Writing Log #11 - "You're saying there are hot single robots in my area."

Another month is coming to an end! (Already!? <- how I feel every single time)

【Life update】

I adopted a kitten last week! His name is Dr. Sunny, he's sleeping on my lap as I'm writing this, and of course you'll find the cat tax in the images of this post c: Keeping an eye on him because he woke up with sneezes and sniffles today, and I've been dealing with pretty bad (unrelated) insomnia, so I'm taking the breaks I need - but big things happened this month!

【"Big Guys Want to Be Desired Too!" Recap】

This one took up a lot of the first half of the month: editing all four chapters, rendering 6 illustrations + cover art + chibi doodle, and creating the PDF and the promo material. But after all that, I finished and released my first ever (smol) light novel! People who got back to me about it really enjoyed it ("fluffy" is a word that comes up a lot <3) and I'm very grateful for that. The project taught me a lot about the process, what I still need to learn, and what I wanna try out moving forward.

I'm proud I finished it, and I'm happy to have a whole book out there now, especially one that focuses on the core elements of my work. There's a lot of nuance and personal experience in it that I could never convey in just a mini comic.

(If you enjoyed Lulu's beach fit, I have a doodle of her wearing it in this post!)

【Sanctuary 17223】

In canon story news, I finished the second draft of chapter 1! (To celebrate, I doodled Alvin's hairstyle from the epilogue. You know, the one that comes after 7 whole books...)

Anyway, that means chapter 1 is at the stage where I can show it to other people to gather feedback as I continue with the other chapters. I attached a comparison image--it's becoming a lot more fun, Lulu's personality is much better established, and the themes, lore, and plot are more cohesive. That, and it just reads more like a light novel now!

Fun fact: the first draft had 4,900 words, the second draft has...7,500. And that's after moving part of it to chapter 2. Another fun fact: I went back to the first writing log only to find that both excerpts need big adjustments.

Let's see how this one will look in the final version. (lol)

《Don't be worryin' about me.》 Her confidence in that response only makes me worry about her more. 《Please, you need to free my son. He's trapped here.》

Trapped.

Here.

In the place that was abandoned in 1999. The same place that's been experiencing 'ghost activity' for, I don't know, over ten years at this point?

I'm not opposed to doing Róisín a favour if it means people will feel safe coming here again, but I do need to ask, "Uh, are you positive he's alive after all this time?"

《It's grand. My darling boy is a robot.》

"You're saying there are hot single robots in my area."

《Sure he's a handsome lad.》

"Okay, I'll save your princess," I say. And it's only now that I realize those words came out of my mouth before my brain had a chance to even think them up.

We're being blatant about the role reversal with this one, lads. (Also, hi Róisín aka Alvin's mum - here's your name reveal!)

In semi-related news, I'm working on my personal website that's supposed to be a hub for info on my characters, books, basically all the stuff I do. Trust me, the screenshot doesn't even do it justice. I'm channelling the 90s/early 2000s I grew up in because not only do I adore that aesthetic and era of the Internet, but making an objectively terrible and outdated website may just be part of the first book's plot progression...

Coming up next: chapter 2, round 2!

【Next AU light novel】

After a multi-chapter slice of life book that was, in a sense, specifically made for other people, I wanna try a more self-indulgent oneshot with a different illustration style--probably more like comic pages!

I don't wanna announce anything before I really start working on it, in case another idea takes over my brain instead of the original plan, but as always, what you can definitely count on is more Lulu, Alvin, and gentle femdom :3c Expect an actual announcement next month!

*

Side note in the interest of transparency: I've been doing my original work full-time for the last few months, but my savings are running out, so September might be the last month I get to do that for another while--I'll do my absolute best to always do as much art and writing as possible regardless, since that's what I want to do. (Making books is part of my hope to move away from subscription-based income, so they'll continue being a big priority!)