Posted On: 2021-11-01
I've previously mentioned that, despite planning to spend the bulk of the year writing, I've actually spent most of it programming. This is not altogether unsurprising: I'd wanted to get the writing in-game, as a sort of vertical slice of what it would actually feel like to interact with it. As the months slipped past, and writing kept waiting on code changes and stability, I came up with a sort of contingency plan - one which I'm about to embark on.
Back in the spring, when it was clear I was writing far less than anticipated, I decided to set aside November as a month dedicated to nothing but writing*. No matter where the project is, no matter that I won't get any of it in-game, I need to just clear (or ignore) all obstacles and make writing happen. I didn't set any specific goals for how much to write, instead telling myself "I'll get as far as I can following the outline." Now that we're in November, it's time to execute on that - and see just how much I can get done.
Unfortunately, November managed to sneak up on me, so the "no matter where the project is" criteria is not as good an idea as it seemed from a distance. Instead, I'm taking today (the 1st), to tidy up the project state so that, come December, I won't be scratching my head saying "what was I even doing?" Fortunately, the November deadline is arbitrary and self-imposed, so I have the flexibility to adjust it. Thus, technically, I will be in focused-writing mode from November 2nd to December 2nd. This should allow me enough time to document the current state of my code, while still making sure that I get the full benefits of spending a month on writing.
Hopefully this status update about a (temporary) shift in focus has been interesting to you. Since I'll be in writing mode for the next couple of blog posts, I'll covering some writing topics for those. I hope you look forward to it, and see you in two weeks.