Tokyo Road Trip, Quiet Thoughts and Nagoyahammer 2013

I had an extra busy weekend with a quick 2-day trip to the US Embassy in Tokyo. We took the car because the trains would probably be a lot of trouble with the kid. All in all it was a great trip. I don't get out of the countryside much these days and I certainly don't take many road trips.

Lake Suwa in Nagano prefecture.

Cherry blossoms bloom late in Nagano because of the cool weather. 

Long drives are actually very valuable to me for the quiet thinking time they afford. Whether I even have good ideas or not doesn't matter much to me. Ever since college I've just enjoyed quiet drives and stress-free thinking. This trip I came up with a good deal of new material for my 40k fiction including a whole story concept that I get to set aside until I finish the story I've already started. I've already moved on from those notes and tossed some of the ideas back and forth with Scott. What I've got now, I managed to write out as an outline that doesn't make any leaps of logic or simply sound stupid. Those are two major hurdles down.

The next step will be to get to more concrete work. Drafting scenes that I already know I want to write. Testing out perspectives and voices. I'm going to be introducing enough characters that I think I need to start a chart. The iOS Headspace app has a perfect format for that kind of charting. I may give that a try. Haven't used it for this yet. I'm very much looking forward to progressing with all this. It's been fun to play with so far.

I have an event coming up next weekend though. The Nagoya 40k gamers are having their annual Nagoyahammer event. Looks to be a blast. This will be my first time attending. I've been busting my butt to get my army finished for it. Just finished up the painting tonight and I'll be wrapping up some bases tomorrow. I also have to get to this commission that a friend of mine has been patiently waiting for once this is all over. Allowing myself to write after that will be my reward to myself for finally painting his stuff. You know...assuming a huge Eldar release doesn't suddenly demand all my hobby time.

The Nagoyahammer site is in my link list on the right, by the way. In case you're interested in checking it out. They're good people, the guys I've met. Just wish I could get out there more often to game with them.

And to sign off with, here's this...