I am rapidly closing in on the finish line for my first full non-fiction book (unless you count uncredited work in various video game-related projects), The Video Game Writer’s Guide To Surviving An Industry That Hates You. It’s a book that I jokingly tell people that I have been writing for 25 years, but there’s a kernel of truth to that.

What the book is, is a guide to navigating the ins and outs and day to day of being a working video game writer. Very little of it is about how to write. Most of it is about how to survive as a writer, navigating team dynamics, deliverables, feedback loops, career building, and more. In other words, it’s about the stuff they don’t and largely can’t teach you in school.

I’ve been doing this a long time, and at times it feels like I’ve hit every pothole on the professional road. Now, though, I am at a place in my career where I can dispense some knowledge in good conscience with the hopes of hoping other people out. I don’t claim to know everything, and I know my circumstances have been weird even by the standards of the video game industry. But I have been there for some big games and some big moments and some big disasters, and I have some stories to tell that I think will simultaneously amuse and instruct.

In any case, I have completed the first draft of the manuscript and sent it to readers for feedback. This, I am already in the process of incorporating. With luck, what will emerge will be equal parts entertaining and educational, clear-eyed and encouraging.

We shall see…