T w e n t y S i d e d

This blog has a really steady posting schedule (exaggerated, magnanimous bow) so when it’s interrupted I think it’s a good idea to let people know about it ahead of time:

1. No podcast this week.
2. No Spoiler Warning this week.
3. No column this week.
4. As far as I know, Rutskarn’s content should proceed as usual.

Some of my recent columns have been about crunch, which is funny because they were written under conditions that – if someone else had been imposing them on me – would have been considered pretty egregious crunch mode.

I roll out of bed in the morning and start hammering away at making content. The weekly column. The Diecast. The post for the Diecast. Spoiler Warning. The Spoiler Warning posts. My duties for Good Robot. Keeping up with moderation and reading the comments. Editing the Mass Effect post for the weekThe series is already written, but I still need to format them, add links, gather screenshots, tag the screenshots, proof them, and address various points people bring up in the comments.. Editing the LOTRO post for the weekLike Mass Effect, the words are already written. It’s just a matter of formatting.. Keeping up with correspondenceI’m super-bad at this, and tend to answer emails in weekly bursts.. Managing the various back-end systems for the blog, the website, and my Patreon.

On top of that is the creative work I do that doesn’t usually end up on the blog: Making music, coding experiments. And then there’s playing videogames. Which – while not technically work – is something that needs to be done if I want to feed the content mill.

All of that together eats about 70 hours a week. I’m not complaining. This is self-imposed and I’m not looking for pity. I do this because it’s fun, and I’d rather do this than have a boring programming job that only eats 40 hours a week.

Like I’ve said in my articles: “Crunch” isn’t that bad if it’s done voluntarily, and in pursuit of your passions. Maybe we need a different word for “I’m spending a lot of hours on this but it’s okay because I’m really into it and I’d rather be doing this than something else”. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to put this behavior under the same umbrella as a job where you’re obligated to work 70 hours a week all the time because some numb-nuts thinks they’ll get more work out of you.

It’s Time to Goof Off

But despite how fun this is, I do need to let off the throttle every once in a while. So that’s what I’m doing this week. I’ll still post Mass Effect, and there’s a Good Robot patch in the works, but other than that I’m generally goofing off. I actually had a breakthrough with my music recently, so if the productivity bug bites I might turn that into a new installment of Bad and Wrong music lessons.

But! Before you hit the back button in search of someone to fill up your insatiable need for content, you could help me out by suggesting some column topics. I don’t always use them directly, but having people ask questions is always a great way to get the wheels turning.

Note that since I’m putting up columns on my site, I have more leeway in what topics I’ll cover. The Escapist never imposed any demands on me with regards to article content, but I always felt like talking about stuff that would drive traffic was the Right Thing To Do. So I tried to talk about newer games and current events, and I tried to go easy on the technical stuff. But now I’m free to write about the obscure and esoteric.

So that’s what we’re doing this week: Nothing.

I just realized I wrote half a column about how I don’t have time to write a full column. (Facepalm.)

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.