You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) but you can procrastinate there - a lot

I was just sitting here playing a game on Facebook in a time I'd specifically arranged to do some writing, and while the guilt gnawed me further into inaction so I continued to play and feel more guilty, so worse, so less likely to do something constructive I remembered one of the things I wanted to write about. That is Felicia Day's book You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost).

Felicia Day is an actress known for her roles in Buffy, Supernatural and others. I saw her in Buffy, but it was when I was belatedly introduced to Doctor Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog that I first really noticed her and learnt her name. Not long after that I was, also belatedly, introduced to The Guild, which is a web series (made before such things were things) that Felicia wrote and starred in. It's hilarious and well worth watching if you haven't.

From there I naturally discovered Felicia's online media company Geek and Sundry - this time just as it was launching, huzzah I was sort of current - and became a complete Felicia fan. Given I have spent several hours of my life watching her and her brother play retro video games I think that's fair to say - but it's very entertaining dammit! Don't knock it till you've watched at least one episode of Co-Optitude.

So, when she started promoting her book I was intrigued and pre-ordered it. Even so, it was likely to have sat on my to-read shelf for a long time since that's what I do, but for having just read Amanda Palmer's book and for a nudge from my wife, who'd also nudged me to read Amanda's book. Hmm, my wife has red hair, Amanda has red hair and Felicia has red hair and they have all recently (and ongoingly) inspired me. I'm noticing a trend.

Moving on. To be honest, initially I was slightly underwhelmed with the book. I was enjoying it, Felicia has a fun writing style with wit and a devilish self-deprecation I can truly relate to. But it wasn't until partway into it that I started to sense this was another important book for me to read at the moment.

It was the story of how she got The Guild from the worm of an idea in her head to an internet phenomenon that really inspired me. Mostly because it was a story of someone with a lot of doubt and confusion and similar mental habits/issues that I have. No mistake, we're very different with totally different backgrounds, but anxiety and depression are constants and the way Felicia describes her dealings with them rings very close to home for me.

And, just as I was a short while ago, Felicia played a lot of games - more than me, but at least not Facebook games, see I procrastinate around playing a decent game to procrastinate, it's another circle of not doing. She tells of how she kept putting off writing The Guild, and just generally not doing it for months and months. Then, with some encouragement and a large portion of guilt/why the hell am I doing not doing this-ness, she put a ridiculous constraint on how long she had to achieve her goal and she worked her butt off to achieve it. And so, The Guild was born.

Then no-one would produce it. So she did it herself, with friends of course not discounting them. But, the point is, she worked hard and she kept going and going until her dreams came to fruition and her story was told. She did what she loved because she got in there and did it.

She also learnt valuable lessons about not working too hard or being too much of a perfectionist, and I'll keep those in mind. For now, it's a matter of getting down and doing the things I love. This blog is a step in the right direction. Finishing some more of my writing goals will be more. I just have to keep working.

And of course - Keep dreaming too.