577 days later…

Hello, internet.

It’s been 577 days since my last blog post.  Here’s what has happened since then…

• I got pretty involved with the indie comics scene, connected with some awesome creators, and had a few short one-shots I wrote get published in some small press anthologies.  I really love writing comic scripts and collaborating with artists, colorists, and letterers.  Just a really fun medium to work in.
• I also started a few other creative projects which, sadly, didn’t come to fruition for one reason or another.  These projects included co-writing a few long-form comic series, joining the “writer’s room” for an audio drama podcast, and landing some small voice acting gigs.  I still have hopes that a few of these will work out, but 2016 seemed to be a rough year for almost everyone.
• My job situation got to be pretty stressful, resulting in 12+ hour workdays.  That, plus a growing sense of loneliness after living on my own in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, pushed me to start looking for a new job.
• In June 2016, I came to terms with the fact that I was queer and sank into a months-long depression as I agonized over how my family would respond.
• I spent most of my free time on a LGBT+ internet forums finding support, making friends, and exploring what it meant for me to be queer yet Christian.
• I came out as bisexual to my older sister (and brother-in-law) on August 13th, to my brother on September 5th, and to my parents on September 11th.
• One of the aforementioned internet friendships became my first full-fledged relationship (albeit a long distance one) as I fell for a woman who lived 2,000 miles away.  She supported me through my awful work situation and as I navigated what it meant for me to be out to my family; and I supported her as she struggled with gender dysphoria and the loss of a dear friend from suicide.
• My uncle passed away.
• My grandma passed away.
• My niece was born and I became a first-time aunt.
• I visited my girlfriend on two separate week-long trips — once in March and again in May.
• I got a new job in a different city, so I ended up buying and moving into a new house with my sister, brother-in-law, and newborn niece.
• My girlfriend and I broke up two weeks after I had moved and three weeks before she left for a life-changing surgery out of the country.  We ended things on good terms and with the intention of remaining friends; we still had love for each other, but ultimately wanted different things in life.  But unfortunately, that didn’t spare me from the utter heartbreak at the loss of what we had.
• I am slowly creeping out of my introvert cave, exploring what this new city has to offer, and feeling a bit more free to live as myself.

All in all, the past year and a half has been an absolute rollercoaster.  There have been amazing highs and devastating lows.  But, hey, that’s life, isn’t it?

It feels good to be back.  I hope to return to posting somewhat frequently, now that things seem to be settling down.

Here’s to the next 577 days!  They may bring joy, they may bring pain; but whatever may come, I’ll just keep moving forward…

From Solitude to Collaboration: What a Crazy Month It Has Been

Wow.  What a crazy month it’s been!  Sorry I’ve been gone for so long —  I’ll try not to do it again.

This month-long absence was started out of woe.  If you follow my blog, you likely saw that I had a bit of a bad day near the end of June.  That unfortunately spread to a few weeks of depression.  Not so much the sadness kind as it was just the numbness.  I’m prone to maladaptive daydreaming, and I ended up spending most of the time after work just lying in bed, fantasizing and thinking about nothing of import.

However, some time in the last few weeks, it was as if everything had turned 180 degrees.  I often find solace in geeky obsessions, and during my emotional low-point this month, I had become enthralled with audio drama podcasts.  Though I was determined to be separate from the real world, I found myself immersed in several fictional ones as I listened to these long-form narratives.  Soon, I found myself inspired to do something I hadn’t had the motivation to do in a long time — write!  I started reworking some of my short fiction ideas, and began drafting some new things as well.

Now, I am typically a lone-wolf in most aspects of my life.  But for the first time in my writing “career,” I was interested in finding a writing partner.  I’ve done writing collaborations before, but those were mainly in the sense that we wrote our own separate pieces under a shared framework.  I was interested in working together with someone on a single project.  I figured that since I’m not familiar with certain forms of writing (e.g. scripts for movies, television, comics, and/or audio dramas/radio plays), it would be good to work alongside someone — preferably someone more experienced in these formats than I — who could help me to learn and hone my own craft.

The only problem here was… I had no idea how to find someone like that.

Whether it was through providence or serendipity, I’m not sure.  But one day, out of the blue, I got a private message from a colleague of mine from one of the aforementioned shared world writing collaborations.  He mentioned that he was a fan of my work, and was wondering if I was interested in creating something with him.

Of course I was.  Of course I was!

So here we are now, going into our third week of collaboration, and we have had wonderful brainstorming sessions, the beginnings of some great (if I may say so myself) first draft material, and a very exciting conversation about the involvement of a third-party.  I won’t go too much into it since we are very much in our nascent stage, but this is truly the most excited I’ve been about writing in a while!

As an introvert, I value my alone time.  But sometimes… sometimes I push too hard in one direction.  It’s easy to get stuck in a rut, and even easier to refuse to try to get out of it.  Sometimes I need a kick in the butt, a little push to get me started.  Sure, I may have started off last month at a low-point, but now I’m back on the upswing and looking forward to what’s to come.

A Thrilling podcast review from a normal human blogger

Hi, all my buddies!!!

It’s totally me – Wise the Simple!  Definitely not a strikingly beautiful, super clever spy from glorious Jupiter.

Hey, here’s a fun idea: how ‘bout you head on down to the comments and just, like, tell me all your secrets?  That’s totally something a normal blogger would suggest, right?  ‘Cuz that’s what I am, buddies!  A normal human blogger who’s obviously not, like, a shape-shifting Jupiter spy or anything.

So you take a mo and think of all your secrets.  (Take your time, take your time.)  And while you do that, I’ll let you know about this super cool podcast I’ve been listening to.  Ready?

*Ahem*

(Puts on announcer voice) Kids, shine your astro-spurs and set your radio’s dial to “spooky”, ‘cuz it’s time for a review of…

(via podbay.fm)

The Thrilling Adventure Hour!