Jewel Verses 04 / 2022 - October 2022

Hello and welcome to Jewel Verses - my way of putting updates of the month on writing fiction you can both read and investigate (the curiouser, the better!). If you’re new to my newsletter, Welcome! If you’re here from my previous journey as the newsletter ‘The Storygaming Plans’, thank you for your support and welcome back again.

Thinking About This…

To say that October has been eventful for me is an understatement. Apart from a whirlwind trip to organise wedding lunches in two Malaysian states, I caught the vid shortly after returning to Singapore. And amid the running around and recovery came the opportunity for a whole lot of reflection - particularly with my plans for my creative practice.

Including the direction of this newsletter.

Admittedly, I rushed into re-launching this newsletter to not have this gap of content and as a result, I feel like I ran out of steam rather quickly. Lesson learnt here - and with this period to reflect, a few ideas made themselves prominent:

1. Authenticity and Value Alignment is one of the most sustainable ways to drive consistent, applicable content.

2. Content that lasts and aligns will always take time.

3. Definitions are more personal that we all thing.

Often, our brains will look for the road of least resistance when we attempt to process and understand complex processes in the simplest ways we can. And with storytelling and publishing - with the world evolving around publishing, keeping the industry growing well can be a challenge, much less trying to navigate and understand how it all works.

What is an editor’s role in publishing?

What’s the difference between an editor and a beta reader?

How does contract negotiation look like?

Can I negotiate in the first place?

Innocent, seemingly simple questions that have vastly different answers, depending on everyone’s individual experiences and personal values. And yet, the difference in these definitions are hills upon which other writers will die upon.

Thus, here’s the line that best describes the direction that this newsletter will be taking -

Making sense of imagination, while putting the ‘create’ in the creative process.

Hence, if you are a creator who:

1. Is looking to make sense of your creative journey - be it as a hobby or a career.

2. Would like a clearer perspective on the various aspects of publishing - an ever-changing industry.

3. Believes that creative careers are more than just gaming the system and can be sustainable through practicing authenticity, AND are looking for others of a similar mindset…

Then I do hope to see you or hear from you in the future.

Thank you to all my readers for your never-ending support and meaningful conversations. I will be taking the rest of the year off to work on future content.

Therefore, see you all next year! And here’s to being able to break this process of storytelling and publishing down into digestible insights for all of you to ponder and act upon moving forward.

Progress

Get to know a bit of Agents Topaz, Opal, and Citrine with a little collection of zines coming out at the end of the year! And yes, curious readers will find more beyond the page (Or the paper, for the matter).

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Once again, thank you for your patience and support. Do stay tune for yet another content revamp. For now, that’s it from me this month - take care and see you!