“The first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human.”
― Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin of a Lion
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This newsletter goes through what I’ve been up to in my writing/life - I aim to account/atone for myself and what I have to show for my efforts recently. A map of my brain, so to speak, and here be dragons.
AI Statement: at no point do I use generative AI in any way to inform, create, or assist the publication of this newsletter, nor the life lived behind it.
2026 -- whatever.
Not a wrap up, also not pointing out to deep right field - just a new year.
It’s been a year - in so many ways. It’s been strange/awesome to reflect that it’s been a personal favourite of a year for quite a few reasons - though most of that is personal and so probably won’t make it onto the page/screen here. I have enjoyed my first year in a new gig as the Head of an English Faculty at a new school. It’s taken up a lot of time and mental load, but I love challenges, and working with data, and supporting people, and teaching - so it’s been an excellent year for all of those things.
My family is also rad, and there’s nothing more important than that - art as a support system for life, not the other way around [thanks Stephen King]. 2025 has been a year of good connections, long walks, laughs, tears, and plenty of movies. Honestly, blessed land. My word for 2025 was ‘appreciate’ and I did just that. Nice.
Writing output was quite low [very low, the kind shorty got] in 2025 - EVERFROST landed in trade at all fine comic emporiums. I really love the work Sami Kivela and Lauren Affe do in the art in this book.
I had a prose short story appear in the Lone Wolf Anthology Vol. 2 ‘Echoes of the Past’ and my short was titled The Gravedigger’s Legacy. I really liked that story - you can buy it here.
And I think that’s it.
Overall, I’ve immensely enjoyed 2025 and I hope other people have found moments within it worth keeping around, too.
Interestingly, this is in the face of a big project for 2026 being cancelled before it could appear. Creatively, devastating - and yet I’ve survived. I have been watching the Mr. Scorsese documentary and in it I saw that early on Scorsese lost a decent gig and he was frustrated, and hated that, and yet he bounced back in time, so I am happy to be doing the same.
In fact, losing this IP gig has made me consider what it is I want to write moving forward. It’s given me a touch of clarity - especially around things I can control and that which I cannot. As such, I’m putting together a few things right now, and they’re actually weirdly very disparate:
A brilliant 10 page short with an old collaborator [it’s coming along damn beautifully so far]
A pitch for a story that’s grabbed me by the collar and must be told [the kind of things where I say to myself “if I only get to tell one last story, what would it be?” and it would be this]
A zine for a 9k word essay I just finished Draft Three on right before New Year’s Eve.
I plan to make 2026 more personal and quirky in my writing and I’m really looking forward to it.
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The previous year in content consumed.
I’ll go through my reads and watches in a later update. There was a lot of all of it,
For anyone who wants a quick peek at my films watched, head over to Letterboxd - you can track my list here.
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Writing Curriculum Refresh.
I wrote a short story this year that ran in second in the Teachers as Writers’ category for the ACT LitLinks Awards.
The story is Sunkiss’d and you can read it here.
I had a blast writing this. It’s a short piece about someone shipwrecked and adrift in the ocean whereupon they spot a mermaid [or are spotted by it] and that moment of connection fills their heart, but it is fleeting, and they wonder if they’ll ever have it again, or ever have it believed [do we really believe them?].
I wanted to play with subtle elements of form and show some influences while using a larger structural framework.
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Buying my RPGs.
I have some small one-age RPGs up on my itch.io page - so feel free to download at your leisure [or pwyw].
I will finally release WITHIN THE KIND RED BUILDING on there this month, and maybe a few other smaller things soon, too.
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Sometimes the stories that matter most are the ones that chase you.
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Who is Ryan K Lindsay?
I’m an award-winning Australian comic writer. I’ve been published by Black Mask, Dark Horse, ComixTribe, Mad Cave, IDW, Heavy Metal, Vertigo, and a few more. Kickstarter has been a home for many short comics. I often get to collaborate with great mates, and this brings me joy.
I write about balancing this creative game alongside a full teaching load [currently College Head of English and University Intro to Creative Writing] and a lovely family load and the forever melting brain that is modern man. I think about a lot of stuff, I still don’t know if it’s the right stuff. ymmv.
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POST CREDITS SEQUENCE
I often say to students [and anyone else who asks] just write what you dig. Whatever gets you to sit down in the seat and bang out the words [instead of the near limitless anything else out there vying for your attention] then write that thing.
We only get a short time, so spend it doing what you dig.
And also stop doomscrolling and checking your social. There be dragons.
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