New year, new format for rent*space

I'm breaking up the newsletter to make it easier to find what you like, ignore what's boring, and read quick updates quicklier (???).

Dec 28, 2021

Ahoy, maties.

Presents were opened. Political fights with the olds were had. Boxing Day hangover is cured. The scale has been stood upon. Regret has set in.

It’s the most un-wonderful time of the year — that weird couple of in-betweener days that feel like a long bus ride. You’re not really in one room or another, but trapped in the door frame. That is to say, nowhere.

Lot of thinking gets done in these days. Lot of thinking about the new year, and the new habits you’ll try not to give up on by February.

I’m doing some of that, and some of it applies to what we’re doing here with rent*space.

Here’s a confession. I kinda fear we’ve lost sight of our mission here.

Originally, I planned on a quickie newsletter that was easy to read while you’re waiting in line for coffee, or sitting on the can about 45 minutes after that coffee.

But turns out, I often have a lot to say.

I’d also like to publish more often. Even multiple times a week.

Not really doable when your prose gets long in the tooth, and when you have pages cooking in the background.

Solution? Publish shorter content more often.

rent*space is often split into rotating sections: process stuff, recommendations, NSFW art, and the occasional essay.

Starting in 2022, instead of a monthly-ish BIG newsletter with multiple sections, I’ll be shooting for more of a short, weekly post focusing on one section.

And here’s what that’ll look like.

Subject line: WIP [topic]

If you see a subject line with “WIP” at the front, then it’s a process newsletter, breaking down some artistic challenge I just went through or showing some little trick I learned.

I’ll talk a little about the project I’m working on as well, so it’ll have that behind-the-scenes, director’s cut, companion reader bonus vibe to it as well.

Subject line: STEAL IT [topic]

No, I’m not advocating stealing comics here. You see that subject line, it means I wrote about something in the wild that impressed me quite a bit.

Might be a comic, might be a blog post, might be an account to follow. The twist is, for artists, I’m gonna make a recommendation about that thing. Something to imitate, copy, and learn from.