Small Joys

Hello Family

Another Week of Work

It's been another fairly successful week at work. I'd checked my publisher account the other day and was disappointed in slower sales this month overall. It is partly because of our vacation to Colorado and partly because of a site-wide sale for Christmas in July. I'm selling more products but because of the discount, I'm not making as much. 

Anyway, I was bummed about that until I released my latest Fantasy gamebook (pictured above). Well, in about a day or two I'd made almost half what I'd already made so far this month. People really love the fantasy stuff. I like doing those books, but it isn't my favorite genre to work on.

I'd actually started this book over two months ago. I was pretty excited about it when I started, but it is a LONG book (It's the first full campaign book for the system and has a bunch of different dungeon scenarios in it) and took me a long time. Needless to say, I was getting sick of it by the end. 

I'm really excited to finally start a new gamebook this week. I haven't settled on which one I'll focus on, but my spreadsheet of queued projects has many many options. Despite having just put out a fantasy book I'm tempted to do another because they sell so well. People are asking for horror-themed ones as well, but I'm saving those for the Halloween season coming up. Also, horror is harder to put into a game, I think. 

Anyway, I've been having the itch to write a mystery again lately. I just have been missing writing a story and have been thinking about making a brief return for one book. I wouldn't do it through my old publisher, tho. No way. I'll either don't myself or submit to other companies. I thought about doing a magical themed mystery book where the main character is a teacher at a witch school or something cute like that. 

Here is my mock up cover to get me inspired before I write. (I always do a little mock up cover beforehand). Who knows, maybe this one will fall off the face of the earth like so many other books I've begun and decided weren't right for the moment.

Tuesday Night Dungeons and Dragons

Just like we always do, Taylor and I met for our usual game session of Dungeons and Dragons on Tuesday. We really enjoy meeting, and I look forward to it every week. Sometimes, tho, we both wish we had other easier games to play on the nights were are tired. It is hard to find board games we can easily play over video chat. We've been brainstorming ideas but haven't come up with anything solid yet. (I have an idea, but haven't passed it by Taylor yet.)

Dungeons and Dragons is fun, tho.

This week in our game, my character got cursed. He was a young handsome cat person before, (VanCate Helsing is his name) now he looks old and dying and a little evil. So, I doodled him during the final battle. Taylor took the doodle and digitized it and touched it up.

Tasty Treats

We had some very tasty treats this week. Amber ordered us a pastry box from my favorite bakery we never get to go to anymore. We used to live near it in downtown. Now we live far away and they are closed for Covid. However, they DO have a delivery service. So we got some weekly bread and box of treats. We went through them too quickly.

I made pumpkin chocolate chip waffles on Taylor's birthday to celebrate him! Too bad he wasn't here to have one as well. I did send him a ton of Harry Potter themed Happy Birthdays! Lol!

I also made my first cup of Pumpkin Spice Tea for the season. I know we aren't quite to Autumn yet, but I'm too darn ready. This has been a difficult year for our world and our country. There is so much bad news everywhere and I'm working very hard to focus on the positive in my life. This includes finding the joy in all the little small things that come my way. I love autumn for many small joys. Falling leaves. The smell in the air of fireplaces going for the first time in the season. Warm clothing. The chilly air. The spooky decorations. Fun scary movies (Mr. Chicken, Hocus Pocus, etc.) All of it. 

I know there won't be much of a Halloween this year, which is part of the reason I think I want to write another mystery or two. I can celebrate my favorite holidays in story form and share that joy with others. That is important to me. I know how many people turn to books for comfort. I know my games have eased a lot of people's time in quarantine. 

Anyway, I decided to start concentrating on those joys earlier by making a cup of pumpkin tea. I made it in a mug Taylor bought me for my birthday this year. It's my favorite mug. And today has been rainy and chilly and it just feels right!

Flowers from Amber

Amber went to do her Master Gardener volunteer work and brought me back a big vase of wildflowers! I love them and they smell great. Just another little joy in my life.

Rainy Day Gaming

I've been playing the board game Taylor sent me. It's a lot of fun. I'm playing through the story on my own with two of the characters and then with Amber with the other two characters. I like how the map for the game is like a storybook. As you move through the book you get a little more story and gameplay. I played a few sessions today while it rained outside. I loved it.

Lestat wanted to play, too.

Painting

I haven't painted in a LONG time, but with my goal to take more time aside for quiet contemplation and enjoyment of the little things, painting felt right. Painting is a quiet and slow creative process. It allows me to escape into the image I'm painting and just really get into it. And, I love painting mini paintings. So, I'll be doing a few more of these, I think. Trying to do more "Still lives" type of thing instead of landscapes at the moment. I always think I should take an online painting class but never really get to it. 

I loved this cover of Better Homes & Gardens, so I went ahead and painted it. Here is the side-by-side and then a close up of the actual brush work.

A Little Mystery

With my interest in maybe writing another mystery, I've been getting into more mystery stuff lately. I've been playing the Clue board game app on my phone a lot and loving it. The computer AI is a lot smarter than on old video game versions so it makes it more exciting and difficult to try and solve it before them. Also, the art looks great. There are other boards you can purchase to download (An Egypt themed one. A Murder Express one.) Maybe I'll play those ones some point. I'd love to see them as ACTUAL board games, but I doubt that will happen. I'd love to design a murder mystery board game. 

We watched a new Agatha Christie adaption on Amazon Prime of The Pale Horse. It was SO GOOD! But that shouldn't be a surprise as it was made by the same people who did that new adaption of And Then There Were None that Taylor, Amber, and I are all obsessed with.

Then we stumbled upon a 1989 adaption of And Then There Were None so we figured, let's give it a go. . . It was . . . bad. . . really bad. They set it at a safari camp in Africa, which is fine. However, the acting was bad and the movie itself just felt like it was low budget. IT seemed more like a TV special than an actual movie.

Anyway, that's all for this week! Love you all!

-Noah