A Glimpse Into My Past Few Months as a Freelance Writer and Creative
Remember how I mentioned having a lot of free time in my “Books I’ve Read in the First Quarter of 2025” post? Well, things have changed (thankfully), and I’ve gotten a lot busier!
I’ve had a post titled The Final Musings of a 24-Year-Old sitting in my drafts for a while now, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to edit it. There’s something about editing and publishing diary-style work that feels so vulnerable—cringe, even. But I knew what I was signing up for when I started making those entries late last year. Still, I find myself constantly torn between showing up authentically online and preserving a sense of mystery and unknowability.
Anyway, I probably won’t end up posting it—purely out of second-hand embarrassment. But since I’ve now mentioned it here, I suppose it holds some kind of value. Maybe it planted a seed. Maybe it wasn’t a waste after all. Maybe one day I’ll feel generous (and overshare-y) enough to let it out into the world.
In the meantime, I wanted to share some of the work I have completed and am not (too) embarrassed by:
- I kicked off the year by launching Haul of Mood, a short story zine blending poetry and illustration. I find a lot of joy in creating physical things—especially when so much of my work lives purely online—so I also made a set of 10 one-off magnets! Each was crafted from repurposed materials and comes with a little story or fun fact about the character featured on it. I’ll also be opening three custom magnet slots if anyone would like to collaborate or has specific ideas ^-^
→ Haul of Mood Zine
→ Enchanted Character Magnets
→ Custom Magnets - I did some illustrations for Antler Velvet Arts Magazine, where two of my pieces were published:
→ Spiral: Page 34, "Fae World" and Page 47, "Enchant" - Wrote a piece for Plural Art Mag (Singapore), spotlighting two artists and their show at ASIA TOPA
→ Spotlighting Artists: Home Bound - Reported on the federal election for Missing Perspectives, interviewing young women about what they were hoping and voting for
→ Young, Female and Fed Up - For Beat Magazine, I covered Melbourne’s evolving café culture in two features:
→ Are Melbourne's Cafes Becoming the New Clubs?
→ Vibes over Vices (an interview with DJ Shwads on the sober movement) - I began freelancing with Broadsheet, breaking news on a new CBD café
→ First Look: Bottari - And also started writing for Urban List, kicking off with a piece on Melbourne’s tiramisu obsession (a personal favourite to work on).
→ These Are The Best (And Most Viral) Takes On The Tiramisu In Melbourne - I found myself returning to yogurt as a source of inspiration (again!) and pitched a story close to my heart to MiNDFOOD, which was published in their print edition.
→ Page 86 & 87: June Issue: The Communal Power of Yogurt - Hosted my second art-making session at Colour Them Safe with the theme of Visual Poetry, which was super fun and fulfilling
- Also sold two artworks at Colour Them Safe’s Fundraiser auction (3rd year in a row!)
- I was incredibly honoured to contribute an illustration to Issue 126 of Frankie Magazine—by far one of the most joyful and fulfilling moments of my year. Being commissioned to illustrate a paisley print as an Indian illustrator meant a great deal to me.
→ Page 72: Issue 126: Paisley illustration - Finally, and most recently, I wrote a personal piece for RUSSH on how difficult living with myself in 2018 was. It’s the first personal essay I’ve written in a while, and I’m very grateful to be commissioned by the team for a piece on how I navigated my mental health.
→ How becoming a tourist in my city helped me survive my loneliest year
I’ve been working my ass off, and it’s starting to pay off. A quote to myself from a couple months ago: *In Kim K voice* “Get your f--king ass up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days” [She was so right. It’s really all I needed to do! Thank God for the Kardashians!]
There’s more to come, so stay tuned (and for more regular updates, there’s always Instagram).