Joyce Chng's Blog

April was busy. Book release – Sailing The Golden Chersonese! Celebrated my folks’ 80th birthday.

I have fallen in love with dragon ribbon/dragon flow/poi. It’s such a lovely and invigorating exercise/dance. Am wondering if I could just focus on this. Going into the 50s and changing my career paths. Perhaps this will be the fulfilling one where it gives me joy (and a workout, at the same time). Not that writing sff isn’t fulfilling – it is, but sometimes, most of the time, sff is exhausting, ...

Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!

Not an April’s Fool joke!

March was my birthday month – turning 51 was ok. A trip with the family to Vietnam was rejuvenating and I had a medieval overdress made.

What do I have in store for April?

Pre-orders are love!

Sailing The Golden Chersonese. Preorder links soon! Queen of Swords Press!

Art by Dhiyanah Hassan.

February was action-packed: Lunar New Year (Year of the Fire Horse), spouse going for an operation, and medical dingdongs. We did a lot of food prep, entertained guests, and after two days, we went back to normal. February was weird in that many festivals coincided – indeed harnessing the sheer energy of a Fire Horse. And as with fire and its impact, it brings about rebirth, renewal and a lot of burning away. I can’t help but think about the world being on fire – but is there hope in the end?

January, at the time of writing, was fraught. The world was on fire. Injustice abounded (and still abounds). We watched in horror.

Yet, in midst of it all, I embroidered and prepared for Lunar New Year. (will post pictures of my embroidery soon). I also began writing once more: a third piece in my solarpunk/hopepunk thought-arc.

What do I have in store for February:

So, at the time of writing, Christmas/Yuletide was just over and we were ever inching towards 2026. Christmas this year was quiet – father-in-law is in respite care, my eldest in Norwich, and the relatives scattered. So the gathering was small-scale, intimate and cosy, only family and close friends.

A couple of weeks ago, we visited Hanoi – pleasantly cool (sweater/jacket weather). We then went up to Sa Pa and visited the Hmong people. Of course, I was inspired by their embroidery (actually, ...

In total, I earned (for this year) $900 in total, from Patreon. This is for ONE year, not per month. Give or take, plus royalties from books and stuff – $1000 odd. In total. I am not counting per month. This is not a way to earn a living.

Mmm, 1000 per month sounds decent, right? NOT per year. If I am *living* solely on $75 per month, plus a few cents from the royalties – I will not live for long. I am privileged, for now, that I have support.

I guess I am being frank/honest here. Times ar...

At the time of writing this update post, November is entering its last week. Disasters, fires, floods in the news. Pretty grim and pretty sobering, considering some parts of the world are entering into an odd capitalistic frenzy of manufactured joy. One thinks if there is indeed something to be thankful for – we do not celebrate Thanksgiving here, but the faith traditions I am brought up with do celebrate thanksgiving.

So, I give thanks. To my family, friends, readers, people who have walked ...

The Southeast Asian sff publishing thing… you know… Giant Oarfish is now in indefinite hiatus.

Because 1. I know we don’t fund overnight.

Because 2. Money does not fall from the sky.