Gaming Writer’s Saturday: Age of Wonders
Some of you might remember the awesome series Heroes of Might and Magic that brought an excellent turn-based strategy and RPG elements together, and created a memorable and colorful world. I followed the series up to the fifth part, and although some hardcore fans argue the changes to the system, I still enjoyed the campaigns and gameplay. But at the same time the fairytale-like graphics made me miss another game, probably less known, but darker… and as entertaining as HoMM: Age of Wonders. That’s why I couldn’t say no to GOG.com sale (thank you, GOG!) that offered me both parts of the game I started playing when I was still in high school (and that was quite a long time ago).
Age of Wonders got me glued to the screen for the long hours with it’s multiple choice plot line, dark graphic and generally less fairytale feel. It ensured I stayed immersed with the journal entries of the main character (that I got to create and keep throughout the campaign, just like in any “proper” RPG) and made me replay the campaign choosing different paths to the victory. I confess, I was more inclined to play with the Dark Elves’ Cult of Storms faction than to help High Elves’ Keepers, but all in all I’ve finished the campaign playing both sides… or so I remember. (more…)
Looking at my 
Whenever I think about me as a writer, I can only recall good memories. Surely, there were some bad things along the way, the stings of rejection letters or the frustration of when the writer’s block hits, but they just don’t come to my mind as if they weren’t that significant. And when I focus on the bright side of being a writer, several memories constantly come up to my head, and I’d like to share them with you. 
My friend asked me recently whether I ever feel like indulging myself with a day without writing. Looking back at my writing journey with the 365k Club and those 9 months of consecutive writing without a day being missed, I replied: yes, sometimes I feel like not writing or writing less. Over the days, weeks and months I’ve build up enough “extra” words to take even a week off if I wanted, but… it just doesn’t feel right. Of course, if I had a major life event interfere with my writing, I’d find it justified to skip a day or a month, but with life being somewhat steady, I’d feel like cheating with skipping a day without a good reason. But I’ll tell you a secret: sometimes I do procrastinate and then writing is the only thing I get done in the evening. 
Back when I lived in Poland, I used to teach English as a foreign language to children. I remember one year, when a mother of a seven year old girl approached me. It was September, we have just started the classes on the beginner level, and that mother asked me whether at the end of the school year her daughter would be fluent in English. “You see,” she said, “next summer we’re moving to United Kindgom where her father works.” I looked at the woman and hesitated before giving an answer. Would the girl be fluent? No. Yes. 
I’ve finished novels before, but usually it took over a year to get to the end, so when I finished my fantasy novel “By His Will“, in six months going from “nothing” to “135 000 words”, I looked back wondering what made me accomplish it. I knew partially it came from taking part in 365k Club, which somewhat forced me to produce words daily, but this challange is not NaNoWriMo: it doesn’t force writers to work on one novel, and I took advantage of that rule, writing short stories and blog posts along working on “By His Will”.
Back in May, Myk Pilgrim tagged me in a Facebook chain post, challenging me to post 7 lines from the 7th line at page 7 of my WIP. I promptly did so, and after tagging a bunch of my writing friends, I enjoyed having a sneak peak into what they were working on (and I do hope I get to read their finished pieces!). Then I forgot about the challenge, though I still saw the post and tags circulating along my Facebook acquaintances. I didn’t know the challenge moved to blogs (or maybe this was where it originated?) and last week Sara Letourneau