2024 Writing Log, Part Two
Jan. 13th, 2024 09:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynling- I edited and posted the second chapter of “Lay the Gods to Rest” on AO3 (here). It’s difficult to know how to describe this story. It takes place in the future of the timeline of Tears of the Kingdom, and it’s about Zelda and Ganondorf, but they’re not really Zelda and Ganondorf. It’s like a second-chance romance, but in another lifetime.
- I did the final edits on “The Sleeping Princess,” a story about Impa navigating the ruins of Hyrule in Zelda I and Zelda II. This is my submission for Blood Moon Rising, a Legend of Zelda horror zine. I’m really proud of this story, and I’m also a big fan of the spot illustrations created by Pumpkinsouppe.
- I finished a lengthy meta essay about Rauru and Ganondorf called “The Two Kings of Tears of the Kingdom,” and I posted it on Tumblr (here). I’m going to keep working on this, and hopefully I’ll be able to pitch an edited and extended version to Sidequest.
- I finished a Final Fantasy VI postgame story about Edgar and Sabin called “A Senseless and Deadly Mistake.” It’s only about a thousand words long, but it gets the job done. I think the story is already fairly well edited, but I’m going to wait to post it so I don’t just dump everything on AO3 all at once.
- I edited an old essay from 2016 called “Magic and Gender in Final Fantasy VI.” The original version was unreadable, and it took me more than a week to figure out what the fuck I was on about. My ultimate goal is to post this essay on AO3, but I’m going to let it sit for at least another week before doing an additional set of edits.
- I wrote a mini-review of the graphic novel Shubeik Lubeik for the “Best of 2023” round-up post on Women Write About Comics. I also wrote a mini-review of the translated dōjinshi collection Mothers for WWAC’s “Best Manga of 2023” post. I’m not sure when the posts will go live, but both of these books are S-tier art and storytelling.
- I’ve been invited to present at an international Comics Studies conference in England this May, and I finally put together an abstract for my paper. Basically I’m arguing that contemporary indie comics publishing in the United States is closely tied to online fandom cultures. I know this seems like something that doesn’t need to be “argued,” but you have to remember that most academics are older men. This is especially the case in Europe, where most professional comic artists are also older men. The two older men organizing the conference have both been very sweet and kind, thankfully.
- I created a small art portfolio on my website (here).
- I also finished annotating my list of video game reviews on my website (here).
- I’m slowly chipping away at two large and complicated illustrations, but I posted a simple face study with a limited color palette on Tumblr (here). It’s kind of frustrating that, no matter what sort of art tutorials I follow, my drawings always just look like my drawings. But what can you do.
- I submitted an application to be a writer for the Butch Fairy Zine that’s been getting a lot of attention on Twitter. Applications closed in less than 24 hours, which is intense but understandable. It’s a fantastic idea for a zine! My likelihood of being excepted is extremely low, but you don’t know until you try. Fingers crossed!
My husband is off visiting his family, so I spent the week single-parenting two bratty dogs. It’s a lot of work. I have no idea how people do this with children.
- I did the final edits on “The Sleeping Princess,” a story about Impa navigating the ruins of Hyrule in Zelda I and Zelda II. This is my submission for Blood Moon Rising, a Legend of Zelda horror zine. I’m really proud of this story, and I’m also a big fan of the spot illustrations created by Pumpkinsouppe.
- I finished a lengthy meta essay about Rauru and Ganondorf called “The Two Kings of Tears of the Kingdom,” and I posted it on Tumblr (here). I’m going to keep working on this, and hopefully I’ll be able to pitch an edited and extended version to Sidequest.
- I finished a Final Fantasy VI postgame story about Edgar and Sabin called “A Senseless and Deadly Mistake.” It’s only about a thousand words long, but it gets the job done. I think the story is already fairly well edited, but I’m going to wait to post it so I don’t just dump everything on AO3 all at once.
- I edited an old essay from 2016 called “Magic and Gender in Final Fantasy VI.” The original version was unreadable, and it took me more than a week to figure out what the fuck I was on about. My ultimate goal is to post this essay on AO3, but I’m going to let it sit for at least another week before doing an additional set of edits.
- I wrote a mini-review of the graphic novel Shubeik Lubeik for the “Best of 2023” round-up post on Women Write About Comics. I also wrote a mini-review of the translated dōjinshi collection Mothers for WWAC’s “Best Manga of 2023” post. I’m not sure when the posts will go live, but both of these books are S-tier art and storytelling.
- I’ve been invited to present at an international Comics Studies conference in England this May, and I finally put together an abstract for my paper. Basically I’m arguing that contemporary indie comics publishing in the United States is closely tied to online fandom cultures. I know this seems like something that doesn’t need to be “argued,” but you have to remember that most academics are older men. This is especially the case in Europe, where most professional comic artists are also older men. The two older men organizing the conference have both been very sweet and kind, thankfully.
- I created a small art portfolio on my website (here).
- I also finished annotating my list of video game reviews on my website (here).
- I’m slowly chipping away at two large and complicated illustrations, but I posted a simple face study with a limited color palette on Tumblr (here). It’s kind of frustrating that, no matter what sort of art tutorials I follow, my drawings always just look like my drawings. But what can you do.
- I submitted an application to be a writer for the Butch Fairy Zine that’s been getting a lot of attention on Twitter. Applications closed in less than 24 hours, which is intense but understandable. It’s a fantastic idea for a zine! My likelihood of being excepted is extremely low, but you don’t know until you try. Fingers crossed!
My husband is off visiting his family, so I spent the week single-parenting two bratty dogs. It’s a lot of work. I have no idea how people do this with children.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-16 04:24 pm (UTC)How exciting that you get to present at an international conference!!
And you finished so many things. CONGRATS!
no subject
Date: 2024-01-16 06:16 pm (UTC)Thank you! The ones in England are the best. They're funded by the British Academy and come with all sorts of fancy seals and paperwork. This is all nonsense, of course, but it still makes me feel like a very special pretty princess.
...I get the feeling that, when you have kids, you have to let a lot of other things slide. Especially if you happen to be female. People will share two or three baby photos and then disappear, and it's hard to blame them. I try not to think about the gender politics of this too much, but occasionally I'll pour one out for all the friends and colleagues I've lost due to a lack of state-sponsored childcare.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-16 06:19 pm (UTC)* If, gods forfend, something happened to both SiL and BiL, husband and I would take the girls, because we're not fucking monsters who would abandon them to The System, and I think I could do all right raising them if I had to. But I do not want to.