Status Update

A tough ask. I’m only checking in because I feel bad for leaving this site neglected for two months. This has been a strange period. Although I’m constantly doing stuff — writing and drawing — I feel like I’m getting nowhere, and I’ve nothing to show for all the hours sank into my hobbies.

I would love to blame this on Real Life Shit, but I can’t. Real Life has been equally slow and unremarkable.

The true culprit is Baldur’s Gate 3, which I still play daily, and which still occupies my mind pretty much 24/7. Unlike my other fandom experiences (I’m looking at you, dear Darksiders), BG3 seems to be… well… not so good for me?

Devoured by Baldur’s Gate 3

What it says on the label, darlings. I picked up BG3 in the first week of September and haven’t been able to drop it for more than a couple hours at a time since. It so happened that I was kind of bed-ridden in this period due to trivial but annoying illness, allowing me unprecedented levels of unchecked obsessing. And here I am, at last, to tell you all about it. (The obsession, not the actual game. Shocking, I know.)

Writing for Duck Prints Press!

Back in June, I submitted a story proposal for the Many Hands anthology of polyamorous erotica by Duck Prints Press. I’m a bit late to report that the proposal has been accepted, and I’ve been working on the story every day since!

It’s Here and it’s Hefty

This is really news from June, which I forgot to post amidst the excitement regarding original fiction stuff. For the first time in years, I ordered a physical copy of a book, and of course, it’s the book. I took pains to get my hands on this specific edition, for the sake of the cover, and it meant waiting a good long while for the delivery. I didn’t expect it to be so fat! “A fat juicy masterpiece” nails it.

It’s odd to be reading a physical book. I can’t highlight a selection to save it, and I can’t click on a word for an instant dictionary definition. I’ll admit that a physical book gives better progress feedback, and is able to embody certain sentiments that you can’t really attach to a file. Otherwise, however, it’s a vastly inferior experience.

Which isn’t to say I regret the purchase or the wait. My main reason to get the physical copy, at least as far as I could rationalize it, was that the digital edition misses some words! But really, I just wanted to be able to, like, hug it. Yeah.

Under Her Wing: submitted for publishing!

Almost six years after winning NaNo 2017 with the draft of the novel Under Her Wing, the first work of original fiction I completed since my teens, I finally finished rewriting it, and submitted it to a publisher. And not just any publisher! OFIC magazine specializes in publishing original fiction written by fanfiction writers. It’s a perfect match, but more importantly, it means they’re my tribe, and that made both the decision and the process so much easier than it would’ve been otherwise.

Books of 2023, part 1

It’s not even June yet, and I’ve already read 25 books. If I keep this up, I might reach the unprecedented count of 50 books in a year! This is the first time I’ve had reason to split my yearly reading report in two parts, and it feels good.