Press Releases & News Stories
Tara M. Clapper (she/her) is a storyteller: from social media to serial fiction, guided meditation, and character-driven self-discovery experiences, she's been writing and editing for decades. Her career includes the publication of a dozen analog games (live action games / larps), larp and tabletop role playing game (TTRPG)-related content, and high-performing SEO blogs.
Tara's broad experience consists of staff work at a content agency, blog editor at a major SEO marketing tool company, small business website creation, and more. She is the former senior editor and owner of The Geek Initiative, a blog about inclusive geek culture which she monetized successfully for a decade before deciding to focus on gaming and downloadable product creation.
Tara lives outside of Washington, D.C. with her pug, Dougal MacKenzie.
Press Releases & News Stories
Research and development (R&D) testing is an extremely cost and resource-intensive process. Always looking for ways to save time and money to streamline processes that benefit national security and the taxpayer, the Department of Defense (DoD) is eager to create a faster, less expensive, more comprehensive R&D process.
Riverside Research welcomes Dr. Christine Wang as the new Director of Optics and Photonics. Dr. Wang has a PhD in physics from Harvard University and a strong background in technical innovation and Research and Development (R&D). Her previous accomplishments include significant post-doctoral work in nonlinear optics, and professional roles involving optical micro-resonator study, laser technology, and atomic physics.
Marketing
Measuring the return on investment (ROI) of content marketing has been a central topic of discussion in the digital marketing space for decades. Content marketing ROI feels hard to pin down, which is why smart brands monitor ROI with tools and continue to invest in content marketing.
Internal marketing is an integral part of a successful internal communications strategy within an organization. Many organizations also refer to it as internal engagement, internal brand advocacy, or employee engagement. Internal marketing involves the way you communicate information, brand, tone, voice, and objectives to your employees - and it's a valuable source of feedback from them.
Get ready to up your social media copywriting game with great tips for engaging your audience and developing your brand from the pros at ContentWriters.com.
It all starts with a story. From my roles in the publishing industry, B2B SaaS marketing, and aiding small businesses in a Navy technology transfer program, storytelling has been the easiest and most cost-effective way for me to help brands stand out.
Small Business & Startups
Riverside Research is a not-for-profit chartered to advance research for the benefit of the US government. Through our open innovation concept, we invest in multi-disciplinary research and development and encourage collaboration to accelerate innovation and advance science in machine learning, trusted systems, optics and photonics, electromagnetics, plasma physics, radio frequency systems, and biomedical engineering.
After years of existing in a world with COVID-19, we've finally come around to having widespread conversations about collective trauma and how living through this ordeal affects us.
The Riverside Research Secure & Resilient Systems team has accomplished a major development in the world of Spectre speculative execution vulnerabilities: a new implementation that enables the vulnerability to work across computer processes. Spectre is a hardware vulnerability that hackers can use to steal private information from your computer by tricking it into revealing secrets that it is not supposed to.
By Tara M. Clapper Due to advances in technology and the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, online conferences in the defense industry are here to stay.
Full-time decisionmakers and managers don't always understand the freelance life. If you're a freelancer and want to transition to a full-time job, you might be met with skepticism when you encounter an interviewer who isn't all about that freelance life. Sometimes an interviewer will not treat your freelance work as "real work," even though...
If you're fortunate enough, there will come a time in your career when the things you like to do and the things you do for a living have more in common than not. If you're approaching that point, you may consider merging the personal brand you've built for yourself and the professional image you've curated over the years for a brand.
You've got the best business concept or existing successful company: don't lose the momentum. Whether you're starting or expanding, you've likely come to a point where you know it takes money to make money-and it's time to consider a small business loan.
By Tara M. Clapper The Navy SBIR/STTR Transition Program (Navy STP) mentors small businesses with Phase II technologies for transition to government and prime applications.
Email Marketing
Compelling copy with CTA invite to read longform blog content
Real Estate
The average US mortgage rate fell over the weekend. Learn more about today's average mortgage rates and how HOA fees affect homeowners.
When it comes to buying and selling homes, home inspections are among the most nerve-wracking and essential processes. The purpose of the home inspection is to ensure the sound condition of the home and to identify any additional repairs (and related expenses) that must occur.
Mortgage rates remain level heading into the weekend. Learn ways you can leverage your home equity to make home improvements.
Entertainment & Reviews
Atomic Heart is one of the most controversial games released in recent history. This week, a member of the Ukrainian government officially asked for the halt of Atomic Heart game sales and asked the general public to refrain from buying or playing the game.
Heaven's Vault is a breathtaking, emotional video game driven by memorable characters, sandbox play, precise responsiveness, and the gamification of language learning. Part archaeology adventure, part sci-fi point-and-click, no Heaven's Vault review could be comprehensive after a single playthrough. After an exploratory eighteen hour game, though, I'll do my best.
Being a dog lover stuck at home during the pandemic, I watched Amazon's "The Pack" as soon as it was available this November. "The Pack" is like "The Amazing Race," except instead of individual competitors, participants bring their dogs on a worldwide adventure.
Entertainment. Escape room. Larp. Map-based MegaGame. Boasting so many features, Dragon Thrones was an ambitious and collaborative production. Produced by The Game Theatre and fully funded on Kickstarter in January of 2017, this game came onto the U.S. larp scene as ambiguous and expensive, and its presence and success were not necessarily anticipated by members of the larp community.
"The Loss" (Season 4, Episode 10) is one of the most poignant, overlooked, and emotionally touching episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In this episode, Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) undergoes the loss of her ability to sense emotions.
Scientists unlocked a major achievement: they can now bend lightning. They accomplished this with the use of a high-intensity laser ... Continue reading "Scientists Are Now Able To Bend Lightning"
When I first started receiving game invites to Pearl's Peril on Facebook, I wasn't too into the idea of the game. It sounded like another damsel in distress scenario, and as a female gamer, I've played through more than enough of those games.
DEI & Safety
Meet Alexia Hernandez, a Ken Miller Scholarship Award Winner studying geospatial intelligence.
An office furnished in white with a houseplant on the floor and a laptop computer on the desk. There are windows and a view of a city outside.
After years of existing in a world with COVID-19, we've finally come around to having widespread conversations about collective trauma and how living through this ordeal affects us.
Most larps by The Geek Initiative are light on rules and driven by characters, events, and settings. The rules we do include focus heavily on safety (physical and emotional), consent and communication, inclusion, and immersion. Rules vary for each game: some LARPs, for example, deal directly with potentially triggering experiences and require more structure surrounding communication.
As vaccinations roll out in the United States, larp (live action role play) participants and organizers heavily debate the role of COVID-19 safety, including whether proof of vaccine and negative COVID tests are reasonable requirements.
Gaming & Storytelling
Abraham Lincoln is one of the most exciting recent additions to Sid Meier's Civilization VI Leader Pass. As part of the Great Negotiators Pack, Lincoln's own era, morals, and philosophies are adequately represented in the advantages and disadvantages you experience when you play as this popular American president of the past.
With rising costs on many goods and services, it should come as little surprise that Games Workshop announced price increases on many of their products via their Warhammer Community Blog. According to the 9 February post, increases will begin on 7 March. That gives us just a couple weeks to buy at current prices.
Have you ever encountered a role-playing game title or description and wondered whether it was right for you?
When most people start exploring live action role playing games (larps), they have no idea about how many types of larps there are throughout the world. I certainly didn't. From full-contact boffer combat to 360 immersion wizard school events, larp encompasses a wide variety of forms, genres, locations, and physical and financial accessibility levels.
Secret societies are a feature that dropped in the Civilization 6 Ethiopia Pack update. They're a really fun element to add to your Civ 6 game, and using them properly can turn the tides of victory in your favor, especially if you pick the right secret society for the civ you are playing.
The digital world is a place of magic. It is a liminal space that can connect your home with other realms, gives you the power to summon things, grants you access to vast stores of knowledge and ideas, and allows you to be anyone and anything you choose.
In June of 2016, I went to wizard school. I'm a larper, so that's kind of an expected thing. But this wasn't just any larp experience: this was New World Magischola , a Nordic-inspired game on American soil. Like many Americans who participated in the game, I was equal parts excited and intimidated.
As a Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master (DM), you can memorize your Player Handbook and Monster Manual and run a technically proficient session or campaign--but if your story doesn't engage players on a collaborative level, you're going to lose them, especially in a multi-session campaign.
Guest Post from Tara Clapper of The Geek Initiative and Mythbuilders Few professionals emerge from high school, trade school, or college with the badassery required to act fully confident in their respective field. In any job, you grow as you learn - but you can enhance your confidence and other work-related skills through the magic of LARPing.
For many people like me, the foray into the world of role playing as a young adult began with text-based adventures on platforms like AOL, or MUDs or MUSHes-even BBS (bulletin boards). For young adults today, the story-based role play journey often starts on places like Twitter or Tumblr.
Workshops, Guides, & Courses
On January 2, 2021, The Geek Initiative Larps held a Character Steering workshop with D. D. Crawley and Tara M. Clapper. Inspired by a difficult experience in a recent TGI digital larp, Tara and D.D. teamed up to broaden this discussion in a way that involved larpers, tabletop role players, and text-based roleplayers.
If your time in the military is coming to an end, but you still feel called to serve the nation, you may want to consider transitioning into a role in national security. The federal government, corporate defense contractors, other private entities, and research-oriented nonprofits offer outstanding opportunities to service members transitioning to a career outside of the military.
A sample from and instructional guide or mini-book in the spirituality and self-empowerment genre.
Published Games & Gaming Workbooks
Barnseed Village: A Setting for Resistance - Barnseed Village is a system agnostic medieval fantasy sanctuary village setting. Run by a folk hero who opposes an oppr
A comedic "escape the island of dinosaurs" live action improv game for in-person or digital play.
Workbook for women and femme participants of character-driven self-exploration and empowerment experience.
Lifestyle
When I got my period at age 13, I was fortunate to have a mom who supported me, answered my questions, and explained everything. Even though I knew all about it, it was pretty horrifying as a kid.
When you wear an identity as a mantle, people will have their own ideas about what that word means. They will bring those ideas with them when they interact with you. These external beings, or those...
"I can't just leave you here," said my Mercedes-driving, smooth-talking Uber driver. There were smashing bottles, and a small crowd comprised of nervous tourists and locals hoping to offer them something more illicit than their fears. I was there earlier than my friends. My driver walked me to the door.
Pets
If you use bleach to sanitize your dog's sleeping area or toys, you might want to think twice. Exposure to bleach through ingestion, breathing or touching, is extremely dangerous for dogs. Symptoms range from mild irritations to internal corrosion, depending on how diluted the bleach is and the size of your dog.
When you have to be away from your pet, it's natural to worry about them. In this veterinarian-reviewed article, find out about pet sitter meet and greets. Learn about what emergency information to leave them and how to educate them about your home.
Lactulose is a prescription medication given to dogs to treat constipation and liver disease by softening the stool. In this vet-reviewed article, read what you should expect when your veterinarian prescribes lactulose for your dog, and what lactulose dosage you may expect to administer.
In this veterinarian-reviewed article, learn about using acupressure on a dog. Discover where their pressure points are and when to head directly to the veterinarian instead. From sinus pressure to pain reduction, acupressure on dogs can complement other pain reduction methods.
In This Article When low temperatures arrive, it's time to think about winter pet safety. How cold is too cold for a dog to go outside? While the thermometer can provide you with some definitive answers, it depends largely on the dog.
Etsy & Product Descriptions
This Tarot Readings & Divinations item is sold by StorytellerSupply. Ships from Falls Church, VA. Listed on Jul 19, 2022
Guest Appearances & Press
One of the hardest parts of being a freelance writer-especially in the beginning-is finding good writing jobs at fair rates. The internet is full of freelance job scams, websites requesting free content, and $0.01 per word writing gigs that just won't pay the bills.
We talk with a very cool person, Ms. Tara Clapper, who ran the digital content for Scott during the Cyberpunk: Night City larp. We had a great interview even if Ryan wan'ts there. So please sit back and enjoy learning about a Larping with Raptors.The Geek InitiativeTara's TwitteriTunes Google Play Music!
Tara is a prolific content creator and an accomplished editor, having written and edited thousands of blog posts, small business websites, and other inbound marketing content. Tara enjoys blogging about quality copywriting, content management, corporate culture, personal branding, and networking.
Introducing new project management tools requires much more than just simply purchasing new software and hoping for the best.
Our Turn Podcast is made up of a group of women who are pulling out the chairs around the table and inviting everyone to sit down and join the game and the conversation. Gaming is a fun social hobby that invites conversation, interaction, and connection between people of diverse backgrounds and poin...
Many small businesses and startups are out there to solve the content puzzle. How do they create a remarkable industry blog that positions them as thought leaders? It's neither easy, nor coincidental how some blogs take off and carve in niche in their industry.
TwitterSmarter Chat Recap: 11-10-16 Here's a recap of our fave tweets from this week's informative and insightful chat. We'd love to hear from you! Please feel free to comment below and share your two cents on these questions. Please welcome our guest @irishtara. Topic: How to Integrate Twitter Marketing Into Your Content Plan.
There is so much more to LARP than fighting with foam weapons (although that in itself is extremely fun). It provides a safe space to engage in empathetic roleplay, a venue for self-improvement, and a community around the creation and sharing of lore and stories.
Today I am joined by Tara Clapper where we take some time to talk about chronic pain, Fibromyalgia, and the broken healthcare system. We had a long, and amazing conversation that covers quite a few topics. I also take some time to cover disability rights in the United States.
Creating an That's the topic of today's show: maintaining consistency and a high level of quality while editorial calendar can be a challenge. How can you decide how often to post to your blog without wasting time and energy-or leaving your readers wanting for either more content or more quality?
Gaming & Storytelling CV
Tara M. Clapper Gaming & Storytelling CV
Editorial CV - Coming Soon
Academic