<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Mythic Bios]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[http://matthewkirshenblatt.ca]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[matthewkirshenblatt]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://matthewkirshenblatt.ca/author/matthewkirshenblatt/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[This Little Party is Just&nbsp;Beginning]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.joystickdivision.com/Tourian-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="617" height="367" /></p>
<p>It&#8217;s been two weeks now since I posted anything on here.</p>
<p>Really, my post before this would could have had a few other alternative titles: you know, like &#8220;Fed Up,&#8221; or &#8220;Exhausted,&#8221; or something more responsible along the lines of &#8220;I Love You All, But I Need To Take a Fucking Break.&#8221;</p>
<p>So let me tell you what I&#8217;ve been doing since I last wrote here, and what I plan to do.</p>
<p>The very day I wrote that last post, I went to my friend Noah&#8217;s birthday dinner and then hung out with him and my friends at a Tim Horton&#8217;s: including my friend Andrew whom I haven&#8217;t talked with in ages. We just talked about geeky stuff and nothing more strenuous than that. That was about the last time I have seen my friends so far, but it reminded me that I needed to get more time out that I have, well, honestly been getting.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="https://i0.wp.com/media.dcentertainment.com/sites/default/files/GalleryComics_V_1900x900_20140200_SNDM_Cv2_52cf53dcf33103.88391448.jpg" alt="" width="642" height="304" /></p>
<p>I&#8217;m can&#8217;t remember a lot of what I did after that. I kept meaning to write something here and I just &#8230; didn&#8217;t. I even started to get ideas again and have them become more coherent in my brain. I bought the second issue of <em>The Sandman Overture</em>, and then the book <em>Darth Plagueis</em>: the last of which I&#8217;ve been meaning to do for a while now.</p>
<p>And during this time I knew that I had a few ideas for more Sequart and Mythic Bios articles. I want to look at Gwendolyn MacEwen again, at an interesting form of comics, at a Batman fanfic comic and the second volume of the new <em>Sandman</em>. The material is all there. I&#8217;ve contemplated writing about women in George R.R. Martin&#8217;s <em>A Song of Ice and Fire</em>, but figured it had already been done before and didn&#8217;t include it here: though some of that did make its way into an <a href="http://www.geekpr0n.com/sansa-stark-strong-female-character/#.U0gphPldVHF%20…" target="_blank">article on Sansa Stark</a> on GeekPr0n. Perhaps that will happen one day.</p>
<p>I also thought about eventually making that article on Anakin Skywalker and how as a classic science-fiction swashbuckler hero he is at a severe disadvantage merely existing in the extreme black and white Force-powerful Star Wars universe. I have also been meaning to write something for my friend Anthony with regards to his second novel <em>Beloved Demons</em>.</p>
<p>And, of course, after one playthrough so far I also want to look at Zoe Quinn&#8217;s <a href="http://www.depressionquest.com/" target="_blank">Depression Quest</a>. It&#8217;s fitting I guess, when you consider that this past while I&#8217;ve been depressed.</p>
<p><a href="https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg"><img loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="628" data-permalink="https://matthewkirshenblatt.ca/2012/08/07/athena-bursting-from-the-brain-or-dealing-with-the-habits-of-a-creative-mindset/picture0007/" data-orig-file="https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg" data-orig-size="640,480" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Acer CrystalEye&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}" data-image-title="Me and my Head" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg?w=640" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-628" src="https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg?w=640&#038;h=480" alt="Me and my Head" width="640" height="480" srcset="https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg 640w, https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg?w=150&amp;h=113 150w, https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg?w=300&amp;h=225 300w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></a></p>
<p>At first it was all exhaustion, but then I started to get perfectionist and disillusioned and side-tracked with procrastinating. Also, I began to feel concerned that I would get restless and feel empty again: having no sense of accomplishment writing at least two hundred words a day.</p>
<p>So I didn&#8217;t do anything at all.</p>
<p>Well, that&#8217;s not entirely true. I&#8217;ve been maintaining my one post a week on GeekPr0n, as it is my job but also something I like to represent my skills well in doing, but it&#8217;d been a lot of white noise in the back of my head. Of course, that white noise is ultimately a lot of ideas that lack a structure or starting point that threatened to drive me crazy.</p>
<p>But now here we are. I&#8217;m writing something on here again. And now, we come to the next part of this post.</p>
<p>I took one proactive measure that I&#8217;m proud of. A few days ago I went downtown and made good on my Day Pass to <a href="https://bentomiso.com/about" target="_blank">Bento Miso</a>: a collaborative workspace and community. Game makers utilize the space considerably, but there are a whole variety of different people that go there to work on their own projects, network, and attend particular events. I must have the strangest luck in the world in that the few times I&#8217;ve visited outside of the Bit Bazaar events, I&#8217;ve always come when most of Bento Miso&#8217;s members are at conventions.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is that, as I have said before, I do need a space away from home to work, but not just on anything. There are some other projects I&#8217;ve been meaning to focus on and I have not had time or the concentration to do so. And I just need something new. So I decided to join Bento Miso as a cohort. 🙂</p>
<p>I remember that night, walking down Queen Street from Strachan, thinking to myself that the street didn&#8217;t feel nearly so old anymore or filled with ghosts. In the spring time, looking at Trinity-Bellwoods Park and walking down the street to take a streetcar to the subway, it felt like it was new again. I mean, here I was outside going downtown on some adventures and a new quest.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Trinity_Bellwoods_Gates.jpg" alt="" width="632" height="433" /></p>
<p>I think what I&#8217;m trying to say is that for the first time in a while I felt more like <em>me</em> again: no longer hiding and starting that process of making new opportunities and perhaps even connections. Who knows, right?</p>
<p>And I do have plans. I&#8217;ve thought long and hard about why my Patreon account hasn&#8217;t been followed or supported. And I realized that my work right now, on Mythic Bios, is good but scattered over a variety of different subject matters: all of them geeky, but not always specific or focused. This was always ever meant to be a supplement to the main writing that I planned to do.</p>
<p>Kris Straub, before he created <em>Broodhollow</em>, spent much time creating works to get to that place where he could make something akin to an ongoing master project or, if you&#8217;d like to get more profound about it, a magnum opus.</p>
<p>So here is what&#8217;s going to happen.</p>
<p>I am going to be writing on Mythic Bios once a week now. I simply can&#8217;t always write two posts a week like I used to. I need time to work on other projects and details in my life. I will, of course, break my own rules from time to time, but expect a post either Monday or Thursday. I will most likely alternate.</p>
<p>I will still be working at GeekPr0n creating my articles for them as well and with more time, hopefully, I can send some more &#8230; unique work Sequart&#8217;s way again. But, more importantly, I am going to be creating Patreon-Only content. My plan is to create a serialized work, or series of works, and make it so that those who Support me will be able to see whatever it is I will post there. Anyone can contribute whatever they&#8217;d like and we will see what happens from there.</p>
<p>And that is just for starters. I need to make my Patreon more presentable aesthetically and outline what my actual goals are. Right now I just have what I can offer. These are two entirely different things and with something more concrete, I might be in something akin to business.</p>
<p>You can find my Patreon account right here: <a href="http://www.patreon.com/mkirshenblatt">http://www.patreon.com/mkirshenblatt</a></p>
<p>Let me know if you have any suggestions. I have a few ideas for some serialized work, mainly fiction, that I think some of you might actually enjoy. In the meantime, this is just the beginning. There are other possibilities as well. And I look forward to seeing where they might go.</p>
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