I Will Be Free

It has been eight months since I was ejected from tech for speaking out about discrimination in my workplace. Since then the industry-wide layoffs have cooled, but my resume is still radioactive. And maybe this is sour grapes, but I think I’m fine with that. I knew what I was getting into.

Don’t get me wrong, I was in a rough state. For a while I was scared that I’d made a mistake, and that my life would be this way forever.

But I’ve also been contacted by many current and former Rune employees since I blew the whistle, to thank me for writing that piece and for being their voice when they were afraid to speak.

There is absolutely no question in my mind today that I did the right thing. I’d do it again.

And I refuse to let this end or define my story.

So enough about Rune Labs. Enough with the desperate, nine-to-five job hunt. Enough with trying to stealth through interviews; with following directions; with being polite; with having to scream to be heard, and with babysitting the feelings of grown ass men.

Enough with peeling off layers of my skin and cracking my bones and bleeding myself dry to enrich someone else, for the scraps that fall off of capital’s plate and the privilege of keeping the breath that fills my aching lungs.

Let’s try something completely different.

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I’m going full-time with my art.

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. To create and work for myself, to build the kinds of worlds I loved to get lost in as a kid, and to just tell freaky stories about weird lil’ guys.

So that’s what I’m going to do with Haste Makes Waste.

In fact, surprise, I’ve already started. Let me show you what I’ve been working on!

Alt Text: A logo against a grainy polaroid; it is a penrose triangle, enclosed in a cirle like a badge. Text on it reads “The Department of What”, and upside down from that: “Curiosity Will Kill You”.

My first project as an independent creator is The Department of What. It’s a horror novelette, inspired by works like the SCP Foundation, Welcome to Nightvale, and Control.

In it, an eccentric college burnout named Gray hears a transmission on an old ham radio that they shouldn’t have, and now she’s haunted. It happens sometimes, what can do you do? 🤷‍♀️ Unfortunately there’s also the matter of the secret society which wants to capture them and the signal, to study. Forever.

Will Gray escape, or spend the rest of their life under observation?

…I’m asking. I don’t know, it’s not out yet.

Oh, and you know how I’ve been threatening to break into video essays for a while?

Alt Text: The thumbnail for my first video. A black-and-white close up of a typewriter, which simply reads: “Journalism”

My very first script is almost done! Obviously, the topic will be journalism, but what does that mean?

First, the basics: It’ll cover the history of the discipline, and the mechanics and practical skills you would use on the job. But also, the ethics of it. Who gets to decide what is covered, what doesn’t, and how? Who are the authorities in the space, and what are points of contention today that even professionals in the field don’t agree on?

Then, if I can fit it, a comparison of The Elements of Journalism 3rd and 4th Edition, which were published before and after the 2016 election cycle and presidential term. What has changed in the way journalists are taught, in this new age of mass-produced disinformation?

I chose this topic because it’s been a long time since I’ve been in school, or had to do any deep research or reporting. Sure, I do lots of nonfiction and persuasive writing, but I want to make sure I’ve shaken the rust off of those skills. I think it’s only fair to ask that I prove I’m credible, and worth listening to.

Plus, by doing it together we’ll build a common language; this is the methodology I’ll be using for future videos, and now you’ll know everything I do so you can call me on my bullshit. :)

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Of course, I’ll also keep working on the stuff you’re already here for; essays on goofy indie games, chapters of Renegade Ghost, exceptionally cringey poetry, and pictures of my cat.

I’ve even started drawing again. Did you know I used to run a webcomic? It was dreadful. ♥

I haven’t felt this energized about my work in a long time.

And the really cool thing is, you can read a bunch of this stuff right now.

A few weeks ago, I set up a shiny new Patreon. I thought I’d just be talking to myself for a while, but I’m already being supported by several generous patrons! I am surprised and humbled that people like my work, and I promise to do my best!

I’ve been posting drafts, notes, and behind the scenes work for a couple of weeks already. If this all sounds up your alley, you can mosey on over there right now and read drafts for the Department of What and my first video essay. Patrons get exclusive access to that stuff, and will also get the final versions a week early. If you’ve ever wanted to leave feedback on an article, now you can do that, too.¹

And if Patreon isn’t your thing, no worries. It’ll all still make its way here eventually.

I’ve wanted to take a risk like this for a long time.

To tell the truth, I’ve always put it off because I was scared. I was told my whole life, by deeply uncurious people with small imaginations, that I’d never make it. And I believed them. That became my story.

That’s a shitty story, though. I bet I could write a better one.

So I’m going on a fucking adventure.

You coming my way?