Shenaneries | November 2024

Entertainment I’m consuming lately:

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

The Art of Game Design 3rd edition, by Jesse Schell

Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) by writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Marco Checchetto

Caper in the Castro (video game from 1989)

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Greetings writers and readers!

There’s so much going on lately, and I think it’s affecting how I write. I mean this in both positive and negative ways. Listening to more music, figuring out the themes of my book, reading other books to study for my own – all positive things.

Then there’s the negative (don’t worry, I promise I’m not info dumping here): lots of external news going on, a job search that’s lasted forever, surviving the SF Bay Area monsoon season. And you have your own stuff going on!

I’ve spoken with everyone here behind the scenes of this newsletter (Me, my Self, AND I) and we came to the consensus that some of the past issues could have had more focus. A tough ask considering how bad the ADHD is at HQ! But we want to share stories and focus on writing tools for your own toolkit. Whether you are writing fiction or a technical manual, there is always something we can learn to help improve ourselves.

We want to encourage you to try things that will work for you through trial and error, like I have been.

The following pages contain Flash Fiction you can read during this holiday season. There will not be an issue for December so you can focus on your own community and family

Happy Holidays!

Shenaneries | October 2024

October is here! And so is an actual issue of my newsletter, Shenaneries.

Last month I had to take a break from practically everything. And boy-howdy was that needed. This month, however, I’m back.

The biggest thing is a story that happened to me in October 14th. That was only a couple of weeks ago. And I’m trying out both the written word and video. And sure, you could read it HERE. Or you could read it on my Tumblr page. Or watch me read it out loud in nature (below).

I also wanted to make a video about my burnout, which you can optionally check out below.

Thank you once again for being patient with me and my burnout. I am getting back to writing and hope to create some content just for you (dear reader) whenever this comes out. And I hope to experiment more with this digital platform and what a zine can do as far as entertainment and relaying information to an audience.

Please be safe today! For next month, please join me in national novel writing month*. I’ve created a new outline (said every writer ever) and will be playing catchup on my goal of 90K words.

* This is not going to be abbreviated to NaNoWriMo except for here, and for this explanation. The company that began the novel writing month competition has been a dumpster fire since last year and I don’t want to create any sort of relation to them.

Shenaneries | September 2024

Letter from the (burned out) editor

Greetings!

I want to open this by thanking you for your continued interest in this weird little zine-like experiment. The act of creation is a beautifully chaotic thing that comes in many different platforms. And I set out to write about and better understand this process, at least for myself.

That being said, this month I have been dealing with burnout. As a result, all of the plans I had queued up simply have not gotten done. Writing my book, any film projects, and even this newsletter. It’s all paused until I can work through the Burnout of 2024™️.

As a writer, this is a bummer. This lack of ability to write and draw and tell stories isn’t a great feeling. But the last thing I want to do is give up on this. I’m generally an optimistic person.

So I’ve made the decision to continue my self care and continue this newsletter and writing in due time. I’ve put down the Emotional Armor™️ and will go into Burnout Recovery Mode (that one doesn’t get a ™️ because I want a better title).

So while I’m working on my Self Care, let me encourage you to do something creative in your own life. Whether it’s coding something cool, photographing a sunset, or reading a cozy mystery novel, it’s something that enriches your brain and keeps you thinking.

See you next month!

Stuff I’m enjoying

To end this on a positive note, let’s list off a few things that are bringing me joy. I hope you can vibe with anything from this list.

It’s Fall y’all! Check out this playlist for the autumn vibes: Witchy Fall Vibes.

I’be been reading A Theory of Fun. Both because I’m getting into coding, but also… it’s just fun!

One of my best friends and certified Writing Buddy™️ has gotten me to play Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team. There’s an emulator on the Switch that has Red version. And I absolutely love this game! I’m about to finish this one and want to get the DX version next.

Shenaneries | August 2024

Letter from the editor

Things don’t always go as planned. And that’s exactly what happened this month toward the end.

I had all kinds of things to talk about, but that all came to a crashing halt when I tried a new piece of software. Looking back it all seems to good to be true. Affinity Publisher and the two other pieces of software they have are on a 6 month trial basis. Which sounds great except for a bug.

This bug won’t allow me to save my file. And if I try to Save As, regardless of folder location, nothing happens. So Affinity Publisher is useless to me.

I was two days into creating the third issue of my newsletter when all of this occurred. So only a couple of things were really written down.

This issue is a testament to how frustrating life gets sometimes, and how we persevere and move on. There’s a couple of things in this issue, one of which is a short non-fiction story recounting a film gig that took up three weekends of my life.

The act of creation is sometimes fickle. Other times it’s generous as hell. I’ll have another issue next month, with some writing advice and other things carried over. Until then, please enjoy a thin version of this one.

Shenaneries | July 2024

Welcome to Issue 2 of Shenaneries!

I have more this month to offer. But if all you want is to read and see what else I’ve cobbled together, the newsletter is below. Otherwise, see what else I have below.

In the rest of the blog post I have: a copy of my newsletter, a first draft (be warned) of a short film screenplay, a couple of experimental videos, and credits.

I’ve been working on this script for a little while now. It’s something I developed earlier this year. I should really start talking about it in a future issue, but right now the big idea is that it focuses on grief. First drafts have always been a source of anxiety for me for many reasons. But I’m putting my work out there day one now. There’s no better way to become a better writer than to ask for feedback – though as you know from the newsletter, I’m trying to be more specific now.

Grief, a short film | version 1.0

One of two videos in this little experiment. Nothing too exciting this time around. But maybe next time...

credits

In the newsletter I mention several people. But I cannot provide links within the PDF (not yet, anyway). So below is the list of people who provided ideas or photos.

Maggie Stiefvater, writer | website

Vanessa Parham | Instagram

Percival Kish, writer | coined the term Character Blender

Shenaneries | June 2024

Greetings!

Thank you for taking a chance with this new idea of mine.

I am an aspiring writer who is trying to get their name and work out into the world. I have seen many newsletters, and personally stick with the ones that have variety. That's what this one intends to do.

Here are the expectations I hope to set:

* The first issue gives an introduction to the world that most of my stories will inhabit. Updates will follow each subsequent issue.

* My updates will be surrounded by other personal works; poetry, short stories, comics, doodles, photography. We're going for zine vibes.

* Dissections of books and other forms of entertainment. If I'm going to become a better writer, I need to know how other writers and influences do their craft well.

In this overly minimalistic world, we ought to celebrate the works-in-progress, the corrections, and the down right silly stuff we come up with while creating works of art.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and the newsletter itself. You are the start of an amazing community of readers and thinkers. Now go and enjoy the craziness!

--Josie Sweeney