October 1st to 7th: Losing a Friend

October 7th, 2020:

2020 continues to be relentless. On Sunday, a friend with a long history of diabetes and kidney failure died. We hadn’t seen each other in person for a few years, but we’d done a lot together prior to that. We read bad vampire books aloud by his campfire. He was at my wedding. We played D&D together, and my wife and I joined him in organizing community events for years. He was a good man, and he will be missed.

I regret that no one told me his health had deteriorated so badly, I would have called him. His family is being very private, as is their right, and as of now don’t know any details. He was in line for a kidney transplant and even went to Boston to receive one earlier in the year when a donor organ was found. But thanks to the pandemic causing delays, it expired before they could get it to him for the operation.

Prior to losing my friend, my week had some interruptions due to my wife feeling unwell, but it hadn’t been too bad. After my mental health vacation, I’d been working to finish my social media setup for October that needed to be done Sunday. Even with the impact of my friend’s passing and taking time to talk to others about it, I did get the work completed, albeit with a heavy heart.

On Monday things were manageable. I set writing goals for the week, and finished one of them only a few hours later. My primary goal this week is to finalize ideas for my Arium commission and write on— if not finish— its first draft. I’ve got three solid scenarios already to flesh-out, and I’m hunting down ideas to craft two more to complete my quintet of adventure seeds for the role-playing game.

I got pegged as the “Over the Top, Gonzo” RPG writer for some reason, and that’s what I’ve been tasked to write for these scenarios. It has been challenging. I suspect the writers with well-represented genres to work with are having much easier times than I. Being able to make assumptions based on genre (if it’s FTL Sci-Fi, you can assume starships are a thing, for example) is a big aid in crafting these. I don’t have that luxury with something abstract and non-genre like “Gonzo”. However, I do feel up to the challenge even though it’s taking me a lot of effort.

My three solid ideas thus far— tentatively titled Carnivorous Cabbages, Commandos of Darkness, and Tournament of the Jade Emperor— have me excited. As “Gonzo” can denote the weird, the over-the-top, or the humorous, I’ve put a mix of all three in each. Hopefully, the result will be high quality and fun scenarios for all.

Take care everyone. Be safe, and keep writing.

~Jason H. Abbott