Well… That Escalated Quickly. 🐼

When I wrote the first post about how The Bamboo Chronicles began, things were fairly simple.

There was a panda.

There was a book.

There was me, sitting here thinking, Well, let's see what happens.

That was adorable.

Because apparently Ziggy heard “let's see what happens” and took it as a personal challenge.

Since then, our little panda has acquired a website, a store, merchandise, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky, and, judging by the way things are going, possibly plans for world domination.

I would like to point out that none of this was in the original plan.

Actually, I'm beginning to suspect there never was a plan.

There was just Ziggy.

And somehow, that has been enough.

A few days ago, I decided to make The Bamboo Chronicles ebook free for a few days.

The idea was simple: let people discover Ziggy.

No giant expectations. No complicated strategy.

Just open the door and invite people in.

As I write this, 252 books have been processed this month.

I keep checking the number.

This is apparently how I spend my free time now.

Do a puzzle.

Check the number.

Put in another puzzle piece.

Check Instagram.

Check TikTok.

Remember I'm supposed to be doing the puzzle.

Check the number again.

😂

But one number in particular isn't the one I'm going to remember most.

During the giveaway, someone bought the paperback.

She told me her daughter was taking it to school for a book read.

And that stopped me.

Because somewhere out there, a child is carrying Ziggy into a classroom.

This little panda who started as an idea is going to sit on a desk in a school while someone opens his book and shares his adventure.

That's pretty darn special.

And yes, Scribble has already issued a gold star.

🐦➤ ⭐

We have recently discovered that there is no proper paper-airplane emoji for Scribble, so we've improvised.

These are the kinds of important business decisions happening around here.

Instagram has grown to 660 followers.

TikTok has reached 262 followers, and one little Ziggy post, the one where someone asks, “Are you coming?” and he responds “DON'T DO THAT!”, has wandered past 2,300 views.

Apparently the internet enjoys watching Ziggy panic.

Honestly?

Fair.

Then today we opened accounts on Bluesky and Threads, because apparently four corners of the internet weren't enough.

Bluesky already has five followers.

Threads has one.

And I would just like that one person to know:

You are officially the founding citizen of Ziggy Threads.

Please use your power responsibly.

While I've been watching numbers climb, building pages, making posts, creating products, and occasionally remembering that normal people probably don't check book reports between puzzle pieces...

We've also been writing.

The Citadel is growing.

New characters have appeared.

New places are waiting.

And Ziggy's world is becoming much bigger than I imagined when I first drew the line around that little panda.

That's probably my favorite part of all of this.

I don't know exactly where we're going.

I know pieces of it.

I know the characters.

I know some of the secrets.

And there are things sitting in my notes right now that I'm desperately trying not to tell you. 😂

But I'm discovering the world right alongside Ziggy.

And now, apparently, so are all of you.

I don't want The Bamboo Chronicles blog to just be me talking at you.

Where's the fun in that?

So we're going to start doing something different.

You get to play too.

Tell me in the comments:

🐼 If you could walk through the Gates of the Citadel and explore ONE place first, what would you choose?

A) A river made of ink where unfinished words float past

B) A railway that disappears into places nobody has mapped

C) A room filled with unfinished drawings waiting to be completed

D) A mysterious door that absolutely, definitely says DO NOT OPEN

And yes.

I already know some of you are choosing D.

I probably would too.

Which is exactly why Lumina would never leave us unsupervised.

🏮 Unfortunately.

I'll share the results in a future post, and who knows?

Something you choose here might just find its way into Ziggy's world. 👀✨

Until next time...

Keep an eye on the panda.

He's apparently got plans.

Make people smile. Let them play. Let them feel included. And above all, keep it fun, because imagination was never meant to be serious all the time.

The Bamboo Chronicles 💜🐼✨