I had an early start this year when my sister surprised me with a few gifts just after midnight (we are both night owls…), even though technically I think I should wait till something like 7am… She knows me so well – I got a large mug, that means less trips to the teapot to fill me lemon & tea addiction, and among other things a cute blank notebook for all the writing stuff I do.

In the morning I was greeted with a lovely card and a boxset of Lost from the “in-laws”. Have been looking forward to that for a while now! Even the weather was looking good – surprise, surprise! Later my partner took me out to London for a great meal and a surprise treat – we went to see Wicked the musical.

It was a marvellous experience. Makes me wish my books one day get made not only into a movie but a musical too. Hey, one can dream… Whenever I go to see live events on stage I am always amazed at how they are able to create such gorgeous sets and swap them around in such short time. Same goes for the actors and costume changes. I imagine it’s a madhouse behind the curtains with the dramatic differences in attire between the scenes. The songs were awesome and it was a nice surprise to see the where the show differed from the book.

Later that week me and Kat had a shared birthday party – my sister celebrates hers 4 or 5 days after mine (depending on the year). It was a small party at home with a bunch of friends – had loads of fun with loads of cake, a bit of alcohol and a solid amount of laughter.

I tried to make some New Year resolutions this year. It’s tough to admit, but things haven’t been going according to plan much. I’m not even sure where the first two months of this year went, time just seemed to slip through my fingers and excuses piled on. However I do have some goals I’d like to achieve by 35, which means procrastination needs to be cut short. After all, it’s time to start the five year plan of world domination to success…

The post Wicked at 30 appeared first on DreamDevourer.

I must say I hoped I would enjoy the writing more. It made me realize that in fact I should be writing (almost) daily, but the content is meant to go to several places. Writing for all the various sites AND the personal blog proved to be hard. Sometimes I had an idea for a post, however this wasn’t really the right place to post it, but at the same time I wanted to keep up with the daily writing, so ended up posting here something random rather than the stuff I did want to write.

With all that said, it’s probably obvious I won’t be posting daily here. It did make me realize that I do need to plan my content better and draw up some sort of schedule to keep on top all my sites and make sure they all get more or less a similar amount of attention. I do have a tendency to get excited about one thing and then leave everything else untouched for a few months which isn’t the greatest strategy when it comes to blogging.

Another thing that I struggled with was the quality of the posts. I do prefer writing longer but researched pieces, and having to do that daily, would mean little time left for other things, especially other writing projects. I still have a few topics that I planned to write about for a while, but didn’t feel comfortable just throwing them out as a quick note.

The whole month has been a bit blah, so not sure if it’s specifically due to the blogging challenge, but my book writing has completely halted. Before, I’d often push myself to get that daily word count on one of the books done , but it seems that has been replaced by a push for the daily blog post.Think, I’ll stick to one writing “challenge” at a time from now on.

Despite all that, it wasn’t a completely negative experience, and it did help me get back to just writing in general after a bit of a break. And the blog won’t look so dead now. I’ll probably try to write at least every week or two, and make it a more thoughtful article thanks to the extra time available for research.

The post The End – 30DB #31 appeared first on DreamDevourer.

• Why I love my Win8
• What the heck is a phablet
• What makes an engaging post (not really this one…)
• Daily word counts

However for most of these I have a specific idea about what I wanted to write about, and what I wanted to include. That would involve doing research I don’t have time for. It’s almost like writing about the engaging posts now, but I know there was so much I wanted to reference…

Maybe I should start a new category “Random Ramblings” where I’ll just channel whatever pops in my head on the days the deadline is looming and my quick idea bank is empty…

Recently realized that I seem to write the funny posts when I’m half falling asleep. Might be my internal snob and censor falling asleep and not checking what the hell I’m typing up. The writing almost feels funny then.

I will eventually write about the topics above, but without the pressure of hitting the daily post target. Otherwise my essay on engaging posts might be limited to whatever generic advice I can come up with on the spot. Not very useful for potential readers.

This whole month has been pretty weird. Not being superstitious or anything but I do hope this is not how the whole year is going to look – unfocused, tired, riddled with a cold and unable to get anything significant done (well, a least I haven’t given up on the 30DB thing…). A holiday at my parent’s might not be the best way to start a productive February, but one can hope…

The post Random Ramblings – 30DB #30 appeared first on DreamDevourer.

A lot of people when they see that immediately start looking for excuses, but personally I was actually rather excited. I’ve already had a chance to see the inside of the local Young Offenders Prison in Reading (just as a visitor thankfully), and seeing the inside of a courtroom could be an interesting experience. Yes, I do watch too many crime dramas…

Unfortunately I do have a holiday planned a month after the date in the letter, so will have to call the number they gave and enquire about  the situation. However all in all I’d actually be happy to attend rather than defer my duty, as long as I don’t have to cancel flights.

The post I Have Been Summoned – 30DB #29 appeared first on DreamDevourer.

Some time ago we tried to clear the blockage with a pressure can. Andy tried it first on his own and missed one of the overflows on the double sink – apparently it was quite a fountain. But with four hands and all holes plugged we got it working and the clog was gone. Not for long though. This time the pressure can didn’t prove any help at all. It was time to bring out the plumber’s snake…

It actually is a really simple device – a long piece of coiled cable with a hook like thing at the end that you feed down the pipes and then wiggle around when you hit the blockage (OK, there are better instructions online, just go to youtube) until you can go through. Hence the several hours of work – it is simple but the process is pretty slow and tedious.

Was it worth it then? Last time I checked plumbers were around £45 per half an hour – just for the pleasure of seeing their face at your doorstep. The stuff we bought to mess around with the sink ourselves add up to about £60 (it’s late, and I don’t feel like digging up the receipts…). I’m pretty sure then, we’re still better off with the DIY option (especially as the clog is fixed, at least for now). And the snake can be re-used again too.

I also never understood why people would pay for things like setting up a washing machine. I found that the hardest part of setting up that appliance was getting it into its designated space in the tiny airing cupboard.

The post DIY Plumbing – 30DB #28 appeared first on DreamDevourer.

Being the hero in an epic adventure is a powerful experience, and you get to take your real life friends with you. You all become the hero’s (or villains in some cases). Have you ever watched a movie or read a book and thought that something a character did was stupid, didn’t make sense, and you’d do it so much better. This is exactly what you get to do in these games.

I am so grateful to have a great group of friends and an amazing storyteller as a Game Master. RPG groups often fall apart once people “grow-up”, leave their home towns after playing RPGs in high school, or if they played at uni – move to where their work takes them. It’s hard to find a new group as an adult – less free time, and some people start seeing it as childish and “below them”.

The funny thing is that in many ways, the game becomes even better with older players. Most people will be more cultured, better read, and with more experience in various aspects of life. This adds that special flavour – quirky references that have everyone laughing, things we maybe wouldn’t have known 10 years ago. I think we also often focus more on the story and just having a great time, rather than scoring points and advancing levels just for the sake of these achievements of their own.

Currently we have two campaigns going in our small group – one set in Eonika (the world of my fantasy stories) and the other in Vampire: the Masquerade. Very different Game Master styles, though both are systems focused on storytelling.

The post The Old School Entertainment – 30DB #27 appeared first on DreamDevourer.

I was actually surprised how many twists and plot points there were. Maybe it’s the usually simplistic plot of action movies, but it was a nice change, that the road to the goal of the character’s wasn’t a straight one (far from it…). This did not dampen the action tough.

A lot of the dialogues were hilarious, and I really enjoyed the German doctor character. His “professional” carriage with the giant tooth bouncing on top of it on a giant spring really did set the mood for the whole movie.

Some people took issue with the swearing, especially the use of the n-word. It didn’t really feel excessive, and political correctness does seem to go a bit overboard these days. Not to start a rant here, but either a word is taboo or not, I find it pretty idiotic for some people to be allowed to use a word while others cannot.

The music in the movie worked great, and I very much enjoyed the acting of pretty much all the main characters. DiCaprio was quite a funky one here, though at the turning point he really did show a different side, and the outburst was a scary moment. I was actually surprised how late in the movie we get to see him though. The trailer does only focus on some of the aspects of the movie, so that was a bit of a surprise.

The post Django Unchained Review – 30DB #26 appeared first on DreamDevourer.

Yet, I missed my bed time, and then my partner’s alarm clock to work, and then the sun came up, and I kept reading, because something compelled me to finish the book. There were some interesting concepts, but not enough for me as a writer to give it 4*, even 3* with the simplistic plot, and things that were obvious from the beginning, seems like too much. But shouldn’t I give it 5* because as a reader it completely held my attention hostage? And it’s not the first time this happened.

Being a Writer & Reader makes things complicated. It’s hard to switch off the internal editor, plotter and character builder. It’s hard no to think about how this or that could have been done better. But every now and then I still enjoy some cheese romance or fantasy story as a Reader, that by all accounts I should not be enjoying. In fact sometimes it’s even hard to pinpoint what among the many flaws of these books was the thing that made me want to know more and keep flipping pages. Sometimes I wonder if it’s waiting to see if it will in the end break the cliches and surprise me after all (usually not). Or maybe the occasional quirky ideas and interesting concepts are enough to make me push on despite the bland romance that is a cause for eye-rolling every few pages…

How do you judge these kinds of works. Do you even admit reading such guilty pleasures? Or are they like a chocolate bar eaten while on a diet – better kept a secret and not discussed in public?

The post The Reader Writer Dilemma – 30DB #25 appeared first on DreamDevourer.

Usually when I feel off, on most days I’ll just try and work through it, maybe pick up some of the less mentally challenging tasks. However if it’s not a short-term thing this eventually leads to an even worst state. A point were even pushing through the stuff that “needed” to be done seems pointless, and my rain just screams – go to bed. But it is a thin line between laziness creeping in under the guise of feeling ill and actually being that exhausted and brain dead…

Yeah, obviously I don’t really have much to say today.

The post Sick Excuses – 30DB #24 appeared first on DreamDevourer.

There are plenty of good arguments made for both side out there already, so I’m not going to go through all the details here.

• A Rose by Any Other Name: Pros and Cons of Pseudonyms
• The New World of Publishing: Pen Names
• Me, My Work & I: Why Use a Pen Name?

What I did want to address is what influenced my decision at the end of the day, and what I felt was right in my case when I opted to start writing fiction.

First of all let’s look at my legal surname – Chlasta. People have enough problems pronouncing that in real life situations and I stopped counting the misspelt bills and other documents I’ve received since I moved to the UK. Maybe if I was writing some science related non-fiction piece or a philosophical debate it would have been perfect.

Unfortunately I felt that for an author of Sci-Fi & Fantasy it lacked a punch, and the last thing you want to do is confuse your readers. If they can’t pronounce your name counting on word of mouth promotion seems a bit futile… Just like character names matter, the author name in my opinion can make a difference.

Another reason was a bit more practical. As a web developer my name’s already plastered all over the Internet. If someone’s looking to read fiction, they won’t necessarily be looking for my musings about programming or the photos of my cats. And the other way round, if someone is looking for info about me as a developer & designer, my writing work outside of that niche would be secondary.

Also readers do complain about genre mixing from a single author (even mixing sub-genres can cause an uproar). If that’s the case for similar topics – mixing fiction with non fiction wouldn’t be doing me any favours. There is also the nice side benefit that if I get married, I won’t have to change my fiction author branding…

Some people use pen names for privacy, and I believe in some cases it can be justified. I’m pretty open about my pen names (check out the sidebar to see some of them!), they’re not really a secret and the world won’t end if someone figures that out. But I believe it makes it easier for readers to follow things they are interested in. Just because I’ve got “interest ADD” doesn’t mean everybody has to…

It also makes branding and marketing a lot easier. Rather than try to reach all the various audiences I can focus on a specific target group for each brand / pen name. Worst case scenario if I used the same name for everything I’d get the intersection of these audiences. In business you want to maximise, not minimise your chances of success.

What I did try to do (partly for fun) when choosing a pen name was to either keep my first name the same – Joanna, or the initials – J.C. Especially with the first name I was a bit worried that sooner or later I’d respond with the wrong name to someone. And although it isn’t a secret, it would be a bit embarrassing.

The post Why Use Pen Names – 30DB #23 appeared first on DreamDevourer.