✷ hey y'all ✷

i hope you're all staying cozy and being gentle with yourselves. what a weird time to be alive. it feels like eons ago now because of pandemic time distortion, but i'm relieved that trump lost the election (can't say i'm at all enthusiastic about biden, but what are ya gonna do). all the four seasons total landscaping memes and gritty memes gave me a much needed chuckle, especially after doom-scrolling through facebook, finding out which relatives were unwittingly rooting for my untimely demise (really only barely an exaggeration, fuck trump). but i digress! i'm here, i'm busy, i'm trying to take deep breaths and keep myself grounded in the chaos that is the holiday season.

november has been incredibly productive in terms of work, but it's been difficult in terms of mental health. this year is bizarre, for numerous reasons, but it's the first year i've ever been self-employed during the holidays. this means i've been able to stay really on top of my shop, but it also means i have to remember not to be a shitty boss to myself. etsy has been keeping me very busy and i'm super grateful, but i've also been finding myself working at a frenzied pace to try and get everything done, which is the quickest path to burn out for me. it's a delicate balance. so uh, who else is a workaholic here? gotta love that internalized capitalism.

✷ zine news ✷

i am so painfully close to being finished and ready to test print my nonbinary zine! i settled on, "how to support your non-binary family member" for the title (still long, but it's to the point). i taught myself enough indesign to muddle through the layout and it's clocking in at a hefty 52 pages, which was my initial estimate. all i have left to do is place some images and finalize the cover art. my work on this zine is approaching the 5 month mark, and i'm hopeful i'll be launching a preorder for it sometime in december. i'm planning on printing it from home, which is going to be a ridiculous undertaking, so if you know any small presses who'd like to publish a resource on nonbinary gender for families, i'm all ears.

✷ shop updates & art updates ✷

my etsy update is fully up! i've added new stickers, zine bundles, sticker bundles, and a pen pal pack that comes with everything you need to send a letter to someone. it includes assorted stationery with my art on it, a handmade envelope, an envelope template tutorial, a forever stamp and a zine about pen pal-ing. i've wanted to put something like this together for a while, so i'm stoked to finally put it out there.

i have one more print i'll be adding to the shop, which i've just sent to all my patrons as a holiday gift (did i mention how grateful i am to have patrons???). i wanted to show y'all before the general public gets to see. i've added some new stuff to redbubble too (they have all kinds of sales this time of year).

i'm really proud of this illustration, i feel like i'm witnessing the skill payoff of drawing more regularly (even though i've definitely fallen off my drawing-every-morning routine). this art will be available as a 5x7 in the next few days. i have some small drawings in the works that i hope to finish when i get done with commissioned work, i'd like to make them into prints and/or stickers.

✷ fucking hooray ✷

this month i'm grateful for any night where i slept for more than 4 hours consecutively. i'm thankful to have pen pals because snail mail often makes my day. i'm grateful for the ability to daydream, which is something i've been doing a lot. i was talking to my therapist about how the pandemic is undoing all of my driving progress (tl;dr i have intense freeway driving anxiety) and she was like, "yea, but what if it doesn't? what if this just motivates you to take the leap when you can travel again?" it blew my mind. so i've been practicing visualizing things working out ever since (what a concept). sometimes my slingshotting moods make it difficult, but i'm trying not to ruminate on every worst case scenario.

my good friend facetimed me while his partner shaved his head recently, and it sounds so silly but it brought me a lot of joy. i'm trying to remember that we all have these wacky future phones and i can literally see far flung friends i love face to face, even if we can't be together in person.

that's all i have for now. i hope this finds you well.

love, alyssa

~ past perzine newsletters ~