Hey everyone! Real quick update tonight.
SoB Stories #2: Live Nude Girls is almost ready. I just need to do a final editing pass, write up some stat blocks, and lay it out. It should hit DriveThruRPG this Wednesday!
Then it’ll be on to Campfire Tales #8 for Little Fears Nightmare Edition!
Wow. It’s been almost a year since I last updated. I really left you all hanging. Geez.
In addition to zero updates, I’ve slacked hard on fulfilling orders in a timely fashion and following up on rules email and such.
That’s not good. And I know that.
So I’m looking to correct this moving forward.
This year has been insanely busy at the day job. Pair that with working in exercise and family time and I’ve spent nearly every hour I’ve been give since the calendar turned. Unfortunately, fitting in any extracurricular stuff, such as Little Fears and Streets of Bedlam, has been tough.
As the time has passed, my stress levels spiked off the charts and I hit a wall. I was anxious, depressed, and unfulfilled as well as agitated and uncertain about what I wanted out of life. The past month and a half have been particularly hard.
Thankfully, my wife is there for me when I am not and she booked a family vacation for a weekend out in the woods. So it was I spent last weekend holed up in a cabin surrounded by miles and miles of not-much which, aside from having to drive twenty minutes for groceries, was pretty spectacular. Normally I would fill my time with work, either day job or my own writing, or spend all my energy dealing with large crowds of people which is hugely exhausting for folks like me. And I’d come back from the “vacation” even worse off than I started.
But not this time.
This time, I did nothing but let myself be surrounded by trees, friendly roaming creatures, a bull-headed cat, a super-friendly chocolate lab, and walks in the woods.
It was amazing. And relaxing. And clarifying.
I don’t want to undersell that last point. “Clarifying.” My head has been so filled with static—work work work obligations obligations obligations—that I just ran head first from one task to another until I dropped. Like I said above: Every hour was filled. And, while I love my job and family, none of it was focused on my personal writing, which is one of the few things that keeps my anxiety demons at bay.
I thought maybe I could handle this. That maybe I could find time to fulfill my obligations to Little Fears and Streets of Bedlam in my spare time but make other things my top priority focus. But I couldn’t. I didn’t have “spare time.” No, I needed to make the time. I need to carve hours out of my day and dedicate them to my, shall we say, “ambition writing.” I needed to make my own writing a higher priority than it was. Yes, my day job is awesome and pays the bills, but my ultimate happiness relies on me putting out words that were wholly my own. That were my characters in my worlds doing my things. That were available to fans of my works, works that I love to support and grow. That had the potential to be books with my name on them put out by publishers who were not me.
And here it is, the Monday after and I still feel that way. I need to always feel that way. I need to make my own writing part of my daily routine. I need to fulfill my obligations.
Which is why I’m writing this to you today. Because I’m on a path to make things right.
Step One: More Timely Shipments
The money you pay for your hardcopies pays for the time it takes me to sign, package, and ship the products. I need to turn this around faster. I have let months go from initial order to final delivery and that’s not acceptable.
Step Two: Better Communications
I have some emails in the queue that need answered. I have fans on social media that deserve better support.
Step Three: More Product
Right now, the most outstanding product in the Streets of Bedlam line is SoB Stories #2. Which is almost done. Speaking of:
Starting tonight, I’m getting back into my own writing. I will have two nights each week to dedicate to writing and time outside of that, here and there, to do it as I can. But those two nights are nothing to sneeze at. There’s no good reason I can’t crank out 3-4k words each week. That’ll help me start to dig out from the hole I’m in and that’s good. It also gives me clearer goals as to when I can get stuff out.
First on my plate is the aforementioned SoB Stories #2. I am about 2-3k words away from finishing it. I will get that done this week and out next Wednesday. Then, I want to get back into Little Fears by finishing up Campfire Tales #8: The House That Wasn’t There. According to the latest file, I’m at the 33% mark there, which puts me about 5k words until done. I already have the art, so quick math check, I will have that finished next week.
I normally put in words like “should” or “aim to” but not this time. That gives me too much room to fudge. Instead, I’m dedicating to it. And not fulfilling that promise means I failed.
After that, I will decide whether I’m going to put out SoB Stories #3 for Streets of Bedlam or focus on The Wolf Pact novel for Little Fears. In fairness, SoB Stories #3 was promised first—and thus is later—but I would like to do some fiction. I’ll make that call soon enough.
Anyway, that’s where things are at. I am truly sorry for dropping the ball as much and as hard as I have lately. I am going to work to correct this and do better in the future.
(You’ll notice a similar post over at LittleFears.com. Figured it was better to write this once and change some details than spend time restating everything.)
It’s finally here! The Summer of Bedlam has officially kicked off with the release of SoB Stories #1: This Town is Gonna Kill Me!
One year ago, a well-meaning citizen talked a mild-mannered accountant out of throwing herself off the roof of her apartment building. When that same citizen goes missing, the accountant looks for help in finding the man—not knowing just how many people want her savior to disappear for good.
Thank you all for your patience, and a big thank you to Kickstarter Backer Josh Bazin for his input on the story. It was a lot of fun working a tiny nugget of an idea into a full-fledged scenario based on key feedback from a fan. I hope you all enjoy it.
Click here or on the image below to check out the page on DriveThruRPG. (I’ll be sending out the free codes to qualified Kickstarter Backers momentarily.)
Sorry, folks, but this weekend was a bust for writing. New target for release of SoB Stories #1: This Time is Gonna Kill Me is this Friday. I sincerely hope to hit it earlier!
My sincerest apologies, folks, but “This Town is Gonna Kill Me” just keeps on growing. While this means more content in the end, it also means I need to push it back. For safety’s sake, I’m announcing a new release date of Monday, July 14th. I hope you agree it’ll be worth the wait. I’m having a lot of fun with this one.
Hey there, Bedlamites, take note: The first of the five announced standalone scenarios for Streets of Bedlam is hitting digital shelves next Wednesday!
One year ago, a well-meaning citizen talked a mild-mannered accountant out of throwing herself off the roof of her apartment building. When that same citizen goes missing, the accountant looks for help in finding the man—not knowing just how many people want her savior to disappear for good.
Written by Jason L Blair with input from Kickstarter backer Josh Bazin.
Hey, everyone, I just heard back from the last backer who chose to influence an upcoming SoB Story and wanted to share. Check out the cover and story to the fifth planned SoB Story below.
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The Devils from Dublin When word comes down that a couple brothers are in town looking to collect the debts due to their dear, departed father, the authorities launch a manhunt. But the truth is the brothers are looking for more than money, they’re after a high-ranking member of the Bedlam aristocracy and are more than willing to murder their way to them. |
I’m very happy to announce that work on the standalone scenarios for Streets of Bedlam has begun, and first up are the Kickstarter Backer-influenced scenarios some folks chose as part of their reward tier. I thought I’d wet some whistles with a peek at the first four in the line-up. Check out their titles and brief descriptions below.
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This Town is Gonna Kill Me One year ago, a well-meaning citizen talked a mild-mannered accountant out of throwing himself off the roof of his apartment building. When that same citizen goes missing, the accountant looks for help in finding the man—not knowing just how many people wanted his savior to disappear for good. |
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Live Nude Girls The ladies of Bricktown have enjoyed relative peace since Queenie ascended the throne. But somebody in town has taken some fungirls hostage and is using them as leverage to get something from the head Valkyrie. Something she’s not eager to part with. |
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A Priest + a Rabbi Walk into a Bar Two members of the clergy are found dead on the floor of Durbin’s Bar + Grill. The scene was obviously set up to look like they offed each other but some key clues point the trigger finger in another direction. |
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Canary in a Coal Mine A stoolie for the mob is found bobbing in the drink one hot summer night. His body is marked with warnings to other would-be squealers. The next day, a key witness for a multi-year organized crime op reverses her testimony. A prosecutor on the rise isn’t about to let this stall his career, and he decides to enact his own plan to get the mafia to ease off his witness. |
The current plan is to start rolling these out on a biweekly basis starting on Wednesday, April 2nd. Prior to their release, I have another surprise lined up. Expect that to hit virtual shelves in the coming week.
Happy (belated) 2014, Bedlamites!
Things have been quiet around here for a while so I wanted to give you all an update as to where things stand in the world of SoB.
All Kickstarter packages have been sent out. You should have received yours in mid-December at the latest (speaking to you international folks) so no shipments should be lagging. If you have not received yours, please let me know!
Work continues on the soundtrack to SoB. I hope to have an update on that soon with a release early this year.
Okay, first and foremost, I’ve reached out to the Kickstarter backers who opted to influence a future scenarios. I’ve gotten most of the responses in and I’ll be working on them throughout the winter and spring. My hope is to have a half-dozen 6k word scenarios out through end of Summer. That might be a bit aggressive but I am making these a priority. The current list is:
“A Priest + A Rabbi Walk Into a Bar”
Two members of the clergy are found dead on the floor of Durbin’s Bar + Grill. The scene was obviously set up to look like they offed each other but some key clues point the trigger finger in another direction.
“Live Nude Girls”
The ladies of Bricktown have enjoyed relative peace since Queenie ascended the throne. But somebody in town has taken some fungirls hostage and is using them as leverage to get something from the head Valkyrie. Something she’s not eager to part with.
“This Town is Gonna Kill Me”
One year ago, a well-meaning citizen talked a mild-mannered accountant out of throwing himself off the roof of his apartment building. When that same citizen goes missing, the accountant looks for help in finding the man–not knowing just how many people wanted his savior to disappear for good.
“The Devils from Dublin”
When word comes down that a couple brothers are in town looking to collect the debts due to their dear, departed father, the authorities launch a manhunt. But the truth is the brothers are looking for more than money, they’re after a high-ranking member of the Bedlam aristocracy and are more than willing to murder their way to them.
“The Ol’ Karaoke Landmine”
Mr. Muramoto’s new club is the hottest thing to hit Bedford in a long time. But when the mob families discover the Yakuza is backing the man’s venture–and using it to nab businesses that used to ally with the Mafia–the family heads threaten all-out war. If the situation can’t be resolved, the entire city is gonna burn.
“Canary in a Coal Mine”
A stoolie for the mob is found bobbing in the drink one hot summer night. His body is marked with warning to other would-be squealers. The next day, a key witness for a multi-year organized crime op reverses her testimony. A prosecutor on the rise isn’t about to let this stall his career, and he decides to enact his own plan to get the mafia to ease off his witness.
I currently have a writer working on the first big SoB supplement which I’m really excited about. I’ll have more details about this as it nears completion.
Alright, that’s where everything’s at! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and a great start to the new year.
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