Setting up my BuJo and building towns
Setting up my BuJo and building towns
#6: Featuring a guide on my Bullet Journal setup, the Townscaper demo, reading goals, playwriting notes, an awesome animation and more
Hey everyone,
As I mentioned in my last newsletter of 2021, I’ll be sending these out twice a month this year.
Without further preamble, here are 10 things I thought were worth sharing from January so far:
My Bullet Journal changed everything for me in 2021. So I thought I’d write a guide on how I set up my Bullet Journal for 2022.
I finally wrote a review of Robert Shearman’s We All Hear Stories in the Dark (a favourite from 2021). I also finished Dave Rudden’s Twelve Angels Weeping and Lynda Barry’s excellent Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor. I’m aiming to write some posts on these by the next newsletter.
Aside from my reading goals for 2022, I’ve not really shared any resolutions for this year. But on the subject of resolutions, AI Weirdness (one of my favourite newsletters) shared some hilarious New Years Resolutions generated by AI.
Thanks to Christa Peterson, I discovered the Townscaper demo. It’s a fun, relaxing way to procrastinate. The colourful town atop this newsletter is one of many quick towns I created in my idle moments. Developed by Oskar Stålberg, the demo can be played for free in your web browser.
Mark Ravenhill is sharing tips for note givers for free on his Twitter. Thanks to Shahid Iqbal Khan, I also found out that Ravenhill’s 101 notes on playwriting from last year have been collected into a single post. (I blogged my favourite notes.)
I said in my last newsletter that Ijeoma Oluo’s Behind the Book would quickly become one of my favourite newsletters, and I was right. Some past and recent posts of hers that I’ve loved: “Open Wound Writing” about writing on race and gender as a Black woman; “Ok, But Is Writing Even POSSIBLE?” about writing with ADHD; “Capitalism Sucks, But Don't Be Shamed For Your Hustle” about why rest isn’t revolution; and “Your Worst Writing Nightmare” where she answers the question, “What if I get dragged?”
Joanne Harris: “The hardest thing for an aspiring writer to do is to drop the word "aspiring" and admit to themself (and others) that, regardless of goals or experience, this is what they want to do. Don't wait to feel like a "proper" writer to start. Just stop aspiring, and start writing.”
Late last year I stumbled upon the video essays of Super Eyepatch Wolf. I watched his lengthy deep dive into what the Internet did to Garfield alongside setting up my BuJo, which may be over an hour-long but was incredible to watch. I checked out some of his older essays, too, including “The Bizarre Modern Reality of Sonic the Hedgehog” and “Devotion: The Most Disturbing Game You Cannot Play.”
Spider-Man: No Way Home was as good as I hoped it would be. Despite knowing several spoilers, there were still plenty of delightful surprises. Although, the film is not for anyone who hasn’t seen all the other Spider-Man films. I also watched Death To 2021 on Netflix. A few good laugh-out-loud moments — generally an enjoyable hour of viewing.
In the final hours of 2021, Aamon Hawk of Aamon Animations uploaded his best animation yet.
Thank you so much for reading. If you’re reading this not as a subscriber but would like to see more of these, you can subscribe below. If you enjoyed reading, I’d love it if you could share it with anyone else who might also enjoy my work.
See you at the end of the month!
Best wishes,
J.W. Stammers
I previously shared this link on my Instagram story. Posting links to Insta stories is something you can do now — just don’t put the link in the corner like I did where it’s hard to click!