Joi Massat

The 5 Secret Rules of Catgirl System

It’s an old rusty crusty maxim by this point that limitation breeds creativity. Well, with Catgirl System, I started out knowing many things I wanted to include, but many many more things I didn’t. I gave myself limitations—on what characters could say, where they could go, and even the thinks I allowed them to think.

Some of them will make immediate sense to you while others seem a little more arbitrary. There are reasons behind them all.

So these are the five heretofore-unwritten laws of the Catgirl universe…!

The RoyalRoad Blue Box Metagame

(this is 75% shitpost)

Intros in LitRPGs…and Beyond

There’s something unique and oddly compelling about the first several chapters of your typical LitRPG. Unique, compelling, and…isolated.

Thicken That Skin!

They say we feel negative emotions more strongly than positive ones. Maybe that explains why when I receive anything vaguely resembling negative criticism on my written work, I get unreasonably nervous.

Catgirl System is Now Live…!! (Plus a Brief Writing Update)

That’s right. I’ve started posting it online and slathering additional secret chapters on Patreon. Now that the advertising is out of the way, I can move on to…reflection!

Dancercise! …For Those With No Moves

The only way I can motivate myself to exercise until I sweat—and I mean real, droplets-flinging-into-my-eyes-like-I-just-got-out-the-shower sweat—is by dancing with wild abandon. And yet I have no rhythm. That’s why I keep the windows closed.

Wait…my blinds collapsed a month ago. Never mind that part.

Productivity Talk: My Inner Ned, My Inner Homer

When I have a really successful week followed by a slack one, it’s like New Me seeing Old, More Successful Me across the backyard fence. New Me struggles to assemble a pool while Old Me happily trims the bushes.

“Hidely-ho, neighborino!” says Old Me.

“RRRAAAAAUGH!” screams New Me as the pool explodes.

Blue Box Madness (or: The Dark Side of Writing LitRPGs)

I thought the world of tables would be simple, straightforward. Instead, it is unfolding into a nightmare, corrupting me.

The Creative Thrill is Gone?

I declare that my creative zest is at an all-time low.

Can’t Make Kid’s Programs Like This Anymore (…And Probably Shouldn’t!)

Quick: name something you can’t put on your TV network for six-year-olds in the United States. “Guns and excessive violence?” That’s old news. “Racism?” Uh, we hope that’s old news. Here are two categories I propose: “things that are nightmarish” and “things that are really gross.”

Let that sink in. Two categories that dominated children’s TV in the 90s and left a long shadow seem to be fading away.

(Also, if you are a kid, please don’t read this, or my PG-13 blog in general.)