Aimless: 900

Since 8:33 p.m., MST, on September 4, 2014, I’ve published 900 posts on this blog. This is post 901.

When I started, I thought I’d be lucky to finish documenting a 10-gen Pinstar TS4 legacy. I wasn’t sure I’d make it past gen 5, then once I did, I thought I’d finish before the year was out.  It took a total of 15 months.

I also anticipated that this would be a one-story blog. It contains, currently, 24 longer works (not counting a few secreted away), seven complete.

From September 2014 until July 2016, inspiration and enthusiasm drove me–it felt like I’d been waiting for years to discover this medium, and I had so many ideas to share!

I wasn’t the only one caught up in a flurry of creative productivity: those years saw an abundance of inspiring SimLit stories. The community, too, was one big celebration of Simming and writing.

Being part of the SimLit community has been the best part of writing this blog–and it still is. The collaborations, the rich and skillfully told stories, and the views into people’s insights, loves, and imaginations have given me a sense of belonging that now feels like a natural part of my life. It’s easy to forget how surprised I was to be a part of this during the first year, but I’m still just as grateful.

I’ve slowed down the pace and  intensity of my SimLit writing since July 2016, as a major project at the office put an end to the luxury of daydreaming about my stories while writing XHTML every afternoon. Now, I’ve got to think, create, organize, collaborate, and write during the workday, and when I come home, my mind feels diffused. So a new level of sustainability has been introduced to my involvement with this creative outlet, with fewer stories and much less game-play.

Nonetheless, I’m happy with the work I’ve created this past year. My own favorites are quiet and intensely personal, like the short story “This Wide Green Home” and the longer work “Shift,” both of which, while not autobiographical, express my approach to living and being.

I guess what I’ve loved most about writing this blog–next to the collaboration and community of other writers and readers–is that the 900 posts have offered a way to explore thoughts I might not have explored otherwise. The ideas I’ve written might not be lasting, and some of them, I might have been just trying on for size, but each of the 900 contains something I probably wouldn’t have said otherwise. Like 900 sketches, here’s 900 pieces that contain a thought or a view.

If you’ve read any of them, thank you!