2024 Wrap up and Award Eligibility

Hello and Happy New Year! Hope this year would be filled with good vibes and blessings for all my readers.

This newsletter’s pictures are from my trip to Japan in September 2024. This is a small shrine outside Tokyo Tower.

Reflecting on 2024, I am amazed at all that happened within it. I got to travel twice outside the United States. Experience different cultures. Eat different foods. I already spoke about my time in Glasgow. In September, I travelled with my sister to Japan—specifically Tokyo, Nagoya and Yokohama. Going to Japan was the biggest highlight of the year—heck, of my whole life. We ate so much food and saw many places we see in the background of anime, including Tokyo Tower.

I got to see the Tower both during the day and at night.

GigaNotoSaurus being nominated for a Hugo was a huuuuuge highlight for me. You can read more about my reactions in my June 2024 writing update. Overall, the nom knocked me out of my complacency and helped me get my butt in gear for managing the magazine better. We’re now open to submissions for a short time period in January, so if you’re a writer, be sure to submit your story to us by January 15.

Pictures from the Shiba Park Hotel - which calls itself a Library Hotel because it has books you can check out during your stay.

As for my personal writing...I finished my Arena novella and it’s now making the market rounds. Already got one rejection for it! Yayyyy! Also, my short story “By the Works of Her Hands” didn’t win the WSFA award, but still, the fact that it was nominated made me happy.

I had a light publishing year: one short story, “The Grandmother Tale”, published in the Interdimensions anthology, edited by Toiya K. Finley, for the 2024 GenCon Writers Symposium, and an essay, The Liminality of Community Loss, published by Uncanny Magazine on October 1. Both of those are eligible for awards, so if you have read them, please nominate away! You can also find the GigaNotoSaurus stories eligible for awards here.

Finally, I got off my butt and started a Patreon for myself. Starting in November, I’ve decided to make my blog series 'Returning to the Cafe in the Woods', where I revisit old posts from my blog, free. So if you wanted to read my reactions to old posts I made back when I was a baby writer, check it out.

We also went to a Maid Cafe, where I ate some delicious omurice (top picture). Bottom picture is with the Halloween Maid who served us.

Oh! By the way, I was featured in a couple of interviews that just dropped. Arley Song interviewed me for Clarkesworld Magazine: “Humbled by Love: A Conversation with LaShawn M. Wanak”. I also have an interview with CanvasRebel that goes a little more into my writing background.

The Ferris Wheel in Yokohama. I also got to meet Goto and Geto from Jujutsu Kaisen. They look far more happier than their breakup in front of the KFC in Shibuya.

What’s the agenda for 2025? I’ve finished the Story Bible for the AfroFae novel and I’m now writing the next half of the draft. I hope to have a full draft done in the next six months. I also want to look into creating a short story collection. I was going to focus on that last year, but the Hugo nom bumped that off my radar, so now it’s time to bring that back to the forefront again. And would there be more award noms in store? I hope so.

I also plan to do lots and lots of reading as well as focus more on community. I have a feeling we’ll definitely need the latter in this upcoming year.

Got to visit the Small Worlds Minatures Museum

How to Support Me

A reminder: I have a Patreon! And if you can’t give right now, share this newsletter, or follow me on Facebook or Bluesky. I’m going to be moving away from ex-Twitter. I’ll still keep the account open, but you’ll rarely find me there except for special announcements. And finally, leave a comment or a like, even just to say hello.

Thanks for reading!

Finishing up the letter with my two favorite pictures with Noface and Totoro from Ghibli Park in Nagoya.