Week 825

What’s this? I’m blogging about my work on a weekly basis – a simple way to track and archive whatever it is I spend my time on.

Another week, another blockbuster videogame. On Monday I wrote an article with six ‘facts’ about the latest annual Call of Duty release, Advanced Warfare. The piece appeared in nrc.next and NRC Handelsblad on Tuesday, the day the game came out. I didn’t get my press copy until then, so I played my ass off to get a review done on Thursday morning… after which something went wrong and the article didn’t appear in the paper. Which is kind of sad because the review turned out quite well. It should be in there soon enough, luckily.

Also on Monday, I finished my appeal for the Dutch Foundation of Literature (after they’d declined my grant application to work on my novel Sexy Sadie), and sent it off. I was immediately invited to come defend the appeal later this month, which is terrifying but also a great opportunity to tell my side of the story. I should properly prepare for that one though.

On Tuesday, I recorded a new Hybrid Writer’s Podcast, with fellow Utrecht-based writer Martijn Knol, about his short novel Elders, that just came out. On Thursday, I got around to publishing the one with Thomas van Aalten, about his novel Leeuwenstrijd. This one went much further into the subject matter his book is about; it’s nice to see the different forms these conversations take.

On Friday, I visited the ambulance control room in Arnhem, for an article about the game Flavour is making for them. I made a point of writing most of it down immediately afterwards.

During the week, I also wrote two articles for Official PlayStation Magazine: a profile about game publisher Capcom and a ‘wishful thinking’ column. In the column, I dream up a game I feel should be made on a monthly basis; this time I came up with a game about exploring land, sea and sky; I like the idea enough that I feel I should try to actually make it.