Games and Well… More Tabletop Games

gaming avatar

Yesterday, my SO and I went over to Pegasus Games here in town and played a few card and board games in celebrating of Tabletop Day. We dove into Tsuro, Ascension, Cthulhu Fluxx, and Gloom before going home. For an online game, I’ve been having fun with Folds from Armor Games, which has an origami-theme.

I had fun, but I’m in “work mode,” which means that I’m fully immersed in productivity right now. Firefly is ramping up. I just finished scouring through page proofs and I have four other projects I’m wrapping up.

This is a good thing for me, because it means I have a fun job to do — and it’s time to make the most out of it. Very happy that portion of my business is healthy. Yay!

    Mood: Blargh due to weather-related conditions.
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Well rested, so having half-caff.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Walkin’, walkin’, walkin’.
    In My Ears: Nothing
    Game Last Played: Eternal Sonata
    Movie Last Viewed: Deadfall
    Latest Artistic Project: Need to take pictures…
    Latest Release: “The Button” We Are Dust anthology
March 31, 2013
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Link Salad Tossed With Books, Interview, and More!

There's a trojan on your computer

It’s a link salad today! Huzzah! No vegetables, sadly. But first? I haven’t talked about productivity or tips in that direction for a while, so I’ll share with you an insight into my process. Basically, I require math to figure out what I can/can’t do and weigh that against what else I have on my plate. I do the math for money and for word count. To get paid, work has to get done. To get the work done, you’ve got to put words down. To get the words down, you have to figure out how much time you have to write. # of Words Per Day x Rate Per Word (Actual or Ideal) = Writer’s Earnings Per Diem. That helps me figure out my daily goals.

Now, onto the salad o’ links!

  • Marketing, Sales, and Publicity–Part One: The Basics – In Part One of a two-parter, I dive into the 10,000 foot overview between marketing, sales, and publicity for the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. Special thanks to the infamous Nick Mamatas for his time providing a quote, and to Todd Vandermark for the opportunity to write again for the SFWA.


  • Monica Valentinelli on the difference between the Firefly RPG and the Serenity RPG – My first interview for the Firefly RPG line! Shortly after posting my initial article, the fine folks at Geek Native reached out to me with questions.


  • Extreme Zombies Give-A-Way! – The contest for a copy of EXTREME ZOMBIES ends on Tuesday, April 2nd. Got some good entries, but there’s still time!


  • FR Press Sale at DriveThruFiction – If you’re hoping to find a friendly, neighborhood fiction site, consider dropping by DriveThruFiction. They’re very author-friendly — in part because they’ve been dealing with publishers directly on the DriveThruRPG and DriveThruComics side for some time. A disclaimer, of course, is that I have a vested interest in seeing DriveThruFiction and DriveThruComics take off for many reasons; for starters, my own work would benefit and I have seen how effective the direct marketing tools can be. Many of the books I worked on through FR Press are on sale for a week!


  • Tabletop Day – The famed Wil Wheaton launched a celebration of board, card, and role-playing games dubbed Tabletop Day. DriveThruRPG is offering a free bundle and heavily discounted games for the event, but this is well above and beyond just the internet. Many game stores will have events so folks around the world can do what games provide — have fun with friends and family!


  • Migrating from Feedburner – In sad news, Feedburner is slowly meandering off into the sunset. This means that, eventually, my feed address will change and how you access my website will, too. It’s not a change that’s coming right now, but we’re planning on what to do next.


  • Urban Homesteading – Keeping up with the salad theme… I stumbled across this site by way of crochet patterns for chickens (don’t ask) and really dig some of the articles there. We’ve had some trouble with plants in the past, but we’re going the terrarium route a.k.a. cat defense system. There’s a lovely lady across the way from South Africa who’s managed to turn her backyard into a green paradise, so we’re going to give it a shot this year.

That’s all for link salad this time. Hopefully not too heavy, not too light. I detect a hint of lemon and poppyseed.

    Mood: Bwah?
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: First cup. Good to the last drop.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: A walk. OUTSIDE EVEN.
    In My Ears: Nothing
    Game Last Played: Eternal Sonata
    Movie Last Viewed: Deadfall
    Latest Artistic Project: Need to take pictures…
    Latest Release: “The Button” We Are Dust anthology

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March 29, 2013
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Want A Signed Copy of EXTREME ZOMBIES?!?!?!

Extreme Zombies CoverIt’s too late! The living dead have already taken over the world. Your brains have been devoured. Nothing is left but spasms of ravenous need—an obscene hunger for even more zombie fiction.

Extreme Zombies is edited by Paula Guran and published by Prime Books. To celebrate this release, FlamesRising.com is hosting an EXTREME ZOMBIES GIVE-A-WAY for two signed copies in the U.S. I’ll be signing them with braaaaaaiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnsssssssssssss!

Just shamble on over to FlamesRising.com and comment on the EXTREME ZOMBIES Give-A-Way contest post! Contest ends in a week — so shamble fast!

March 27, 2013
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Progress Report #2

When I’m online or have chat open, I’m working. I can’t play games or socialize too much; if you see me on Twitter or Facebook it’s usually when I’m taking a quick break or have it on my phone. I wish I didn’t have to be on either network, but this is how I get my news and stay on top of what people are doing. Sometimes, though, I wish I could filter out the news, rants, and ridiculous negativity. It’s hard some days, because I’m a writer, and words resonate with me musically and literally. I suspect there’ll be a purge coming at some point, but regardless I have to use these networks wisely so I can keep creating. I guess that’s why I love my Tumblr account so much! It’s pure, unadulterated joy. Love, love, love logging in and seeing new art filter through every day. Yay!

Does this mean I work too hard? I do put in more than fifty hours a week when you factor in reading and research, but I also have a life and I would not be doing this much if I did not enjoy it immensely. I don’t mean to say that in a snarky way; I’m very intense (as others often point out) but that’s only because I try to make the best out of every possible moment. I don’t always succeed or I go into a mood, but the point is that I’m living. Doing. Writing. And very, very happy I can do this. It may not always be realistic, so I have to take advantage of the time I have now. Many pro writers aren’t making what you might on a salaried position. (GalleyCat has a great collection of three testimonials if you want to see some reports.)

Even when I’m not on a gig, though, I’m always working on something. I have to have a pen and paper and art materials close by or I’ll go crazy. I can tell when I haven’t been doing much of one thing or the other, because that’s when my mood really suffers. I guess you can call me the pragmatic writer? Holistic? Not sure… 🙂 Either way, if you’re going to chase the rainbow, put your tennis shoes on first.

Without further adieu, here’s the updates!

Games

Vampire The Masquerade 20th EditionI announced that I’m the Brand Manager and one of the writers for the Firefly RPG line, which will be published via Margaret Weis Productions. I’m knee deep in outlines and scripts at the moment. More than that, I dare not say…

I’m wrapping up my work for the Mage 20th Anniversary Edition contribution and also working on a Vampire: the Masquerade supplement. Plus, there’s a few other things in the works that I’m not ready to announce just yet. My goal is to wind down work on other games so I can focus on the Firefly corebook and GenCon for this portion of my business over the summer.

Fiction…And COMICS!

The Queen of Crows e-Book | Alternate CoverI’m excited to say that my first comic will be published via Red Stylo Media! *throws confetti* “Last Man Zombie Standing” will be available in an anthology called Unfashioned Creatures, A Frankenstein Anthology late this Summer. If you want to check out some of this publisher’s comics, they do have some available at DriveThruComics.com.

I have also honed my new, original fiction projects down to two: a science fiction novella titled The Red Door and a massive project for the Violet War, which is the setting for The Queen of Crows. Remember, you can now get multiple versions of the original, full color edition from DriveThruFiction.com.

Consulting

John “The Muskrat” Kovalic went to the GAMA Trade Show this year and some new business initiatives that we’d been working on will spring from that. Ninth Level Games launched a Kobolds Ate My Baby Kickstarter that I’ve been behind-the-scenes on; that’ll end on April 3rd. The 50K mark combines Munchkin with Kobolds Ate My Baby!

Onyx Path is moving along; there’s a lot of questions right now, and Rich is taking the time to really think about what the company is doing and what he wants.

We’re focused on GenCon and a few, other foolish surprises…

March 26, 2013
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Firefly RPG Update No. 1

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I announced recently that I’m the new Brand Manager and one of the writers for the Firefly roleplaying game line. Yesterday, I published my first update on the Margaret Weis Productions website. If you’re a reader here on my blog, I’ll be linking to the updates and sticking them underneath my progress reports, since this’ll be one of my projects.

Here’s a quote from the post that clarifies one of the common questions:

Q: How does the Firefly RPG differ from Serenity RPG?

A: The new Firefly RPG, which is based on the hit Fox television series by Joss Whedon, is scheduled for a 2013 release; the system(s) are currently in development. Margaret Weis Productions did put out a game based on the Serenity movie produced by Universal Studios in 2005. The system for that game was a science fiction flavor of Cortex Classic.



If you’re interested, read: Ain’t No Better Place In The ‘Verse

March 21, 2013
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Looking for Monica’s books and games that are still in print? Visit Monica Valentinelli on Amazon’s Author Central or a bookstore near you.

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