WorldEmber 2024 Pledge

Week 1

1. Set a word goal and your area of focus

Easy. We're doing 10k. We'll probably go beyond 10k if I have time, but that's not actually likely. We're not going to try and focus on any one particular area this time around, I don't think; I'd roughly like to do some of the more campaign-relevant updates, as there's some important pieces that need updating, but we covered a lot of that ground in Summer Camp.   Maybe some more ocean shenanigans?  

2. Choose your area of focus

Wh-- is this not included in question 1?!  

3. Create or update your meta

No.

Week 2

1. Review your homepage

I do this pretty regularly. My homepage isn't perfect, but I've heard enough talk about a WA front-end overhaul to know that I don't want to do too much more here for now. I'll change the homepage either when WA gets that sorted or when I finish up my first campaign (we're 8 years in...). Or when it bugs me enough to go fuck with again.  

2. Create or review your world primer

This is, again, something I'm holding off on doing. Istralar has a really rough primer right now because it doesn't need anything more right this second (and also that's a lot of work). When this first campaign gets done, there are some very significant lore overhauls planned for the world and its universe, so I'm not wanting to put too much effort into something that I hope to change soon.   Like, my campaign draws close to its end. They're probably on their second-last arc if I'm lucky and they don't do something unpredictable.  

3. Set up your community tools

Istralar has a Discord server! Well, it has multiple, but there's one dedicated to the public-facing side of Istralar (and Brigid, too). If you'd like Istralar updates, that's the one place I post them - and where you'll be able to see occasional art and shenanigans from my dear players. They have a private roleplay server, as well, but that's just for them!   The rest of the community tools, I'm happy enough with as-is... and also a little lazy, hahah.  

4. CSS wizardry

Look, I do enough CSS wizardry at work. If you'd like help with CSS, ask me in the WA Discord. If you want to see awesome CSS tips and features, join the Istralar Discord - I pretty regularly share links to cool CSS-related things I find in my own research.   Istralar's CSS is currently in a pretty solid state, I think. The next improvements I want to make would require hiring a UI artist to make me some assets, and since I'm currently trying to buy a house, that's on hold for a little! (I'm still keeping up my end of the AI imagery deal, regardless. Anything I've put into AI bullshit, I've repaid to real artists well over 3x at this point. I love that Patreon and Ko-Fi make this easy.)

Week 3: On the Hunt for Inspiration!

hey why do week 3 and 4 get subtitles but week 1 and 2 don't? this is favouritism  

1. Read a book or watch a movie!

I recently reread the entirety of Heaven Official's Blessing (TGCF) and got a *whole* tonne of ideas both from the series itself and the fanfics around it. Fanfic is seriously underrated as an inspiration source. I've also been trying to play a few more indie games lately (rather than only playing MMOs, and mostly FFXIV), so that's been pretty great - Stray Gods did some very cool things with the Greek pantheon, for instance. I've got Daemon Masquerade, Potionomics, Letters, and a bunch of other ones to play, as well. Not sure when I'll find time.   I've picked up a few bundles through Storybundle that I'd like to read through, as well. If you've never heard of Storybundle, it's essentially Humble Bundle, but for books. I think I'll pick up the current Cosy Fantasy one when I get done writing this pledge, actually.  

2. Create a moodboard

I really, truly, cannot be bothered. If you'd like my version of this - there's an inspiration channel in Istralar's discord that I throw cool things in if they're inspiring to me. Sometimes, other people chime in with their own ideas or related thoughts, too, and that's awesome! Feed me inspiration and I shall paint thee an image with ten thousand words.  

3. Create or expand your writing playlist

I do this gradually all the time. I typically write to soundtracks if I'm going to have music on, and I have literally thousands of songs downloaded from games anywhere from Crypt of the Necrodancer to, obviously, the Dawntrail soundtrack. I find that lyrics tend to interrupt my thought process and/or just make me sing, so I put on music more suited to my mood.   For my campaign, I have a bunch of mood playlists, so these are what I usually use here. I collect new albums through the year and sort them into mood-based playlists for campaign & writing use. It's pretty fun to do and I recommend it to everyone \o/   I do have a general Spotify playlist for soundtracks, though. It's unsorted, but these are some good songs.

Week 4: Harness the Power of Friendship!

1. Find a community

HELLO, READER. You're the community. You're very much appreciated. I write a lot of silly things and a lot of sad things, and everything between those as well. Thank you for hanging around and reading any of this mess; I don't publish a lot on WA, I know, so it's very much beloved when people do take the time to leave a heart or a comment on what I do throw onto the site.   Alas, you're never getting my Dragon Age writings or the campaign side-stories I write on my phone at 3am. I consider this an act of love: you don't need to be exposed to the 3am lunacy. The midnight lunacy is bad enough!   But yes, otherwise, we've covered this point earlier. Join Istralar's Discord if you fancy, or just hang out here. I'm perfectly happy either way. This world was made for a small group of close friends playing my campaign - I'm honoured that so many of you have loved the pieces of it I've shared with you, too.  

2. Plan your writing schedule

I'm pretty much planning on doing as much as I can in the 10pm - 2am inspiration period. That tends to be when I write best, and when I have the fewest interruptions. That's also exactly when I run my campaigns, so don't expect updates on Saturdays unless people are busy with Christmas. Also don't expect anything *on Christmas*.   I also get a lunch hour every day, so I'll probably use some of that for at least researching stuff - if I'm not napping.  

3. Get some fresh air!

Back in January, I was trying to go to my taekwondo classes more and promptly hurt my ankle so badly that I wasn't able to walk for a bit, then had to see a physio for months. Nick, my physio, is a legend who not only got me fixed up, but who then also suggested I try going to the physio-led gym he works with. They have personal trainers introduce you and regularly review your schedule, and it absolutely bans gym bro behaviour. I'm happy to say I've been going twice a week every week (only missing time due to schedule issues or illness) since.. I wanna say June-ish? I've never been able to stick with going to the gym before, so this is amazing for me. I've got so much more strength now!   All that to say: I'm getting my fresh air and then some! I also try to go on little walks around my neighbourhood at least once a week if the weather allows, and also do a lot of walking back from my gym where I can as well. I live in a really pretty area, so I share pictures of the art, architecture, clouds, etc on Bluesky and Discord as I do these wanders. I think this is the healthiest I've been, physically, since 2014. I'm really enjoying it!