An update, the toast spectrum, & other rabbit holes
Looking back, looking forward, toast, and Jack the baboon
What’s up, Rabbit Fam,
As I finish I writing this it’s probably already 2025. Maybe even 2026. I swear I think “I need to write to the Rabbit Hole Fam” and then I look up and it’s two months later.
I’ve been busy, obvi. Some notables:
on sub with my first full manuscript since 2017! It’s a fun adventure/magical realism book that’s Encanto, but set in Appalachia and the house wants to beat everyone up. It’s the first novel I’ve set in my extended folklore universe I’ve been creating since 2018. I have high hopes for this one so we will see how this goes in 2025.
Been spending time building a content system for my music releases next year. More on this below.
Survival
I didn’t realize it until I slowed down at the end of the year, but, to put it simply, 2024 kicked my ass. I’ve learned that feeling capable of something is a lagging indicator for me and, because of it, I take on more than I should and don’t realize it until it’s too late. However, some of the hardship of this year was just things (trips, loss, love, building) I couldn’t avoid. I’m ending the year feeling as a solid 8 on the spectrum of toast.
I do a reflection exercise at the end of every year (because I’m nerd) and when I looked back on my goals for 2023, I didn’t achieve a lot of them. I also didn’t change much of the things I said I wanted to change the previous year. So I know I need to take on 2025 differently.
I’m treating 2025 as an experiment in change in a lot of places. I have a lot of ideas for change, many scary, many exciting. My big thing is that I want to refocus on the things I find truly joy in and not just the things that feel like vague “progress.”
The Great Music Experiment of 2025
Over 2025, I’ll be releasing 4 albums and 4 EPs. I challenged myself to build a reusable content system that would help me post a video every day on Insta/TikTok in 2025. I did, and I’ve been testing it (mostly on TikTok) since October with pretty incredible success.
The first image is growth across all my platforms. The second is Spotify Artist data. For context, on Spotify, I started with 20 followers and was barely averaging 20 streams a month. This is 1k streams in one week! I’ve even seen book sales increasing because of the increased attention. I’m incredibly excited to keep this going into 2025. I have no expectations of where I’m going, I just wanted to see movement and that’s happening in abundance.
First single of 2025 | Collections
My first release of 2025 is going to be a single from the rerelease of my album, Hurts & Joys. Some of you might remember it, however, unless you have it downloaded, it hasn’t been accessible since 2019. It’s called “Collections.” You can hear a sneak peek below.
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Because you’re part of the rabbit hole family, if you presave “Collections” (pre-saving tells Spotify people care and makes them put it on more playlists), I’ll send you the full thing for advanced listening. Just respond to this email and let me know if you did.
Other 🐰🕳️s
Bluey creator Joe Brumm leaving show | read
The Connis house is a Bluey house, so the fact that Joe Brumm is leaving the show (though, still writing a Bluey Movie) is kinda huge. He said “I am finding it difficult to reach back genuinely into that four to six year old world and write authentically.” I have always thought how incredible it is that he could write from that perspeactive. That takes such a special talent and connection to childhood, and I can totally understand how this could be hard to keep up. Still, it’s a bit of a bittersweet announcement.
Inside the Vatican’s Secret Saint-making process | read
I’ve always been curious about this, but, man, this article from The Guardian delivered. Not only does it give a sneak peak about all that’s involved in becoming a saint, it also talks about the first “tech” saint and his story just so…mythical. Somehow he knew he was going to die young.
Arcane | watch
I saw someone talking about how the second season of this show had above 9.0 ratings on IMDB. Then they said, “animation for adults” and I was curious so I watched the first season over the holidays. I loved the every season of the animated Clone Wars and hoped this would fill this gap. Between the storytelling, the animation style, the action sequences, there have been so many moments where I’ve been floored at how good it is. In an age of movie studios playing it safe with franchises, sequels, and formulaic scripts this is the kind of storytelling and innovation I’ve wanted. Watch it, but be warned, it truly IS for adults. It’s violent, and dark.
Jack the employed baboon who made no mistakes | read
This baboon is better at his job than I am at mine. It’s fine. I’m fine.
Riley Whittaker | Sedona
I found this song via tiktok and there’s this little fuzzy bass line in a gap between lyrics at 1:42 that keeps pulling me back to it. I’m a sucker for textures like this in songs.
Okay! That’s all for this time.
See you in 2025!
Dave
"Encanto, but set in Appalachia and the house wants to beat everyone up."
I'm already excited for it!