2025 Writing Log, Part Ten

[rynling]

- First and foremost: I published an article titled “Seven Intriguing Video Game Sewer Levels” on Sidequest (here). This was a labor of love that made me very happy, and I’m excited to share it.

- I finished the third and fourth (out of six) sections of my essay “In Praise of Moss.” In this part of the essay, I connect how moss benefits its ecosystem with how disability benefits society. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t gladly snap my fingers and make my own disability disappear; but still, a barrier-free society is a nice place to live for everyone. I also collected a bunch of free-to-use nature photography.

- I finished and edited an original short story called “Prunus Daemoniacus,” which is about being romanced by the spirit of an old cherry tree that’s bloomed for the first time in decades because of climate change. Idk, sometimes I just really need to write about magical lesbians and flowers.

- Speaking of which, I finished the first draft of my “Urban Gardening with Aerith Gainsborough” story. Instead of commissioning someone, I think I’d like to make my own illustration.

- I commissioned Cantea (on VGen here) to create an illustration for my FFVII Aerith/Tifa story “Five Minutes in the Future” (here). Cantea posted her cute and lovely illustration (here) on Twitter, and I shared a cropped version on Tumblr (here) along with a promo for my story.

- I finally wrapped up (and edited) Chapter Three of The Last Green Knight, a Zelda x Arthurian legend crossover. This puts me halfway through the story and on track to finish by the big bang deadline.

- I posted a short essay about Chapter Seven of An Unfound Door, an original gothic fantasy novel, on my public-facing blog (here). The chapter preview features an atmospheric illustration by the heroic Silverpeel, who is coincidentally the creator of my favorite Gawain & The Green Knight illustrations, like (this one).

- I also posted about Chapter Eight (here). This chapter preview has a gorgeous illustration of the main character, Agnes, in a candlelit library created by the magical Emily-E-Draws. Emily does fantastic Zelda art (like this), and I’d been looking for an excuse to commission her for years. The experience was just as wonderful as I’d imagined it would be.

- I feel so honored to work with these artists. Even if this novel never gets picked up by an agent, I can rest easy knowing that I still managed to create something beautiful and unique.

- In any case, the book’s page on my blog (here) is now complete! Which means it’s time to stop procrastinating and start sending queries.

- I started working on a drawing of a cherry blossom Korok for the March of the Koroks art event (here), which is open for submissions until March 25.

- In the meantime, I finally got around to finishing a self-indulgent drawing of Ganondorf in trashy mid-2000s fashion. It’s on Tumblr (here) if you’re curious.

I’m still recovering my strength from being sick for so long, but thankfully, this week I graduated from writing entire sentences to writing entire paragraphs. Slow but steady! 🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

Comments

[lassarina]

Recovering from illness takes SO long. (Also, A+ to reduction of barriers generally.)

[rynling]

Funny story! While I was sick, my corgi gained weight, and the Pomeranian stopped being housebroken. My students forgot how to read. I missed a minor deadline, and now one of my editors isn't returning my emails. I caught one little cold, and I'm still cleaning up the fallout weeks later. Everyone likes to make fun of Millennials for saying "adulting is hard," but goddamn.

[lassarina]

Adulting is hard, damn it. +waves tiny picket sign+ (My mother gave me a wooden plaque that says "I'm an adult, but not, like, a real adult" and I have it prominently displayed on my bookshelf.)

That's so much to catch up on :( I'm so sorry!