Happy New Year, everyone!  A little belated, but I had some things to tie up before I was able to share this post.  I want to talk about what’s ahead for me and this little website in the coming year. But first, a little retrospective.
I started mangamaven.com in April of 2018, just after Anime Boston and my 28th birthday.  It’s not even a year old yet, but I am proud of all the work I’ve been able to put into it.  Through this site, I’ve been able to reach a larger audience than just my small social media groups.  I’ve been asked to be on a couple podcasts: Manga Machinations and Manga Mavericks. (And I had a great time of it, too; podcasting is fun!)  I’ve been able to promote my newsletter, which I also launched in 2018. It was quite the year!
A lot of things have changed and developed in my personal life, as well, and because of this I’ve had to make the very hard decision to leave Comicopia.  It’s been a really transformative three and a half years, and I will still be involved with the store, shopping there, organizing and working conventions, et cetera.  I will also still be maintaining my monthly newsletter, so no need to fret about that. I don’t have any plans to leave the comics world, I’m just going to be stepping out of retail for a while as new and exciting things start to fall into place!
And what are some of these new and exciting things?  Firstly, a lot more writing! I’d like to really focus on building my writing portfolio, and I want to keep talking about manga.  With the manga publishing industry looking more healthy and diverse than ever, and as Viz Media’s new Shonen Jump subscription service begins to grow and evolve, I foresee that I will have plenty of opportunities to do just that.  And I promise to keep everyone updated on other new and exciting developments as they arise.
It’s looking like 2019 is going to be a year of a lot of big changes for me, but I really think it will be a positive growing experience.  Thank you all for reading and coming along on this adventure with me — may we all find joy and new opportunities aplenty in 2019!