Writing is my Passion. I Wish I did it More

Lately I've been—what I'd describe as—pleasantly adrift, hobby-wise. I don't have any plans to hit the tournament scene any time soon, so I feel guilt-free in painting whatever I want. Combined with my desire to improve my painting skills, this has led me to collect a motley assortment of models on my paint table, all in various states of completion. Each model was an attempt at trying out a new technique, or a certain color, and they were all great learning experiences. They have, of course, mostly been Reaper figures.

Around the time of the two Reaper articles I posted on this blog (early September) I got the idea in my head that I'd try and do some YouTube videos. They didn't turn out super well. There were a lot of things I didn't like about them—some stuff I did—and it just showed that I wasn't ready to take even a rudimentary plunge into that arena. There are still some delightfully amateurish videos out there on YouTube, but by and large hobby videos have gotten better, and what I had attempted to accomplish didn't match what I wanted. In my typical style, though, I didn't get discouraged. It's a learning experience, like everything in this hobby. Maybe I'll get back to it again, with a decidedly smaller bite to chew.

Really, what it did was make me realize how much I love writing. It seems so passé these days in hobby circles, but it's really how I want to connect to a broader audience on the Internet. Social media is fun (we'll come back to that a bit later), but it can be hard to break into being someone people want to talk to, or with. Not to mention, we're all experiencing how capricious it can be vis-à-vis its management. Live-streaming, as well, just wasn't my thing, and while I have had some success in video making in the past, this YouTube experiment has shown me that what knowledge I had is woefully rusty.

There are still hobby bloggers out there who are doing it right. The one that inspires me the most is Mengel Miniatures, who you really should give a visit and maybe a follow. I think writing is a medium that I have some competency in, with fundamentals that I won't have to (re)learn.

I'm still taking classes in technical writing, and should be finished next year. It's really teaching me how to communicate effectively—especially over the Internet—and has been a lot of fun. I was skeptical (even a little jaded) about going back to school, but it's been worth every penny and every goddamn hour learning how to use MadCap Flare.

Oh, and remember how I said we'd come back to social media? Well, my new job is effectively that. I'm a marketing coordinator for a municipal library here in my region, and while that may sound like a fancy title, it's effectively a poster. I love it actually. Everyone I work with is real nice, the job is very chill, and it's great to work for a public institution that does good. If you're reading this, and you haven't been to your local library in a while, it's worth popping by and seeing how it's changed. While social commentary is outside the scope of what I want to touch on with this blog, I do want to say that I think our society is becoming more alienating despite our digital connections, and I think the answer to this lies in public spaces like libraries.

Anyway, back to hobby talk.

I'm going to spend the remaining weeks of this calendar year clearing off my paint table of all the little eclectic models I've been working on, and starting in 2023 I'm going to dive into some projects in earnest. By my count I've completed 1/8th of my 2022 hobby New Year's resolution, but that's not going to stop me from making another one for 2023! I was hoping to leave Oldhammer behind for a little while, having spent a considerable amount of time painting older figures and collecting older paint. Alas, I got suckered into an army challenge for Warhammer 4th/5th edition with a good friend of mine, so I'll be working on at least 500pts of High Elves from the '90s. After that, however, I want to step back to the future, and work on some new Warmachine models (the Orgoth), and some Lumineth Realm-Lords. And if there's time, I'll throw some 40k in there. Why not?

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read this. I know this isn't a destination in anyone's hobby Internet circuit, but I do feel bad about not writing more. That will have to change.

+++END TRANSMISSION+++