Been Playing a Little More Lately
I write, edit, and read short stories three days a week before a live audience on Twitch.tv/JayWilburn . I’ll post my schedule under this short section. I think streaming my writing has made me a better short story writer.
I’ve had a few rough days and decided to spend a little more time on the play of Read Write Edit Play Repeat. On my off days between scheduled writing streams, I started playing Minecraft on Twitch. People responded. I even had a few people message me and ask if I was going to play again. So, after a little work one weekend, I streamed some more Minecraft.
Now, I have a ton of work I should be doing. I’m behind on my reading and blogging too. I have no excuse to be playing games. But I’ve had a rough year. I’m gradually getting other things done, but it is slow going. There’s some frustration involved in that and having to face my own mortality on several fronts is a heavy burden to carry at times. I’m tired and a bigger and bigger part of me wants to screw around for a while.
I’ve kind of been fascinated with the game No Man’s Sky for a while. Recently, I started watching people play it on Twitch and YouTube. I started watching tutorials to wrap my head around it. It’s a lot of game. I ended up buying it, which doesn’t bode well for my future productivity probably. Like most things, you get better at it by doing it.
So, on my “off days” from streaming writing, I’m playing Minecraft and No Man’s Sky live on Twitch once I finish the work and writing on my “to do” list each day. Twitch is a platform that earns me money and that financial support is growing as the audience grows. I have subscribers who pay monthly to support my writing work there. I’m also getting financial reward while I’m playing these games too. That’s only going to encourage me to keep goofing off, you know.
I’m getting my writing and reading done. It is slower than in the past. But I think the play is important too. If for no other reason, it helps me push off the moment when I feel like throwing my hands and declaring I’m tired of all of it.
Come watch me Read Write Edit Play Repeat sometime.
Here are some things you might be interested in:
After Gwendy’s Final Task #StephenKingRevisited
by Jay Wilburn
Considering my negative bias when it comes to Stephen King collaborations, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Gwendy’s Final Task …
“Who Gets What?”
by Jay Wilburn
It really did sound like the door to the conference room locked. Blake Chizell hated confined spaces or the feeling of being trapped, so you could imagine how this divorce arbitration was playing with his nerves even before the judge stormed out …
Coming Soon … Again
Soon to be available in paperback and ebook from Madness Heart Press. I’m excited that I’ll have this story out in paperback for the first time very soon.
Thanks, Everybody
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In a world such as ours, internal struggles and external struggles and challenges, writing can be playing, but sometimes... you need to simply PLAY. It can distracting and detract from your writing work, but with a bit of discipline, I believe you can do both, enjoy both.
I have NO MAN'S SKY. I have bases all over the universe connected by teleporters. I like flying around both planets and space, seeing what's out there, or what's on all these planets presented to me. NO MAN'S SKY is one of those games you want to spend some time on.
I also play RUST, typically a PVE server where I can explore and build and survive without worry of getting constantly killed and looted by another online player. THAT is a game I can jump into, spend a few minutes rummaging about, then getting back to my "sleeping bag" and logging off.
Gaming also can tweeze stories out of me. No, I don't make them game-related, but playing a post-apoc adventure games can make a light bulb go on, and drum up my own story ideas in that genre.
Write. Game. Game. Write. With a bit of discipline to keep both ships afloat, I think it can be done.