STATE OF THE JEANNE

Valerie Halla, an artist I follow on Patreon, has recently been doing
process posts about her ongoing projects and how they've developed.
She's been very open about the difficulty of keeping up her original
ambitious plans and adjusting her projects to things she can actually
finish, and I find that super relatable.

There's a real struggle for ADHD/autistic/otherwise brainweird creators
where we keep starting new projects, getting super excited about them,
burning out completely and then only being able to get back onboard by
starting a new project, where the cycle continues. I've been slowly
learning better to manage that, but it's been a real struggle what with
juggling that with writing for my academic career and wrestling with the
academic job market, which is a whole other job in and of itself.
There's also winter depression, COVID depression, politics depression,
trans depression... So yeah.

But! I've been gradually getting better and better at this. Writing The
Hermetic Garbage of Jenny Everywhere has been a real turning point in
terms of just being able to Get Stuff Done on a consistent level. I'm
hoping that, whatever happens in the world/my life, I'll be able to
carry this forward into the new year.

And I've really been encouraged by the little burst of activity we're
having now. It's exciting to have new posts from Dave Van Domelen,
Amabel Holland and Ben Rawluk again, even as I'm still so busy it's hard
to keep up.

So with that in mind, I'm going to do a brief inventory of my own on the
various RACC stories I started, where I'm going with them and how soon
they'll (probably) get done.

THE HERMETIC GARBAGE OF JENNY EVERYWHERE:

This is my current #1 priority and it's been amazing in terms of
progress. My big reason for writing this was to learn to just keep
writing consistently no matter what, and it's worked. I have a backlog
of posts because I have stretches where I write a bunch at once, and
that allows me to revise it a little bit as necessary. The story as a
whole is currently 5/6 or so done, I'm hammering out the climax of it
right now.

HUNGRY, HUNGRY SABERTOOTHS:

This is also slowly but surely getting closer to done. Drew and I are
working out how to do the ending, refining ideas we've had earlier. It's
been hard to figure out how to satisfyingly end a story that began as a
reflection of the general state of the world when it's been spiraling so
much out of control, but we have a good idea of the general shape of it now.

THE LIMINALS:

The next issue of The Liminals is mostly written and will go out
whenever HHS is done (because I don't want to mess up the timeline even
more than it already was).

VICTORY:

This is probably the series I'll get back to soonest. Writing the next
couple issues has been hard for the exact reasons it's important to me:
it gets into deep feelings about being queer and trans and about
superhero stories. It took a while to figure out how to write this issue
in a way that worked, but now I have. I will get the next few issues out
whenever I get to a lull in my work load.

LNH20/JUST IMAGINE/ULTIMATE MERCENARY:

After finishing HHS, Drew and I mean to take a crack at finshing the
Spoon of Destiny saga and Just Imagine at long last, as part of a big
initiative I like to call "LNH20+10: You Can (Not) Finish the Story".
The final issues of Spoon and Destiny are partially written. I also will
be working on wrapping up Ultimate Mercenary's story with an
appropriately titled limited series called "The Last Days of Ultimate
Mercenary," which will be written in short and frequent posts similarly
to THGJE. It will finally wrap up his story after, Jesus Christ, almost
20 years.

As for the present and future of LNH20, well, that's all very up in the
air. I know Drew has ideas about how to wrap up the Age of WHATEVER arc,
but we'll see how that all turns out in the end. LNH20 was heavily
planned out in its early stages and then we collectively switched to
playing it by ear when that didn't work out. I honestly think that's
part of why LNH20 is so fun right now--after all this time, it's still
in the process of discovering itself.

CHICKS IN SPACE/RETCON YEAR:

Both of these stories I have really fun ideas for and want to get back
to, but it might be a while because well, you can see I have a lot of
stuff on my plate both in and out of LNH. Luckily, they both should be
easier now that I'm used to writing in the structure of writing in
shorter bursts.

TERRA ALTER:

The story will conclude for now in backup stories in upcoming issues of
Victory, after which I have a couple other ideas for how to continue it.
Likely it'll be in self-contained shorter stories which add up to a
greater whole.

STAR CROSSED:

IDK if anyone other than me even remembers this, but those characters
mean a lot to to me, so it will exist definitely in some form. But it
probably won't be called that anymore. There are now too many stories
using that title. Ah well.

LNHY/DEATH OF TROPHY WIFE:

God only knows where this is going. Well, He doesn't, because He's dead.
I know Drew has some other partially written issues. My feeling is when
this story is over, that should be the end of LNHY, and it works better
as a story with a definitive end. But... Anything's possible, I guess.
Even finishing off Death of Trophy Wife.

Besides all this, I have other stories that may or may not end up being
posted here, but I'll wait to say anything about that until I can do
that. For now, I just want to thank everyone who's still writing and
posting here.

Jeanne Morningstar

This is a very good and relatable post.

On Saturday, December 18, 2021 at 12:31:07 PM UTC-6, Jeanne Morningstar wrote:
> There's a real struggle for ADHD/autistic/otherwise brainweird creators
> where we keep starting new projects, getting super excited about them,
> burning out completely and then only being able to get back onboard by
> starting a new project, where the cycle continues.

Hahaha /yikes/. Drew can attest to how often I talk about this with them.

> There's also winter depression, COVID depression, politics depression,
> trans depression... So yeah.

4/4 on those as well.

> And I've really been encouraged by the little burst of activity we're
> having now. It's exciting to have new posts from Dave Van Domelen,
> Amabel Holland and Ben Rawluk again, even as I'm still so busy it's hard
> to keep up.

It's always a pleasant surprise when people continue writing! Life can be
dreadfully dreary without creative pursuits, whether yours or someone else's.

> So with that in mind, I'm going to do a brief inventory of my own on the
> various RACC stories I started, where I'm going with them and how soon
> they'll (probably) get done.

I have a list for the DiVerse too, but it is a massive pile of unfinished work
at this point because of the aforementioned burnout issues. There's one in
particular that has yet to be written (although its skeleton is sitting there in
the closet, occasionally glaring at me as it waits impatiently to be enfleshed)
that would serve to dimensionally link the DiVerse and... some incarnation of
the LNH, I'm still not sure which, through a library. Like so many others, I
just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Some day.

> Besides all this, I have other stories that may or may not end up being
> posted here, but I'll wait to say anything about that until I can do
> that. For now, I just want to thank everyone who's still writing and
> posting here.
>
>
> Jeanne Morningstar

To turn a phrase, your writing is great and you should feel great! <3

On 12/18/21 1:05 PM, deucexm wrote:

>
> I have a list for the DiVerse too, but it is a massive pile of unfinished work
> at this point because of the aforementioned burnout issues. There's one in
> particular that has yet to be written (although its skeleton is sitting there in
> the closet, occasionally glaring at me as it waits impatiently to be enfleshed)
> that would serve to dimensionally link the DiVerse and... some incarnation of
> the LNH, I'm still not sure which, through a library. Like so many others, I
> just haven't gotten around to it yet.
>
> Some day.

That would be a lot of fun! As far as different LNH incarnations go, one
idea Drew and I have batted around every now and again is a cascade
that's an entirely new iteration of the LNH, a return to the chaotic
creative energy of the earliest days. Kind of the opposite of LNH20,
which was heavily planned out and worldbuilded before we started it,
which was a mixed blessing. This would be a completely improvisational
story.

I like the idea of the LNH having one major new iteration per decade
(Classic for the 90s, LNHY for the 00s, LNH20 for the 10s and this for
the 20s). The LNH kind of works like a long running anime franchise like
Gundam where it has the original universe that's still central
(UC/Classic) but still drops new iterations every now and again, so it's
nice if we can keep that going.

But we should probably finish at least one of the cascades we're on first.

>
> To turn a phrase, your writing is great and you should feel great! <3

Aww thanks!

Jeanne Morningstar

On 2021-12-18 10:31, Jeanne Morningstar wrote:
> STATE OF THE JEANNE
>
> There's a real struggle for ADHD/autistic/otherwise brainweird creators
> where we keep starting new projects, getting super excited about them,
> burning out completely and then only being able to get back onboard by
> starting a new project, where the cycle continues. I've been slowly
> learning better to manage that, but it's been a real struggle what with
> juggling that with writing for my academic career and wrestling with the
> academic job market, which is a whole other job in and of itself.
> There's also winter depression, COVID depression, politics depression,
> trans depression... So yeah.

Hmpf. I have exactly one project to do. Perhaps this is part of my
problem. I am even now procrastinating on this project. it is
artistically intensive, at least in the early parts.

POWERNAUT 1992 PART TWO

For reasons which may become apparent as this series develops, I am
drawing about fifteen panels per strip right now. I have a "four
strips" buffer before I start a series, and this one is hard. The
reason why, will come in due time. But it is coming, and worthy of
publication.

--
-- (signed) Scott Eiler 8{D> ------ http://www.eilertech.com/ -------

"Your Royal Highness, instead of devoting yourself exclusively
to Minerva, should, instead, rather offer sacrifice at the altars
of Bacchus, Orpheus, Venus, and Morpheus."

- Advice to Prince Duarte of Portugal. From "The golden age of
Prince Henry the Navigator", by Joaquim Pedro Oliveira Martins.
Coming soon to Project Gutenberg.

On 12/18/21 2:05 PM, deucexm wrote:
> This is a very good and relatable post.
>
> On Saturday, December 18, 2021 at 12:31:07 PM UTC-6, Jeanne Morningstar wrote:
>> There's a real struggle for ADHD/autistic/otherwise brainweird creators
>> where we keep starting new projects, getting super excited about them,
>> burning out completely and then only being able to get back onboard by
>> starting a new project, where the cycle continues.
>
> Hahaha /yikes/. Drew can attest to how often I talk about this with them.

Yep, yep, extremely familiar. @@

>> So with that in mind, I'm going to do a brief inventory of my own on the
>> various RACC stories I started, where I'm going with them and how soon
>> they'll (probably) get done.
>
> I have a list for the DiVerse too, but it is a massive pile of unfinished work
> at this point because of the aforementioned burnout issues. There's one in
> particular that has yet to be written (although its skeleton is sitting there in
> the closet, occasionally glaring at me as it waits impatiently to be enfleshed)
> that would serve to dimensionally link the DiVerse and... some incarnation of
> the LNH, I'm still not sure which, through a library. Like so many others, I
> just haven't gotten around to it yet.
>
> Some day.

Looking forward to that so much. <3.<3 But then, looking forward to all your stuff!!

> To turn a phrase, your writing is great and you should feel great! <3

FUCK YEAH! <3 <3 <3

Drew "supergreat" Nilium

On 12/18/21 7:06 PM, Jeanne Morningstar wrote:
<snip>
> That would be a lot of fun! As far as different LNH incarnations go, one idea
> Drew and I have batted around every now and again is a cascade that's an
> entirely new iteration of the LNH, a return to the chaotic creative energy of
> the earliest days. Kind of the opposite of LNH20, which was heavily planned out
> and worldbuilded before we started it, which was a mixed blessing. This would be
> a completely improvisational story.

Though with a certain amount of structure to make sure it *does* finish. I was
also hoping to invite creators from outside our circles to participate.

> I like the idea of the LNH having one major new iteration per decade (Classic
> for the 90s, LNHY for the 00s, LNH20 for the 10s and this for the 20s). The LNH
> kind of works like a long running anime franchise like Gundam where it has the
> original universe that's still central (UC/Classic) but still drops new
> iterations every now and again, so it's nice if we can keep that going.

Yes agreed. :3

>
> But we should probably finish at least one of the cascades we're on first.

Yeah. X3;

Drew "iconic power!!" Nilium

On 12/18/21 8:11 PM, Scott Eiler wrote:
<snip>
> For reasons which may become apparent as this series develops, I am drawing
> about fifteen panels per strip right now.  I have a "four strips" buffer before
> I start a series, and this one is hard.  The reason why, will come in due time.
> But it is coming, and worthy of publication.

You can do it!! <3

Drew "heck yeah 1992" Nilium

On 12/18/21 10:02 PM, Drew Nilium wrote:

> On 12/18/21 7:06 PM, Jeanne Morningstar wrote:
>
> Though with a certain amount of structure to make sure it *does* finish.
> I was also hoping to invite creators from outside our circles to
> participate.
>
>

Both good ideas. In retrospect, first-phase LNH20 was both too
structured in some ways and not structured enough in others, which was
one of the reasons it stalled out apart from, uh, the obvious problem
we had. It was my first attempt at working on a thing on that scale, and
I learned a lot from it, both in terms of what I did that worked and
what I'd do differently now.

Jeanne Morningstar, can't believe it's been 10 years...

On 12/18/21 11:24 PM, Jeanne Morningstar wrote:
> In retrospect, first-phase LNH20 was both too structured in
> some ways and not structured enough in others, which was one of the reasons it
> stalled out  apart from, uh, the obvious problem we had. It was my first attempt
> at working on a thing on that scale, and I learned a lot from it, both in terms
> of what I did that worked and what I'd do differently now.

Very much agreed, on all counts. <3

> Jeanne Morningstar, can't believe it's been 10 years...

Drew "the last decade feels like two years and the last two years feel like a
decade" Nilium

On 12/18/21 12:31 PM, Jeanne Morningstar wrote:

>
>
> THE HERMETIC GARBAGE OF JENNY EVERYWHERE:
>
> This is my current #1 priority and it's been amazing in terms of
> progress. My big reason for writing this was to learn to just keep
> writing consistently no matter what, and it's worked. I have a backlog
> of posts because I have stretches where I write a bunch at once, and
> that allows me to revise it a little bit as necessary. The story as a
> whole is currently 5/6 or so done, I'm hammering out the climax of it
> right now.

Just so everyone knows--today I finished the first draft of the 11th and
final act, although because of the posting schedule it'll take a while
to go up.

Jeanne Morningstar