The Adventure Continues
Albert Einstein once said, that time flies when having fun. Well, I don't know what happened this past year, but time flew all right. I blinked trice and it was suddenly March; after a mere flutter of my eyes, Summer Camp was at my doorstep — and, what felt like moments later, I was preparing for WorldEmber. Even though the whole concept of time didn't exist in 2023, I'm proud of what I have accomplished this year.
stress excitement of playing on a concert piano and wanting to do the best you can was an ingredient that did not help with recovering from the burnout. Or did it? I would argue, it actually did, and here is why. I didn't get upset with myself for not writing; instead, I allowed myself to do and enjoy other things. I've planted and harvested purple potatoes last year and still had them for dinner yesterday!
At the very end of Summer Camp, these engines went into overdrive, boosting me with a sudden creative surge to work out an old idea which has pretty much consumed me since. It was during NaNoWriMo '21 that I came up with the idea of creating a computer world — a world where I could teach people of all ages and levels of knowledge about computers. It could cover hardware, from components to old iconic machines; or software, from specific applications to engineering concepts to protocols.That idea became reality this past year with Computer Adventures.
I still cannot believe how well it is received by you all, and the positive responses I have seen and heard on this project. It makes me so happy and motivated to continue learning so I can teach you more through Bit, Byte, and Bug. I have reached new heights of peak computer nerding I never thought I would. For example, to explain properly how a Processor works, I dove into CPU Architecture to uncover its secrets. What a ride that was, and there are many more to come.
While I may not have completed the majority of my writing goals and ambitions from last year, I did finish the one I consider most important: creating a roadmap for Hesli, my fantasy world. One doesn't just keep an overview of all the articles, maps, and resources that a world needs to get to the next stage of development in their head. So, early in the year, I finished the Hesli Development Hub, an article designed to do exactly that.
OI! Where did 2023 go?
Looking Back
This past year has been an interesting one, to say the least; I entered the year with very little inspiration and creative energy after WorldEmber '22, but finished it off with heaps of ideas and positivity. During the first half of the year, I bare wrote anything. I'm fairly certain I got hit by this dumptruck called writers burnout. Surely, practicing a brand new piano piece from zero to hero in the span of three months for a piano concert like some mad woman had anything to do with that. The piano concert was an experience in and of itself, and 11/10 I would do the same thing again; although I wouldn't mind extra practice time. Kidding aside, of course the2023 in Pictures
The prep for Summer Camp was around the corner and, together with the event itself, helped me immensely to get the creative engines going again; whether it was writing articles for the prompts, or coming up with an improved CSS theme for my fantasy world.. that I still haven't ported from my test world to the main one.
A picture tells a thousands words, this carousel represents my 2023. It is the silly and small things in life that makes it all worthwhile. Enjoy!
Oops. ^,^"
Would you like to see what subjects our writer wants to cover, resources she uses, or what plans she has for this year? Support her on Ko-Fi and get access to the Development Hub of Computer Adventures!
What's Next
It's 2024, a new year to take some steps towards growth or make a change in direction. I think this years aim will be expanding Computer Adventures further. There are a few foundation and a couple side articles that need writing to flesh out this world. How do I plan to do this?Monthly Core Article
My reasoningThe majority of articles I plan to write for Computer Adventures require me to teach myself first before I can start writing them. I roughly know how a Graphics Processor Unit works, but not yet detailed enough to confidently explain it to you, for example. Natuarlly, this takes a bit of time. I based it on the Processor article; it took me almost a full month of research and another full week of writing to get the article finished. By giving myself this time and goal, I hope to publish articles spread throughout the year for you to enjoy.
Enjoy My Projects
My reasoningI have a fair few projects that I want to start this year after procrastinating for a long time. The idea is to create articles to log my progress, so you can come along on the wild ride. We can laugh together, you can see me cry, read my frustrations, celebrate the progress and the wins, and maybe learn a thing or two. It is the other major reason why I created Computer Adventures to begin with; to share my experience in my projects and write what I learned from them. By giving myself this goal, I hope to hold myself a little accountable and give myself that extra push to keep going.
Be a Little Cheeky
Cheeky? How so?I truly love this project. Whenever I have a little free moment, I try to spent it in further developing this world. Even though this is a niche subject, I would love to create a little community around it with fellow nerds, curious minds, and friends. I even dare to dream: maybe I can gain a supporter here and there for this project. I've set up a Ko-Fi page and created Nibble's Nerdcave, hoping to bring that little dream to life. It would be amazing to show my appeciation to those helping me cover the cost of books by writing articles about subjects of their interest.
Do you want to learn how your computer works, but don't have a World Anvil account? Follow Computer Adventures on Ko-Fi to get notified of new articles, or become a member to unlock extra rewards!
Inspiration
Many ideas swirl through my head, but they usually don't appear out of thin air. There are so many inspiring articles that I look up to or that drive me to improve in one department or another be that my writing, or CSS. This past WorldEmber, too, has proven that the possibilities are endless as long as you set your mind to it. These are a handful of articles I have thoroughly enjoyed, that have sparked new ideas, or will strive me to improve my writing further.Meta and Mechanics
Arguably one of the most difficult parts to nail, because they set the tone and interaction for worlds, are meta-like articles and mechanics build into a world. Think about home pages, introduction articles, primers, and so on. This WorldEmber, I have found a few gems to point out that have truly inspired me.
Primers are notoriously difficult to pull off, but Line absolutely nailed it with this one. It's amazing how the second person view lead me through the article as if I was already part of the world. I think this article shows such a great balance between conveying the information necessary and pointing towards other articles for a deeper dive.
Another excellent primer by TJ for his new world JOY. It shows again that the second person view works so well for making a reader feel like part of the world. The idea of collecting stamps becomes an instant hook to be part of the world, because let's be honest.. who doesn't love a good collection?
The brilliance of this article lies in exploring other articles. Finding trinkets by reading through Cathedris is such a smart idea from Stormbril and has sparked a few ideas for me too to apply in Computer Adventures.
Article Formatting
Having the correct text is one thing, making it an enjoyable read through formatting is a whole other skillset. As I tend to write somewhat longer articles from time to time, totally not looking at you History of Processors, formatting becomes increasingly more important. These articles have inspired me to further up my formatting game.
Reading this article gave me the absolute shivers, these shards are scary. Hanhula has such a beautiful style of writing and manages to encapsulate her wordiness with amazing CSS and formatting skills. Just the right amount of imagery, quotes, and additional sidebar titbits to keep me engaged without distracting me.
The people who know me in person know that I love food, so, of course, I had to check out an entire cookbook written by Notahumanhan (or Spleen). This article was mouth-watering and the formatting looks just like a cookbook in real life which makes it such a nice read.
Rin has unleashed some genius formatting game in this article. From hiding info in small icon boxes to make it more interactive, to adding extra info in the card-suite icons on the left; it really allows the reader to explore the article and get extra information through these interactive elements.
Writing
The one prominent way to bring ideas to life on this platform is through writing. So, developing this skill further is probably a lifelong ambition of mine. There are so many people I look up to, some already mentioned above, and some that I want to mention here. Their ideas and/or writing styles are unique, inspiring me to develop my writing style.
Mochi is a huge inspiration to me. They can churn out article after article at lightning speed and yet the quality never wavers; if anything, their writing has improved so much in these past years. I love to see them growing in their writing as I aspire to do the same.
Barron has truly outdone himself with this article. It is so detailed and engaging, he kept my attention from the first to the very end! I love the bits of prose to give an insight in the lives of the members of these battalions and how it provides a different perspective because it's written through their eyes.
Eddie writes some truly awesome work. I love how he managed to get the right level of detail fitted into an article; it's never too much, but also never too little. How he managed to keep me engaged and reading, I don't know — I cannot put a finger on that yet, but I will discover it so I can use it to my advantage.
The last one I want to highlight is this article, specifically so you can read all the species Theiket has written over the past two years. I just love his writing style. It is very short but the way he describes the creatures is so different from what I've seen so far. I mean, it doesn't come as a surprise that I may or may not have cause him to write the entire bestiary.. hehe.
Don't worry, I don't leave Theiket out in the cold, I support him throughout the year — I would be a bad friend and instigator if I didn't. That said, he did conveniently leave out a link to the sign-up form for the bestiary, which is still open! So, if you like species and want to give Theiket some extra stress support, you can sign up here!
Give Me More to Read!
So, you want to indulge yourself in some more reading? Here is a big list of more excellent articles for you to read and enjoy!
So looking forward to seeing this world develop over the coming year. A lot of stuff goes a bit over my head but I enjoy reading it anyway. :D Great choices for your inspirations, too <3
If anything is ever unclear, just let me know and I'll try to explain it as best I can! One of the main reason I created this world is so everyone can understand it, after all. <3