The Passion of Game Planning

One of my resolutions this year involves my introduction to the Passion Planner. I am usually the kind of person who fails at planners. I do okay with a combination of Google Calendar and to-do lists, but to actually write things down and keep at it diligently? None of the usual planner formats inspired me, until I found Passion Planner. It’s doing wonders for keeping me focused on my goals and to-do lists for work, my kids, my WWAC articles, etc. But, in the planning and bullet journaling research I have been doing since the end of last year, I’ve realized that there’s simply no reason not to plan for me. Just me and the things I love doing. As a result, all of my passions, from reading to gaming, are now recorded for posterity. Because what’s a planner if it can’t include important tasks like “kill a dragon” or “romance Suvi”?

The thing about gaming is that I just don’t have the time to do it like I used to. All day binge sessions are extremely rare and they usually come with guilt trips from my children and at the expense of some grown up responsibility that I’ll have to pile on to the next day. So I need to keep track of my gaming plans, and the subsequent fall out. I am thankful that game companies give me release dates so that I can plan ahead, but why do they always have to fall on a Tuesday?

I also have to consider the commitments of my squad when I’m planning my gaming. We all have jobs. Three of us have kids. We live in different time zones. There’s no such thing as dropping everything to get in all our wins for the Heroes of the Storm “Nexus Challenge,” or to catch up on the latest episode of Batman’s Parents Were Trash by Telltale Games (unofficial title). When we make a plan to game, it goes into our calendars, invitations are sent.

My planner has turned into more than just a plotting of my day-to-day. When the year ends, I plan to place it on my shelf as an archive of Me 2017. This is what my life looked like this year, complete with memories and special moments. Gaming plays an important part in those special memories, which is why I have at least two pages dedicated to screenshots of games I’ve invested significant time and maybe even some tears into. From crowdplaying Telltale’s Batman with my friend, hopping into the bath with Geralt of Rivia, Overwatch plays of the game, keeping Clementine safe from the zombie hoards, to exploring the Andromeda galaxy — it will all be there for me to gaze upon fondly.

Wendy Browne

Mother, geek, executive assistant sith, gamer, writer, lazy succubus, blogger, bibliophile. Not necessarily in that order. Publisher at WomenWriteAboutComics.com