At the time computer gaming and participating in a LAN party took a lot of work. If you were supporting a LAN party you had to learn networking, computer support and the foundations of IPX/SPX and TCP/IP networking, how to setup your own DHCP or STATIC network and even how to lay cable for a network. To play online was even tougher in many ways. There wasn’t any automatic gaming servers and playing over the internet took some skills to get things to work out, even with an amazing program named KALI that came out a few years after I started. Mostly if you weren’t playing at a LAN party, you were playing via modem. You’d think a direct modem connection would be pretty straightforward, but with Windows 95 and peoples issues with computers and compatibility between games and hardware, modems were a nightmare too. Lastly, to play any FPS, your hardware had to be bleeding edge or as close to that higher end gaming system as possible. This need taught you hardware, building your own systems, installing software from scratch and even building servers to host the games so that your own system wasn’t being slowed down hosting the game for so many people.
Remember, this was my hobby and although it was incredibly fun, it was also a lot of work. At some point in this process I learned that I knew enough to be a system administrator. The funny thing is that I’d started a COTA AS program because I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but the job was decent money. When I ended up getting my first corporate job it was as a system administrator. When I think back to this now and compare it to what I’m doing to become a writer, it lets me know that I’m on the right track. I might have ended up working over a seventy hour work week, but I did get some good time in writing on Destiny to finish it up. While every time I think I’m closing to finishing up, I suddenly realize that more detail is needed for this last part I’m finishing up. The changes I believe will make the difference between a good story and a great story, and is needed for it to tell the story I want. Even though I want to get it out sooner rather than later, I can’t let it bother me that it’s taking longer than I’d initially planned.
I was looking up Elliot Kay yesterday to see if he’d released anything about having a new book for his Good Intentions Series and saw he’d been picked up by a professional Publishing company. I sent him a quick congrats. His Rich Man / Poor Man series is rocking. I’m going to have to check it out since he’s not going to have another Good Intention’s book anytime soon. Reading Elliot’s blog and hearing about his hard work and life learning to write reminds me a lot about myself. I have such huge respect for him after he was kind enough to just talk to me about writing and was just a real person. Seeing success like that happen to an Indie Writer is awesome. It’s all about being willing to work hard for your dreams.
Anyway, for those of you who are aspiring writers or are looking to make a change in your life for the better. Hard work goes a long way to making those dreams a reality. Have a great weekend!