I’ve had a rather unusual time of things recently, and so I thought I’d write something down, and see if anything comes of it. I’m going to post this whether it’s good or not, so thank you for indulging me.

A couple of years ago a family member had a sudden and serious medical emergency. It changed our lives, instantly, and not for the better. I love my life – I think I always will, almost as if I’m grateful for having one – but this made it clear that life can and does, go badly sometimes.

This year, with a little distance between then and now, I am attempting to take control of things. I have self-published a short-story and a children’s book. I have written a Mac app which makes travel maps, and I have written a game for iPhone, iPad, and Mac which I’m genuinely addicted to. That’s not surprising, I guess, given that I wrote the thing to be a game I’d enjoy, but I’m glad that play-testing, which takes a lot of hours, didn’t make me tired of it! That’s called ChromaFall Duel, and is available for iPhone and iPad right now, and the Mac version is currently awaiting approval – check it out on the app store.

Marketing

And having put those things out into the universe, it became clear to me that marketing is as much a part of making things as is the actual work of making the thing. It’s no good making great apps or fiction if no-one will read them. I think that’s largely true of this website, of course. It’s here, mostly, for my amusement. But when it comes to trying to get my game into people’s hands, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with spending a few hours trying to get the world to notice it.

Agent

I also did something deeply uncomfortable today – I met with a literary agent. It’s like a job interview (already scary), but also such an unusual occurrence, that it felt more important, somehow, than a job interview. And so brief. I suspect it could have gone better. I could have seemed like I had less adrenaline in my veins. There were so many things I’d have loved to have said that my panicked brain didn’t allow. But it went well enough. Now I need to go and rewrite the end of my novel, and share it with that agent. Wish me luck!

But before you wish me luck, go and buy ChromaFall Duel. It’s only $1.99, and I bet you have fun! And if you’re not sure, I made a YouTube video for a festival into which I entered it, so watch that on YouTube here: