No, it's times like this that I am grateful that you are so easily amused. Makes me happy in ways you cannot believe! :-)

Done and done. I've written and publicly posted messages to my congressfolk and pointed out to them that "someone claims you're guilty so you're banned and good luck with trying to prove you're innocent" doesn't exactly jive with the "innocent until proven guilty in a court of law" sentiments of the Constitution. And I'll send them a little love note every day just to remind them. Hmm, I am going to have to have a talk with my 14 year old and point to this when next she complains that Social Studies is "boring".

My friend Matt and I were talking the other day about this very thing, about how as artists (writing: me; photography and film: him) we both get that "stuck" feeling, there's inspiration but no motivation so we don't produce anything, or there's motivation but no inspiration so we don't produce anything. During the course of our conversation we spoke about how we've got that proper work ethic that we apply to our daily jobs of home life and income production but in order to feel like we're accomplishing anything we've got to apply that same work ethic to our art as well. I cited your posts about "getting excited and making things" as well as your notes about your writing process and how you shine a remarkable light on not only the times when the story just seems to leap from mind to paper but when there are struggles to produce even a few lines. When we ended our phone call Matt said he was going to send me something that he'd been reading, that he thought would be helpful to us both. I received The War of Art http://www.stevenpressfield.com/the-war-of-art/ on Friday night and have already found myself beginning to identify the forms of my personal Resistance and am resetting my personal goals so I can work as diligently on my writing as I do in caring for my family and at my "other" job. Wil, you are a major source of inspiration in this, as much as the book Matt sent me. And it helps, more than you know, knowing that someone so amazingly creative and talented in storytelling has days where he too struggles with Resistance. Thank you.

Yes please.

I just wanted to share a learning experience I had the other night. Inspired by listening to the podcasts of you and Scott, Mike, and Gabriel, I have been learning to DM using the new Red Box, running the game for my husband, our 13 year old daughter, Gabby, and our 8 year old son, Ben. But I'm such a newbie that my head is constantly filled with that worrying voice that I'm not doing it right. I actually found myself having mild anxiety attacks and really not enjoying myself very much. The other day Gabby had a sleepover and Ben, being 8, was causing brotherly michief so I intervened. In our regular game we had left it with their band resting in the dungeon, so I had him set up the map with the crossroads showing, grabbed his deck of pokemon cards and improvised a side game for the two characters he was playing, (a dwarf fighter and a dragon born warlock). I told him his guys had fallen asleep in the dungeon and awoke to find themselves in a strange land. I just winged it and we had so much fun and my confidence got exactly the boost it needed. The real turning point was when the Farfetch'd landed on his dwarf's head and was pecking it. (Ned, his dragonborn had accidentally burnt up its nest). What a difference for me once I relaxed and just let things flow rather than worrying every five seconds if I was doing it right. I hope to carry that feeling over into our next family game.

I like this so much. I like how you've distilled some very powerful emotions there. Ultra concentrated, packs a punch!