#writelog

It's frustrating how wildly my productivity changes day-to-day. I do have days where the connection between my mind and keyboard are like a coursing river; but there are some days where it's more like a clogged faucet. I can feel my mind struggle to keep focused, every word I write feels like it's in the wrong place, and I just want to sleep.

However, I think the most important thing I've learned through my own inconsistency in motivation/ability to write is just keep trying! Progress is progress (even if it's unfortunately small). The 20 words on a bad day are still worth something. Besides, it all adds up in the end!

With that being said, this month's update is that I feel like I'm about 75% done with the research and writing for my graphic medicine comic! This means that I'm that much closer to drawing (which is exciting since crafting the visuals is possibly my favourite part).

My pen name is Mei Ting Tang, and I'm an aspiring comic artist!

I've always felt the most fulfilled when I can help others, and feel like I've added positively to the world. Subsequently, I constantly changed course throughout my life to find a way that I can do just that that feels like "me."

Initially, I was poised to work in academia, thinking that I could positively contribute to students' lives through teaching, and completed my undergraduate degree in Psychology and Neuroscience. However, after experiencing the toxic nature of academic research and having the opportunity to pivot my post-graduate plans to something that also included art (another passion of mine), I completed my Master's degree in Scientific Illustration and Communication instead. I was excited at the prospect of having opportunities to help improve the public's scientific literacy and patient education, even if I didn't know exactly what that looked like for me by the time I graduated.

In the workforce, I had opportunities to work in the healthcare space as a UX/UI designer and design consultant, and then as a VR level designer. Although, I constantly felt at arm's-length from the people I was impacting with my work, and the mental effort my jobs demanded of me left me with little energy to pursue my other passions--like art--after hours.

However, due to a combination of (admittedly unfortunate) circumstances, I am so grateful and privileged to have the silver lining of the opportunity to choose to make writing science comics (but also maybe other genres??) my 9-to-5 instead of my 5-to-9.

And the first step towards my dream is this blog! I hope to use this space to document my writing/drawing progress, my thoughts and inspirations, and my journey to publication--a lot of which I still have much to learn about!

Nice to meet you, thank you for reading, and I hope you stop by again!

- Mei Ting 🐣

Deep below the earth the water remained. Vash dreamed of it sometimes: an ocean, waves and tides. The spray crashing against the rocks, a memory that came from some world Vash had never seen himself but would have known anywhere.