slr2moons

Hello, everyone! It's been a year since I posted, so I decided to give you all an update. C:

Covid hasn't had a real effect on me, aside from raising my general stress level. I already worked at home, watched (or actually mostly listen to) a lot of different streaming services, and spent QT with my beloved cats. Grocery shopping became more complicated, and I almost ran out of sugar, but things aren't too changed.

One close friend had to be tested bc of exposure to a Covid-positive person at her workplace, and at least one more distant friend. (Both negative, thankfully!) Now I'm waiting for results on a family member, who had a classmate who tested positive. T.T This really brings it home. Terrifying stuff.

I don't remember most of this year, thanks to being in a constant state of near panic with my job. I do dearly love my job, still, but I've slowed down and can't keep up the frenetic pace I've needed for the past 15 years. I've given up 2.5 volumes to pinch hitters and that has been a big help. To be honest, I don't remember actively lettering several of my most recent books. I know I DID, but damned if I actually remember doing it. The pages are all a complete blur in my mind. O.o

So 2020 has been a dumpster fire for me, too, if for different reasons than most people. To mark the occasion, here is a great song parody that my lovely friend Mab introduced me to. It was created in April and is a bit out of date, but still good. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK6tdsVS2tI

I thought I'd do a shigoto update, since it's been a while. C:

Behind the Scenes (the college club comedy) - Volume 1 was finished a couple of weeks ago. I don't have the tanko (Japanese graphic novel) for vol 2 yet, but the raws are up and ready for me. No script, either, so not currently lettering this one.

Bloody Mary (the vampire comedy) - Volume 2 has corrections left. I do have the tanko for vol 3 already, but no script. My editor said I should have script pretty soon. C:

Natsume's Book of Friends (quiet teen boy who sees spirits) - Volume 19 was also finished a couple of weeks ago. They print Natsume quickly, so hopefully it will be out on shelves soon! No word yet on volume 20, but I'm sure it's coming, probably in early spring next year.

Requiem of the Rose King (retelling of War of the Roses, shoujo manga style) - Volume 3 should be out soon, if not already. I've just started lettering volume 4!

Seraph of the End (vampire action) - Volume 8 was finished a couple months back. I have everything I need to start volume 9. Chapter 39 (which will be the first chapter in volume 11) came out this month in the magazine. Things are getting verrry interesting.

Skip Beat (showbiz comedy) - Volume 36 was completed last week. It ends on a killer cliffhanger. :D

And those are my six ongoing titles! ATM, I'm only working on Requiem and Seraph. But Behind will start up again sometime this month, most likely. Possibly Bloody, too. No random BL books right now, either. If the pattern holds, this time next year I'll have Lost Letters vol 3 (overall vol 4 for the series, since volume 1 was called "The Match Seller".)

Requiem is due in mid December, but this will be an easy volume (mostly dialogue, spare FX), which means it will be quick to letter. Seraph is due after the New Year. I am cautiously optimistic about my current work load! :DDD

My last post was me venting about everything that's been bearing down on me in the past few months. But some good things have been happening, too!

( Spicer is doing better, new URL for my fanfic recs page, manga counting continues, reading, small shigoto update, New Title 12's identity revealed, exercising with friends, Adult Things to Do List )

That's everything positive I can think of to share at the moment. ^^ Back to work for me! The Clay women are calling. C:

Greetings, my flist! All ~5 or of you or so who, like me, are still on DW and LJ and check it regularly. ^^

I haven't said much here lately, and I admit, it's b/c everyone else is on FB and it's nice to say something and start a dialogue. *sigh* I so miss this platform's glory days. But I should stop contributing to the problem by not posting here, and post more! Ha!

Okay, so...here's an update on what's happening in my life.

Tl;dr: Not much, as usual.

( Longer version within! Work, Yuletide, car, health, living arrangements, misc, and entertainment. )

I guess that's it for this long update. It feels good to talk to you guys again! Please leave a comment, if you have anything to say or ask. C:

Interesting things happening in the manga world that are relevant to me.

First, the bad news. Clay is ending in the October 4th issue of Jump Square. This means 2 more volumes in English. I already have Japanese Clay vol 26, which was published in June. One more Japanese volume is coming, possibly two if the final chapter is super-long.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I started lettering Clay in fall of 2005. 9 years, guys. It won't be my first ongoing series to end--that was Nana, which didn't have a real ending, but cut off abruptly due to mangaka health problems. Honey, Captive, and the various oneshots all had ended before I began. Clay will have a real ending.

*is at a loss*

In lighter news, apparently Seraph will have an anime. This is early, particularly since it's a monthly title. IDT we know the anime studio yet, but I hope it's Madhouse or Bones, and that they don't stiff the budget. I likes me some pretty animation. I also hope they wait until next spring. That'll give us around 8 more chapters of manga, and if they keep the anime to a short 11 or 12 ep season, that should be just enough. Please no half-baked anime-studio-written endings! *cough* Clay *cough*.

And in news that's relevant to me on a personal, apparently there's a new manga adaptation of Arslan. O.o Being done by FMA's mangaka, Arakawa Hiromu. Talk about a complete change in style from the original shoujo manga adaption. *blinks* And here I thought the Arslan manga people had mentioned reading at Crunchyroll was the shoujo version, and I'd been surprised someone would license such a dated-art-style manga. This explains things, huh?

As for me, I'm going crazy trying to finish everything--or as much as I can--before the week I lose in Texas for family visits and my cousin's wedding. (No one can lay a guilt trip on you like family, amirite?)

I have this fear that my being away for so long will trigger Spicer into another bought of health problems. It's entirely possible. Argh.

I've really flaked on the posting more often, huh? Sorry to say I lost an LJ friend recently, but I gained a new one. C: Can't really complain! Thank you to everyone who has kept me on their reading/friends list, even though I don't talk much here these days. :P

Work-wise, things are...interesting. I finished Natsume 17's first draft a few days early. Now I'm waiting on corrections. Voice 7 is almost done, nicely on time. For Seraph, the mad dash of all those chapters in a row is finally over this Monday with chapter 21--OMGYAY--and now I have a week off before it's time to letter the first of the now-monthly chapters, with #22. (Seraph is monthly in Japan, so it's monthly here now that we've caught up on all the previously published-in-Japan chapters.)

Sounds like things are in pretty good shape, right? Welp, now let me tell you about Clay. Clay 25 is running behind. The constant Seraph chapters were a real drain on my time, and now I'm paying for it. This volume of Clay is due on June 2nd, and it's going to be interesting meeting that. Particularly since I'm trying to have a life and see IRL friends more than twice a month. ^^;;

I have made one big change with Clay: in all the previous volumes, hand-drawn "organic" sound effects were original to every page. With all my other titles--all the way back to Nana--I save FX and reuse them where I can. It's a big time-saver. I figured Clay was too varied to try that, but the opposite is true. I've always said Clay is like busywork. When it comes to creating the English FX and retouching the artwork, Clay rarely makes me stop and think. It's straight-forward, and I have it down to a science. (Granted, a slow science, but yeah.) And thus, I've begun saving my organic Clay FX for use on more than one page. It's already saved me some good time, even in the ~20 pages I've done so far.

The vast majority of readers won't notice the reusing. For one thing, I don't reuse an FX within 50 pages of a previous use. In fact, I doubt anyone but me would ever know I started this, if I hadn't said it here! Heh. When 25 is released, feel free to play "spot the duplicate FX" and ask me if you're right. ^^V

But when Clay 25 is done, I have to scramble to finish Seraph volume 3, which is when I add FX for the GN version. Fun times.

I'm still hoping this summer will be good for me, since the previous three sucked.

This weekend, I saw two IRL friends! On Saturday, knastymike and I went to a German restaurant. It was DELICIOUS! I must go back, even though it's a little pricey, and a drive! YUM. Then today, I drove to mab's house and we walked around her neighborhood and talked fandom, and house buying, and all sorts of fun stuff. ^^

A satisfying weekend, all around! And now, back to Clay 25. Wheeee!

Last week I answered some interview questions via email for a Japanese pop culture blog. Several other letterers were asked the same questions. I was asked if I could provide some WIP samples, and after Shoujo Editor 2 and Seraph Editor approved, I did! You can find the interview at the link below. It's a small world, because I know two of the other letterers! Heeeee!

Advice on Manga Lettering from Manga Letterers

LMK what you think! C:

Hey, everyone!

I kinda vanished again, didn't I? ^^; Sorry about that. I was busy with work, and finishing my Yuletide fic, and life in general. But here I am! *waves* Hi there. C:

( Updates for Seraph, Voice, Natsume, and Skip. )

I should be busy lettering Natsume 16 and Skip 33, but they're on the back burner. And Seraph GN vol 2. *weak laughter* Yes, I am still behind, though I'm still holding my new record of only one late title from this summer. (Voice vol 3.) I'm not worried about catching up yet, but I have to work every day.

I poured myself into my Yuletide fic this year. The collection went live very early on Christmas Day. As of this post, my story has a whopping 4 hits, and that's it. No kudos/likes, no comments, no bookmarks. *crickets chirp* This means my recip simply hasn't had time to read it (it IS rather long), they did read and and are overwhelmed and don't know what to say, or they hated it and are overwhelmed and don't know how to be nice about it. Obviously I'm hoping for the first or second option. Even if it turns out they didn't care for it, I'm okay with that. I know it's a good, solid story. My betas have told me so, and they'd be brutally honest if it were not. I'm still proud of it. I did my best, and it turned out pretty good! ^^V (I can't link it yet until after New Year's, when authors are revealed. But I know one of you will be VERY interested. *grins*)

The story given to me was for Basara, and is cute. I particularly liked the ending, and I just love that the author worked two of my stated favorite things into the story. :3 It's less than 2k, if you want to read. Mild spoilers for Basara through volume 8 or so. (I forget when Asagi enters the story.) Here's the link: Asagi's New Brother by anonymous until New Year's.

I also received a treat fic, which is an extra fic written by someone because they wanted to write, not because I was assigned to them. It's a lovely short little fic for Gill from my favorite Pixar and comfort film, Finding Nemo. Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, author also not known until New Year's!

Two bits of interest: Adobe is now charging me sales tax on my InDesign subscription, which is illegal. No one in Oregon pays sales tax. I found someone else also affected, but my plea on the DamnPortlander's facebook and my Adobe forum post have been ignored. (Colorado peeps with this problem back in October replied immediately.) Here, have a look: my post about it; and here's the related Colorado post, which was answered. I don't think there's anything I can do about it. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Adobe is only doing this to individuals, and not businesses. I bet Oni Press or Dark Horse could sic the law on them. Grrrr.

And the second bit of interest: the private server that has hosted my recs site, pics, and other assorted stuff over the years is down, and has been since December 7th. I'm doing research on renting space on a pro server. I found out who hosts each of my fave webcomics, as I'll be using the space for my own soon! (Think positive!) So far DreamHost is looking like my best bet. Less than $10 a month, unlimited bandwidth and storage, FTP access. Gunnerkigg, Johnny Wander, Manly Guys, and The Meek are all hosted there. Along with Oglaf. If DreamHost is okay with Oglaf, then nothing I could draw or link to fanfic-wise could possibly phase them. Ha! If anyone has any feedback on web hosts, LMK. I could really use my former webcomicking contacts right now, but oh well.

Christmas so far has been quiet. I opened my presents while on the phone with my parents and sister. It was fun! I am pleased with my presents, and not letting myself gorge on all the chocolate today. :3 After that, I made breakfast, played some online games, and then go to work. And it is back to work I go! Voice vol 5 is due on January 22nd. Wheeeee!

It's been a while, huh?

( updates for three BLs, Natsume 15, Skip 32, Voice 2 )

Annnd there you go! As for me personally, I'm doing okay. Frustrated with my weight, but that's par for the course. Emotionally I'm fine. I'm over the ex-friends trauma of earlier this year. I keep having these dreams of witnessing 747s crash in front of me, though. I'm not sure what my subconscious is trying to tell me. Any ideas?

On Sunday, I went for my first hike ever in Forest Park, invited by some good friends from my beloved book club. :3 The scenery was lush, green, and beautiful, even now when spring is barely getting started. Quite a few joggers passed us, all of them very fit or close to being so. About four were barefoot, something that made me gape. The trail was quite muddy...though I can't help but be horrified at the thought of a muddy foot slamming down on a sharp piece of protruding root or a rock. D=

All five of us talked the entire trip. I wore my new hiking boots (no, I did not go barefoot!), and they should definitely be broken in now. ^^ We did about 5 miles in 2 hours and 15 minutes. I was always at the end of the line or close to it. The walking pace set was slightly faster than my own, and I had to push it to keep up without jogging. It felt like back in my trail riding days, when my beloved horse, Mac, walked slower than all the others. When we'd drop back too far, he'd automatically trot to catch up with the rest, then walk again. I didn't even have to cue him to do it. Heh.)

After the hike, we went to a hole-in-the-wall diner place I'd never been to before in Multnomah Village, and I had a cherry milkshake. It was as delicious as it was huge. :9 I would not mind at all if post-hike milkshakes became a tradition. I am looking forward to tromping through the wilderness with them again. It was fun!

And oooh, did I pay for it. XD My legs and feet were sore yesterday, along with my sides from carrying my backpack. Today only the backs of my thighs ache a bit. ^^ I rested yesterday, but today I make myself go for a walk. I was out for only 37 minutes, and I did walk the entire time, and yet it still wiped me out. I came home, and after breakfast, I crashed for a good hour. Z_z

To be fair, I did push myself hard with work yesterday. Voice is proving to be quite a challenge, not in small part to having to remove ALL the type. *headdesk* I sincerely hope text-free tiffs arrive for vols 2-12, I truly do. Anyway, working with greater intensity is mentally draining, and I'm tired the next day. I'm glad for the work, though. I just love some of the FX tranlsations Shoujo Editor 2 is using for this title. They make me snicker every time. XD

Speaking of work, back to it for me. My sister will be visiting for a week later this month. She's coming to work again, but is staying an extra day and a half to hang out with me. AND with my bi-weekly anime nights, AND now hiking a couple times a month, too, I gotta go through some serious pages to free up time!