A Straw Hat Scribe is Born

Closing the Lab, Opening the Scriptorium

May she bloom. (Peonies by Kitagawa Utamaro, 1753–1806, source)

You might have noticed that this newsletter got a new title: Straw Hat Scribe.

Since July 2021, this newsletter has been Occam’s Lab. It served as a playground for me to try different kinds of writing and throw a variety of topics at you: from Japanese history and tea ceremony to travelogues, literature and videogame analysis, and even productivity advice—not to mention my own short and serial fiction.

• I committed to weekly newsletters in early 2023.

• I wrote thirty stories in thirty days, alternating between German and English.

• I released my serial fiction through three season, to be concluded with the upcoming fourth season.

• I investigated Japanese storytelling (still one of my most popular pieces) and the baffling underground popularity of Japanese multimedia franchise Touhou Project.

• I moved to Japan.

• I read Dune with fellow Substack writers Claudia, Nathan, and Alexander.

It’s been fun to try different things but looking back, it’s clear what I gravitate toward the most.

The change to Straw Hat Scribe won’t be a huge one. I’m only committing to more of what I’ve already been writing: fiction and Japan essays. I hope to intertwine the two more closely going forward, highlighting the Japan-inspired aspects of my fiction and connecting the essays to storytelling and mythology.

It has always been tricky to plan what I want to write about so even the above is subject to change. However, I did pick the new title intentionally.

• The straw hat is scrappy and humble. She might only have time for scribbles in the margins but she keeps writing because it’s her one true love¹. She adores zen poets Matsuo Bashō and Hanshan.

• The scribe, on the other hand, dwells in a grand library surrounded by fantastic imagery and the ghosts of grand epics. She loves writing fantasy and science fiction, lives and breathes all sorts of stories. She’s a meticulous notetaker, serious about her craft.

Coincidentally, the icon I picked on a whim depicts a komusō 虚無僧, a wandering lay Buddhist who often wears a basket hat and plays the shakuhachi flute. In the 19th century, these were associated with zen and known as the Fuke school 普化宗. The iconic hat even pops up in the Studio Ghibli film The Cat Returns!

Naturally, I am both the ascetic straw hat and the prolific scribe.

I also hope to add more paid offerings. Don’t worry, this won’t happen all at once and I’m still undecided about the specifics. The rough overview would be something like this:

• free

  • short stories up to 1500 words

  • serial fiction teasers and bonus content

  • Japan essays

  • any other short essays such as book reviews etc.

• paid

  • short stories longer than 1500 words

  • the majority of my serial fiction

  • annotated or commented versions of stories or chapters

And I’m toying with more ideas that might or might not be revealed at a later date.

Again, not much has changed except that I have clarified what I want to do for myself. After being conflicted for a long time, I was reminded that fiction is what I started out writing and what I still enjoy the most. It might not be the ‘smartest’ to write in this day and age but if there’s one thing I’m sure of it’s this: Even if my stories don’t earn me another cent in my entire life, I still wouldn’t regret writing them.

And in the end, that’s the only reason that counts.

1. Plus she has great potential for mysterious profile pictures!