Triangle IGDA

I went to the Triangle IGDA meetup last week, while Stick was away in Charlotte. It was a bit nerve-wracking going in, but I hadn’t even gotten my name tag before I started talking to a newly-local indie game dev, and inside I ran into Lex, some of the Merscom guys, and my internet friend, Amanda d’Adesky. (Thanks again for letting me know about the event!) I won’t say I was entirely comfortable striking up conversations with strangers, but I met enough really interesting people to make my awkwardness completely worthwhile.

I often feel like a fraud introducing myself as a writer. I first thought that once I wrote something for which I was paid real money, then I’d be a real writer, but I still felt like a fraud. Then I thought I’d feel like a legitimate writer when I first saw my byline on glossy paper, or when I had recurring gigs, or when I made a certain amount of money writing (that amorphous number is always just slightly above what I’m making). I feel like I need a footnote explaining that I also have another job.

Oh, but indie game developers understand small-time journalism. Maybe it’s because when I’m asked where they could have seen my work, I can tell them. WomenGamers. Indie Game Mag. I don’t have to try to explain that I’m not quite the featured author yet, and I haven’t been published in anything mainstream. Or maybe it’s that they’re also in a creative field, where a completed game, like a completed article, is the goal. Or maybe this is all me, and I just need to practice telling strangers that I’m a writer.