2024 Writing Log, Part Fourteen
Apr. 13th, 2024 11:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynling- I finished the first half of Chapter 16 of An Unfound Door, an original gothic fantasy novel. I love romanticizing death and decay in fiction, but this chapter is about one of the main characters painfully processing his grief that his homeland has been destroyed. Mercifully, his sense of loss is leavened by the fact that he once spent most of his time trying to leave… and also by me romanticizing decay. There are a lot of flowers in this chapter.
- I wrote an outline and the first 2/5 of a story about the Gerudo archaeologist Rotana for the Legend of Zelda fanzine Residents of the Wild. Personally speaking, I’m obsessed with the “Seven Heroines” quests in BOTW+TOTK, but the point of this story is that most of the people in Gerudo Town really don’t care about that sort of ancient history. I spent literally half an hour brainstorming sand seal puns.
- Miraculously! I was accepted as a writer for the 13 Days Halloween zine!! This week I wrote my first piece for them, a mock newspaper article about demons invading New Jersey. The joke is that it’s New Jersey, and no one cares.
- I put together an annotated table of contents for my upcoming short fiction zine, Strange Things Happen in Philadelphia. Hopefully I found a cover artist as well. Fingers crossed!
- I wrote a short review of the four-volume manga series Glitch for Women Write About Comics. This review won’t be published until June, probably, but for now let me say that Glitch is one of the most objectively interesting + most “made for an audience of me specifically” manga I’ve encountered in a long time. I’m thrilled that it’s being translated into English. The artist, Shima Shinya, is a big Star Wars nerd in the best possible way, by which I mean they’re a fan of Rouge One. They very clearly have a crush on Riz Ahmed, and the way they draw him is highly amusing to me. Like sure, give him Lucifer wings, go ahead, treat yourself. Teasing aside, their art is amazing, and Glitch is a fantastic manga.
- I wrote another mini-review for WWAC about Chris McMorran’s Ryokan: Mobilizing Hospitality in Rural Japan. This is an academic monograph, but it doesn’t read like one. McMorran spent more than a year working in a rural onsen hotel while he was in grad school, and he kept checking back in with everyone over the next ten years. McMorran is a professional anthropologist who’s interested in issues relating to class and gender, but he also comes off as an extremely kind and sensitive person who knows how to tell a good story.
- Because I will never get tired of sakura, I drew a flowering branch of cherry blossoms and posted it on Tumblr (here). I should probably stop it with the sakura drawings for this year. But there is always next year!!
- Earlier this week I was looking for cute corgi stickers that aren’t drawn in an anthro style, but I couldn’t find any. So I made two designs myself. Even with Photoshop’s line smoothing settings, I can’t draw a smooth line to save my life, so I kind of suck at this style of graphic design. Still, I think these turned out okay. I might put the designs on Redbubble eventually, but for the time being they’re on Tumblr (here).
- I’m still working on a larger botanical illustration. I made some good progress this week. Slow but steady.
This is the point in the spring semester when everyone is ready to die. For whatever reason, I’m actually doing okay this year. I’m doing my best to be kind to my students and supportive of my colleagues. I’m also trying to touch as much grass as possible. I ordered a Steam Deck, and all bets on me going outside are off once it arrives.
- I wrote an outline and the first 2/5 of a story about the Gerudo archaeologist Rotana for the Legend of Zelda fanzine Residents of the Wild. Personally speaking, I’m obsessed with the “Seven Heroines” quests in BOTW+TOTK, but the point of this story is that most of the people in Gerudo Town really don’t care about that sort of ancient history. I spent literally half an hour brainstorming sand seal puns.
- Miraculously! I was accepted as a writer for the 13 Days Halloween zine!! This week I wrote my first piece for them, a mock newspaper article about demons invading New Jersey. The joke is that it’s New Jersey, and no one cares.
- I put together an annotated table of contents for my upcoming short fiction zine, Strange Things Happen in Philadelphia. Hopefully I found a cover artist as well. Fingers crossed!
- I wrote a short review of the four-volume manga series Glitch for Women Write About Comics. This review won’t be published until June, probably, but for now let me say that Glitch is one of the most objectively interesting + most “made for an audience of me specifically” manga I’ve encountered in a long time. I’m thrilled that it’s being translated into English. The artist, Shima Shinya, is a big Star Wars nerd in the best possible way, by which I mean they’re a fan of Rouge One. They very clearly have a crush on Riz Ahmed, and the way they draw him is highly amusing to me. Like sure, give him Lucifer wings, go ahead, treat yourself. Teasing aside, their art is amazing, and Glitch is a fantastic manga.
- I wrote another mini-review for WWAC about Chris McMorran’s Ryokan: Mobilizing Hospitality in Rural Japan. This is an academic monograph, but it doesn’t read like one. McMorran spent more than a year working in a rural onsen hotel while he was in grad school, and he kept checking back in with everyone over the next ten years. McMorran is a professional anthropologist who’s interested in issues relating to class and gender, but he also comes off as an extremely kind and sensitive person who knows how to tell a good story.
- Because I will never get tired of sakura, I drew a flowering branch of cherry blossoms and posted it on Tumblr (here). I should probably stop it with the sakura drawings for this year. But there is always next year!!
- Earlier this week I was looking for cute corgi stickers that aren’t drawn in an anthro style, but I couldn’t find any. So I made two designs myself. Even with Photoshop’s line smoothing settings, I can’t draw a smooth line to save my life, so I kind of suck at this style of graphic design. Still, I think these turned out okay. I might put the designs on Redbubble eventually, but for the time being they’re on Tumblr (here).
- I’m still working on a larger botanical illustration. I made some good progress this week. Slow but steady.
This is the point in the spring semester when everyone is ready to die. For whatever reason, I’m actually doing okay this year. I’m doing my best to be kind to my students and supportive of my colleagues. I’m also trying to touch as much grass as possible. I ordered a Steam Deck, and all bets on me going outside are off once it arrives.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-15 04:08 pm (UTC)I spent literally half an hour brainstorming sand seal puns I love this for you.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-20 11:29 am (UTC)I don't really follow any gaming websites anymore, so I haven't heard a lot of people talking about this console. I have to thank you for writing about it and recommending it, because I am in love.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-22 09:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-22 10:01 pm (UTC)I still love it though, mainly for the exact same draconic hoarding instinct.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-22 10:09 pm (UTC)pay no attention to the shelves and hard drives full of games....