It’s been over a full calendar year since I last published the latest “Dark Invasion of Lani” write-up (The Fallen Temple). Even longer since the last Thora Silentblade tale, and my new character Fenric got an intro-writeup and then nothing. I’ve missed it.

Now in that year there were many things that contributed to the writing disappearing. The biggest impact was that D&D stopped for me. Several deaths within our group and extended family members meant that other things had become more important than the game and playing and running games was a huge source of inspiration for my writing. I would take those game sessions and spin those collaborative stories into a narrative for the characters. It was a driving force, and the next session always gave me a deadline for the next write-up.

Without that forcing function, I started to give myself more balance. I was coding a lot in the evenings, trying to help a small startup get something off the ground and I poured my creative mind into that side hustle. With a new job (in May 2025 at Perforce) and the side hustle (started that in April 2025) I was feeling quite full and having the writing drop off felt like a natural thing to do. I’d already stopped doing a lot of video media or podcast episodes, and I just needed to be less stressed out.

Ultimately, though, in the last month or so I’ve started to get into a rhythm. My work as a Developer Relations leader at Perforce has gone through a few transformations but I feel like I have my feet under me. I’ve put the side hustle to the side and spent some more time with family. Even having regular gaming sessions on the weekend to just play a video game with a few friends. Life is hectic (I do have three kids and their schedules do keep my partner and I busy) but I feel like there may be room for a little more creativity here and there.

I am missing writing… I am missing my characters, and the feeling of trying to weave chapters together. I don’t miss the deadlines I was putting on myself, though, so it won’t be regular. I think I’m going to explore the new Fenric character idea I had. I think there’s something there that I’d like to explore in writing, and without a session narrative to keep it anchored it will be a different challenge for me. I also want to explore the Forgotten Realms lore and world of Faerun a little bit. I haven’t really dived into that setting in quite some time and I’d like to learn a little bit by having Fenric explore it too.

I know that I don’t have that many followers, and because of the shifting nature of the content on this site many are probably here for one thing or another, and not everything, but I’d like to bring something back for me. Not just work-related stuff, but something human, creative, and just for the story.