Reading and Resolutions
New Year's Resolutions 2024
For auld lang syne, my dearHappy New Year, everyone! I can't really believe it's already 2024. I had so much fun in WorldEmber 2023, and I'm kind of sad that it's over. I wrote 118 enhanced stubs, and over 26 thousand words, and I am so proud of myself. Etrea also hit 200k words! I had a lot of goals for 2023, and I didn't really meet any of them, but what I did achieve is better than that. I got my creativity and inspiration back, and I'm so excited to create things in 2024. And, of course, 2024 will be the year of the Stubocalypse. (And possibly 2025, 2026, 2027...) But before I get too into my own resolutions for the year, I want to showcase some of my favourite articles that I read during the month of December last year. :)
For auld lang syne
We'll drink a cup of kindness yet
For the sake of auld lang syne
by World Anvil
WorldEmber 2023 Showcase
Projector Film by Barron
The world of Ethnis (shout out to the other author of Ethnis, Ademal) has been an inspiration to me since the moment I joined World Anvil, and this WorldEmber has been no different. When I first read Projector Film, I was blown away - and I told Barron he had outdone himself. It wasn't just the formatting that appealed to me - though the formatting is beautiful and makes me want to learn to do all the fancy things. I just love the concept of being able to sit beside a window and have it show anything I want, not to mention all the other uses for the textile. What inspires me particularly about this article is that it reminds me that even the seemingly mundane things in the world, such as textiles and materials, deserve their own articles filled with love and passion.Giant Mushrooms of Emycelium by Mochi
I may be a little biased towards this particular article of Mochi's, because it's a whole bunch of mushrooms on a planet based on me (a dizzying honour in and of itself). It is not the only thing that drew me to it, though. This article showcases one of my favourite formats of articles to read: a whole bunch of species with a little blurb about each. I enjoy making these sorts of article for my own world occasionally, as it gives me a chance to bring life to different sections of my world without writing thousands of words about them. They are also a good chance to make a whole bunch of stubs! Catoblepon also created a brilliant example of this format with the article Avian Bestiary.SANT by Alex (TheDumbOwl)
SANT is a character that infiltrated my home life for much of December. My wife and I spent much of the lead up to Christmas shouting 'MERR CRIMBIMS' at each other, so obviously SANT needed a mention in this article. TheDumbOwl has a great sense of humour that permeates their whole world, and this is no exception. From the charming illustrations to the quotes, there is much to admire here. Character articles are quite a struggle for me when I am working on my world, so SANT is now an inspiration for me to create characters I love just as much as him.Bubbletrees by spleen
It was hard to pick just one article by Spleen to showcase, as they were absolutely on fire during this WorldEmber. It felt like every time I refreshed by notifications I had a new Etharai article to read! I picked Bubbletrees in the end, because I always love a species article, and there were so many little details in this that brought me joy, such as the fact they are used as decorations and also for culinary purposes. This article reminds me to remember the impact of each species I write on the wider world of Etrea.Brictaelgican Cuisine by Blue Fairy 74
Cuisine worldbuilding is so fun to do and really fascinating to read, and Blue Fairy 74's article about Brictaelgican cuisine is a great example of it. The illustrations of the different dishes are beautiful, and I love that the typical food changes depending on the different cultures. It feels like a lot of thought has been put into the available ingredients in each area. This article inspires me to work more on the cuisine of Etrea, and also to read more recipe books and cook more.Duck Sum Upping by ninne124
Duck Sum Upping is a fun article about the tradition of counting the endangered Secki ducks. Whilst quite a whimsical bit of worldbuilding, it is an integral part of the conservation of these ducks and a very important part of the town's culture. I love the artwork that is included in the article, and also the blocks of other related articles peppered throughout. I think my favourite bit is the inclusion of duck merchandise to also help the conservation effort. This article inspires me to include whimsy in my worldbuilding, and also to utilise article blocks more in my formatting. It works really well and could be more impactful for important articles than just including the link in the text.Burrowbugs by Rin Garnett
Here is another species article because apparently I can't help myself. Burrowbugs is a great example of an article about a more unpleasant species. My favourite part is how Rin has formatted the lifecycle of the insect, and also how the sidebar deals with the problems of the species in an in-world way, such as the way to treat burrowbug bites. I also love the little 'did you know?' block. This article makes me realise that it is okay to include some details from an in-world perspective in your articles. I don't know how much I will use that in Etrea, but I love it. It also inspires me to make use of containers more often to add small, related facts about my articles.Goldbrook Annual Guild Fair by TJ Trewin
TJ started a whole new world for WorldEmber, and this is the amazingly detailed introduction article for that world. The obvious thing to enjoy about this article is the formatting, the CSS, and the pixel art, but all of the words on the page are equally as amazing and well-crafted. The article is set up as though the reader is walking through the fair, getting an immersive introduction to the guilds and to the world. I enjoy the inclusion of a rolling table to pick out food, though I kind of want to eat all of it. The thing I take away most from this article is that it is important to make a really cohesive article by ensuring that the visuals and texts work together in an immersive way.Verdant Haze by Han
I love a good geography article, and this article by Han was one of my favourites I read during WorldEmber. The Verdant Haze is such a beautiful but horrible place, and I love that the article really emphasises the contrast. The included quotes really add to the atmosphere of the place, and I love how both the current state of the area and the history of the area are included in the article. This article remind me that quotes are an integral part of worldbuilding and can really add to the article. I also love the inclusion of different sizes and shapes of images, and would love to do more of that in my own articles.Proto-Gjevasudit by Nimin N
Nimin made some excellent language articles this WorldEmber, and it was difficult to pick just one. In the end, I chose this one because I think it was the first one I read. You can tell from the article that Nimin really knows what makes languages tick, and how they grow and change through time and cultural shift. I feel like I learnt some things about real life linguistics just by reading Nimin's work throughout the month. Nimin's language articles are my inspiration for how detailed and thought out I want my own language articles to be. It makes me realise I need to do a whole bunch of real world reading about linguistics and language history to achieve that, though. I don't think my AS level qualification in linguistics is going to hack it.2024 Resolutions
Etrea
Etrea is going to be my main focus for 2024, because I am really inspired to work on it following WorldEmber. Firstly, I am going to be continuing with the Stubocalypse, which is where I am taking each stub in my world, writing 100-200 words in it, and publishing it so that there are no dead links in my world. Ideally I would like to finish the Atlas and Geography main categories this year, and get a good start into Fauna, Flora, and Fungi. I would also like to write some "proper" articles this year. Over WorldEmber, a few of my enhanced stubs got attention, namely Serukis, Daren, Eusakai, and King's Rock. It would be great if I could expand these more this year. I also want to get my templates done. These templates are private, but I am making them to keep different articles of the same thing consistent, such as geography, fauna, settlements, and ethnicities. It would be great to get all the templates I need done by Summer Camp 2024 so they are all ready to go.The Rest
Writing
There are a whole bunch of writing projects I would like to get working on now that I have my creativity back. The first is my PhD novel, Son of Flames, which I haven't been able to look at since my viva. I would love to get it out, plan its rework, and start the rewrite in earnest. I am working on a few projects in the world of Vazdimet, too. The first is a novel series focusing on the Sparnell Confederation, and the others are collaborative projects with Morgan Biscup. There is also a *cough* erotic *cough* novel I am working on called Seeking Solace, which I have promised a few of my besties I will get back to this year.Vazdimet
Poor Vazdimet has been neglected a bit by me this year, but Morgan Biscup published a whole novel! I would really like to write at least a couple of proper articles in Vazdimet this year. And, of course, I'm writing that novel series I talked about above.Alandria
Alandria is actually my wife's world, but she doesn't like the idea of writing stuff down - but she's happy for me to do it! I would like to finish the set up for Alandria this year, including an introduction article and some basic CSS to tide me over until I can commission a proper theme like Etrea's.Other
- Read at least 17 books
- Finish a cross stitch
- Finish a crochet or knitting project
good luck with your resolutions :)
Thank you! :D