The ABC's of Why I Still Blog

Excited to be sharing a post on the A-Z Challenge site today. Here we go...

When people I know in real life discover I have a blog, the first question out of their mouth is usually, 'What's it about'? 

It's been seventeen years since I first hit publish and I still sometimes want to reply, "It's about nothing."  It's like the Seinfeld of blogs, except not as funny. 

So why am I still at it? 

Many reasons, but in the spirit of the A-Z, I'm going to handpick a few letters and list just a few.

A is for Archive

My blog has become a record of a life I might otherwise have forgotten. Do I need to remember that weekend spent with friends? The chocolate cake I baked? The flowers my husband sent? That we ate tacos on a Tuesday night? 

Maybe not, but I do love the picture my blog paints of what ordinary life has looked like through the years. 

I love too, that it's a timeline I can refer back to when I'm trying to remember where it was we saw that beautiful view, ate the fabulous dessert, got lost on a back country road. Just this past weekend I was with college friends and we were trying to remember how many times we'd stayed in a particular mountain house. Nobody could recall from memory, but my blog could. 

B is for Belonging

The most common comment I've received on my blog through the years is some variation of "Me too...I feel the same...You said what I was thinking." 

When I read a blog and find myself nodding at something that is perhaps quite ordinary that the writer is sharing I feel less alone. There's something comforting in the thought that we're all in our own homes, living our own lives, yet doing very similar things. We're caring for our families, cooking meals, feeling similar frustrations and celebrating small victories. 

In a world that seeks to constantly divide, one of the quiet gifts of blogging is discovering how much we have in common. 

C is for Curiosity

Blogging makes me think. 

It makes me write things down and consider them. It makes me look for life's little things that might have gone unnoticed, but now fill me with wonder. 

D is for Discovery 

Writing in this little space I've created has taught me a lot about myself. Who I am. Who I've been. Who I want to be. Sometimes you don't know what you think until you give yourself the space to say it.  

M is for Memory 

Perhaps my favorite thing about blogging. 

Reading old posts and seeing past versions of myself. Remembering people, places, and seasons of life I'd forgotten I'd forgotten. 

My blog remembers things I don't. 

P is for perspective

Flannery O'Connor is credited with a quote that says, 'I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say." 

That has always resonated with me. Writing something down helps me articulate the jumble of thoughts swimming around my brain. It adds clarity and sometimes even changes the way I understand something. It makes me think about a particular topic from different angles and then figure out where I land. 

R is for Reflection

Blogging about an experience allows me to relive it. Do I still feel now what I felt back then? Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes it's no. 

Sometimes I discover time has quietly changed the story. 

S is for Sharing

There's something a little bit strange, but also a little bit freeing, in telling pieces of my life to people I might never meet. I write about ordinary days, thoughts, experiences, and small moments, and somehow they become a conversation. 

T is for Time

Oh how the years roll by. My blog says so. 

Seventeen years of ordinary days, photographs, thoughts, recipes, travels, celebrations, disappointments, discoveries, and all the little things in between.  Seventeen years of hitting publish. 

So why do I still blog? 

After seventeen years I've discovered that 'nothing' is actually quite a lot. 

What about you? Why do you still blog? 

Joyce at http://www.fromthissideofthepond.com/

Rolling for Initiative

Rolling for Initiative: How 40 Years of RPG Mechanics Power My Fiction Blogging

I’ve been rolling dice for over forty years. Now in my late fifties, my regular gaming table looks a little different than it did in the early days. I still play consistently, but my party now consists of seasoned professionals: the president of a big-law firm and four technical professionals in the finance sector. We spend our days dealing with high-stakes reality, but we still make time for the gaming table. Why? Because the mechanics of Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TTRPGs) offer a structural framework for storytelling that nothing else quite matches.

As a part-time, somewhat inconsistent, fantasy fiction writer, I’ve found that those same game mechanics aren’t just for our game nights. They are a robust toolkit for stress-testing narratives, generating unexpected plot hooks, and completely shattering writer’s block.

Here is how I use the structure of gaming to fuel my fiction.

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1. The Physicality of Rules: Breaking the Stare

Writing is an entirely cerebral act. When I find myself blocked, staring down a blinking cursor, my brain is usually caught in an endless loop of "what ifs." RPG mechanics offer a physical interruption to that loop.

By taking out a set of gaming dice, I move the creative process out of my head and into my hands. The physical act of rolling dice disrupts the anxiety of a blank screen. It forces me to react to an external stimulus rather than trying to generate a perfect scenario from thin air.

If my protagonist is sneaking past a corporate security drone, I stop agonizing over whether they succeed. I assign a difficulty class, decide on a modifier based on the character’s skill, and roll the dice.

• Critical Success: They hack the drone’s network and download the drone’s patrol routes.
• Failure: They trip an alarm, instantly turning a stagnant stealth scene into a high-octane chase.

By outsourcing the immediate outcome to physics and probability, I force myself to write the reaction, which is almost always easier than plotting the action.

2. The Character Sheet Approach

Traditional character outlines often end up feeling like static resumes: hair color, worst fear, favorite food. RPG character creation, however, is built to generate active participants who are forced to engage with a story.

When a character feels flat, I try building them using a character sheet from a relevant RPG.

• Attributes & Stats: Rolling stats forces me to accept flaws. A protagonist with maxed-out intelligence but abysmal charisma is inherently interesting. How do they convince a skeptical faction of an impending threat when they are deeply unlikable?
• Skills & Feats: Choosing specific, limited skills forces me to define exactly what my character can and cannot do, keeping them grounded and preventing the dreaded omnipotent protagonist.
• Setting Connections: Many systems require you to mechanically link your character to the world: recent editions of D&D, for example, let’s players (and writers) choose, directly or randomly, character bonds and flaws.
• Advantages & Disadvantages: GURPS, the Generic Universal Roleplaying System uses a “point-buy” system of character generation that credits or debits a character’s build by selecting traits that your protagonist may present. The level of detail in these tables is astounding.

A character sheet ensures the protagonist is mechanically balanced. They will have blind spots, and those blind spots tell me exactly where the plot needs to attack them.

3. "Soloing" to Test Outcomes and Narratives

Solo RPGs rely on “Oracles”: tables and mechanics that answer questions and push the narrative forward.

If you follow my own dark fantasy serial on the C9 Chronicles blog, you’ll see this method in action. The entire serial is driven by a solo role-playing campaign.

When I hit a dead end, I use a solo engine to ask a yes/no question about the world or the plot.

“What is the condition of the River Stir today?”

Rolling against the Oracle doesn’t just give me an answer, it provides nuance:

• Fair... (River has more bends than you’d like)
• Good... (Well-known waters, clearly marked)
• Hampered... (River lock, nosy patrol boat, or traffic)
• Hazard... (Wreckers, pirates, or beasts attack)
• Impassable... (Blocked by fallen trees for 1d10 hours)

This “soloing” technique simulates the chaotic, uncontrollable nature of reality. It prevents my stories from feeling overly engineered and forces my characters to adapt to sudden, unscripted changes.

4. Setting the Stage: Stealing from the Sourcebooks

RPG sourcebooks are masterclasses in worldbuilding. They don’t just describe settings; they provide the rules for how those settings operate. When I am struggling to resolve specific worldbuilding blocks, I match a game system to the exact timeline and tone of my writing.

Fiction Era / Genre	Suggested RPG Inspiration	How it Cures Writer’s Block
Alt-History & Historical Fantasy	Call of Cthulhu, Pendragon, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay	Provides mechanics for sanity, legacy, and, in the case of Warhammer, perfectly captures the dark, grim realities and brutal narrative friction of a harsh historical world.
The Present & Urban Fantasy	Vampire: The Masquerade, City of Mist, Dresden Files RPG	Teaches you how to build hidden societies, manage the explosive tension of street magic, and balance the extraordinary with the mundane world.
Near Future & Cyberpunk	Cyberpunk RED, Shadowrun	Offers hard mechanics for cybernetics, hacking networks, corporate espionage, and the economy of a gig-based dystopian underworld. (Shadowrun also provides a masterclass on seamlessly injecting magic and other fantasy tropes directly into a gritty cyberpunk milieu.)
Far Future & Hard Sci-Fi	Traveller, Starfinder	Features incredible tables for generating star systems, alien economies, ship combat, and the brutal logistics of interstellar travel.

If I can’t figure out how a specific element of my world functions—whether it’s the cost of casting a street spell or the realities of a grimdark medieval economy—I look at how an RPG handles it. The game designers have already done the heavy lifting of establishing the logic.

Take the Next Turn

Writer’s block is just a symptom of stagnant energy. RPG mechanics inject chaos, prompt physical action, and force you to respond to outcomes you didn’t plan for. The next time you find yourself staring blankly at your manuscript, step away from the word processor. Grab a character sheet, roll some plastic, and let the game tell you what happens next.

How Blog Hops Keep the A-Z Spirit Alive Year-Round

 How Blog Hops Keep the A-Z Spirit Alive Year-Round

    Participants of the annual Blogging from A to Z Challenge are well aware of the April Rush, followed by the post-April Sigh of Relief. Along with that relief though, how many of us hear that little voice in the back of our minds, asking, “OK, now what?”

    For me, the answer is blog hops, those online networking events where bloggers collaborate to promote each other’s blogs through shared themes or topics. The A to Z, according to the organizers, is “first and foremost a blog hop” itself.

    Many blogs go quiet after April. Blog hops are just what we need to keep our blog alive between Aprils. These small weekly, or monthly, sparks are like small creative appointments, giving structure, a reason to show up. You keep your writing muscles warm and your blog remains visible year-round. When April rolls around again it feels less overwhelming! In addition, blog hops can be a great starting point to help new bloggers find their footing.

    Participating in blog hops keeps the momentum going. They keep us motivated to continue writing beyond April, and keep us connected to other bloggers, bringing us a sense of community. You may even make friends! Some will remain online friends, others may become pen pals (or email pals), or even real-life friends.

    There is bound to be a blog hop, or several, to interest you. A short list of the basic types are:

• themed hops
• niche hops
• photography hops
• writing prompts, prose and poetry
• open-topic hops
• community-building hops

    I enjoy the weekly niche hops of Sunday Stamps and Thursday Postcard Hunt, which align to my collecting and bring me hours of engagement through research.

    Photographers may enjoy sharing photos of the sky on Fridays at Skywatch Friday, where dozens of sky shots are shared from around the world, or a photo in black and white for The Weekend in Black and White. Writers get inspiration from word prompts for prose or poetry. You’ll never be at a loss for words to write with blog hops, even 13 words is enough for Thursday Thirteen! Weekly too often? Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day is a monthly hop to share what’s in your garden mid-month.

    You may find yourself so caught up in blog hopping you want to host your own. I do! I inherited Shadow Shot Sunday (simply a photo of a shadow) from the previous host.

    There’s a hop for every interest, so joining one might be the thing that keeps your blog alive between Aprils.

- Lisa https://thisandthatablog.blogspot.com