December Assembler 2022
Writing
Indiegames
Because of NaNoWriMo I've been a bit behind on my usual coverage over on Ko-Fi but I should be covering my spoiler-free soft thoughts on Citizen Sleeper soon! I played and finished it (including the DLC) off stream and it lives rent free in my head at the moment. Other than that, for my Ko-Fi supporters, the latest behind-the-scenes coverage of the IndieCade Festival is already available. It includes lots of great learnings from the "trenches" of the indie game scene and honestly can apply to any creative endeavor.
Boardgames
You can actually find all of my latest boardgame reviews over at my author page on Board Game Quest! My latest review is of an expansion for Fog of Love which I think is one of the best 2-player roleplaying games to have in one's collection. In the pipeline is my review of Enola Holmes: Finder of Lost Souls, which is a one-against-many game inspired by the movie. As a fan of the movie and of just Millie Bobby Brown in general, I'm looking forward to digging into this one. Thoughts to follow soon!
Fiction
I won my first NaNoWriMo at the end of November by writing a psychological thriller/paranormal mystery currently called "Sea of Vows" and it was exhilarating. Preparations for the novel started in September and I did some extensive outlining as well as research to get to this point. I think I really like this approach to writing and found that it worked with my schedule and my brain so I'm looking forward to doing it again next year! Next steps are finishing the novel, getting some feedback on the first draft, perhaps leading to a revision and then outreach to agents and publishers to see if we can make it come to life. If that last part fails, I plan to self-publish in some way.
Video
Streaming
I'm back to streaming games and also will be fundraising for the Asian Pacific Environmental Network as part of Tiltify's Claus My Cause event through December 24. This will be my first time participating and I'll be chasing the "clausing" hours so the schedule will be a little wonky this month but will be taking place on the usual Friday, Saturday, and Sunday weekly. My focus will be on Wingspan, Disco Elysium and Beacon Pines, with a special one-time spot for Chronescher. In addition to fundraising, my 2nd affiliate-versary party is on December 13th starting at 11am PST and I'll be playing Transistor while doing some game giveaways. I stitched together a cute video of my favorite moments from the past year so look forward to seeing that at the party too! I do have vacation time the last week of December so I may also sneak in some gameplay like The Last Campfire during the weekdays.
Short Form
TikTok and Youtube Shorts are still mostly recycled clips from Twitch as it's really not my strength to do short form. So if you're already checking out popular clips directly on Twitch's site then there may be no need to go and check out that content... or perhaps I can just be sneaky and resurrect some oldie but goodie moments and you'll never know! (evil cackle) I did get a chance to play around with the Lensa app and posted some neat galactic vibes on TikTok if you'd like to take a peek.
Personal
Currently Playing
Lately I've gotten back into Hades trying to clear at 32 Heat. If you are unfamiliar with the Heat system, it's a way to make things more difficult on your runs. I've been considering posting my attempts to Youtube so you'll be the first to know if I do! After my stream of You Suck At Parking I've also considered jumping into the campaign without Chaos Mode on, although we all seemed to have a great time so we may bring it back to stream every now and then for the giggles, maybe more sick tricks.
IRL
Thanksgiving was a success! It was my first time bringing a thing to share and I settled on getting a cranberry-orange buttercream cake. It was incredible and was a hit with the family. We have some breathing room between now and Christmas Day, and I'm also part of a couple Secret Santa exchanges with friends that started at the end of November to beat the shipping delays. I personally really love the holidays and while gift giving is not my love language I do enjoy making people I care about happier than they were before. As an analytical brain, I also like the challenge of trying to fully understand a person and anticipate their needs about as equally as I like the ease of a wishlist so it's a fun time for me overall. My partner and I will be having a nice dinner together for New Year's Eve followed by spending time with family, and I fully plan to wear that Selkie dress I got for my birthday earlier this year. It's just so fluffy and dreamy, perfect to ring in the new year with.
Picture of the Month
I wasn't able to post this pumpkin pie and pecan pie on Instagram but I'm happy to share with you all here to enjoy!
Feel free to reply directly to this email to let me know your thoughts, or perhaps any content that you'd like to see or questions you might have. Otherwise, have a great December and I look forward to writing to you in 2023!