Game of Trones is dun.

Tonight’s episode was 🤷‍♂️ By itself, it would have been astonishingly bad. Taken out of context, it would be like “…how is the the same show?” But IN context…it was the result of the horrible choices they made for this season.

Which is to say…it was expected. The damage has been done, you know? This last episode didn’t really do anything more than what came before it. In fact, not even close. That prize belongs to last week’s episode.

It all felt so…distant. Surreal. Not grounded.

A lot of people have bemoaned that this show is no longer re-watchable, and for that, I completely disagree. The excellence that was the first 4 or 5 seasons (something like that) isn’t affected in any way by what comes after it. It speaks for itself. It won’t ever make how they ended it any better. But, it was still excellent.

Endings are hard. And you can never please everyone.

True.

I’ve learned a lot, however, from watching this show about what not to do. I must always be vigilant about pacing and character arcing. Justification. Consistency. And logical change. Or, at least, realistic change.

Pacing is so important to me. And by that I mean that almost everything I encounter than I have a pacing problem with is too fast. It’s never too slow. Almost never. The speed feels artificial. It takes me out. It’s a fine line. It’s a personal line, and it moves depending on the medium…but it IS a line. It is there.

I had a great time at SFWA this weekend. Truly.

My faith in writing is restored, you might even say, and that’s a surprise to me as much as it may be to anyone else. I dealt with A LOT of feelings of self doubt this weekend, but damn if I don’t feel a little bit stronger on the other side, and a little more inspired.

It’s all about my joy.

That’s all that’s been missing. The joy. I think I can find that…