Unplanned Creative Bursts
Frantic Scribbles & Senseless Ramblings February 2026
You’re reading Frantic Scribbles and Senseless Ramblings, the monthly newsletter of Asa Wheatley.
Making progress
Running an unplanned Kickstarter with no preparation and very little of the actual book to show initially was maybe not the best way to start the month but here we are. If you missed it, at the start of February I launched a new Kickstarter campaign and it’s still live right now, with only a few days remaining! It’s called ‘Wich Witches and it’s running as part of Kickstarter’s Zine Quest. It’s an easy to learn, no preparation, table top role playing game about sandwich making Witches. It’s something I created the basic rules for a good few years ago now but thought I’d use the excuse of Zine Quest to get it refined and into a nicely presented format.
We’re already funded, which is a huge weight off my mind, and we’re working our way to some pretty fun stretch goals.
While the Kickstarter has been running I’ve been working on the layout and refining the text which has been fun. It’s a totally different writing style to working on comics and I’ve really enjoyed it. I don’t know if I could ever do a big TTRPG book but keeping it closer to a zine is a fun writing exercise.
We’ve also got a brand new cover from the ever amazing Sammy Ward! Take a look below, I’m loving how she’s represented this magical and silly game in a single image, it’s perfect!
If you haven’t already you can check out the (now much improved) campaign page and grab yourself a copy of this silly and fun game!
Alongside ‘Wich Witches, I’ve had a little creative burst this month. Sometimes taking some time away from writing and failing to force ideas to percolate means that they naturally bring themselves to the surface. Since writing Book Five of Shield Maiden I’ve known the direction the Shield Maiden was heading for Book Six but hadn’t worked out exactly the stories that would be inside until now. I don’t know how to explain it other than it just kind of popped into my head one day as my mind was drifting and probably avoiding the task at hand.
Alongside working out what stories I wanted to tell in Book Six, I’ve refined my plans for the following Books all the way up to Ten, which is both scary and exciting. I’m determined to get to Book Ten. Hopefully with this start it’ll be easier for me to get back into the writing swing of things and make some good progress on the scripts.
Sagas of the Shield Maiden Book Six - Refining stories, plotting out structures.
‘Wich Witches - The Kickstarter is live!
A Walk Within the Queen’s Wood - Issue 1 kickstarter in May. Issue 2 1st draft started.
Project Slasher - 1st issue 1st draft complete.
Project Murder - Artist working on layouts/character designs.
Project Full Moon - Very early planning stages.
What Else Has Been Going On?
To my surprise, even though I entered the competition, earlier this month I won tickets for Sammy and I to go see Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter on the big screen. We watched Captain Kronos for the first time last year and I loved it. It still feels original despite being over 50 years old and combines some of my favourite tropes and genres, including the wandering warrior that inspired Shield Maiden so much. The screening was a slightly odd one being not just presented by Hammer but also the National Youth Theatre and it quickly became clear that apart from one other pair of competition winners the rest of the audience were all part of or associated with the Theatre. So we definitely felt a little like the odd ones out but despite it being a screen filled with 18 year olds it was a really good screening. The film itself looked fantastic, the restoration Hammer has done is really good and the jokes still hit in the right places. Part of me wishes there could have been a whole host of Captain Kronos sequels but there’s something nice about this being a fully self contained story.
Forcing myself out of my comfort zone a little bit I’ve been trying to get out and play more of the games I enjoy and am painting minis for. I’ve delved into Star Wars Legion this year which has been good fun and the minis are so great to paint. I chose the Rebels as my army which means while I get great looking minis they all seem to get killed pretty quickly. So I’ve got to brush up on some tactics for what seems to be universally accepted as the worst army in the game!
I also got myself out to a pre-release event for the new Magic the Gathering Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set. I love the Turtles so I’ve thoroughly enjoyed seeing them come to life in the Magic world. I went to a new to me shop, Bad Moon Cafe, which had such a great atmosphere! I think I’ll definitely be back there. As for the TMNT set itself, I had a lot of fun playing it, the new/reworked mechanics are great and I love a lot of the art for it too!
All consuming, consuming all
Earlier this month I hit 100% completion on Hollow Knight: Silksong and I adored it. There’s always frustration at points with these sorts of games but when I finally break through it’s always worth all the work it took to get there. It’s wild that there’s so much of the game that you can miss if you don’t venture into Act 3. Some of the most stunning areas you’d just never see. Am I going to try for the platinum? Maybe. We’ll see how challenging those speed runs look!
I don’t know what I was truly expecting from a Polish mermaid horror musical but I knew it would be weird and weird it is. The Lure is the film in question and when I heard the concept I knew I wanted to watch it knowing nothing else about it. Even at 90 minutes it unfortunately dragged at times and there were definitely points where I had no idea what was going on but the mermaid lore was pretty interesting and its weirdness had me intrigued.
You Like it, You Link it
This year I started a little handwritten film journal, just somewhere for me to jot down some unrefined thoughts about what I’m watching but my Letterboxd is where I’m writing out some shorter, more succinct thoughts on what I’m watching.
Don’t forget to grab yourself a copy of ‘Wich Witches, there’s only a few days left of the campaign!
Speaking of campaigns, The Collected Letters of Courier Z - volumes 1 & 2 is launching very soon! I really enjoyed the first volume and am looking forward to seeing what scraps she gets into next!