An Instructive Exercise

Hanging on the wall to the left of my desk is a bulletin board. Tacked to that board are index card squares in several different colors, representing the entire Munchkin schedule for the next couple of years. (Usually, it's three years, but 2016 is so packed with stuff to celebrate Munchkin's 15th anniversary that I had to give it two columns.)

Looking at that corkboard lets me see what's coming up in a way that our somewhat dry project database doesn't. For one thing, it lets me check to make sure that the product mix for the year is right. For another, it gives me some warning of schedule problems to come; the second half of this year is packed, y'all, and most of that stuff is still working its way through the writing/editing/production queue. And for a third, it's easy to move things around to try out different ideas until we find one that "looks" right.

Until last week, 2017 was looking a little light -- although not light by the standards of even a few years ago! -- but Phil and Steve and I sat down and put a bunch of games on the schedule next year that we've been wanting to write for a while, and all that free time I thought I had has evaporated. File this under "fantastic problems to have": now I have to spend even MORE time writing stupid jokes for a game I love. Woe, woe, woe!

Here's how crazy I am: with 2017 looking more or less sorted, I'm starting to think about what we can do in 2018. It's a sickness.

Little-known fact: there is a small month between January and February called Fnorduary. Either that, or I can't draw straight lines even with a ruler.