Elaine's Q4 2024 Report ⛄️
Hello friends! It’s that time of year again. The advent calendars have been emptied, great quantities of chocolate consumed, and my kid’s Christmas Lego sets built. There is nothing left to do but rest and relax catch up on chores. :(
Looking back
The past three months was a blur of drafting and cons. I’ve also started going in regularly to the office for my day job, which I don’t hate as much as I thought I would. It is an adjustment, however, as one has to suddenly be conscious of one’s appearance again. I have a face and body?? This is news to me.
I enjoyed World Fantasy, although I stuck to my hotel room outside of panels because I was afraid of getting sick for Can-Con. Also, a couple of TV stations were playing horror movies non-stop due to Halloween. Is 7:30am too early for Saw? Not during spooky season.
Can-Con was a blast, as usual. I had the good fortune of being on a lively panel about “Living a More Relaxed Creative Life”, with Lydia M. Hawke, Vanessa Ricci-Thode, and Madona Skaff, where we came up with some useful tips:
Give yourself permission to let go.
When it comes to sunk cost fallacy, again, you can let go. Feel free to put aside a project that’s not working for you.
People often stress about their productivity due to identity issues. You’re still a writer if you’re not writing. Also, it’s important to have other interests, so writing isn’t your core identity.
Friends are important, but you should also be a friend to yourself.
Eat the cookie while you’re doing the task, instead of rewarding yourself with it afterward, so that you don’t face that time with dread.
SLEEP.
I also admitted to putting everything in my Google calendar, even showering, in order to reduce decision fatigue.
Things I loved
If you’re looking for an alternative to NaNoWriMo’s tools, TrackBear tracks your word count, and also lets you create goals and set up leaderboards with friends. It’s completely free, but I encourage you to tip the developer via Ko-fi if you can because it’s a really good service.
Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret. Another fun mystery from Benjamin Stevenson, which plays on the tropes but also keeps you guessing. Novella-length, as he cheekily points out that Christmas specials are usually shorter.
I’m finally all caught up with the Scream franchise. Scream 2 had convinced me I didn't like slashers, but over twenty years later, now I have more context, my mind is completely changed. I have a new appreciation for Sidney Prescott, and I enjoyed the “requels” twist on the Final Girl.
Interior Chinatown, based on the fantastic novel by Charles Yu. I felt the secondary characters’ subplots took away from the main story, but Diana Lin is marvelous as Willis’s fragile but ambitious mother, and Ronny Chieng is always a delight as the asshole friend.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew’s earnest family-friendliness is not for everyone, but my kid and I (the target demographic) are enjoying it a lot.
I’ve only seen two episodes of Squid Game S2 so far, and it’s already pulling no punches. I’m still thinking about the park scene in “Bread and Lottery” and the electric performance by Gong Yoo, who plays the recruiter. (Western audiences will recognize him as the star of Train to Busan.)
I’ve started listening to Michael Palin’s diaries and am awed by his pithy powers of observation. It very much explains how he found the absurd in the everyday, as a member of Monty Python, and later found success as a travel host and writer.
Looking forward
I’ll be going off social media in January to get work done on something I can’t talk about yet. (It is regretfully appalling what a hiatus does for one’s mental health and productivity.)
Lunar New Year is on January 29 in 2025, so if you find it hard to stick to your new year resolutions, you can always start again at the end of the month! Kung hey fat choy, or as Ronnie Chieng translates, HOPE YOU GET RICH.
Virtual Can-Con is in April!
As is the Toronto Indie Author Conference. Early bird pricing ends tonight (Dec 31)!
Happy new year, and wishing you and yours all the best for 2025!
Elaine