Easy Weeknight Story Recipe - Hero's Journey

A Hero's Journey is a staple of of the writing world, with examples from all over the world dating back to ancient times. While the modern "traditional" recipe is the one published by Joseph Campbell, this easy weeknight version will have you "returning with the elixir" in 20 minutes!

Ingredients

- 1 Being that Personifies Evil

- 1 Mentor Figure

- 1 Hero with Hidden Potential

- 1 MacGuffin

- 1 Vaguely Defined Realm

- 1 Package of Mixed Complications

Instructions:

1. Add the Being that Personifies Evil to the Vaguely Defined Realm. This will cause the Vaguely Defined Realm to turn into "poor condition." Don't worry, this is normal.

2. In a separate area, set the Hero with Hidden Potential alongside the Mentor Figure. This will bring out the Hero's Hidden Potential and then prepare it for the MacGuffin.

3. Add the Hero and Mentor Figure to the Vaguely Defined Realm. Shortly after, add the Package of Mixed Complications and bring to a boil.

4. Allow Mixed Complications to simmer. This brings out the Hero's Potential to its fullest. Simmering may kill off the mentor figure, but that's okay. If you prefer to keep your mentor figure, set it aside halfway through to add back in at the end.

5. Once the Mixed Complications have broken down, you will notice that the Being that Personifies Evil will also break down. The Vaguely Defined Realm will now turn into "good condition."

6. Add the MacGuffin and allow the Hero to retrieve it. Serves 1-3 stories.

Tips and Tricks

- To serve more stories, add multiple beings that personify evil, but try and keep them related.

- To quickly add Romantic Tension, personify your MacGuffin to be your Hero's Love Interest.

- For an easy extra blast of pizzaz, add a Cool Weapon that can only be wielded by the Hero.

- While it is possible to use a Thoroughly Defined Realm, keep in mind you may need to use factions as Thoroughly Defined Realms are not as easily influenced by single characters the way Vaguely Defined Realms are.

- Based on preference, you can use a different package of Complications (ex. all battles, all emotional turmoil, all fighting the elements, etc.) Make sure to match your Hero's Hidden Potential, though, or the Complications will overpower them.

August Updates

Update Time!

So one of the ideas presented in SLOW PRODUCTIVITY is that when you're starting out, you should double the amount of time you have set aside for a project because typically humans are bad at figuring out how much time they need to do something.

Turns out that was right, because despite my best efforts, I did not finish Jane 3 in July.

But that's okay! I got kinda stuck somewhere and need time to let it marinate in my brain for a while anyway. So instead of extending my novel writing phase, I will just be moving into PODCAST phase in August as promised, and just adjust my expectations for the time it will take accordingly.

Recording is now slotted for August through October with editing being done in November and December and then the "season" starting in January. There will be a minimum of one new episode per month.

THE NEW CORUSCANT IS CRACKING

I have started writing SIX scenarios for Coruscant is Cracking.

Unfortunately, this means that you'll have to re-sign up. Sorry.

There will also most likely only be THREE scenarios to sign up for, because I have three people on deck to record.

I have already written the summaries for the scenarios and got one person all figured out, so that will be progressing quickly.

I'll also be upfront and say here that I'm hoping to create a group of "regulars" who want to pop in and do arcs here and there. So CiC episodes are also me finding out who I jive with. Of course, if you only want to do it the one time, that's totally fine.

SOUNDS IN THE WILD

In preparation for the podcast phase, I've been recording interesting sounds I've come across - construction equipment, train stations, ATVs, etc. I'm excited about getting back into sound editing and production, I've missed doing it.

PATREON THINGS

I have a couple of short stories I want to write and record, a couple I never finished, etc. I also have a million thoughts to share on different things, but I'm not sure what format would be best for it. I have a couple of ideas, I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out.

"JUST SHOW UP"

The one final thought I have for you is a piece of advice that I've been trying to follow that I think was first popularized by Stephen King - "your job is to show up." He talks about how when he's writing, he has to show up at that spot for his specific writing time. Sometimes nothing happens, but that's okay, because the job was just to show up and let your mind work.

In my continual pursuit of de-hustleculturing/de-industrializing my brain, I have been doing this practice. I just tell myself "all you have to do is open up the files and show up" and then usually I get more done than I thought I would. Sometimes I don't get anything done, but at least I sat there in the time I mapped out for the creative work.

If you're having a hard time finding the space for it, just pick even 20-30 minutes that you designate as "creative time" and show up to it every day. Eventually I think you'll see some results.

Casting Slow

So at the end of my last blog post I mentioned that I was going to look into "Slow Productivity" again and then realized I have audiobook hours on my Spotify account that I never use.

So I read it!

The book is Slow Productivity and...something something something subtitle, it's by Cal Newport. I'm not going to rehash the ideas here, but instead focus on explaining how I'll be implementing them. I generally recommend the book, though.

Newport puts forth Slow Productivity as having three main concepts:

1. Do fewer things.

2. Work at a natural pace.

3. Obsess over quality.

Well, I already got number 3 down, but I had to really think over 1 and 2 and do some real analysis of how I got things done in the past and how I'm going to get them done better moving forward.

Do Fewer Things

I had a real hard time at this one initially because I was like "Well, I used to get so much done all the time! What happened?!"

But when I really thought about it, that wasn't true.

Let's say I just water down everything I do between just PODCAST and NOVEL WRITING. Here's a timeline.

I first started taking novel writing seriously in 2007. I hammered at that pretty hard until 2012, when my son was born. That's pretty much all I did.

When that happened, I sorta "quit" writing because I wasn't sure how to balance having kids and starting a new career. I was researching into randomization in helping me write, which is how I got into TTRPGs, which in turn got me into the Star Wars game which resulted in the show, which started just around 2016.

In 2018, I told a student of mine that I had written novels in the past and she demanded to read it, and when she did, she came back and told me that she was so mad at me for giving up on it. And so we worked together to write again. In March 2018, I wrote the first draft of HEART AND SOUL FIST.

But by that time, the podcast was in a groove. And even though that first draft was done, HASF went through a lot of rewrites.

So from 2018-2021, there was a LOT of productivity! I finished HASF, I did the podcast, I started another podcast, I wrote SPIRITS OF SUMMER and the GHOST GIRLFRIEND book and then started a mega-popular Persona 5 fanfic!

...because it was the pandemic and I had a ton of extra time.

I have been judging and trying to calibrate my output to a time that doesn't exist and can't exist again. Prior to that, any time I made significant progress on something, I was mostly just focused on the one thing.

What does that mean?

I'm not quitting anything, but I am changing how I approach the work. One of the concepts Newport puts forward in the book is "embracing seasonality." One of the examples he has is Georgia O'Keefe, who apparently did a TON of her painting in the summer and then just worked during the rest of the year. And that really resonated with me, because when I was first up-and-coming as a writer in my teen years, that's a lot of what I did. I would in particular go up to the cabin in Utah, away from a lot of distractions, and crank out huge amounts of words.

So instead of trying to optimize my life so I can crank everything out like a one-man studio (which won't work anyone), I will be approaching projects on a seasonal basis.

Summer has always been a writing time for me, so that's what I've been doing since about the last week of June. I decided to dedicate 90% of my creative energy to finishing a draft of Jane 3 (which is actually temp-titlted "Jane Inert", actually).

I had made some plans with people to record in July, but I pushed it all back to August.

And so far, it's working. I'm already 20,000 words done.

My plan is to finish the draft of Jane Inert by end of July, early August at the latest and then just let it marinate in my subconcious for a few months. Then I'll be putting all of my creative energy into Sil Zero - scheduling recordings, editing, and getting enough content banked.

I'll then release the podcast moving forward in "seasons." Whatever I have recorded through August to September will be what I have for a while.

Famously, I never get anything done in November, between the three birthdays and holidays and what not. So November through probably January I will actually be focusing on the Persona 5 fanfic. I really want to finish it, and winter is typically a time where I'm usually doing experimental writing, which is what I'll also be doing in the background.

I haven't really thought past this point, I'll have to see how it goes. But the idea will be, moving forward, that I will have massive productive points in the podcast, release it in a season pacing (either bi-weekly or monthly) and then things will kinda stop for a while as I build things back up.

Is this going to make me "competitive" in a world where there's a new episode of everything else every week? No. I don't care about that anymore. Podcasts are way more saturated than they used to be, the "big moment" of people converting their actual plays into like a media empire is probably gone now, and I just want to make the show my way and have fun doing it.

Work at a Natural Pace

I am a victim of my own success and my own ego.

When I talk about writing, there are three feathers in my cap that I strut around with.

I wrote the first draft of THE 209 DETECTIVE AGENCY in 23 days.

I wrote the first draft of HEART AND SOUL FIST in 27 days.

I wrote I SUMMONED A GHOST TO BE MY GIRLFRIEND in 4 days.

"Wow! So fast! So incredible! You're so amazing!"

But this isn't entirely accurate.

GHOST was a complete freakish outlier, let's leave that alone. I had a dream about that story and I typed it out. This was also during the pandemic back when I had to be at campus but there were no students, so I had nothing to do but type for those four days.

The timeline for 209 is also accurate, but it was carefully outlined over a month or so of endless post-it notes. It was the first time I had written a mystery so I was being meticulous about it. So really it was a couple of months.

But Heart and Soul Fist?

That's a lie I told myself.

Yes, I did sit down in March of 2018 and I banged it all out in one frantic go.

But I had already written a draft of it in 2011. Sort of.

I had created most of the characters and ideas back in 2011 and written the story from Andrew's perspective. I had Andrew, Krell, Jane, and Star all written. Yes, I did add and cut a lot, yes it's very different in some ways, but I had done a lot of worldbuilding. And that story had been marinating in my subconscious for 7 years. I was just remixing what I had already done.

And really, who cares about the draft? It took another two years and some serious rewrites for me to get Heart and Soul Fist to a point where I wanted to publish it out into the world. It wasn't until like draft 5 that I figured out that Jane should be the new guardian. And that's like a key point of the story!

So really, I've been telling myself that if I'm not blasting out a perfect draft in 30 days that it's a waste of time, when again, that's never how I've been able to make anything good.

What that has meant is that my drafting process for Jane Inert is different. Here's an example:

Tsubasa nods, having finished collecting the tapestries. He then reaches into the pack on the small of his back and withdraws a I DON'T KNOW A THING THAT HELPS HIM GET INTO THE MORTAL WORLD, FIGURE THIS OUT LATE

One of my weak points is that I tend to glaze over descriptions and I always have to improve them on revision drafts. But if I have to do that anyway, I'm not going to let myself get stuck when I can't immediately think of it. So I just leave an all caps note for myself and push forward.

This also means that I know that when I'm done with this draft, it might be another year or two before it's ready to be shared with everyone. And that's okay.

What does this mean?

In terms of the podcast, what it means is that I'll be changing up how I schedule recordings, and I will probably do a new sign-up sheet for CORUSCANT IS CRACKING.

As I mentioned before, I'll be looking specifically for people who have better microphones, but I'm also going to have to be more rigid about my availability and the themes of the story. Previously, I was trying to move my schedule around for people to try and get them to record, and that was causing me a lot of stress. Additionally, I was creating individual, bespoke special little mission sot match their character. That's pretty cool and all, but it was a LOT of work.

So you'll see it in more detail in August and it might come across as a bit more mean, but I have to work at a natural pace for myself. Stretching myself and tying myself into knots is not only not healthy for me...it wasn't even working.

--

That's all for now. Feel free to reach out with questions, and if you're interested or still interested in being involved in this next phase of the show, I'll talk to you in August.

Summer Update 2024

Updates have been overdue, so here they are.

PODCAST

While I am proud of the work I did on Tricky Fox Tales, and even though I basically have Episode 2 done, I'm not going to continue it. I like Scum and Villainy, but doing it all by myself isn't that fun. It feels too much like novel-writing to do it alone - it takes the same type of concentration and solitary work, and honestly, if I'm going to do that, I might as well keep working on the novels.

I was talking to Adam of the Force Majeure podcast the other day about it, and it just feels that part of my personality has been shut down without doing the podcast in its traditional form. I feel like there's two types of creativity that I like to do: the slow, methodical type that I improve upon until I get it as perfect as possible, and then absolute improvised chaos. I haven't had the second in a while.

You're probably wondering where Matt is. There's nothing super interesting about it - he's just busy. But believe it or not, it's been about 2 years since we've recorded together, so I guess it's time to try something else.

I have two people going to do a couple of guest arcs coming up, set in what would've been the Season 5 timeline. We'll see how these mini-arcs go.

I'll also be re-starting CORUSCANT IS CRACKING. However, I am going to have to be a lot pickier with the quality of audio people bring to the table. I know that limits how some people can participate, and I'm sorry about that. But I also can't let it go. The amount of effort I had to put in to make some of the other episode audio listenable was significant, and I still wasn't happy about it. So if you don't have at least a Yeti quality mic, I don't think I'll be asking you to join in. Sorry again.

As I play with new people, I'll be looking for someone to do longer stories with. Maybe a whole season worth, or maybe just these mini-arcs, we'll see.

This is admittedly a lot harder than it would've been a few years ago. I've lost touch with a lot of the SWRPG community. I don't know the new people, and I don't know where to find new players who have the RPG skills, the performance skills, and the same comedy and story sensibilities I have. But I guess the only way to find them is to start looking.

WRITING

Not that anyone is waiting for it, but I decided to finish Jane book 3. It has taken me a long time to understand what it is I needed to write for it, but now I feel like there's this nice golden thread laying on the ground and I just need to follow it. I've been working on it bit by bit over the last month and I'm happy with it so far. I'm definitely working the cobwebs out.

Which has been kind of a generic theme for my life lately. My leg is about as good as it was prior to my injury (which wasn't great, given how out of shape I was) so I'm actually starting to be more active, physically. I'm training my Kung Fu and Tai Chi forms, which I haven't done consistently in years.

I also know I need to restart the Persona 5 Fan Fic. Those poor readers keep getting stuck in line.

I also know I need to really restrict my content input these days. I've been watching a LOT of TV lately as my kids and I went through A:TLA and LOK. It was an incredible experience to do that with them. I've also been watching the Bad Batch and just catching up on stuff. I need MORE of that and less mindless scrolling on my phone, which really has become more of an issue than I realize.

I need quiet space for my mind to wander. I'm getting better at taking the time for it. Summer is always an excellent season of reset for that.

I've also been looking more into "Slow Productivity" again. I think I need to read the book, because I recently heard an interview with the author and he talked about the concept of "seasonality" and I felt validated. I've felt that way for YEARS, and it's nice to hear that there's some validity in it. I need to think about it more.

Work Flows

So by this point you've heard the solo mini-series thing that I've been working on, and I hope you liked it. It's been a lot of fun to make. But it has revealed some things about my workflow that I'm trying to figure out, some of which is new and some of which is old problems in new packaging.

The old problem in new packaging is the idea of "friction." Friction, in the creative context, is how much effort and energy it takes to get started on a project when you're not in project-mode. Friction takes a lot of forms, from having to get materials out to being in the right headspace. For those of us with jobs and families, friction is a major hurdle. When you've already been using your brain for 14 hours, you really need a simple way of dropping into the groove without being tempted by something easier to do (social media, video games, sleep, etc.)

So when I started the Tricky Fox Tales, it was when I was still recovering from surgery, and friction wasn't an issue. I was just sitting around all day looking for things to do, so I had plenty of energy and focus left to do the project in the way that I wanted.

Stick a pin in that line of thought for a second because I need to talk about the new problem for the old one to make sense.

As I talked about in a previous blog post, I was experimenting with different work flows involving paper, iPads, VR, etc. What I found is that I REALLY LIKE writing by hand now. My typing speed is very fast (90-120 wpm) but that meant that I could type almost as fast as I can think. And in the past I liked that, because it was like turning on a fire hose of words and they would just blast onto the page at a rate that makes a lot of people jealous.

But I also have to take into account that my life, and the pace of life in general, is different.

There's a bunch of examples I could make, both specific and in general, but to illustrate my point I'm just going to talk about going to sleep. Every night, I stick an airpod in one ear, find something to put on, and drop off to sleep. It's usually and podcast or some kind of long form YouTube video or sometimes I'll just load up the Dragonball Z Abridged playlist and let that run. I do this every single night. And sometimes, if I wake up halfway through the night, I switch the airpod so the other can get charged, put on something else and drop to sleep again.

I didn't used to do that. I used to lie there and think about stories and ideas and let my mind wander around.

In general, there used to be a lot more empty time for me to think. When I went to turn on the fire hose of words, I had already thought about what I was going to write, I was just solidifying it at that point. But right now, with the pace of my life, I don't have that. I've been trying to add that back in where I can, but there are some areas (like work for example) where it's not in my control.

Writing by hand has forces me to go slower, so it forces me to think about what I'm writing as I'm writing it. It gives me more THINK time. I'm more deliberate with word and sentence choices. And since I don't want to write a whole bunch of stuff and then cross it out, I will actually take the time to think for several minutes before I start adding words. This makes the process more mindful, meditative, relaxing, and more fun.

I have even started typing things ON MY PHONE. I am writing this post on my phone. I hated typing on my phone because it's so slow, but now that I appreciate slower speeds, I actually enjoy it.

So let's tie these things together.

In order to improve the quality of my work and the quality of the experience of creating the work, I have created more friction. This friction prevents me from doing the work on a consistent basis.

Yay~!

The real problem honestly is that when it comes to Tricky Fox Tales, I created too much friction. I gave the project its own notebook, and I was using this color coded system where dialogue was one color, dice roll stuff was another color, and the narrator was a third color.

The story I'm working on that I'm writing my hand is much simpler. It has a designated notebook, but that notebook also has a cover with a pen holder. I put the pen that writes the best in that notebook into the pen holder. That means in order to start that I just have to open the notebook, take out the pen that's already there, and start writing. For me to start on Tricky Fox Tales, I have to get out all of the RPG materials, character sheets, rule sheets, the special colored pens, and the special notebook.

Whoops.

Obviously I need to do it differently. I'm still working on that. Once I do, I think the rest of TFT will go faster, and I'm excited for that, it's very fun to do.

New Year 2024 Update

Happy New Year!

My leg is progressing on schedule, according to my physical therapist. Which is good news but also not super good news because I feel like the recovery from this is taking much longer than the recovery from the actual injury. But I feel like I'm more mobile every day and I'm working on my flexibility. All I can really do is be patient with myself.

Let's update!

WRITING

At the beginning of my recovery period, back in December, I was A/B/C testing some different methods of writing. I tried writing by hand in a notebook, writing on an iPad notebook app with the Apple pencil, and tried typing in a VR space using my Quest 2.

The notebook wins. And that surprises me.

But for the first time since I worked on HEART AND SOUL FIST, I've actually looked forward to writing. Yes, it's "slow" by my typing speed standards, but it's a lot more meditative and relaxing. I KNOW its a draft, as I know if I decide to actually pursue it as a full project that I'm going to have to type it up as part of the revision process. But I find myself LONGING for it.

I bought this tray I used a lot when I first recovering to eat, but it works as a great surface to write on the notebook with. I use it on the couch or set it up in bed before I go to sleep and crank out a page or two. (The tray has a USB dock in it and it came with a mini-light!)

I think there's a focus in purpose that I enjoy about it. I can't look something up, I can't get distracted with a YouTube video, I can't start re-doing huge chunks of text just because. I only have me and the page and the words and it's just...a lot of fun.

As to what I'm writing, I'm not sure I'm going to talk much about it. It falls very much into the "New Adult" territory of literature (books written for and about 18-25 year olds) and the content is more mature than my "brand" is. Besides, who knows what I end up doing with it.

THE SHOW

With Matt's status still undetermined, I have been racking my brain on what to do next. I really enjoy doing Coruscant is Cracking episodes, but the production part of my brain has a hard time with it. I still want the show to sound good, but I can't expect listeners to go out and upgrade their mic setups. There's also the fact that playing for a show is very different than just playing at the table.

I'm thinking of trying to find people to do 4-5 episode arcs. The problem is that my lack of output has disconnected me from the Star Wars/TTRPG community at large. I don't get cited as often, I don't get invited to roundtables, that sort of thing, and I used to. I don't blame anyone other than myself, but for that plan to work it means I'm going to have to do some legwork in connecting to the community, which at this point in time is a LOT harder to do than when we started.

To make more episodes, I need to know more people. But to meet more people, I need to make more episodes.

Well, I'll keep thinking about it.

Turning 40

I turned 40 back in November!

Which means that I'm supposed to panic or be introspective or something. Honestly, the number doesn't bug me that much, but I'm always looking for an excuse to be introspective, so for a couple of weeks in November, I was. I spent a lot of time journaling and thinking about my creative trajectory: about what I had accomplished so far and what I wanted to do next.

And most importantly - why.

I should also mention that I'm writing this while I'm recovering from my ACL surgery - the one I tore back in July. That injury was...well, not really a "wake up" call, but a (not so gentle) reminder that my body is mortal and I need to start taking better care of it. So one of my big things is the concentration on health, mobility, strength, and diet - making it a much higher priority than I've ever had it in my life. This is probably my last best decade to get that in order before the real decline begins.

Anyway, there were a lot of other things I thought about and wrote about, but the one I want to share is the analysis of Silhouette Zero.

By every measure, Sil Zero has been the most successful thing I've ever done, creatively. Sure, people like and have been touched by the novels I've written. Yes, I had a small music career. But Sil Zero has had the broadest reach, made the most money, and has created a small but pretty awesome community around it. It's also the thing I've done the longest and most consistently.

And yet, it's probably the thing I cared about the least.

Let me clarify that.

In my other endeavors, writing in particular, I have put a lot of pressure on myself to be "great." But I never did that with Sil Zero. It was just...having fun with Matt, and then sharing it with everyone else.

And yet, it was the most successful thing. All of the stress of trying to be great hasn't amounted to anything great.

So that has become my motto for creativity moving forward - have fun, share fun.

I'm just going to do the things I want to do and enjoy doing, and then do them as best I can. Then I'll publish them. Or record them. Or upload them. And that's that.

Maybe it'll be under my name. Maybe a pen name. It doesn't really matter. Because at this phase of the game, trying for money hasn't worked and trying for greatness hasn't worked - so I might as well just have fun with it. A lot of what I've worked on recently hasn't been very fun to do.

Here's some stuff I want to do:

• Make a video game. Mostly just to say that I've done it.

• Write a solo RPG I thought of. I wrote a bunch of it down yesterday, actually.

• Write a novel that is absolutely nothing like anything I've ever done and is way out of my comfort zone. I already started.

• Maybe finish a novel that only one other person in the whole world would actually enjoy because it is so specific.

• Finish up the Persona 5 Fan Fiction. Those people have been waiting a while…

And maybe I'll do them and maybe I won't finish them or maybe they'll take forever, but who cares. If I'm enjoying it...then I'll share it when they're done.

Now, if you're here specifically about the podcast....I really don't know. Matt isn't dying or anything, but I don't know when he'll have the time to come back. And I don't know when the leg will be well enough for me to get back into SilZero HQ. So we'll just have to take that one month at a time. I'm open to suggestions, though.

So that's it, my reflections on turning 40.

Integration

Back in college, I had to take a speech class and it was...fine.

I actually learned not to judge sorority girls, but that's another story.

Anyway, in my speech class, we had to do a speech that explained something about ourselves to people. Despite being into super-music mode at the time, I actually decided to do my speech on my novel - the only one I had completed in its entirety at that point. I was 17 at the time, I wrote that one when I was 15.

The basic structure of the speech was that I went through all of the characters, one by one, and explained how each of them represented a different aspect of my personality. It wasn't something I had intentionally done when I wrote it, and I'm not even sure it's that accurate. Honestly, I probably just thought it was an easy way to organize the speech and keep it interesting and just ret-conned the different pieces of myself into the characters.

I'm bringing this up, though, because I think I've made an important step in my most recent creative block.

Two days ago I was writing an update to the Persona 5 Fanfic (henceforth to be referred to as "P5F"). The basis of P5F is that Nanako, the little girl from Persona 4, is the same age as the rest of the Phantom Thieves in Persona 5, and joins them on that adventure, and all the implications that entails. The way Nanako has panned out, though, is that in many ways she takes the same position on the team as Makoto, one of the original P5 characters, and thus they have had a lot of conflict because they are very similar to one another.

The scene I was writing was basically the two of them trying to smooth things over so they can work as a team. However, from Makoto's perspective, there were still things that Nanako did wrong, and Makoto says that even though she wants to be friends with Nanako, she will continue to call out Nanako when she thinks she's doing the wrong thing.

And when I wrote that sentence...something unlocked. It was a very visceral moment, as if a tension somewhere in my subconscious had finally been resolved. It was so physically resonant that I spent the whole day trying to figure it out. Why had that sentence been so meaningful? Why did I have that reaction?

The more I thought about it, the more I thought about that college speech, about how characters are a reflection of who I am - or at least parts of who I am.

And what I realized is that the reason Makoto's line resonated so well is because it's something I've been working on a lot in my professional life.

See...when you're the leader of anything, it's an uncomfortable truth that part of your job is to call out things when someone else is not doing their job. I do not relish it, but I have become much better at it. Still being kind and humane, but also understanding that I'm not doing anyone any favors by turning a blind eye - the same thing Makoto declared she was going to do in the story.

And that's when I realized I built too much of a wall between my professional life and my creative one.

I have changed a lot in my professional life as an educator, especially over the last three years. But I haven't allowed any of those new changes and new experiences to filter into my creative work. I'm still trying to write and create things like I'm 2019 Chris - the guy who was still teaching in the classroom and who hadn't lived in a pandemic. I haven't addressed any of the topics of my professional life in any creative work - nothing about leadership, about difficult work, about negotiating between people. All of my heroes are always lone rangers, working either outside of the system or bucking it.

But...I am the system in my professional life. I'm the bad guy, "the man." And there's a different kind of story that can be told from that perspective.

I don't really know what it means yet, but this realization has been very encouraging, and I'm working to integrate all sides of my life together again - not just professional into creative, but personal as well. I mean, I have four kids, and not once have I written about being a parent.

Let's go find out where this road leads.