Returning to the world...

It's now been a month since my mother passed away and I'd like to thank all those who have sent me their kind thoughts and sympathy. Knowing that there were people thinking of me during a very trying time has been extremely helpful and comforting. I feel like I'm returning to the world once more and the last week has seen me doing some work again. Prior to that I was worried that I was going to be permanently blocked, such was the way I felt when looking at documents in Word.

One of the things that helped a lot was working on some music. I've dabbled with compositional software on and off for years, but I recently bought a brilliant piece of software called Reason and this has transformed what I've been able to produce. One piece I developed in the last couple of weeks was a tribute to my mother called, "Relentless Force (for Mam)". In order for people to listen to the piece (should they wish to do so), I've created a music profile on MySpace called Gamma One-Six and I've put the piece on there along with a few other tunes. I hope you'll take the time to have a listen and let me know your thoughts.

Not so good right now...

My mother has been quite ill for some time and this last week has seen her health take a serious turn for the worse. This culminated in her passing away yesterday morning quite peacefully in her sleep. As you can imagine, things are not so good for me right now and it's going to take a little time to get my head in order again. If I'm slow to respond to e-mails and the like you'll know why.

Congratulations are in order

Yesterday, my youngest son got married and a wonderful day was had by all, in spite of some dreadful weather. Thankfully we managed everything indoors.

So, congratulations to Jason and Suzanne! Have a great life together!

Stuff is happening all the time...!!

And no one told me!

Again, I'm sorry for not posting very much just lately, but my life feels full. But I'm going to take a little time to chill, listen to some music (Wishbone Ash at the moment) and write a few words.

I'm currently working on a project that I can't mention just at the moment, but it's one I'm sure at least some of you will find interesting. I'm sure something will be announced soon.

The English voices have been recorded for So Blonde: Forgotten Island and I'm so pleased with the quality. Thanks to wonderful voice direction from Martin T Sherman, the actors really delivered some wonderful performances. Our villain's voice is one of the best I've heard in a game.

I've mentioned before that I've been asked to give a talk about plotting to the York Writers group (which people are welcome to come to if they wish - it's in September; final date to follow later). Well, the more I think and research the idea, the more I think that there's quite a lot of scope for a long essay or a short book
It feels like there is a lot or grey-ness surrounding the subject as people have very different ideas about the role of story and plot, how they link together, the connection between outlining and plot and how plotting can be used as a means to an end in itself, particularly in games.
Games, it seems to me, often have very strong plots and weak stories. I think that because we're used to developing strong game logic, this helps game creators develop strong plots, too. Or, at least, very sound plots. I think that there are plotting lessons we can take from games and use them to apply to stories in other media.
While I'm still in the early stages of this - and the talk will be a useful test of some of them - I'm quite hopeful that it could be a useful exercise.

GC in Leipzig draws ever closer. I'm sure that it will be pretty tiring and very crammed with lots of meetings, interviews and such, but I'm looking forward to meeting up with some people I haven't seen in ages and some I will be meeting for the first time. If you're going, be sure to stop by the DTP booth (wherever that is) and say hello if I'm available.

Jason is moving to Wales at the weekend and Shaun has got promotion in his job.

Congratulations!

Firstly to my youngest son, Jason, who has just received the results from his final year - congratulations on getting a 2-2! All the hard work paid off.

Secondly, to my oldest son, Shaun, who's just passed a difficult training course for his work on the oil rigs and will enable him to progress up the promotion ladder.

Well done to both of them!!