So, what did we miss?
Three-ish weeks ago Rascal entered a hiatus to address several issues, both personal and professional. For one, the team hadn’t enjoyed a break since we launched the site earlier this year. Additionally, Lin was preparing a move to Los Angeles thanks to a frankly ridiculous job offer, and I got married and fecked off to Florida for a vacation/impromptu honeymoon. Somewhere in there, we all hope Rowan rested and did not think about blogs at all. When we departed, summer raged at its sweltering peak; now, we are sprinting towards the first day of fall and Hoa Hoa Hoa weather.
It would be a fib to say I didn’t work, or think about work, but I did intentionally distance myself from tabletop news and discourse by avoiding Twitter and my email inbox with equal vigilance. The result is not unlike returning to school from summer break, the disjointed feeling as I reconnect with the wider hobby casting my adventures under an apathetic light. Sure, I swam with manatees and ate a metric ton of fried green tomatoes, but what about all the drama and news and updates and whispers? What about the industry churn and social media gossip? What about all those games I never talked about?
Owning an independent website that is performing somewhere between fine and pretty good (more on that later) has meant accepting plenty of hard truths, and one of those is understanding the practical limits of what three people can produce without courting burnout. Six months in, as of August, Rascal found itself facing that particular Rubicon and reflected on what we had been able to accomplish and where we could admit our shortcomings. And that was before we bid farewell (for now) to Lin. Running a business while writing blogs is hard for three people. What the hell can two hope to accomplish?
