Aiming for a positive mindset in 2021!

Eric Moser

Haha, it's probably human nature to envy or at least do some "is the grass greener" type of wondering when it comes to people in vastly different situations than yours. There are trade-offs to every season of life, I suppose. When you get older, some random part of your body will crackle each time you rise from your chair, so look forward to that! I really appreciate the kind words and hearing your perspective! Stay Specktacular.

I have a lot of thoughts and I lack eloquence to properly put it all into the right words. However, I'd like to emphasize again that this is your story and yours alone. Even if I were disappointed by the ending, which I highly doubt will happen, I would cheer for you and be happy for you (and I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking so) because it is an immense accomplishment putting a series out there. More than most! There are millions of would-be writers; you’ve already proven you have it for real and will grow from here. I hope you won't be hard on yourself. More specifically, it's a little funny that you mention twinges of envy of the 20 somethings. Not in the laughing at your pain sense, but in mutual feeling opposite direction. Though I haven’t written on the same platforms yet, I’m one of those 20 somethings. And I could not be more wildly impressed by—and perhaps a tad jealous—of people like you. You may not have the ability to focus on writing alone, but you kill it at huge responsibilities while also killing it as a writer, and if that is not worthy of admiration, I don’t know what is supposed to be. It so often goes both ways! We'll always have those things we do not see in ourselves that we notice or respect about others. Some such about being our worst enemies, right? :) Writing is intrinsically valuable. Those personal joys are the most important things. That said, I mean it that your work has been so significant to me over the years too. It would have robbed so many people of that uniquely wonderful experience including you if you were not the writer YOU are, exactly as you are. You were right, it’s not good enough at all. Because whatever happens, it is excellent. You don’t need the encouragement; you have the stuff as they say. Still, hopefully it is a bit extrinsically motivating to hear anyhow. (This is having trouble posting and I'm not sure of the cause. If it turns out it has posted multiple times, it wasn't showing up for me so that's why!)

Eric Moser

Oh I agree it's healthy and normal to have some negative emotions, and yep I do think we can learn from them. BUT...I need to make sure I don't dwell on them or stew on them or use them as an excuse to stagnate. And yay for your creative freedom! Always feel free to let me know how it's going! Do you think you'll put a WIP on the forums or just work in mystery?

Rustem Khafizov

I think it's okay to feel negative emotions sometimes, they can even inspire more writing. For instance, my first game doesn't have the best reviews, but that inspired me to write another game with a distinct story and tone rather than a sequel to my first game that I was planning to make. In a way, I have more creative freedom now than I did before since I don't have to commit to making sequels. I would love to check out Talon City whenever it comes out! ^_^