Warlord Games’ Action Fiction Competition

Warlord Games are inviting players to write short pieces of action fiction for Beyond the Gates of Antares. Whilst there will be up to five winners for a some store vouchers, Warlord will publish the best shorts on our websites, we’ll also be looking for more fiction from the best writers for future supplements.

There’s only 4 weeks left.

We’ve had some great submissions – and multiple submissions from the same person, too! It is an action fiction comp, deliberately short to match what we’re looking for and can use. And I’m happy to offer first-cut once-over advice to those who have never written before.

The link for more details is below. Do read and follow the instructions!

https://www.gatesofantares.com/fiction-invitation/

Homeworking – a few tips

Given the isolation and homeworking that is now being encouraged due to current crisis (March 2020), a friend and screenwriter posted some advice which reminded me to do the same (thanks, Nicky). Originally, I couldn’t get to this blog – a very strange affair – but it’s now been sorted.

I work at home, and have done so on and off for decades. At first it was to have quality time to design or write before returning into the office, or managing staff who were doing the same, then in a home office, then later it was because I have to due to pain management. What follows is based on that experience, and I hope it helps…

Pacing and Pain

I’ve been busy, again, hence no posts. Insanely busy, in fact, and I let something get away from me: Pain Management. I know, I’ve said plenty of times here and on my other blog that PM is a lifestyle, a way of living to allow you to live. But I had a whole host of mini-handbooks to write, some mini-supplements to write and edit, a players pack to finish,  playtesting, an inquest and its rather stressy fallout…

…all of which is not good for pain management.

A series of unfortunate events…

I think most of the blog posts on here are when my Pain Management fails. It’s not through self-pity, but because at those instances you really have to focus on management and run through the techniques you know to apply them. Right now I’m on the tail end of a couple of weeks of unfortuante events and I’m, well, ouch and trying to sort out how to deal with it without resorting to myriads of opioids.

When running through the techniques and applying them, it brings to mind some odd, quick-fix things that can help. There’s a few here coming from my experience. Of course, as ever, the are always limited by what the pain sufferer can physically do, but it is worth making the effort.

Messing up: a cascade

I’ve just come back from a few days away which involved a couple of key meetings and a games day. I’d have to stay over either side, of course, but the meeting and day seemed to be worth it. Further, I thought I could manage it properly from a pain viewpoint but, frankly, I was wrong.

I am now in shed loads of pain.

Anticipation of Pain

I’m due to make a long trip and find myself tensing up. The regular pain worsens as a result of that, but my daily routine hasn’t changed. That means the only real reason for the increased pain is the anticipation of being in severe pain as a result of the trip.