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2020 Writing Log, Part 28
Jul. 26th, 2020 08:02 am- After reading through the first issue of 34 Orchard (and really enjoying it), I decided that “Mount Hiei” is probably a better fit for Strange Horizons. I also decided that “Don’t Order the Fish” is a much better fit for 34 Orchard, so I submitted it to them. I got a polite rejection email four days later. Which is cool! I already have another venue in mind, so I’ll go through the story one more time this week before sending it out again.
- I put “Mount Hiei” through another set of edits. I’d love to be able to send it to Strange Horizons during their weekly submission period on Monday afternoon, but we’ll see.
- The artist I’ve been working with to create a cover for my next zine sent me the finished piece. Not only is it a gorgeous illustration, but it’s also super spooky. I already have rough drafts of all the stories, and I think I’d like to start working on them again in August so that I can have the zine ready to go by October.
- I posted It’s Free Real Estate, a short story about Tetra roasting Linebeck that I wrote as a bonus prompt fill for the Multifandom Drabble fic exchange. I’m a big fan of the person who requested this, and writing it was a lot of fun.
- I decided to go ahead and post the individual segments of The Memory of Stone, my main submission for the Multifandom Drabble exchange, to Tumblr. I’ve been continuing to edit it as I go along, and I hope at least a few people have enjoyed the story.
- I edited Super Bowser Odyssey, my story about Peach pegging Bowser while he’s wearing a wedding dress. This story hasn’t gotten many kudos, comments, or bookmarks in the six months since I originally posted it, so I was afraid to return to it. What if it was embarrassingly awful? To my surprise, it was already well-edited and a lot of fun. There were no typos or instances of body shaming, just two nerds enjoying themselves while indulging in some kink. The fic is actually kind of wholesome, in its own way. I can’t for the life of me remember what possessed me to write this story, but I’m happy it’s a thing that exists in the world.
- I edited Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 of Malice.
- I talked with the Otakon digital production team to test out the platform we’ll be using for my talk next Saturday, and we had a good time. I also started putting together my notes and slideshow.
- Although my appointment at University of Pennsylvania doesn’t formally begin until August 1, I was able to set up my faculty profile page this week. I say that “I was able to” because all of the university support services (including nonessential employee processing) have been shut down, and I had to be devious and sneak in through a back door. I don’t want to go into the tedious details, so let it suffice to say that administrative assistants are powerful wizards who should be admired and respected.
- I managed to mail out all of the Etsy orders I received over the week, a lot of which were international. Whew! I ordered more of the items that are running low on stock, and I also added a new sticker based on this design.
It occurred to me this week that a lot of my “creative” work involves polishing content in order to send it out into the world with the hope that the right person will see it, enjoy it, and decide that I’m worth supporting. Although I put a fair amount of time and effort into promoting myself, I’ve come to accept that I have almost no control over how people interact with my work. The only thing I can do is keep putting out good content at a steady pace while keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to find an audience one day. Until then, even if they’re not “the right person” capable of promoting my work on a larger scale, I’m extremely grateful for the writer and artist friends I’ve made.
It’s tough to keep putting myself out there, and I would never be able to do it without everyone’s kindness.
- I put “Mount Hiei” through another set of edits. I’d love to be able to send it to Strange Horizons during their weekly submission period on Monday afternoon, but we’ll see.
- The artist I’ve been working with to create a cover for my next zine sent me the finished piece. Not only is it a gorgeous illustration, but it’s also super spooky. I already have rough drafts of all the stories, and I think I’d like to start working on them again in August so that I can have the zine ready to go by October.
- I posted It’s Free Real Estate, a short story about Tetra roasting Linebeck that I wrote as a bonus prompt fill for the Multifandom Drabble fic exchange. I’m a big fan of the person who requested this, and writing it was a lot of fun.
- I decided to go ahead and post the individual segments of The Memory of Stone, my main submission for the Multifandom Drabble exchange, to Tumblr. I’ve been continuing to edit it as I go along, and I hope at least a few people have enjoyed the story.
- I edited Super Bowser Odyssey, my story about Peach pegging Bowser while he’s wearing a wedding dress. This story hasn’t gotten many kudos, comments, or bookmarks in the six months since I originally posted it, so I was afraid to return to it. What if it was embarrassingly awful? To my surprise, it was already well-edited and a lot of fun. There were no typos or instances of body shaming, just two nerds enjoying themselves while indulging in some kink. The fic is actually kind of wholesome, in its own way. I can’t for the life of me remember what possessed me to write this story, but I’m happy it’s a thing that exists in the world.
- I edited Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 of Malice.
- I talked with the Otakon digital production team to test out the platform we’ll be using for my talk next Saturday, and we had a good time. I also started putting together my notes and slideshow.
- Although my appointment at University of Pennsylvania doesn’t formally begin until August 1, I was able to set up my faculty profile page this week. I say that “I was able to” because all of the university support services (including nonessential employee processing) have been shut down, and I had to be devious and sneak in through a back door. I don’t want to go into the tedious details, so let it suffice to say that administrative assistants are powerful wizards who should be admired and respected.
- I managed to mail out all of the Etsy orders I received over the week, a lot of which were international. Whew! I ordered more of the items that are running low on stock, and I also added a new sticker based on this design.
It occurred to me this week that a lot of my “creative” work involves polishing content in order to send it out into the world with the hope that the right person will see it, enjoy it, and decide that I’m worth supporting. Although I put a fair amount of time and effort into promoting myself, I’ve come to accept that I have almost no control over how people interact with my work. The only thing I can do is keep putting out good content at a steady pace while keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to find an audience one day. Until then, even if they’re not “the right person” capable of promoting my work on a larger scale, I’m extremely grateful for the writer and artist friends I’ve made.
It’s tough to keep putting myself out there, and I would never be able to do it without everyone’s kindness.
