A Regeneration of Our Own
Back in January, my wife and I were talking about all the changes 2013 would bring to our lives. I jokingly likened it to the most recent regeneration of the Doctor (the transition from David Tennant to Matt Smith). We got a good nerdy laugh out of my comment, but the more I think about it, the more true it rings.
If you know anything about Doctor Who, you know that Russell T. Davies revived the beloved sci-fi franchise back in 2005. The way Davies writes is disorganized and chaotic; very stream-of-consciousness (or, borrowing words from the Doctor, "wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff").
Then along came a Moffat. Stephen Moffat, to be precise.
Already famous for creating the Captain Jack Harkness character and the infamous Weeping Angels, Moffat formally took over head writing duties for the show in 2009, coinciding with the change from Tennant to Smith.
Moffat's writing, while maintaining the crazy nature of the show, has a far more robust structure to it. To illustrate this, the two-part tale written by Moffat that took place in the Davies-era episodes, "Silence in the Library" and "The Forest of the Dead," introduced plot elements that didn't get resolved until the end of series 6...three years after the episodes aired!
Coming back 'round to everyday life here in the Midwest, the last few years have felt a lot like the Davies-driven seasons of Doctor Who. My wife and I were newly married in 2009, and we didn't have a clue. Our favorite phrase for a while was, "Why don't people tell you about this crap?!" Everything felt like we were flying by the seat of our pants.
My own writing reflected this. As I've mentioned before, The Black Armor Tales have largely been written
without any sort of outline (wibbley-wobbly, but no timey-wimey). The story I'm creating now has nearly twice as much background material as my first two novels combined, and I haven't typed a single word of it yet. Taking a lesson from the over-outlined Project R, I've found a healthy middle ground. So, my writing has undergone the same overhaul that Doctor Who has seen.
The house, much like the TARDIS, has been refreshed. With our new baby on the way, we reorganized the kitchen, changed the layout of the basement, and gave the guest bedroom a fresh coat of paint (we even used blue and white paint).
Our family has grown. We recently welcomed a beautiful daughter into the world. The eleventh Doctor has taken on more companions on a more consistent basis than the tenth did. You can tell I'm having fun with this, can't you?
By far, the most significant change is my grasp on this whole idea of "living." Yes, life is still life in all its wonderfully crazy and unpredictable glory. But, I have a stronger sense of confidence now that wasn't there before. I think a lot of it came from becoming more comfortable in who I am; what I am capable of, and what I am not. I can't tell you what will happen tomorrow, or even five minutes from now. However, I do know that, good or bad, we can take whatever comes.
So, here's to the coming year, full of surprises, wrong turns, right turns, failures, and successes. I aim to make it a great one, and I hope you do too.
To update you on the writing front, The Guild of Steam is trundling along. I need to complete the last fourth of the current draft and revisit a couple of early scenes. After that comes the frontline review and several more rounds of editing. As I mentioned above, I have a new series in the works, and I'm super-excited about it. I have no set date for when to expect the first book, but I will keep you posted as it develops.
Also, if you haven't been paying attention to the Facebook page or the Twitter feed, I started a new blog called The Gamer Chronicle. This is partly because I made a goal for myself to blog more in 2013 and partly because it's a lot of fun (okay, mainly because it's a lot of fun).
Take care, folks!
Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 6:30PM | in Life in General | tagged 2013, david tennant, doctor who, matt smith, tardis, the doctor 
