2024 has been a really big year for me. On a personal note, I got married, which was amazing, as was the New Zealand honeymoon. I’ve also been studying communication and marketing online, which is good for future career goals, but has unfortunately caused some of my writing projects to be paused, mainly last year’s NaNoWriMo novel Amanidas. More on that in a second. I’ve also become somewhat disillusioned with humanity after certain events that have happened in the world, but I’m hardly alone in that.

This post though will focus mostly on things I’ve written, and things I’ve read, since I know that is a lot more interesting than my personal life. Let’s start with the first.

Amanidas

Some of you may remember me talking about this project last year. I even posted an excerpt HERE. Since then I have written more of this story, and changed the working title to ROBOT TOWN. It’s a story about a little girl living on a remote colony on a deserted moon orbiting a far away gas giant, with only robots and animals for company. I suppose it is a bit of a SF Junglebook. One day, a stranger from one of the more populated moons shows up and drops some bombshells about her past and the world beyond her moon. This causes all hell to break loose.

Unfortunately, I have had to pause this novel for now, due to my study and some other projects I’m committed to. However, I’m hoping to get back to work on Robot Town early next year.

Short Stories

This has been an exciting year in regards to my short stories. Only one new story has been published; A Short Guide to Lost Literary Works, which was published in the Winter 2024 issue of New Maps. This is a flash fiction story about someone who has survived the end of our civilization writing about lost literature so future generations can know what has been lost. I’m quite happy with the story, and New Maps is a great home for it.

Whilst Short Guide was the only story published, it was not the only story sold. I have sold FOUR stories this year, including Short Guide. One of these I’ve been encouraged to share the news, though I cannot provide an expected date; Anything Not Impossible has been picked up by Kaleidotrope, which I’m really pumped about. The other two I’m not going to give away too much info yet, just that one is going to be in a new magazine around next May, and the other has been picked up for an anthology about sidekicks and minions. Next year is going to be a big year for me story-wise. Fingers crossed I can make even more sales.

The Submission Grinder over at Diabolical Plots has been a gamechanger for me, making it so much easier to find new short fiction markets and keep track of who’s accepting submissions and where I’ve submitted my different stories to. And nope, this isn’t a sponsorship, I just really like the grinder. And also the short fiction Diabolical Plots publish. Check them out HERE.

I currently have eleven fiction pieces that I’m managing with the Submission Grinder. This year I submitted these stories a total of 49 times, getting 39 form rejections, 4 personal rejections, and 4 acceptances. At least as of writing. There are more stories out there that I am waiting on a response for, which is why the numbers don’t quite add up.

The World of Green and Black

For those who enjoyed Neighbour, the good news is that I do have a new novella set in the same world, titled The Strongest in the Forest, completed, though it still needs a decent amount of editing. I’m hoping to get that editing done soon and draw some good illustrations so I can post it early next year. This story is set hundreds of years before Neighbour, and follows Different’s mentor Strongest as she meets those strange aliens called humans for the first time.

I’ve been making a lot of art for this world. My long term goal is to make a World of Green and Black Bestiary. Looking back, I actually mentioned this back in April, with the promise to upload creatures ‘soon’, but unfortunately life got in the way. To make up for that, I’m going to start posting a featured creature every month, but for now enjoy a currently unnamed predator.

Gaming Stuff

I entered my first Ocarina of Time Randomizer Tournament, the Scrubs Season 6 tournament. I entered in the Minuet Division (The lowest ranking division) and ended up placing third, which I’m happy with.

I started streaming on Twitch for two reasons. First, I love speedrunning and randomizers. I got into the Ocarina of Time Randomizer in a big way, and it made sense to stream playing it. Second, I have a lot of social anxiety, so publicly broadcasting myself seemed like a good way to fight against that. The Twitch channel has never been a priority for me, but it has been important for these reasons.

Entering the Scrubs Tournament was the next step for the Twitch channel. I’ve gotten fairly decent at OoT, and I was ready to break out of my shell more and try to make some friends. I’m happy with how I went on both fronts; I played well, and I met a lot of great people. As of writing, other divisions of the Scrubs Tournament are still going, and you can check out Scrubs Central for more races and a community that is very welcoming to newer players.

Next step is to branch out and play more randomizers. I’ve had a go at the Banjo-Kazooie rando, and I’m looking to do a Pokémon rando soon. Eventually, I want to run some multi-world, multi-game randomizers with other people (just been introduced to Archipelego.) I also have a goal for next year to get better at Ocarina of Time, to the point where I can complete a 100% glitchless run of the game in one sitting. I think I can do it, though there are going to be new parts of the game for me to learn. I’m looking forward to the challenge, and it’d be great to see some of you over at my twitch while I’m working on it.

Reading

I’ve read a lot of great books this year. Stand outs written in 2024 include The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark and Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle. Both absolutely amazing stories. I’ve also read a few classics this year; Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka hit me pretty hard. Moving away from fiction, I read The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich, and damn, that was a hard read. Hard but important. It’s an oral history of women who fought in the Red Army during WWII, and damn, some of the things they went through were just horrific.

On a lighter note though, my husband and I listened to the audiobook of The Hobbit while driving around New Zealand, and the day after we finished was when we went to Hobbiton. It was a highlight of the honeymoon, and truly a special experience to be able to enjoy a book together, and then actually step into the world.

This year, as always, I gave myself two reading challenges. A 50 book target at Goodreads, and a book bingo card. Like last year, I didn’t really push these goals too much, which is fine as I’ve been doing other important things, but also not fine, since there are just so many books I want to read, and new stories coming out all the time that I am missing. As of writing, I have read 35 books, and my book bingo card looks like this:

I could still get a bingo, I just need to read a weird fiction book or a book from the 80s by the end of the year. And I have Cujo by Stephen King on my bookshelf. Looks like I’m going to finish the year with a horror classic.

I’ll also spend the next couple of weeks making a new Book Bingo card for 2025, and this time I want to play hard and fill it.

Cute Animals

I cannot finish this wrap up post without sharing a picture of my cat Knight. Also, I have to show off my frog pond, which is currently full of tadpoles.

It has been a lot of fun watching these tadpoles grow. If they are Striped Marsh Frogs, I’ll have another 8-12 months of watching them swim around. Though, I am getting to the point where I need to put in a bit more work on the ponds – the water celery is growing like crazy and needs to be trimmed back a bit. Still, seems the frogs like what I’ve made. I’m extremely lucky to have a backyard where I can make something like this, and I want to make my home a better habitat for the native wildlife.

And finally, I cannot finish this post without showing off my cat Knight. Here he is with our Pokémon Christmas tree.

And with that, I’m signing off for the year. Have a happy holidays everyone, and I’ll see you next month for more stories and reading challenges.

See You All in 2025!

~ Jayde