Author Archives: ayvalentine
Copper and Ice
I met the very cool Allegra Selzer at Gen Con this year. During a Twitter conversation about bullying, she agreed to write about her own experiences. You can follow her on Twitter @Penny_Dreadful or hear her as a co-host on … Continue reading
Posted in Parenthood, Uncategorized
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A Year In
Still recovering from an amazing and utterly exhausting GenCon, I realized that I’ve hit a milestone—I’ve been a full time freelance RPG editor for a year now. There have been struggles, such as adapting our budget to the sporadic paychecks … Continue reading
Posted in Editing, Games
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Conversing About Conversational Tone
It occurred to me the other day how often I’ve given the advice to “go for a conversational tone.” I’ve said it to students, to writers, and to fellow editors. I say it like everyone should know what I mean … Continue reading
Posted in Editing, Games
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Resurviving Middle School
My little girl started middle school two weeks ago. Go ahead—feel sorry for her, for Clark and me, and for anyone affected by the scourge that is middle school. Except…she loves it. And she’s annoyed by all the books and … Continue reading
Posted in Parenthood
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Glee-ful Sex Ed
In our school district, 5th grade is the year for the puberty and sex talk. Wow, I do not envy those teachers—they’re walking this ridiculous tightrope that requires that they give 50 different kids of wildly varying religious backgrounds all … Continue reading
Posted in Parenthood
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Kids – the Future of Gaming
As we start taking our kids to gaming conventions, I’m keeping notes on the practical things that we’re learning (see my previous posts). However, I realized a much more important and somewhat more philosophical thing this year: Engaging kids is … Continue reading
Posted in Conventions, Games, Kids and Gaming, Parenthood
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Kids, Moms, and Cons – the Sequel
We took the geeklings and my mom to Origins Game Fair with us again this year. We brought them briefly last year (their first con ever!) and overall had a good time. This year we had to take them out … Continue reading
Posted in Conventions, Games, Kids and Gaming, Parenthood
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Ray Bradbury on Writing
Ray Bradbury wrote one of my favorite quotes ever–I had it framed and it was in my classroom when I taught 7th & 8th grade and in my office for the decade I taught freshman comp at Penn State. It … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Editing
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Editing Your Friends
For better or worse, in the tabletop roleplaying game industry, a lot of the people I work with are also my friends. Sometimes I become friends while working with them, and sometimes I end up working with people I’m already … Continue reading
Posted in Editing
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Death in the House of Dreams
A guest post by Jessica Banks. This is cross posted on Reads 4 Tweens, so if you follow both sites, it will look familiar. I came to the Anne of Green Gables series relatively late, the summer between my freshman … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Parenthood
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