Category Archives: S1000D

The Unexpected Results of the Second Wind

A Life Gamer's Journals, S1000D, Self-Gamification, Writing, , , , , ,
Photo by the author

There is no journal entry without a prompt. If there is no external one, there is at least an internal one. There is always a moment that triggers another, and that another one leads to the next, and so on.

Often, even if the impulse comes from within, it is never purely internal because there is always interaction with the external world, even when we spend time alone.

For my journal entry on November 12, 2025, the prompt came to me from a friend, and I embraced it with curiosity.

My friend Janni Pilgaard, who wrote the book 10 Nøgler til et liv med tid nok, which translates to “10 Keys to a Life with Enough Time,” and edited the Danish edition of my book Actual Real-Life Role-Playing Games, in Danish, Rollespil i det virkelige liv, hosts a monthly writing marathon for her fellow writers. I enjoy the creative atmosphere of writing “alone together” for a whole morning online. I also enjoy the writing exercises Janni comes up with for the beginning of every marathon round. This past November, she had the following prompt for us:

“Midt I November sker der…”, which translates into English as “In the middle of November, … happens.”

After that, Janni invited us to free-write for ten minutes.

I enjoyed listening to what my fellow writers came up with.

I wrote in English because it is my favorite language for thinking and creating.

Below, you can read what I wrote, which came as a beautiful surprise to me. Beautiful because the result was unexpected, and the flow of creativity felt like spreading my arms wide at my sides, turning in a giddy circle, and dancing my heart out, or like flying without being afraid of heights (which I have been since my late twenties).

Here is what I came up with:

***

A lot happens in the middle of November. It is strange, nature prepares to go into hibernation, but I feel like I wake up.

Maybe many people feel that way. The year is coming to an end, and we look back at all the scores and leaderboards we have, both for ourselves and for others. There is a little more time for the finish line, so the second wind is coming, and we get the energy boost to keep going and maybe even give more than before.

We might also see our values more clearly as we look at the map of the past year’s game rounds spread before us. And we might be inspired by the new ideas, new beginnings for that new round in our lives’ games, the year that is just around the corner.

***

That particular marathon took place on November 12, and just a week later, I came up with the idea of sharing my work-in-progress on S1000D on Patreon. Nine days after that, I launched “Victoria explores S1000D” on Patreon, with the first paying subscriber joining the same day. Since then, I posted seventeen articles there, both for paid and free subscribers. More are coming soon.

About a month after the Patreon launch, I asked myself, “Why don’t I do the same for my books on self-gamification?” So, I decided to start a community on Substack and bring the Self-Gamification Club back to life there. I published four posts on Substack so far and participated in discussions started by other authors there.

Wow, what a second wind!? I still feel its effects, even when I need a break. Writing longhand helps, and I got another boost at this year’s first writing marathon, organized by Janni this January.

I don’t always feel productive and creative, and there are days when I feel utterly down and drag my feet. During researching, writing, and publishing Be Your Best Game Master, I started asking myself, in times of upset, who is there talking in my head, and which part of me is angry, sad, or scared. That also led me to the following question:

“What part of me chooses how the story of my life develops?”

The answer was that all parts of me contributed to the story of my life. But there was a referee who helped get a consensus, or at least move forward.

That was the Secret 3 I shared in my book Be Your Best Game Master:

Secret 3: You are not a passive observer of your inner games. You are their game master. To genuinely be kind to yourself, help yourself grow, and live life to the fullest is not only about being your best friend. It is about being your best game master.

You can find out more by reading Be Your Best Game Master. You will discover the collective power of various aspects of yourself, as if they were players in very special role-playing games, your mind’s and life’s RPGs, and keep on winning these collaborative games.

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S1000D Issue 4.1 and Issue 4.2 Navigation Map in 3D and its Update

S1000D

I am thrilled that in the S1000D consulting projects I worked in the past two years since publishing S1000D Issue 4.1 and Issue 4.2 Navigation Map: 552+87 and 427+90 Business Rules Decision Points Arranged into two Linear Topic Maps to Facilitate Learning, Understanding, and Implementation of S1000D®, I got to use it quite a lot and test it (as well as its predecessor before it). It proved to be very helpful and accelerate the generation of the projects’ business rules as well as the implementation of this international specification. I am very grateful and proud of that fact.

Since working on the book, I have noticed a few minor changes that needed to be done. I made them recently especially because I started working on the new resource for S1000D, which as of now will feature five different Issues of the Specification and will serve, as I hope, as a universal implementation map for the S1000D users.

Here is the summary of changes for both e-book and paperback of the S1000D Issue 4.1 and Issue 4.2 Navigation Map as well as the Excel sheets available here:

  • The number of BRDP in the subtitle of the book for Issue 4.2 was corrected from 429 to 427. That led to unpublishing of the older paperback and publication of the new. So it has now a new ISBN. Thus, if you recommend the book to someone, please don’t give them the old ISBN but instead the title and they will be able to find it on any big online retailer. Here is the link to the book’s page just in case if you like to share it. The links to the online stores there are up-to-date.
  • Correction in formatting (e.g., missing captions added, and those that weren’t made bold)
  • Some relations between Issue 4.1 and 4.2 had minor errors, which were corrected.
  • And here is the most significant modification and the only one of this size: BRDP-S1-00301 and BRDP-S1-00303 were erroneously in Topic 43 for Issue 4.1 and Topic 42 for Issue 4.2. Now they have been moved into the front matter Topic 73 for Issue 4.1 and Topic 71 for Issue 4.2.

If you know someone, who works with S1000D and who also purchased the S1000D Issue 4.1 and Issue 4.2 Navigation Map, please share this information with them. Thank you in advance!

If you or your colleagues have questions on this, feel free to contact me at vib@optimistwriter.com.

#s1000d #navigationmap #implementation #guidance #implementationhelp #consultancy #s1000Dconsultancy #businessrules #decisionmaking #businessdecisionmaking #OptimistWriter

brDoc, BREX, and Co.: S1000D Business Rules Made Easier in 3D

S1000D

I am thrilled that even after starting my own business I still can contribute to the amazing S1000D community. What we do there might sound “nerdy,” but it is utter fun and useful.
S1000D is the international specification for technical publications using a specific concept of a common source database for the production, maintenance, exchange, and use of the technical data presented in the form of technical publications in the formats requested by the customers.

The little book shown on the picture gives a simple introduction to S1000D business rules, which are no other than “game rules” in the S1000D project and programs. The process to define these rules might seem daunting because there are about 500 and often more decision points where you need to set up specific rules, which might change throughout the project’s and product’ life, you are working on and helping to create. In this little book, you can learn what business rules are and why they are vital. You can also find out which of the chapters in the S1000D extensive document (over 3500 pages in its latest official Issue, Issue 4.2) is a must-read before starting to define your project and your organization’s business rules.

I recently started to work on the next S1000D book, and I am thrilled about that because I can both research how the S1000D implementation can be made more efficient and effective and also give back my gratitude in the form of valuable information to this fantastic community.

If you would like to find out more about the book, click on the picture above or here.

Check out my other books here.

Enjoy the books you read and use to help you on your way!

#s1000d #businessrules #decisionpoint #decisionpoints #implementation #OptimistWriter

Contributing to Mekon’s Bitesize on Business Rules, August 2018: About the Book “brDoc, BREX, and Co: S1000D Business Rules Made Easier”

S1000D

The S1000D User Forum 2018 in New Orleans, September 10-13, is getting closer every day. Only a week from now. Many who are going there are curious what discussions will emerge and what connections will be made, what interactions will take place.

I am not going to the S1000D User Forum this year, but a little book I created with the main reason to give back to the community, which I enjoy and am proud of being a part of, will be there instead of me.

Susanne Berg from Mekon Ltd will take part in the User Forum and have my book with her. Susanne was the one who had the idea for me to write a series of short articles on the S1000D Business Rules and she was also the one who agreed to grant me the copyright so that I could publish the book.

With this book, I hoped to alleviate the overwhelming and annoying feeling rising with many of the S1000D implementers when they face the necessity of defining the project or organizational business rules.

As mentioned above, Susanne will have the book with her at the forum. So if you are taking part in the S1000D User Forum this year, then I invite you to approach Mekon’s exhibitor’s stand and take a look at the book.

And to get a taste of what this little booklet (less than 100 pages long) is about and how it could help you, I suggest that you read the article “Bitesize Business Rules Series as a Book,” which tells the story of the article series on Mekon’s website and the book.

#s1000d #businessrules #decisionmaking #knowledgebase #lifemadeeasier

 

To find out more about S1000D in general and S1000D business rules in particular, check out the following books and content:

  

Contributing to Mekon’s Bitesize on Business Rules, June 2018: brDoc: The Attributes You Shouldn’t Ignore

S1000D

I have written recently a new article for Mekon’s Bitesize series on S1000D business rules. It addresses two XML attributes, the use of which can change Business Rules production process from slow and tedious to efficient, and maintenance costs of technical publications from high to reasonable. These attributes are the business rule Decision Point Priority (brDecisionPointPriority), and business rules Severity Level (brSeverityLevel). Both attributes are present in the new business rules Document (brDoc) Schema introduced in the S1000D Issue 4.2, whereas the latter (brSeverityLevel) has been also added to the well-known BREX Schema. To find out more about these attributes click on the title of the article “brDoc: The Attributes You Shouldn’t Ignore” or here.

(Credits: Photograph ©canva.com with the keyword characteristic)

To learn more about business rules in general and about S1000D business rules in particular, and to keep them under control, check out the following books:

    

and resources: