Sʜᴀᴅᴏᴡ Lᴏʀᴅ
Ask Cat Anything: Writing, Art, Animals, and Assorted Shenanigans
Hello!
I thought it might be fun to start a general AMA where people can get to know me beyond whichever character is currently making questionable decisions across the board.
You can ask about my writing, characters, creative projects, experiences outside Chaos, or almost anything else that catches your curiosity. This can also be a place for constructive feedback, plotting ideas, and meeting people I haven't had the opportunity to write with yet.
A little about me…
I have been roleplaying for more than twenty years, across different formats, settings, and communities. At this point, collaborative storytelling has become one of the longest-running fixtures in my life. I love D&D, character creation, and watching a small idea gradually grow into an entire shared world.
I have participated in several other roleplay and gaming communities over the years, including creating 3D models for people to use within them. It gave me another way to take imagined characters, objects, and settings and turn them into something people could actually see and use.
I have also been involved in creative work for most of my life. In high school, I attended an art magnet program and participated in the school's art honor society. I also devoted a considerable amount of time to community service during those years.
In college, I worked as an editor for a creative-arts publication. I helped review and edit submissions, design pages, and assemble the finished publication. I contributed some of my own writing and artwork as well, with several of my art pieces going on to win contests.
My involvement in the arts continued beyond school. I have served as a judge for community art exhibitions at county fairs and helped curate pieces for gallery displays. Some of my own artwork has been auctioned to raise money for charitable causes, giving those pieces a purpose beyond the walls where they were created.
I'm also a published writer. For a time, I published short stories online; lately, I have been devoting more of my attention to writing a book of my own. It remains a work in progress, slowly accumulating chapters, revisions, and the occasional scene that refuses to behave.
I'm also creating a cookbook, because apparently one unfinished book was not enough company for me.
Outside of writing and art, I'm a certified martial arts instructor. I taught for around fifteen years before retiring from instruction. That experience strongly influences the way I approach movement and combat in my writing, but it reaches much further than fight scenes. It has shaped how I write discipline, mentorship, responsibility, personal growth, and the complicated bonds that develop between teachers and students.
Animals have also been a major part of my life since I was young. My mother worked as an animal trainer for several different companies and performed educational shows. Through her work, I had the privilege of experiencing zoos from a behind-the-scenes perspective and becoming familiar with a wide variety of exotic animals. I learned early that every creature has its own behaviors, boundaries, and needs.
Today, I serve as the Vice President of an animal-education company that travels to schools and introduces children to different critters through live educational programs. It gives students the opportunity to meet animals they might otherwise encounter only in books or pictures while learning how those animals live and how to treat them responsibly.
I also run a small rescue cattery where people bring cats who need help. I make sure they receive their medications, arrange for them to be spayed or neutered, and care for them while trying to find safe, permanent homes whenever possible.
I assist with the local cat network and several other animal-welfare groups as well, including a dog sanctuary and rescue. There always seems to be another animal needing food, treatment, transportation, or somewhere safe to sleep… so I help wherever I can.
On a slightly less responsible note, I drive an old Jeep Wrangler that I have been slowly fixing up. It is an ongoing project, tended to whenever I have the time and something new decides it needs repairing.
For work, I currently serve armed night shifts in a security-related field. I keep the exact details private, but the schedule explains why I sometimes appear online while sensible people are asleep.
On Chaos, I tend to gravitate toward character-driven stories with meaningful consequences. I enjoy complicated relationships, mentorship, rivalry, found family, and long-running plots that allow characters to change gradually through their experiences.
Braze is currently my most active character: a small, sharp-tempered Jedi Knight with a caretaker's heart, an unfortunate attraction to trouble, and more responsibilities than anyone his size should reasonably be carrying. I have several other characters scattered around as well, each waiting patiently—or perhaps impatiently—for another opportunity to complicate matters.
So… ask me anything!
You can ask about:
• My characters, stories, artwork, or current creative projects.
• Martial arts and how that experience influences my writing.
• My work with animals, rescue groups, or educational programs.
• Art programs, publishing, galleries, and 3D modeling.
• D&D, roleplay, and more than twenty years of collaborative storytelling.
• My book, cookbook, or whatever project I have adopted this week.
• The old Jeep Wrangler and its latest mechanical complaint.
• Possible threads, rivalries, friendships, mentorships, or other character dynamics.
• Why Braze keeps doing whatever Braze is presently doing.
Honest questions and good-faith feedback are welcome. If there is something you have ever wondered about me, my creative background, or the small army of fictional people occupying my thoughts, this is the place to ask.
Hello!
I thought it might be fun to start a general AMA where people can get to know me beyond whichever character is currently making questionable decisions across the board.
You can ask about my writing, characters, creative projects, experiences outside Chaos, or almost anything else that catches your curiosity. This can also be a place for constructive feedback, plotting ideas, and meeting people I haven't had the opportunity to write with yet.
A little about me…
I have been roleplaying for more than twenty years, across different formats, settings, and communities. At this point, collaborative storytelling has become one of the longest-running fixtures in my life. I love D&D, character creation, and watching a small idea gradually grow into an entire shared world.
I have participated in several other roleplay and gaming communities over the years, including creating 3D models for people to use within them. It gave me another way to take imagined characters, objects, and settings and turn them into something people could actually see and use.
I have also been involved in creative work for most of my life. In high school, I attended an art magnet program and participated in the school's art honor society. I also devoted a considerable amount of time to community service during those years.
In college, I worked as an editor for a creative-arts publication. I helped review and edit submissions, design pages, and assemble the finished publication. I contributed some of my own writing and artwork as well, with several of my art pieces going on to win contests.
My involvement in the arts continued beyond school. I have served as a judge for community art exhibitions at county fairs and helped curate pieces for gallery displays. Some of my own artwork has been auctioned to raise money for charitable causes, giving those pieces a purpose beyond the walls where they were created.
I'm also a published writer. For a time, I published short stories online; lately, I have been devoting more of my attention to writing a book of my own. It remains a work in progress, slowly accumulating chapters, revisions, and the occasional scene that refuses to behave.
I'm also creating a cookbook, because apparently one unfinished book was not enough company for me.
Outside of writing and art, I'm a certified martial arts instructor. I taught for around fifteen years before retiring from instruction. That experience strongly influences the way I approach movement and combat in my writing, but it reaches much further than fight scenes. It has shaped how I write discipline, mentorship, responsibility, personal growth, and the complicated bonds that develop between teachers and students.
Animals have also been a major part of my life since I was young. My mother worked as an animal trainer for several different companies and performed educational shows. Through her work, I had the privilege of experiencing zoos from a behind-the-scenes perspective and becoming familiar with a wide variety of exotic animals. I learned early that every creature has its own behaviors, boundaries, and needs.
Today, I serve as the Vice President of an animal-education company that travels to schools and introduces children to different critters through live educational programs. It gives students the opportunity to meet animals they might otherwise encounter only in books or pictures while learning how those animals live and how to treat them responsibly.
I also run a small rescue cattery where people bring cats who need help. I make sure they receive their medications, arrange for them to be spayed or neutered, and care for them while trying to find safe, permanent homes whenever possible.
I assist with the local cat network and several other animal-welfare groups as well, including a dog sanctuary and rescue. There always seems to be another animal needing food, treatment, transportation, or somewhere safe to sleep… so I help wherever I can.
On a slightly less responsible note, I drive an old Jeep Wrangler that I have been slowly fixing up. It is an ongoing project, tended to whenever I have the time and something new decides it needs repairing.
For work, I currently serve armed night shifts in a security-related field. I keep the exact details private, but the schedule explains why I sometimes appear online while sensible people are asleep.
On Chaos, I tend to gravitate toward character-driven stories with meaningful consequences. I enjoy complicated relationships, mentorship, rivalry, found family, and long-running plots that allow characters to change gradually through their experiences.
Braze is currently my most active character: a small, sharp-tempered Jedi Knight with a caretaker's heart, an unfortunate attraction to trouble, and more responsibilities than anyone his size should reasonably be carrying. I have several other characters scattered around as well, each waiting patiently—or perhaps impatiently—for another opportunity to complicate matters.
So… ask me anything!
You can ask about:
• My characters, stories, artwork, or current creative projects.
• Martial arts and how that experience influences my writing.
• My work with animals, rescue groups, or educational programs.
• Art programs, publishing, galleries, and 3D modeling.
• D&D, roleplay, and more than twenty years of collaborative storytelling.
• My book, cookbook, or whatever project I have adopted this week.
• The old Jeep Wrangler and its latest mechanical complaint.
• Possible threads, rivalries, friendships, mentorships, or other character dynamics.
• Why Braze keeps doing whatever Braze is presently doing.
Honest questions and good-faith feedback are welcome. If there is something you have ever wondered about me, my creative background, or the small army of fictional people occupying my thoughts, this is the place to ask.
