Eureka!

Detail from The Muses Leaving their Father Apollo to Go Out and Light the World by Gustave Moreau, 1868, via Twitter bot.

Happy mail is a month late. I sent January's missive in February, then my February draft lingered until it turned into March's edition... which is almost done! And may even arrive during March, though whenever I say something like that I end up regretting it.

Honestly, none of you has ever indicated that you care about the nominally monthly schedule for member perks, but I wouldn't like me were I not the type of person to painstakingly tally my unfulfilled obligations. So here we are — I owe you one, and I'll figure out a way to square things. Method TBD.

Now, our feature presentation...

I haven't felt truly fired up about a creative project for a long while — probably not since finishing the year of zines at the end of 2020. (Side note, everyone still has the impression that I am actively making zines, perhaps because I didn't even admit to myself that I had stopped until at least six months after. Anyway.)

Wanderverse is rewarding to expand, for several reasons, but it's not something that pours out of me. Writing those fairy stories is more like solving an intellectual puzzle than unburdening my soul. To be dramatic. (I am always dramatic.)

So what's my point — my point is: I'm making an album. I've written 10 songs. Not all at once, they've been coming to me in bits and pieces for ages, but I didn't commit to Actually Doing the Thing until recently. I've developed full lyrics and melodies, though neither is 100% finalized.

A few months ago I bought a recording-quality microphone... by no means top of the line, bottom of the line in fact, but it'll do for a DIY debut. Plus the converter thingy that pipes audio to my computer. I taught myself the absolute basics of GarageBand (ugh, software). I've been practicing singing — relevant Twitter thread + YouTube playlist. My friends Aria Salvatrice and @gooddogthedog are producers so maybe I'll be able to collab with them on songs. I recently acquired my late uncle's guitar and my fingers remember the chords better than I expected, so I might even be able to accompany myself.

One-song sample:

Or all ten songs (also found in the YouTube playlist linked earlier):

Stay tuned. Pun intended 😘