Category Archives: calling on the legions

Losing Wagers, Doubling Donations, and Playing a Beautiful Game…

So for today’s blog to make sense, you might want to go back and read the one I wrote a couple days ago.

It’s was my favorite blog I’ve written in a while, with some quite nice faerie-tale flavor in parts. So even if you don’t care much about the charity stuff I’m doing, there’s something for you to enjoy there.

For those of you who can’t be bothered, here’s the gist: A couple days ago, I wagered the community that they couldn’t raise $333,333 on my team page before I beat the Ender Dragon in Minecraft.

And… well… y’all did it. Handily.

More than that, once I posted the blog and shared it, y’all stormed so hard I didn’t even have time to hit send on a tweet I’d typed up using this graphic:

The Details of The Wager

(Made by the fabulous E’lir Lisa.)

Truth is, this is exactly what I was hoping for. That people would hear the news, get excited, then come in and make it a race. Then we’d play together, have some fun, raise scads of money to feed hungry kids, and make the world a better place.

But… it kinda worked *better* than we’d anticipated. Y’all came in and just trampled things to the extent that we burned through *all* our stretch goals within hours, leaving us without more cool stuff we could immediately offer. Let alone graphics to show them off.

Pat's Streaming Schedule for 12/14

(Graphics like this.)

And so while it was cool, it was also a bit of a shame. We were left with nothing else to offer up despite the fact that the fundraiser is still going on and all donations are still being matched.

First off, let’s be clear. Y’all won the wager. So:

  1. I’ll be reading the prologue of Doors of Stone and doing a Q&A on my Twitch Channel.
  2. I’ll be showing off some of the finished pages of the The Boy That Loved The Moon.
  3. I’ll be releasing a chapter of Doors of Stone into the wild. (When? I’ talk about that below.)

But it seems a shame to stop there. For one thing, I still haven’t beaten the Ender Dragon.

And also, we still needed more stretch goal prizes for the team page.

And also also, I really liked those graphics that E’lir Lisa came up with, and we barely got to use them…

So here’s what we’re doing:

(Warning, this graphic on the blog won’t be updated as frequently as over on Twitch Team Page.)

You see the stretch goals on the left? Those are going into the prize draw as soon as folks hit the donation amount.

That said, if y’all manage to hit those goals *before* I beat the Ender Dragon, I’ll donate TWO of each prize.

“But wait!” I hear you cry. “What’s that thing way down at the bottom there?

Here’s the thing, I’ve met a lot of cool folks over the years. Voice actors, comedians, musicians, audio narrators, performers, actors, puppeteers….

I think that sounds like a fun way of releasing the early peek of the book. I’m hoping some of my friends will like the idea too.

So I’m going to cast my net among my friends and see who might like to come help me read the chapter of Doors of Stone for y’all. Then, if we hit $666,666, I’ll  assemble the Geek Glitterati equivalent of the Avengers and we’ll record it for you. It might take a bit to assemble, as cool people tend to be busy, and there’s no way I’m going to ask them to do it during the fundraiser. But I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to get it done early next year. February at the latest.

Okay. We ready? Here we go.

My team page is already over $420,000.

All donations are currently being matched.

The Fundraiser runs until midnight on the 14th.

Race you to the end…

pat

Edit: 1:31 pm – In the last 12 hours, through the dark hours of night when I was mostly asleep, the team page has raised another $60,000 unlocking double sets HeroQuest and the cool, Wooden-box version of Risk from Avalon Hill. AS WELL AS two copies of the limited edition cover of of Vault of Magic from Kobold Press that I wrote a part of, personalized by me, with some of the rare D&D cards.

Y’all are amazing…

Also posted in Achievement Unlocked!, Acts of Whimsy, Beautiful Games, Book Three, contests, cool things, Worldbuilders 2021 | By Pat50 Responses

Concerning Minecraft, Faerie Bargains, and an Early Peek into The Doors of Stone.

Okay. There’s a story I’ve been wanting to share here for a couple days, but with all the chaos of the fundraiser, I haven’t been able to manage it.

Sorry it’s taken so long, as it’s related to Book Three, and I know that’s something everyone here is interested in to some degree or other.

So here we go:

Once years and miles away, there was a man who loved books, and games , and stories. He did not consider himself wise, but was still wise enough to know he was happiest when he was being a bit of a fool. He was an odd sort, beset by melancholy, and often felt as if he didn’t fit into the world. He was uncommonly lucky, and uncomfortably honest, and he always kept his word.

All of this taken together led some folk to wonder if his mother had been visited by the sort of odd folk who always seem to be showing up in the dark hours just as children are being born. The sort of people that leave no footprints, and speak oddly, so it’s hard to tell if they’re good oracles, bad poets, or merely self-important busybodies who lack proper jobs and have too much time on their hands.

Other people suspected it had nothing to do with events surrounding his birth. Instead they thought perhaps he had a demon riding in his shadow, or a single drop of faerie blood, or that one of his long-forgotten ancestors had lay down among the Gorse…

His name was Patrick Rothfuss. Those who knew him, knew he enjoyed a good wager. But those who knew him better knew the truth, and that was that he *loved* a wager, especially if it was reckless and unwise….

*     *     *

About a week ago, we fired up our yearly Worldbuilders fundraiser.

It’s going pretty well so far, by the way. As I write this, we’re just on the cusp on unlocking a new chunk of Matching Money….

As you can see from this year’s swank thermometer, it’s not just direct donations that will help us hit that goal. We’re also factoring in bids on our vast array of auction items and all the holiday shopping y’all are doing over in the Worldbuilders Market.

And as many of you know, I’ve been doing a lot of streaming over the last week. Talking about the charity. Playing games and doing various promotional events.

None of that is particularly new, of course. I’ve streamed a lot to promote the charity over the last 5 years.

What *is* different is that this year, I decided to kick off the fundraiser with a Marathon Minecraft Stream (TM) where I vowed to keep playing until I beat the Ender Dragon or my actual human real-world body failed me.

(Fig 1. promotional graphic.)

It was just some goofy fun. I enjoy Minecraft, but I’m not great at it. I’ve never beaten the Ender Dragon, or even made it to the end. I’ve never even found to the Stronghold or made an eye of Ender, now that I’m thinking of it.

And I knew it beating the game would take longer than normal because I’d be pausing to give away prizes and talk about charity. And I hadn’t played Minecraft much in the last six months, so I was pretty rusty….

Even so, I was pretty sure I could do it. I mean, I’ve seen people beat the whole game on youtube in under twenty minutes.

I know I’m no speedrunner, it might take me 8-9 hours. But that’s nothing. I’ve streamed 14 hours straight in previous fundraisers. Plus, I knew that me struggling and sometimes failing would be just as fun for people to watch as me succeeding, if not more so….

Fast forward. Charity is going well. Money coming in. People watching the stream. My Minecraft run was…  unimpressive. I was playing the long game, and making methodical progress. Hadn’t died. But I had no diamonds. No enchanted gear. No real lucky breaks. My base was a haphazard hole in the ground. The opposite of a hobbit hole. My farms were like something Dante would have written about if he wanted to scare cows into being better Christians.

Fast forward. More money. More stream. My boys came in to cheer me on. They brought me water and cuteness and comic relief. Perfect pit crew.

Fast Forward: I read the boys their bedtime story live on the stream (a chapter from Something Wicked This Way Comes). Then I went to tuck them into bed and came back to do charity and search for diamonds. I was fully prepared to play straight through the night until I had to drive them to school in the morning, then come back and keep soldiering on until I finally won or collapsed.

Then came the first wager. In a fit of hubris, I bet the chat that I could beat the Ender Dragon before they raised $100,000 on my team page. I dared them. I taunted and cajoled….

…I told them if they won, I’d read them the prologue of Book Three.

And thus the deal was made.

(Would you buy a used car from this man?)

But life is what happens while you were making other plans. My boys had been vaccinated that day, and over the next 4-5 hours, when I went in to check on them, they were increasingly sweaty and restless. So after 12 hours I bowed out of the stream with the blessing of the chat so I could go be a good dad. Because when you wake up sweaty and sick in the middle of the night, it’s nice to have your dad right there ready to take care of you…

And then, packing lunches, and school, and organizing and promoting the fundraiser, and scheduling events and being a dad…

… and I honestly I forgot about the wager.

But forgetting doesn’t make a wager go away. And, to make a long story short, after picking up my playthrough on my stream two days later, I lost.

So I brought to bear the fullness of my power. I summoned up the fullness of my will and wit, my terrible persuasion. All this and more I focused on the folk who were tuned in to the stream. And thus I spoke:

Yes they’d won wager. I would read them the prologue. Absolutely. They had it. Fairly fought and fairly won.

But a prologue. What is that, really? Just a taste. A tease. A paltry page. It’s barely a bite. A meager morsel for those whose hearts are hungry for a story.

Wouldn’t they like a chance to win… more? To wager what they’d won in hope of greater gain? Wouldn’t they like the chance for More? More secrets? More story?

Thus I offered them a second wager.

Their stakes: the prologue they had fairly won.

My stakes: Three things. Three secrets from Temerant:

  • I’ll read the prologue of The Doors of Stone live on stream.
  • I’ll provide a full, self-contained, spoiler-free chapter of Doors of Stone.
  • I’ll share some early, finished pages of my the comic I’ve been working on for years with Nate: the illustrated version of the Boy That Loved the Moon.

This is what I offered the chat of the livestream. A chance not just to win, but to win so much more….

But only if they raised more money for charity. Only if they got the donations on my team page all the way from $100,000 to $333,0000.

BEFORE I beat the Ender Dragon.

And then we took a vote:

I’ll embiggen the relevant portion myself so you can see…

(As you can see, the folks who follow my stream enjoy a wager too)

And so the deal was struck.

And now, even if you weren’t there, you know the story.

And t’know what? As a gesture of good faith, I’ll give you the first page of the comic right here and now, out of the goodness of my heart…

(Never let it be said I do not bargain in good faith.)

So. If my team page hits $333,333 before I beat the Ender Dragon. You win three things.

If I beat the Ender Dragon first, you lose.

That’s the Wager.

I’ve taken a break off from my playthough to manage the fundraiser and run other events. Also, I promised I wouldn’t continue my run until I’d made the announcement here on my blog to let y’all know the whole story. To let you know what was happening. What the stakes were. And as you all know, I keep my promises.

But I’ve done it now. Shared the news. Told told story.

As soon as I post this, I’m jumping back onto my livestream, and will be heading for the Ender dragon with marked determination. Because I *do* love a wager. But I also always play to win.

So. The clock is ticking.

Here’s the link to my Team Page.

Come at me.

pat

Also posted in Beautiful Games, Book Three, cool news, graphic novels, hubris, My brilliant ideas, my dumbness, My Iconoclastic Tendencies, Nathan Taylor, side projects, Stories about stories., upcoming publications, video games, Warning: Mild Literary Faffery, Worldbuilders 2021 | By Pat39 Responses

Today’s festivities….

Whelp. It’s the 5th day of the fundraiser, and I tell you, since Tuesday a *lot* of things have happened.

First and Foremost, the fundraiser currently stands at over $350,000. Which is a pretty amazing launch.

Secondly, I made a Wager with My Community while livestreaming. It relates to book 3. But I’ll have to write that story up on the blog later tonight….

Because we’ve got *several* events happening today that I’ve got to announce.

First, for those of you who are into D&D… this is happening:

I’m sure a lot of you remember the previous two games B. Dave ran last year. This is the third one in that series.

It will be broadcast live over on my Twitch page starting at 2:00 central today.

I’m super excited about it. Chuffed even.

But *before* that happens. In bare minutes….

…we’re finally launching something for Worldbuilders that’s been a year in the making.

Specifically? The Worldbuilders Minecraft server for people who donated on Oot’s Cow Jar last year.

I tell you, it’s been a JOURNEY. A saga filled with drama and tragedy. We have struggled and sweated and cursed the name of many gods in our despair…

But that is also a story for another day. Suffice to say that it’s been a long road, and that this morning we’re finally making good on our promise to make a server for all the cool kids of charity to come, hang out, and build a better world together.

If you donated last year, you should have gotten an e-mail with a google form to get your username so we can give you access. If you haven’t seen that yet, maybe check your spam filter?

If you didn’t donate last year but would like to get access to the server as well, you just have to donate over on THIS year’s cow jar page.

You won’t get in right away. We’re going to give last year’s donors a couple days to themselves in there, as they’ve been waiting a while. But we’ll get you access in just a couple days.

I’m going to be streaming the launch in just a brief handful of minutes over on twitch.

Hope to see some of you there.

pat

Also posted in Acts of Whimsy, Because I Love, Cutie Snoo | By Pat9 Responses

Magic Words….

It probably won’t surprise y’all to know that I think about magic kind of a lot.

There’s a lot of reasons for this, obviously. First, it’s kinda my job. Worldbuilding.

But it’s also kinda my hobby: I’m a geek for fantasy.

It’s also a pleasantly large part of being a dad. I read my boys books, and we play games, and we talk about those things and all their history and context. (See above: geek.) Quite aside from that, sometimes they straight up just ask me out of the blue about myth or superstition, or faeries.

Just the other day, I saw some of this bear fruit when a friend asked my boys, in a very casual way, what she should do about her dice. They’d been rolling badly, and she wanted to fix them.

(These aren’t specifically her dice. They’re just cool dice.)

They jumped in with both feet. Was she looking to dispel bad luck? Or give a blessing? They talked about holy salt and the Eye of Horace…

I was so proud.

Anyway. To the point. I was thinking about magic the other day. Like I do. For… reasons. Reasons I won’t go into lest this blog become super long.

But I was wondering about how you would describe magic effects in words that were as simple as possible. Like, for example, what if you were going to try to describe magic spells or effect in the same way Randal Monroe did in his book Thing Explainer.

So, for example, for Fireball an description might be: “Flame Explode” Or maybe “Hot Explode.”

Or, now that I’m thinking about it, “Hot Explode THERE.” (As opposed to a spell that just blew up in your face, which is somewhat less desirable….)

As another example, for the dice above it could be: “Make Good Luck.” Or “Add Fortune.”

But see, “Fortune” is a really specific term. A broader way of saying it might be “Change This. Add More Good”

Or alternately: Remove Bad Magic.

See where I’m aiming with this?

So I’m throwing this out to y’all. What classic spells or magical effects can you think of, and how would you describe them in the simplest, most basic?

Curious to see what y’all come up with…

pat

Edit: I’m enjoying the back and forth in comments with y’all, as bouncing these ideas back and forth is what I was hoping to do. Kinda of troubleshooting the entire concept.  That’s the easiest way to knock the rough corners off an idea, in my experience….

To further clarify for those of you who are looking to come in and participate, reading through some of the other comments first would probably be a good idea.

For example, after reading some of the suggestions below, I think “Make” is going to be out-of-bounds. “Create” is a good one though, as “Create” is a big concept, but it really only means one thing, which is “Bring into existence.”

What I’m really looking do to is develop a rough vocabulary of terms that could be assembled into different effects. Almost like computer code, but for magic. (Someone down in the comments made this analogy, and it’s too fitting not to share.)

How about this, moving foward, think of this as a note you’re handing to the universe. What’s more, it’s a universe that doesn’t give much of a shit about what you want or intend. It’s not going to read your mind or ask for clarification.

With that in mind, note that FIAT LUX  (Let there be light) is pretty clear.

But something like “Do thing” isn’t.

PUSH is pretty clear. But PUSH AWAY is clearer.

(Interesting note: “Push away” in Latin is “repelle” if memory serves.)

Anyway, yeah. Thanks for everyone who’s been coming in to try out this odd idea with me. This is fun so far…

pat

Also posted in gaming, naming, Terrible Science | By Pat120 Responses

The Literary Tarot: Being Foolish Together

So here’s the thing, I got a little rambly while writing this post. Even for me.

The crux of the issue, is that I was invited to help design a tarot card for the Literary Tarot project that’s running right now.

Not only that, but I got to do the Fool, which is a particularly meaningful card to me. Even better, I got to pair the fool with Don Quixote, a *character* that is very close to my heart.

(Click to Embiggen.)

Did I mention that the kickstarter is raising money for a charity? Which is absolutely my jam. Except when it’s a charity that’s focused on improving global literacy, which is *double* my jam.

And if that weren’t enough, the person who is running the charity (and the kickstarter) has agreed to add a tier so that people can back at that level and support both Brink (their charity) and Worldbuilders (my charity).

Here’s the catch: as I type this, there’s only about 36 hours left in the kickstarter.

That’s why the new tier is named “Foolish Together” because doing something like this at the last minute at the end of a successful kickstarter is pure madness. (Right now they’ve got almost 10,000 backers, and are poised to tear past 700,000 dollars.)

That’s why I’m doing this little summary here, so if you’re interested, you can just hop over there go over there and take a quick look. Even if you’re not interested in backing it, you should really go look at the art and the different authors invovled. It’s really cool.

But if you want the whole story, maunder and all, here it is….

*     *     *

For years now, a big part of my job is saying no to cool new projects.

And believe it or not, I’ve gotten pretty good at it. It might not seem like it to the casual observer, or to any observer at all, really. The problem with non-action, of course, is that it is non-visible. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to write a blog or tweet,  “I said no to being in a writer’s room!” Or “I passed on the opportunity to be a keynote speaker today!”

But the truth is, I nope out of the vast majority of things I’m invited to do. Maybe, like… 97% of them.

Sometimes it’s easy. But some of the missed opportunities I still think about years later. I’ve passed up several chances to do narrative design for video games. And twice I’ve said no actually holding the reins and helping assemble and lead teams for parts of video game design: once for Worldbuilding, once for narrative. Those really stung to walk away from.

I’ve given a regretful no to writing an opinion piece for the New York Times, to being involved in writer’s rooms for *very* cool properties, and writing stories comic book characters that I’ve loved since I was a kid…

And those are just the ones that spring to mind. Not to mention the hundreds of conventions, dozens of licensing deals, and many anthology invitations I’ve politely declined.

Almost all of these things I would have loved to do to some degree, but I know I need to focus more. Working on too many projects at once is foolish…

But several weeks ago, some friends introduced me to Dani Hedlund, who was putting together a Literary Tarot Deck for a charity fundraiser. Authors were pairing up cards with literary characters. A bunch of authors. Cool authors.

These are just the ones that were announced TODAY. Seriously.

And yes, that’s Steven Fry.

Anyway, I got the invite. It sounded fun and easy, and I like charity, and I’ve been dabbling with Tarot for about 30 years now. Plus, just picking a card and pairing it with a literary figure should probably take what? Ten minutes? Fifteen?

Fast forward two weeks to where I’m on a call with the CEO of the other charity doing art direction, talking about Sancho Panza, and excitedly bubbling over about the fact that what’s on his head is not, in fact, a helmet. It’s a shaving basin.

Also, there might have been singing.

Then this:

Fast forward another two weeks, where I’m talking with Dani again, asking if there’s anything I or Worldbuilders can do to help.

She mentions what I already know, that the biggest challenge is always getting the word out.

I tell her what *she* already knows, that my charity is currently doing its own fundraiser right now. Worse yet, both our fundraisers end almost exactly at the same time. We both know it would be deeply foolish for me to change directions and to promote hers at the same time.

I mention that if Brink and Worldbuilders could somehow work together in some way, we could hit it from that angle. Use the Worldbuilders mailing list. Do a livestream. Pitch it as a superhero team-up. But we both know that it would be deeply foolish for her to make a sudden addition or change to what is already a *super* successful project right at the end.

Fast forward to this:

Yup. She added an entire new tier to her kickstarter out of the goodness of her heart. Just so our charities could work together. It’s got a special postcard based off the card that we designed together that’s full of delightful little flourishes like this:

And I took a chunck of time on Sunday and we had an *amazingly* fun talk about Tarot cards, books we love, the madness of running a charity. I explain why I picked Don Quixote, and we talk about the art direction we did. It’s honestly one of my favorite streams I’ve done in ages.

Also, I was in fine form. I’m not saying I was so witty at one point that I made Dani snort. But I’m not *not* saying that either.

You should check out the video just for the joy of getting to meet Dani, honestly. She’s charming AF. Straight-up one of the most delightful people I’ve ever met. (And I’m saying this as a person who once hugged Felicia Day and Neil Gaiman on the same day.)

So… yeah. You’ve got about 36 hours to jump on that kickstarter if you’re interested.

Here’s the link.

You know what to do.

pat

Also posted in Arts and Crafts, cool news, cool things, geeking out, hubris, Me Interviewing Other Folks, meeting famous people, My Iconoclastic Tendencies | By Pat19 Responses

The Business of Managing a Business

Hey there everybody, long time no see.

Do you know that feeling happens when you wake up all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, excited to get some solid work done?

So you get up, take your meds, and decide to start your day by wrapping up some small projects. Get a nice clean slate. Clear your desk so you can focus on getting the really important stuff done.

But when you open up your e-mail, you realize that first you need to catch up on e-mail. Because when you look up from the bottom of your inbox it’s such a deep hole that all you can see is a faint a circle of light like they talk about in The Ring.

So you’re doing e-mail, clearing out the chaff, making progress, apologizing to the folks you’ve meant to reply to for months. Then someone texts you with a quick question looking for clarification about a contract, and then someone *else* pings you on Signal asking if you want to be on a panel at a convention. Then you have a skype call so you can do some art direction about the illustrations for the upcoming French edition of your book…

(Yes. Seriously. Art by the Amazing Marc Simonetti.)

So you get that about 73% finished before you have to jump into a meeting about who is going to be your literary executor just in case you get hit by a bus the next time you go out for coffee, and it’s an important meeting, but it’s really complicated, and you don’t *quite* get it finished before you have to have a conference call about copyrighting certain parts of your IP…

Then, eventually, you realize it’s 11:00 at night, and despite spending your whole day doing things, you feel like you haven’t gotten anything done.

If you *don’t* know what that’s like. I’m delighted for you. But that pattern has been my default for… like… a really long time.

None of you will be shocked to hear that I am not a natural organizer. Sure I make lists. I make lots of lists. Then eventually I have to find and organize the lists that were meant to keep me organized in the first place. So I make a list of the lists I need to organize.

As a friend of mine very correctly said recently: I am a chaos generator.

So. We here at Rothco are finally biting the bullet and hiring a business manager. Or rather, we’ve been going through the laborious process of figuring out what exactly we want/need from a business manager. In order to do this, we’ve been creating some sort of arcane document called a… Jorb Listing?

Surprising no-one, even this step of the process has been a bit… chaotic. As shown by this screencap of an early draft of the google doc:

(Please help me.)

In a nutshell, I need someone to help manage my… everything. Someone with experience and training to help my team handle the day-to-day business of things so I can focus on doing the things that only *I* can do. Like write books and spend time with my kids.

I’ve been deliberating for a long time as to whether or not to mention this job on the blog.

On one hand, I want to get the word out. I want as many applicants as possible, because I want to find someone *amazing* for this job. (Also because I don’t want to have to go through the time-consuming and excruciating process of doing a second job search later.)

And, truth be told, y’all are pretty amazing, so it only makes sense that I’d like to open the door for you to apply. What’s more, I’m guessing a lot of you know some amazing people that you might want to mention this job to. Being a fan isn’t a requirement for this job, so if y’all know any great organizers/managers with experience who are either looking for a job, or looking to change jobs…

(My expectations are super reasonable.)

But here’s the problem, posting the job here might lead to some real hassle. It takes a long time to go through applications, and if we get 300 people applying just for shits and giggles, it’s going to waste a *ton* of time. And time is in short supply here.

So here’s the thing. I vouched for you. I told my team that y’all are cool. I’ve reassured them that even though some of you might be tempted to throw in a joke application, you wouldn’t actually do that. Because yeah, sure, one joke application might be funny. But 200 of them will waste a week of my team’s time, and make it *harder* for me to actually find the person I’m looking for.

So here it goes:

*****

  • Elodin Enterprises Seeks Full-Time Business Manager:

Elodin Enterprises is a Stevens Point-based company that works with the intellectual property, licensing, and merchandising for the author Patrick Rothfuss. In addition to this, we collaborate closely with Worldbuilders, the non-profit founded by Pat. We are looking for a business manager who will be able to plan and lead varied projects, manage employees, act as liaison and coordinator, and generally ensure everything Elodin Enterprises works consistently, efficiently and smoothly. 

We are looking for a business manager to plan and lead varied projects, streamline workflow, and facilitate a workspace where Pat is able to pursue his creative work productively. Our long-term goal is to separate the creative elements of Elodin Enterprises from day-to-day operations. 

We’re looking for a leader who can manage initiatives on time, oversee employees to ensure that they are functioning at optimum levels, and provide an efficient, flexible structure around which our ideas and people can continue to grow. 

Our ideal candidate is a talented individual who is self-motivated and committed to making the world a better place. This position will involve a high level of communication, organization, planning, and problem-solving. As someone in a high-level position in the organization, you would also be responsible for supporting a positive work environment. 

Key Responsibilities:

  • Project oversight and management 
  • Oversight and management of employees
  • Setting and completing productive business goals
  • Ensure long term financial stability 
  • Understand, develop, and operate within our brand

Required Skills

  • Very skilled with Google Apps (Calendar, Drive, Gmail, Groups, etc)
  • Meticulous and detail oriented
  • Critical thinker who makes good, informed, and ethical decisions
  • Extremely good at writing and email communication
  • Task driven and able to work independently
  • Extraordinarily organized
  • Fast learner at new programs and processes
  • Maintaining complete and accurate files
  • Working with company accountants
  • Managing a small team of full-time employees
  • Valid driver’s license and reliable transportation

Helpful, but not required experience:

  • Familiarity with Android phones
  • OBS and other streaming software
  • Discord, Slack, Skype, and other communications software
  • Contract reading and negotiation
  • Familiarity with Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Office
  • Property/Facilities Management
  • Product development

The position will require the ability to oversee many projects simultaneously, maintaining timelines and deadlines for all of them, while ensuring that the rest of the team is doing the same. As a small organization, we may ask that you pitch in as odds-and-ends tasks come up.

This position is full-time and is based in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Pay will be commensurate with experience. Position includes health care benefits, vacation and holiday time off.

Elodin Enterprises is an equal opportunity employer.

To apply for this position, please submit a cover letter and resume to jobs(@)patrothfuss.com.

Deadline for application is July 25th.

*****

Okay folks. I’m trusting you. Please share this around with anyone you think might be legitimately interested and qualified.

I’m also trusting you *not* to apply just because you hate your current job and were totally an assistant manager at a Pizza Hut that one summer.

On the other hand, if you’d like to apply for OTHER jobs in the comments below, I’d love to see what you have to offer Rothco. Think you’d be a great minion? List your unique skills below. Want to be my Dolphin wrangler? Food taster? Court Jester? Lovely. I’m eager to see what qualifications you bring to the table.

Just make sure to do it in the comments below, not in the e-mail above.

Share and enjoy,

pat

Also posted in a ganglion of irreconcilable antagonisms, I am completely fucking serious, social networking, The Art of Letting Go, the business of writing | By Pat228 Responses

Thriving in Winter (And Looking for a Colorist)

So here we are. February.

In my head, it seems like 2018 has barely ended, but at the same time I know objectively that it’s been months since I updated the blog…

Despite the radio silence, things are actually going pretty well here in rothtown. Those of you who have been reading the blog for a while know that things have been a little emotionally rocky for me the last little… forever. But in this case, the quiet was a signal of things getting better, not getting worse.

Generally speaking, things have gone from this…

To this…

If you don’t live in Wisconsin, this might be hard to interpret. But let me reassure you, it’s a vast improvement.

One of the things I’ve been doing is getting my literal and figurative house in order so that I can go back to getting more creative work done. I know this might come as a surprise to a lot of you, but I have a couple ongoing projects that I’d *really* like to finish before the heat death of the universe.

One of those projects is a graphic novel I’ve been working on with Nate Taylor for years and years. He’s such a delight to work with, and every time we collaborate, the result is something so much better than I initially hoped for.

So we’ve been going back and forth on this project for ages, and now that I’ve got more comic experience under my belt, we’ve decided to finally get it done. And since we want to do a couple kinda crazy things with it, we’ve decided to keep the creative control all to ourselves and do it as a kickstarter project. (At some point later this year.)

But here’s the thing: We need a colorist.

So I’m sending up the signal flare here. If you’re a colorist, or if you know someone who you think would like to throw in with us to make something beautiful… here’s what we’re looking for.

*Ahem.*

Elodin Enterprises is a Stevens Point-based company that works with the intellectual property, licensing, and merchandising for the author Patrick Rothfuss. We are looking for an accomplished colorist for an upcoming graphic novel.

(Does that sound super official or what?)

Our ideal candidate is an experienced individual who is self-motivated and committed to clear and frequent communication with the author and artist. The project is already in development, and applicants should be available to start as soon as mid-March and commit to the project through completion.

Relevant experience and skills include:

  • Online Portfolio
  • One or two examples of finished projects
  • Good communicator
  • Video conference capable
  • Availability for a full-time commitment
  • Work quickly, and produce consistently (like 7-10 pages/week)
  • Able to work independently
  • At least 3 solid work references

This work can be done remotely. Pay will be commensurate with experience. Relevant experience is required, as is computer experience.

To apply for this position, please submit a cover letter and online portfolio to [email protected]. No calls, please. We will be in contact after the Application Deadline of March 18th, 2019.

Elodin Enterprises is an equal opportunity employer.

(End official pitch.)

So… yeah. Drop us a line if you’d like to come and make something beautiful.

For the rest of you, I’m so excited to show you all the various delightful things I plan on finishing soon.

See y’all soon. Be good to each other.

pat

P.S. Be cool in the comments, okay?

Also posted in Achievement Unlocked!, boding, cool things, Nathan Taylor, Nathan Taylor Art | By Pat189 Responses
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