Working Notes 01: Fine Tuning
Okay. I’m told I need to review the last thing I did, look at the next thing that needs to be done, and then do it. That’s how I’m going to maintain continuity instead of falling into the endless starting-over cycle. We’re not starting over today. We’re fine-tuning. This is just a quick recap before moving on to new business.
In March 2026 my executive function collapsed. I was unhappy with the work I was doing, unhappy with some of the people I was working with, unhappy with the general state of the world, which we’re not even going to get into here, just unhappy. None of that directly caused the cognitive collapse, but the stress sure as hell didn’t help it any.
TLDR: executive dysfunction means your working memory is shot. That’s an oversimplification, but this isn’t an essay, it’s a recap. For me, it means I struggle to put steps in the correct order. That leads to restarting projects instead of continuing where I left off, because it’s hard to find that spot without retracing my steps. If you’ve ever lost your car keys, that, but with everything. I need structure, but the right kind of structure, and I need written processes and lists to get anything accomplished consistently.
When you’re cognitively paralyzed, you just have to do something. Anything. You throw things at the wall until something sticks, and work from there. That led to the Patreon and the Substack. Those are working. They need refinement, but they’re working. I also nuked a large portion of the website to create a clean foundation for rebuilding. That wasn’t working. Starting over was, in that case, easier than trying to fix what was there.
It still feels scattered across too many disconnected channels. I recognize that. There’s a plan. There has always been a plan. I promise. It will keep getting refined as I learn what works and what doesn’t, which is the purpose of this Working Notes series. No surprises. Fair warning. But I’m also rebuilding the plane at 50,000 feet because I blew up the old business model before the replacement was fully operational. Most people understand the need to do that sometimes. Ideally, you stay at the old job until the new one is secure. Sometimes, though, for the sake of your health and sanity, you quit and figure the rest out afterward. The cognitive load of maintaining the old while building the new was overwhelming for me. So boom. Focus on going forward.
What I actually want to write about is books. Literature. Culture. I want to write about film, not fanboy “the new Star Wars ruined my childhood” movie discourse. Cinema. The kind of work Martin Scorsese talks about when he’s dissing Marvel movies. I want to talk about art.
And I still want to create and discuss narrative roleplaying, but as an adult. Not as an arrested adolescent. It’s perfectly fine to still love dragons and spaceships. I do. It’s perfectly fine to still like macaroni and cheese with chicken nuggets. It gets strange when that’s all you consume. I want more intellectual material in my narrative roleplaying than the hobby currently provides, so I’m going to make the things I want to exist.
I’m weaving all of this together. I’m not doing a dozen different things. They’re all one thing with different pieces. Different entry points for different audiences. If you want to just read about books, you can. Just roleplaying? You can. It’s modular. It fits together, but can be approached from different perspectives. A buffet. But thematically, one thing.
The Patreon, Story at the Table, is working toward becoming a straightforward subscription service for narrative roleplaying material. New releases. Old titles refreshed with new covers and updated content. Early access. One flat price. That’s it. Subscribers get the current catalog in PDF and epub formats. The short scenarios will continue, although the release frequency will likely drop from five per week to two or three, so I can work more on the refreshed backlist. No articles. Just downloads. One thing, updated regularly.
Substack, The Narrative Core, becomes the center of the writing itself. Books. Film. Art. Writer life. Curricula. Working Notes. Essays. The new narrative roleplaying scenarios will appear there seven days after Patreon as paid subscriber content. Articles. Not downloads. If you want to read the scenarios, subscribe to Substack. If you want downloadable files and early access, subscribe to Patreon.
The website, Lightspress.com, becomes the permanent archive and storefront. Articles will appear there at the same time as Substack, because the site should function as a stable home for all of the work. Substack is for discovery and circulation. The site is for permanence and ownership. Downloads will appear in the shop twenty-eight days after they hit Patreon. Prices will stay fair for readers who only want a specific title or want to sample the work before subscribing. One subscription price on Patreon and early access. A la carte on the site. A cleaner structure.
To recap:
Story at the Table: Becoming a narrative roleplaying subscription service on Patreon with new and updated titles. Flat fee, early access.
The Narrative Core: Articles on books, film, writer life, roleplaying, as free content. Narrative roleplaying as paid articles, not downloads, 7 days after they appear on Patreon.
Lightspress.com: All of the free Substack articles, plus downloads 28 days after they appear on Patreon as individual products.
I still need to tell you about curricula, but that’s tomorrow.
