This is where I brag about things that nobody but me cares about!

On my personal cards I had made for cons I came up with a title for myself – “Geek, Gamer, and Wordsmith at Large” – the final being the thing that I think really sets me apart. I will never be a fiction writer, especially because dialogue in different voices escapes me. But the occasional pun, clever turn of phrase, catchy title, that is the wordplay I adore more than anything.

One example: When three friends were moving into a house together and it was declared that all three of them were Libras, especially given that the home owner was known as “LicensedToHench” I asked off the cuff if the place was to be called the “Libra Lair”? To this day that’s still the moniker the house is known by, even though one of the three was actually not a Libra and all but the home owner have moved out.

Recently I was writing a character background for a noble character that is something of a documentarian or historian for her kingdom, a writer that uses the sharp side of her quill to lance other nobles and went too far, as a result being assigned to the game’s mercenary company as punishment. I may never play this character, this is a back up in case any of my others retire or expire, but I became quite enamored of my own wit;

“Who are the ‘Iron Dragon’ anyway?”

Her youngest brother, Godwin, leaned around a doorway, “Don’t you read anymore? Viadro’s trashy stories are about them! You’re assigned to the Iron Dragon? Why?”

“I may have written off more than I can chew.”

“Always knew you would one day, sis. Good work. Is the pen really mightier than the sword?” His grin was a mile wide.

“Not today,” Wren sighed.

****

And now, as the person trying to write a backstory clever enough to support that phrase, I have written off more than I can chew, as well!

I’m not an excellent writer when it comes to a body of work, but the quick catch phrase is my territory, a place where I can gleefully play. I’m not sure this is a marketable skill, especially as it can be difficult to do on command, but it is something that will always bring me great joy.

I even got to use it at work recently, as we had a food-themed April Fool’s event. There are a million ways to sneak food puns and references into every day conversations with our players and agents, and I used a lot of them in giving them guidance – though I did accidentally inspire them with my “no-go zone” example of talking about a suspended account as “ban-ana’d due to spicy language”. Turns out that was the one they all wanted to use, as inappropriate as it would be. Oops!

Thank you for allowing my ego this short trip into the spotlight!