2024-W51

How do I write about a novel without talking about the specifics of the novel? I want to continue these posts as a means of personal accountability, but I don't feel drawn to talking about the specifics of the novel (just yet). Perhaps this is my ego getting in the way. Perhaps I don't really want to work with the garage door open.

There is something precious about writing. With game development, you can always fall back on the shallow security of the fact that it's "just a game," or rather, that everything I am capable of making right now is only skin-deep. The growth and experimentation is all foundational. How do I make a game? I don't feel embarrassed releasing small, incomplete ideas because I know they're bad and I know that I am learning and I know that there isn't any expectation for the process to be anything other than what it is: a process.

Writing a novel, however, feels different. It is just as new as game development, in a way, but I am not having to start from ground zero. I minored in English. I know how to write. Writing is an old art and it feels scary. It feels more vulnerable to share novel concepts that aren't fully realized yet or even sections of writing that are incomplete. Writing exposes who I am more than game development does. I would like to get to a point where I can work on this project with the garage door open, but I am going to take it slow.