Hello, Everyone.
The birdsite looks iffy, and I had a kind GenZ writer suggest that my content is good enough that I need to start putting it somewhere. So, here goes. I’m calling this space MadMaximum because it’s a play on a great 80’s movie. I will die on the hill that says there’s an audience for GenX women who make content, and also for content made for GenX women. Whoever you are, though, I appreciate you reading.
As of right now, I’m a 52yo mom raised in Pittsburgh, PA. I have had jobs ranging from church organist, the operator standing by at an infomercial company, to bridal consultant, to an elected official, to food blogger, to film critic, to finally, writing and designing video games, currently working for Netflix, which I enjoy. I have two English degrees and a Film degree, and have taught game writing and design in many settings and at many levels from elementary school to university students. I have works published in about a dozen books, one of which is my own collection. I’ve been married and divorced 3x but am now living in the middle of rural nowhere in a one-light town beside a railroad track in central NC with a badass guy 14 years my junior who I met on Facebook 5 years ago. I originally had 4 children; 2 are gone. One I never knew, and one was 24, and I’m never going to be completely okay again.
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I’ve lived in PA, Baltimore, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and now here in NC. I’ve traveled all over the world and I understand how fortunate I am to be able to say that (though it was because my former job paid for all of it, as I gave a metric fuckton of lectures about things like game writing, empathy in games, and romance writing in games). COVID changed all of it for me — I have rheumatoid arthritis and am at high risk for the shit — so I stay in the house now. But I’m seriously okay with that. Tell this GenXer I have to stay in the house with my games, books, and movies; crafting supplies, writing implements, a phone, a musical keyboard, PopTarts, potato chips, ramen noodles, and vodka? DON’T THREATEN ME WITH A GOOD TIME. We were born for this shit.
What do I write about that made this kid say she likes my content? Well.
GenX, 80’s pop culture, politics (in general, in PA, and what it’s like to run for and serve in local office), goth stuff, Caribbean piracy, game writing, game romance, event planning, disability, ridiculous stories from my ridiculous life, and general wisdom gleaned from making bad choices so you won’t have to. And there are A TON.
Things you can expect from me. I will be kind, I will call out bullshit, I will cuss like a fucking sailor, I will make Dad jokes, I will try not to let my Dead Kid Sad infiltrate everything, I will try to put up new content regularly, I will do my level best to engage in a friendly way, and I will likely whine about my boobs sometimes. I will NOT denigrate the work of other creators unless they are being terrible toward people, I will NOT be deliberately mean-spirited. Anyway, hello, hi, welcome. And…ENGAGE.
