow Become A Big Thing seems very pathological and way, way too common.
Sure, I write on how people can use their hobbies on the...
January 1, 2019
Transcending Your Influences?
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr. Find out more at my newsletter.)
In a recent discussion with Serdar, the idea of writer’s “transcending their influences” came up. You know the idea – to go beyond your influences into something your own, avoid their limits or being derivative, etc. For some reason, it made me uncomfortable.
My discomfort told me there was something to analyze here. Why did the idea of “transcending one’s influences” as a writer give me that...
