Distractions

So I certainly have my share of distractions that keep me from writing.  I have quite a few video games I would love to play, such as Guitar Hero/Rock Band, the Uncharted games, Batman Arkham games, Might and Magic, Portal 2, a decent variety of Blizzard games, and a choice of Final Fantasy games.  But, for the most part, these have been on the back burner for quite a long time.

I have a variety of board/card games I love to play (and more I would love to own) such as Settlers of Catan, Race for the Galaxy, SmallWorld, Agricola, and San Juan.  You could also put strategy games into this category, things like Chess, Blokus, and Tara.  But I don't get to play these very often, because Addy is too young, Amy isn't interested, and my friends are all, like myself, adults with busy schedules.

I've also been trying to get back into roleplaying.  I have done my fair share of online roleplaying, but it is either entirely too addictive or takes entirely too long.  My friends play a weekly D&D game, but they live many states away so I have to webcam in... and D&D is not really my thing.  I'm much more into Champions, possibly the most versatile roleplaying game out there.  But I don't know enough people nearby who are interested, and I don't want to GM.  So my sister is starting one up, but it keeps getting pushed back and I find this very disheartening.  I do, however, spend some of my time writing up characters for the campaign.  Who knows, I may end up running a game myself as the GM and keep these write-ups for my campaign.

Of course, games are not my only, or even my biggest, distraction.  By far the biggest is Adelaide.  But she's a special case.  I have a daily dose of webcomics, and I'm sure that if I cut them down I can actually save a bit of time.  But what can I say, I love webcomics!  I will likely post a few reviews on here before too long.  Maybe for games, too.

Music can, at times, be a diversion as well.  I am a guitarist and sometimes play music for a co-op group we have.  I also play at a family worship night every other week, and I work on classical guitar pieces in my free time... of which there isn't much.  It's hard to practice when Addy is awake, and I don't want to wake her if she is asleep.

This blog has actually become a bit of a distraction.  Or, more precisely, the readership has.  I like looking at my stats to see how many people read it, where they hail from, and what I can do to increase my readership.  Though I rarely get comments, I am getting between 30 and 50 people reading when I post.  And for some reason, many are in Germany.  So, here's a shout out to my German readers!  Now, I know an audience of 50 is not much, but it's a start, right?  And that's 50 people who may actually purchase my novel when it is completed!  Who knows, I might actually make enough money to make writing the thing worth it.  :)  One of my professors told me that as writers in today's world, where the publishing industry is in constant threat of going belly-up because it can't seem to adapt to technology, we have to learn to promote ourselves.  Publishers are increasingly leaving their authors out in the cold to do their own promotion anyway, which more or less defeats the purpose of having one.  So, if I am to self-publish (which is no longer a taboo), I need to learn how to get an audience.

Now, if only I could keep the non-productive and non-essential distractions to a minimum...