#28 Still done-ish

A summer of work on my done-ish book

Hello there. It’s been a hot minute.

It turns out the done-ish stage of writing a book lasts for a long time. My summer was heavy on the -ish.

While I can’t share some of the -ish activities yet, I got to learn new skills like this:

Sometimes, working during this done-ish phase, I felt like this:

And sometimes I felt like this:

Ultimately, I feel really good about how the story shaped up. I really enjoyed the surrounding activities required to get the book to done-ish, which included creating chapter opener art, amongst other things—and <drum roll> solidifying a title. But it was collaborating on a cover design, dear reader, that made my book feel real-real to me. I can’t wait to share it in a few months when it’s ready!

Here’s the evolution of one page:

This summer, I also had the pleasure of teaching two comics classes, one about diary comics and one about the toughest stories we have inside ourselves waiting to share. It was such a delight to work with so many creative humans.

Together, we reacted to prompts such as

“Who are the past selves in your work–or that show up in your life–like nesting dolls inside of you–and what do they need? How do they need to be nurtured?”

I felt honored to witness folks sharing vulnerable, expressive work.

I’m looking forward to teaching more classes next summer. If you couldn’t join this time around, I hope you’ll join us next summer. Class descriptions TBA closer to next summer.

I also offered a few informal drawing-for-joy sessions. If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading or listening to Ross Gay’s musings on joy, I can’t recommend his work enough. I especially appreciated his conversation with Krista Tippet, in which he discusses the paradox of feeling joy in the midst of so much suffering.

Perhaps the best part of my summer was reflecting on how much my relationship with shame has changed in the past few years. With that cliff hanger, I’ll leave you until next time…

Thanks for reading Soft Things: comics about science, research, and being human. I create narrative comics that intertwine research and storytelling to make science relatable. My comics have been featured in the Washington Post and Mutha Magazine, among other outlets. My graphic memoir is forthcoming from Street Noise Books in 2025. If you’re new here, welcome! You might wonder why I’m curious about shame, why this newsletter is called Soft Things, and who the heck I am, anyway. For more comics and creative process-processing, here’s my Instagram: @cara_gormally