2023 Year in Review

Books Read: 125
Graphic Novels Read: 52
Japanese Manga Read: 45
Video Games Finished: 33
Zines Reviewed on Etsy: 84
Illustrations and Comics Posted: 48
Illustrations and Comics Commissioned: 27
Posts on Gingko Books: 49
Posts on Digital Fantasy Diary: 68

2023 was a difficult year bookended and punctuated by painful rejections.

Everything that I could do on my own, I did with flying colors. I’m proud of what I accomplished, from publishing my first full-length short story collection to publishing my first minicomic zine. Despite the gradual collapse of various social media platforms, I still experienced small gains in followers and engagement. I sold almost four hundred copies of my zines on Etsy this year, as well as another hundred copies at various in-person small press events. Hundreds of copies were downloaded from my new page on Itchio as well. I published a good two dozen articles and reviews on various websites, almost all of which were linked to and promoted by larger websites. I’ve enjoyed some really positive and successful collaborations with artists, and I’ve seen gradual but substantial improvements in my own writing and art.

Every time I needed support or acceptance from a gatekeeper, however, the door was slammed in my face. The social anxiety I’ve experienced as a result has been painful and debilitating. I’m not sure how to handle this moving forward, but I guess there’s nothing to do except to keep trying. Best of luck to all of us in the coming year!

Final Fantasy After Dark

I need there to be an 18+ Final Fantasy server on Discord for writers and artists.

Not so anyone can do anything lewd. Rather, it would be nice to have a chill place to drop in and hang out and talk about video games where people can say "fuck" and discuss the plot of games that came out more than ten years ago without having to worry about spoilers.

There are two really good servers for Zelda artists (Zelda Creators and Linktober), but they're both purposely designed to be accommodating to children (under the age of thirteen). This is cool, but it's also not the type of space where I feel super comfortable.

Unfortunately I am terminally offline. I only check Discord once every three or four days, and then only for maybe five to ten minutes at a time. I can't create or maintain a server on Discord myself. The only way to be a part of a Final Fantasy community like this is to apply to zines and hope I get accepted.

So I guess my resolution for 2024 is to build a Final Fantasy portfolio and apply to Final Fantasy zines. My dream is for there to be a Final Fantasy VI zine one day, so that's what I'm going to focus on creating the perfect portfolio for. By this I mean that I am giving myself permission to write all the bizarre niche FFVI fic I always wanted to. I never wrote these stories because there is no audience, but that's okay; the audience is me.