2024 Writing Log, Part Nine

[rynling]

- I finished the first section of Chapter 15 of An Unfound Door. This is the chapter where the princess rides a giant boar through a mountain forest to a ruined castle. People say that you should write for an audience of thirty sickos. I am writing for an audience of one sicko, and that sicko is me. Life is good.

- I finished Chapter 9 of Lay the Gods to Rest. Nobody seems to be reading this story, so I thought it might be nice to let the chapter sit for a while before I post it. Mainly I just want to spend more time with these characters inhabiting this particular scene. There’s a significant amount of overlap between this chapter and An Unfound Door, and that’s fine with me. I have my little themes that I’m interested in, and damn if I don’t love exploring them.

- I posted a short meta essay titled “Ganondorf’s Design in Tears of the Kingdom” on AO3 (here), along with some illustrative graphics I created. I remember seeing Ganondorf’s design for the first time and getting my hopes up that maybe the character would have an interesting level of depth in this game. You know, like the silly funny clown that I am. Idk, the essay is still worth archiving. That’s what AO3 is for, after all.

- I commissioned Palliceart to draw a banner image of Terra and Celes for my essay about “Gender and Magic in Final Fantasy VI.” I posted the art with a promo on Tumblr (here), and you can read the essay on AO3 (here).

- I really enjoyed working with Pallice on this illustration, by the way. Their commissions are open, and you can find their info on their Carrd (here).

- I wrote a bit about Maru Ayase’s short magical realist novel The Forest Brims Over for the March reading recommendation post on Women Write About Comics (here). There are several other interesting short reads in this roundup, and I’m always honored to be able to contribute.

- My review of the popular-audience nonfiction book Monster Kids: How Pokémon Taught a Generation to Catch Them All was published in the latest issue of The American Journal of Play. You can access a PDF of the review (here). My honest take on the book is that it’s a bit dry, but I’m glad it exists. Also, the author clearly wanted to write a book about Digimon, and I appreciate that.

- I’m excited that sakura season is getting closer, and I drew a blooming branch that I posted on Tumblr (here). I tend to use a lot of brown and green and gold in my drawings, but the truth is that I really really really love pink.

The weather is starting to get warm again, and the ants have all gone back outside. It was nice to have tiny visitors for the past two weeks, but I have to admit I’m relieved that they’ve finally left. To celebrate the beginning of spring, I went to Home Depot and got a super-basic wooden frame to support a raised open-soil planter. Also, my application to plant a tree in front of my townhouse was finally approved, and the city is scheduled to blast open the sidewalk later this month. Pics or it didn’t happen? You got it:



Also, while I’m sharing images, I really like this promo photo I took of my “Sweet Blue House” story:

Comments

[lassarina]

Hey, if you're going to put this much blood, sweat, tears, etc. into a thing, it should be a thing you love, so hell yeah write for yourself.

Congrats on all you finished!

[rynling]

Thank you!! And it's true. I had to reach an unpleasant reconciliation with the fact that I'm never going to be a "popular" writer, and that the novel I'm currently working on will 99% likely never be published. Thankfully, I feel much better about myself on the other side of that wall. Like, we all die in the end, so I might as well spend the time I'm alive enjoying what I write. So that's what I'm doing, and I'm having a great time honestly.

[lassarina]

I think, too, that there's something to be said for chasing your joy whether the goal is to do it for yourself, or publication. There's a sort of vibe when an author is writing to-trend instead of for themself; when an author is deeply into the thing they're writing, it tends to show in a good way. (I'm thinking about how, when I had some friends read over something I've written, the one thing all of them said was "lean into the trope more, that's what we're all here for." And indeed, I had been trying to mute that trope a little because of a lingering sense of "well nobody seriously wants to read that," except! That was the whole idea of the story!

So. I endorse embracing the joy of the thing regardless.