2020 Writing Log, Part 26
Jul. 12th, 2020 04:08 pm- I edited (and partially rewrote) the first half of the old short story I mentioned earlier, “Mount Hiei.” I hope I don’t jinx myself by saying this, but I’m surprised by how entertaining it is. I originally wrote it in 2013, which is back before I started seriously writing fiction. I expected it to be garbage, but it’s not bad!
- I saw an interesting call for anthology submissions from a small press I admire; and, before I could stop myself, I wrote the first few pages of a story called “The Slithery Dee” (after the Shel Silverstein poem). Unless I get another sudden burst of inspiration, however, I’m going to put this story on hold until I’m finished editing “Mount Hiei.” I love writing, but I want to keep everything slow and steady in order to avoid unnecessary stress and burnout.
- I took my It Never Happened zine to two local bookstores, Bindlestiff Books and A Novel Idea. The people I spoke with were super friendly, and I ended up walking out of both stores with more zines than I came in with.
- I finished my story for the Multifandom Drabble fanfic exchange. I can’t even begin to describe how much of a joy it was to write this, and I’m eternally grateful to the person who created the prompt. I hope they enjoy the story!
- I signed up for the Press Start fanfic exchange. This is the first year I’ve been able to participate, and I’m excited. I spent the past two weeks thinking up prompts, and I hope the person I’m paired with is at least a little amused. I just got my own assignment this morning, and I am delighted.
- I edited Chapter 8 of Malice.
- I wrote another page of my Legend of Zelda essay. Progress is slow, but it’s coming along!
- I submitted a short entry on “manga” for a handbook titled Key Terms in Comics Studies. This was a lot of fun, and the editor was a pleasure to work with.
- I completed my Summer 2020 sketchbook for the Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook Project and mailed it in. I have to admit that I’m not super onboard with the trend of people feeling compelled to post photos of portfolio-perfect sketchbooks on Instagram, so I really appreciate this program, which encourages and celebrates messiness, experimentation, and artists of all skill levels.
- Now that the Philadelphia city offices are open again, I was finally able to get a Pennsylvania driver’s license. It took a bit of work, but I'm now officially nonbinary on my state ID. I also registered to vote. Hooray!
- I saw an interesting call for anthology submissions from a small press I admire; and, before I could stop myself, I wrote the first few pages of a story called “The Slithery Dee” (after the Shel Silverstein poem). Unless I get another sudden burst of inspiration, however, I’m going to put this story on hold until I’m finished editing “Mount Hiei.” I love writing, but I want to keep everything slow and steady in order to avoid unnecessary stress and burnout.
- I took my It Never Happened zine to two local bookstores, Bindlestiff Books and A Novel Idea. The people I spoke with were super friendly, and I ended up walking out of both stores with more zines than I came in with.
- I finished my story for the Multifandom Drabble fanfic exchange. I can’t even begin to describe how much of a joy it was to write this, and I’m eternally grateful to the person who created the prompt. I hope they enjoy the story!
- I signed up for the Press Start fanfic exchange. This is the first year I’ve been able to participate, and I’m excited. I spent the past two weeks thinking up prompts, and I hope the person I’m paired with is at least a little amused. I just got my own assignment this morning, and I am delighted.
- I edited Chapter 8 of Malice.
- I wrote another page of my Legend of Zelda essay. Progress is slow, but it’s coming along!
- I submitted a short entry on “manga” for a handbook titled Key Terms in Comics Studies. This was a lot of fun, and the editor was a pleasure to work with.
- I completed my Summer 2020 sketchbook for the Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook Project and mailed it in. I have to admit that I’m not super onboard with the trend of people feeling compelled to post photos of portfolio-perfect sketchbooks on Instagram, so I really appreciate this program, which encourages and celebrates messiness, experimentation, and artists of all skill levels.
- Now that the Philadelphia city offices are open again, I was finally able to get a Pennsylvania driver’s license. It took a bit of work, but I'm now officially nonbinary on my state ID. I also registered to vote. Hooray!
no subject
Date: 2020-07-15 12:46 pm (UTC)Now that the Philadelphia city offices are open again, I was finally able to get a Pennsylvania driverโs license. It took a bit of work, but I'm now officially nonbinary on my state ID. I also registered to vote. Hooray!
!!!! This is super awesome!!! CONGRATS!! ๐๐๐๐๐
no subject
Date: 2020-07-16 06:29 pm (UTC)The gender designation on my driver's license isn't really a story worth writing about, but I think I was the first person anyone in that DMV office had ever been asked to process with an "X" as their gender. They were all super confused for a good half hour, and it was fortunate that I came prepared with print-outs of documents from their website. I don't want to say that it was a "struggle," because they were all very professional about it, but it took a while. Once they'd established that "X" is something you can be on your Pennsylvania state ID, there were no problems at all.
Isn't it nice when people aren't weird about gender?
Anyway, I think the main issue they were having was the gender on my passport, which most definitely still has to be binary. I'm keeping my fingers crossed (and my teeth very firmly grit) that this changes soon.