There was a meme going around recently. Well, not so much a meme, but a collection of stills with subtitles from an interview with the legendary Bjork, saying "The minute I need to start pleasing five people, I won't please anyone. But if I only please myself, I might please ten people, you see..."
It's certainly something I've been thinking about recently. I'm trying to get my head around the idea of not having the opportunities that working on big games provide, and just working on my own stuff for a bit. While I'd love to go back to working on something big and cool, and maybe even licensed like I have in the past for Buffy, Star Trek, and especially Doctor Who, I know that it's not likely for a bit unless something amazing comes along and surprises me. I'm open to offers.
While I await that miracle, I'm just working on my own things with no idea if anyone is going to like them. I'm just doing it because it's something I want to make, rather than making something I know will be a huge success. Who knows, maybe someone else will like it.
In the meantime, it's been quite a busy few weeks.
First up was All Points East - a music festival in the heart of London. Not the sort of thing I'd normally go to, I'm not a big fan of crowds, so being in the middle of 40,000 people (estimated, could have been more) was not my idea of a good time, but still, it was Twenty One Pilots, so we had to go!
My view of the stage for Twenty One Pilots was okay, we weren't in the mass, but I could still see. Debs, being a bit shorter, said she couldn't see much - one of the big disadvantages of a festival space not being tiered. However, the sound was fantastic, especially for an outdoor gig. Really good, and we got to see PVRIS as well, who was brilliant live. I missed Dead Pony due to train cancellations and delays, but one day...
I may be in the later half of my fifties, but hurrah for new experiences. We did, however, end up walking over ten miles that day, so we were suitably exhausted for the next few days. Maybe too old for festivals...
We'd just recovered when we took the train up to Scotland for the annual Tabletop Scotland convention. We didn't have a table this year, but I was helping out on the IWGB Game workers' Union table for a bit on the Saturday, where we were spreading the word of the Union, and some members had donated games to sell to raise money for the Rockstar legal defence fund, to help those unjustly fired from Rockstar.
It went really well, and Tabletop Scotland itself felt a heck of a lot busier than it had in previous years. It's only going to keep growing and getting better I think. Surprisingly, I didn't buy anything while I was there (though Debs did - a couple of cool books from Monte Cook Games, and a copy of the Cat Earth boardgame).
The trains up to Scotland were suitably awful, arriving two and a half hours late, but hopefully the ol' 'delay repay' will help out as it really wasn't cheap getting there!
Anyway, we stayed with Stoo (creator of Aegean) again, and petted his cats, saw some of the the parks of Glasgow, and a very generous friend offered to give us a lift from Glasgow to Edinburgh and the convention, which really helped. Then we returned home to recover before the following weekend...
Which saw us back in London at the O2 to see Evanescence. This time, sat in really cool seats that were so close that when the flames shot up on stage you could feel the heat in your face. The support was K-Flay, who came back on stage to join Evanescence to perform 'Fight Like A Girl' from the Ballerina soundtrack (the spin-off from John Wick), and Poppy, who I've been a bit of a fan of since I discovered her music a couple of years ago. In fact, I used to listen to her track, "I Disagree" rather a lot over the last couple of years for some reason.
Anyway, they were all brilliant, super noisy, though I think the older Evanescence fans (the same age as me) were a bit confused by the awesomeness of Poppy. Personally, I loved it. And then there was the amazing moment when Poppy came out again to join Evanescence for the track "End of You", and then everyone was doubly surprised when Courtney LaPlante from Spiritbox came out to join them. Absolutely stunning, and the crowd went suitably bananas.
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But you're not here to read about concerts and stuff, are you? Sure, I may have gone to the cinema for the first time in a couple of years (and I'm sure there will be a long post at the end of the year about the media I've consumed over the course of 2026) – I'd love to get into a long discussion about how the UK doesn't look like it's trapped in the 1940s, no matter what Practical Magic 2 tells us.
What have I been doing?
Well, going back to Twenty One Pilots, and the name of this post, I've been straying from my lane, boy. I'm still working on that bit of freelancing I mentioned (and can't talk about), but besides that, I've been splitting my time between working on Hex Education and drawing a comic strip...
Hex Education
It's ticking along now, but slower than I'd hoped. I got a little distracted at the potential of another project which I'm super-keen to do, but just in case nothing comes of that I'd best focus on something I have total control over. The 'Student's Guide' book is getting there. The system is mostly sorted, just need to fine-tune and test the magic system. Character creation is mostly done too, I'm just hung up on house names. Yes, it has houses, like a certain piece of media I won't mention, but then so did the schools I went to. Just how competitive can you get by naming the houses at school Athenians, Corinthians, Spartans, and Trojans? I mean, they were always at flippin' war with each other.
I wanted the house names to be reflective of the tone and inspirations, so I've been raiding my wife's vast library of witchcraft and folklore books, looking at everything from animals associated with elements and cardinal points of the compass, the seasons and times of day, traditionally linked tarot cards, to the names of all of these in Old English, Welsh, Latin, and more.
However, sometimes, the simplest solution eludes you, and it's the best one to go for. Of course, the most recent idea I settled on is too close to a fantasy book series so I'm going to have to rethink my options again.
I don't think I'll have anything to show off at UK Games Expo like I hoped, but you never know. WILD took ten years to see print, I just hope I can get this done sooner.
Comics
I have been wanting to draw something for a while. A very long while in fact, since back when I was in full-time employ (especially as it was a creative outlet my contract would actually allow). I've been tinkering with something light, slightly comedic, slightly autobiographic, heavily fictionalised. I've done the first page, then I inked it with the lovely new (cheap) fountain pen I bought (it's just a Lamy, but it's nice with its variable lines). However, it started bleeding (even though I tested another book of the same make) and when I rubbed out the pencil the crappy paper came away and the ink started coming off...
So, I had to get the ol' light-box out and I have redone the first page.
Just need to keep going with both of these projects and not lose momentum. Though it's tough when the ol' imposter syndrome is barking like a black dog at the door. And, no... I'm not going to share the art on here - not yet. Maybe next summer, when there's more of it. It'll probably just be a few zine-sized things, with a vision for collections in the future.
And that's it. That's everything so far.
This month is more of the same. Comics, writing, games, gigs (more?), and watching too many movies and TV series.
I tried to record a Youtube video about what I've been working on, but I hated how I looked, the sound quality, and I just rambled something awful so I gave up and deleted it. Maybe I'll try again in the near future, but the next couple of weeks are looking busy so it'll be after that...
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