Science Bunny and Genre-Commentary

I've been having entirely too much fun with both Genre-Commentary and Science Bunny as of late, thus my short story submission-a-day work has gotten behind. It'll probably get further behind, because I'm planning to do some work toward my doctorate shortly, but I think submitting creative writing as part of an application package to a university ought to count as a submission in and of itself.

The exciting thing is how diverse my work has become. Working in an editorial capacity for a web-based magazine is completely different than being the illustrating half of a webcomic creation team. Writing a romance novel is completely different than writing a scholarly essay. I feel extraordinarily fortunate to have even what little free time I possess to be able to experiment with such a wide range of working styles, types, and outlets. Someone who's only read my Dayton City Paper column might be surprised to know that I once wrote an essay called "Conquer the Land and Castrate the Gunfighter: Sexual Symbolism in Literature of the American West." And someone who only knows my academic work might be shocked to read a story like "Blood Wine."

Nobody that knows me in person would ever be surprised that I've taken a keen interest in learning how to draw manga, though, because even though my Red Eye novel series is written from a male POV and has monsters and fight scenes, I remain very much the kind of girl who gets excited over cartoons of very cute people with big eyes.

I have been known to squee. A lot. Did I mention I'm well over twenty-one, and yet the squeeing does not embarrass me in the least?

But that's kind of the thing, the reason I love writing, reading, theatre, TV and film, fandom, and all forms of art and creativity: the common bond in all of these things is expression of one's innermost humanity, sillyness and foibles and all. If I find myself in a situation where I am unable to express myself somehow, that's tantamount to cutting off a limb. Being able to express all facets of one's personality is what draws so many people into writing. I wouldn't want to stop writing short non-fiction opinion pieces, just as I am literally addicted to my Wacom tablet and absolutely love drawing Science Bunny even after only two editions.

Almost no one is aware of the diversity of the work that I do, and that's fine. If I'm never able to reach one large audience, I'll be perfectly content reaching lots of small ones.