Mupdate

Mupdate = a portmanteau of “me” and “update.” Mupdates!

Happy new year! I’m late, haha. But what’s new?

I have officially been writing this newsletter for two whole years! Very proud of that. Hopefully I can keep it up for two more.

Thinking I’ll break this mupdate up a bit, since it’s technically the last one of the year.

December Fun Times

I spent December mostly in hard core planning mode. That’s often the case though, haha. Made a lot of plans for my stories—which I’ll talk about more in the Focus section. But I also documented the work Luis did on my master bathroom!

In November the master bath was but a shell of its future self. Now, it is almost complete!

Before:

During:

(Mostly) Done! Just a few finishing touches, like paint touch-ups and caulking and paint on the baseboards. Also shelves need to be hung.

I also started reaching out to future collaborators on my writing projects. I made up a production plan, and started putting together plans for a website to host all my writing projects. I have to learn the basics of working with a database, but we’re getting there! I’ll talk more about that in the Focus section too. We’ll be getting a few new entries to that section in the new year! ::rubs hands together::

Aside from project plans and bathroom renovation, December was also full of family and friend time. My aunt came to visit, and so did my lil’ cousin. Went to a restaurant and the zoo—stuff I rarely do by myself. It was nice to go out for a little bit!

Reflecting on 2024

I had big plans for learning things in 2024. Those got derailed in January pretty quickly when a family emergency occurred, and I was left floundering mentally. Additionally, I had a big setback when my PC died in July, and I couldn’t get it fully fixed until November.

I also spent most of 2024 trying to figure out a path forward with my projects. Researching the publishing market, learning about how animated projects get made. Learning that a lot of the established methods were crumbling. Hiring in animation and publishing has fallen to an all-time low. Publishing has become…. Something.

I attended a lot of animation talks in 2023 and a lot of publishing talks in 2024 and have been ruminating on all that I’ve learned. Essentially, I’ve come to conclude the following:

• Jobs in animation or publishing are less secure than ever before because:

  • Rich people got involved and made everything profit driven.

  • Leaders exploit their writers/artists “passion” by offering little in return for enthusiastic labor.

  • Leaders encourage young writers/artists to “prove” their worth by promoting workaholism and neglecting health in exchange for a “higher purpose.”

  • Leaders encourage artists/writers to cannibalize each other and themselves in exchange for this “higher purpose.”

  • This negative feedback circle creates a hostile workplace that benefits the leaders/rich company owners.

    • Often young artists/writers don’t realize the reality of this until it is too late. And they deal with it in a lot of ways. Some lean in and become worse, some lean out, others go radio silent.

How is one to survive knowing those realities?

Here is what I concluded:

• In the United States, to thrive in an insecure industry long enough to gain a foothold and get paid a living wage + get respect, you must:

  • Accept low pay and possible exploitation for about 3 – 5 years while you gain experience and reputation.

    • Low pay is anything between $10k - $49k per year

Note: My first job making $35k per year was just enough to not worry about food so long as I lived with a roommate. This was in 2015 – 2019. Things have only gotten worse since then.

To obtain a modicum of stability in the arts until you can earn $50k or more per year, you need:

• A social safety net to sustain you for 3 - 5 years, usually in the form of:

  • A supportive partner or roommate who pays the bills and helps with rent.

  • A family who pays most of the bills and/or provides housing.

• Lacking a social safety net (no partner, no financial or housing assistance from family), you’ll need:

  • Social services like food stamps and low-rent housing

  • Multiple roommates

Many artists and writers I spoke to who can do their work full time did it with the above. They had supportive spouses who brought in most of the money while they worked hard for low pay and gained reputation and experience. Or, they had supportive families who gave them cheap or free housing and low-cost food.

People who lacked supportive families and spouses lived in cheap homes with multiple roommates. Their income was so low that they use food stamps to help buy food. They qualify for Medicaid because of their low income. Those who lacked supportive families or spouses also generally dealt with serious medical problems. This is because lacking a supportive social system in early life generally leads to illness in body and mind.

Another option some people have chosen is to move out of the United States.

Some artists/writers I know have immigrated to countries with stronger social services that make it easier for them in those first 3 – 5 years to gain a reputation so they can earn a higher income. Or just live on a lower income. Some have gone to countries with a lower cost of living, which makes it easier for them to afford a higher quality of life.

Being an artist/writer in the United States is progressively becoming less achievable. This is because:

• Culturally, the United States does not recognize artists/fiction writers as a worthy investment. Arts programs in schools and communities are constantly whittled away. This has only gotten worse since the 90s.

• The United States lacks social services that help young people in their early stages.

  • Expensive for-profit education (Student loans with up to 8% interest)

  • Expensive for-profit healthcare (One illness will ruin a person—even a whole family—financially)

  • Expensive costs of living (Food is hard to afford)

I am still considering moving outside of the USA. But immigration takes its own toll.

I’m not a social person, so it would be more mentally draining for me than for someone who enjoys that sort of challenge. It would cost me at least 3 years of working time as a writer/artist while I acclimate to a new life, a new country, get a stable job, and acclimate to a new social situation. Not to mention the financial cost.

After coming to terms with all the above, I have decided that I want to do the following:

• Produce my work independently to the best of my ability. These projects are:

  • Animated trailers for my stories.

    • I plan to work with musicians and other artists to make this happen.

  • Publish my stories online with my own hand-built website, along with hosting the stories online in various places.

    • I plan to run all my stories through multiple review cycles and work with developmental editors and other teams to make them the best they can be.

  • Generate sales by selling eBooks, print books, and merchandise.

    • Set up a Ko-Fi or Patreon for subscribers, tend to my online store.

  • Document my efforts in all of this with my vTuber persona.

  • Try to do all of this without burning out.

So… that is how I’ll go into 2025! So long as the social order remains stable. Here’s to the future :3

Focus Time!

Munikiniverse Outlines

So… I am plowing forward with the following stories:

• The Dogkeeper’s Griffin [Webcomic]

• Under Atum’s Shroud [Short story]

• Everlasting [Novella]

• The Founder’s Eyes [Novella]

• Synchronicity [Novel]

I finished the outlines for The Dogkeeper’s Griffin and Under Atum’s Shroud this month. By this weekend, I’m hoping to have The Founder’s Eyes and Everlasting completed. Synchronicity will be done by January 12.

I have a rough production schedule set up for Under Atum’s Shroud, which will be my test baby. I’ve also reached out to some musicians about getting music done for the trailer and the audiobook. I have a marketing strategy ready to go as well. Hopefully I’ll be ready to publish the story end of next year. Fingers crossed!

vTubing

I completed a rough draft for my vTuber debut video.

Here is a little sneak peek….

I’m hoping to finish a version of my debut video this month now that my PC is back up to speed! Here’s hoping and fingers crossed!

Dynamic Characters Schoolism Class

So I switched from the lighting class to the dynamic character design class. I worked a little bit on that at the beginning of December, but quickly got busy and distracted by life. I’ve been doing the class in starts and stops, but I’m finding it very interesting so far!

Bujo Check-In

Since I’ve kept up with my bullet journal for a second month, I figured I’d try sharing it with the class. So here’s December’s bullet journal pages!

Hourly Tracker:

Just some observations:

• The less sleep I get, the worse I feel

• When something sudden comes up at work, (as it did on Dec 17th) I tend to go into a fugue state afterwards because of the stress.

• Most of this month I also balanced bathroom reno work with job work

Box Trackers:

Preoccupations

This is already getting a bit long, so I’ll leave the preoccupations alone for this issue. May even move these to the vTuber section… hmmmMM.

Faretheewell

Happy new year! I hope 2025 greets you pleasantly with lots of good things.