HNY＆ アケオメ 2021!

I’ve been trying to draw shogatsu postcards the last few years as my first drawing exercise of the year, and I’ve got to say—this year I’ll be working on my brush painting technique and working on getting more comfortable writing kanji with my ApplePencil. Just one more thing to add to my list of stuff to do this year? Not quite. I only had one real resolution in 2020: to submit pieces to literary journals. Not for acceptance, no expectations. Just to write and submit before I talked myself out of it. And I did. 5 submissions, 4 rejections, 1 still pending. So what’s on the menu for 2021? (Find out after my nengajyo to you.👇)

明けましておめでとうございます！今年もよとしくお願いします。

Happy new year everyone!

I’ll skip the “timely” notes and just say that I hope this year is a vast improvement on last year, while not forgetting the small joys we had and adding to them.

• Now that I’m more comfortable with submitting, I’ll be submitting to get acceptance. Just 1 is enough for me this year.

• Keep alive an impulsive secret project I’d been idly daydreaming about and suddenly started as a way to distract myself from anxiety last week.

• Get more artwork out there. (I’m already working on another cover illustration for later this year.)

• Invest less in work for others, and invest more in effort for myself.

• Continue doing more small-scale urban gardening in my kitchen and on my roof.

  There are a few other things, but so personal and idiosyncratic that it’s not worth mentioning here—and if they don’t get “done” it’s not a failure. So, here I go.