Although we are well into the second full week of January, it is only today that I have decided to wipe my slate clean and start afresh.

There is a reason behind this so let me explain…

Over the past year or so I’ve been trying to get my ideas from the paper stage onto the computer, often managing to get to the initial graphics state but rarely any further than that. The thing is that I still have thousands of ideas flooding into my brain that are distracting me in such a way that I am unable to concentrate on any particular project for more than a few hours. As you can see, this could cause a major problem or six.

So after reading hundreds of articles, my decision is to start again from scratch - this means that everything I have tucked away, every note, scrap of paper or doodle is being consigned to the bin. This is very hard on me as there is almost a years worth of notes there, but it is something that needs to be done.

Once that is done I will sit down with a blank pad of paper and start doodling ideas. Later today I’ll take these ideas and present them to the rest of my family - Susan (my partner), Amethyst, Breeze and to a lesser extent Cerise (my daughters aged 13, 11 and not quite 1 year old). From this I will shortlist them and go away to write/design some basics.

On Friday I will return to my family with more flushed out ideas from my shortlist and ask them to choose my focus, with all the other games being stored away until after I have finished.

Now to combat my chaotic attention to a single project, for all my waking moments I will carry around a little notebook and pen. Whenever a new idea hits me, I will write it down as fully as I can in that notebook, including every brain popping detail. Then once I shut the notebook, that game is stored away until I have finished my current focus. No what ifs, no this is better, no distractions…

Hopefully this will work.