#@dduane

[petermorwood]

Mr. Morwood, I have enjoyed your blog for quite a while and I have a question.

I have been writing since I was a kid and it's always been the only part of my life that I never stress over. Maybe the story is good; maybe it's not-- the important thing is that I had fun writing it. Even writer's block was rarely a problem. I could either take a break and wait it out or just Write Something Anything, and the words would start to flow like always.

For almost the past year, the words won't come. I can come up with ideas, sure, but when I sit down at the keyboard the sentences are clunky and my brain feels like a cat being given a pill. That's the worst part-- I'm fine with writing badly but this just isn't fun like it used to be. I've tried all the classic tricks, tried giving it time, tried finishing old projects, starting new ones, different font. Same result.

Since you're an experienced writer I hope I'm not out of line in asking, what do you do to break writer's block? How do you call the words back?

I wish I knew, but the state of my own WIP folder is an indication that I don't, and your comment (bolded) is one I can appreciate.

That's the worst part-- I'm fine with writing badly but this just isn't fun like it used to be. I've tried all the classic tricks, tried giving it time, tried finishing old projects, starting new ones, different font. Same result.

Confronted with all The Usual Suggestions, I can add the one which isn't there: have you tried reverting to pen / pencil / notebook and writing in longhand "for spontaneity"?

I'm somewhat acquainted (heh!) with a much better, more experienced writer than me, so I'm going to tag @dduane in on this.

[53rdcenturyhero]

Zines purchased tick, con bad behaviour of guests as a con runner tick (shan't tell) , finding batteries for the con mics by sabotaging hotel equipment who me never!, collecting for the con charity by going out in cosplay and performing scenes on the street, getting an entire hotel booked filled for all the con attendees, (room parties with con guests turning up & the only room left for them being to stand in the bath and they stood in the bath & enjoyed the party), standing at the con bar at 3 am and the only one being sober, that guy who slept under the stage a lot (hey Rich I've still got your leather jacket), Paramount suing people I knew, the kiddies in cosplay and TERRY PRATCHETT IN A HAT LISTENING TO US IN THE HOTEL LOBBY

Fandom fossil. Proud to be a fandom fossil. Join in my fandom spaces which I helped shape for us all. Stop telling me to think badly of my survival of well over a half century of fan activity. JICTAR rating reporting member aged 3. Dr Who/Trek & Anderson fan then and now, and written sci fi. If you youngsters are smart you can learn lots from us. Can you be smart, or just loud about hating things that are different?

Read @dduane additions to the above linked post that prompted this posted addition.

[trek-tracks]

How did my dash know this was actual canon dialogue from The Search For Spock?

(As always, @adestroy's cartoons are a gift)

[hug-your-face]

After seeing it on tumblr for years now, I finally joined the ranks of hundreds? thousands? of people who have made @dduane's Aggressively Garlicked Lamb.

It's really good! Different from other lamb dishes I've had before. Rather than disguise or lighten the, shall we say "robust" flavor of the lamb with acids, crusts, or complex herbs, the garlic simply rises up and enters a full-on cage match with the lamb. I used 2 bulbs and I could have used 3. The result is not at all subtle, but delicious and comforting. Bring the strongest Cabernet you have to the show for a savory, hearty tavern brawl in your mouth. Perfect for a cold winter night.

Honestly I'm prolly gonna have to go buy The Door Into Shadow now just to enjoy the fictional version of this real-life treat.

[grapefruittwostep]

I was so cool and fine and normal about Dairine Callahan at age ten (I was NOT, I was SO NOT NORMAL, and I have never become normal about her, she is a childhood blorbo and I have been rotating her like a 90’s windows screen saver for twenty-two years)

[insipid-drivel]

I just wanted to say thank you for your post about horses and the knowledge gap, because 1) it was super knowledgeable and easy to understand, and as a historical fiction writer helps to make my job easier which makes it a lovely tool to have, and

2) there was a tidbit about people with fat bodies still being able to be fat and accomplished riders, and I can't tell you how much it warmed me to my soul to read that. I don't know if it was directly your intention or not to combat the constant barrage of fatphobia we human beings are exposed to in many societies, but it is so hard to convince people that a truly healthy body can be fat and strong and athletic. As a fat liberation activist in my spare time, it was so refreshing to read in a piece that wasn't directly related to fat acceptance or liberation, and dealt with in such a casual, no-big-deal kind of way. It really made my day!

Plus, I got to read all about HORSIES! I've tried to do a lot of research about the human-horse relationship for my work, but there were some things I'd never come across, like the fact that horses can't throw up. That's one of those "things you'd only know if you know the thing" facts that really informs how I shape the details–and I see that you're a writer yourself, so no wonder you understand how to craft useful information for writer and reader alike.

Anyway, I loved this post for all sorts of reasons, and I hope your day is going well.

Thank you so much! And I did indeed include the comment about "fat people could be excellent horse riders" to clap-back at fatphobia.

The only major factor about a person's body weight when riding a horse is whether the rider's weight is more than 30% of the horse's, and that weight limit only applies to weight applied directly onto the horse's spine; they can handle A LOT more weight when they're pulling it, like a carriage, rather than carrying it flat on their backs. Most standard-sized breeds of horses can't handle riders that weigh more than about 250-300lbs, but that's only due to the size of the breed of horse. We mostly had Quarterhorses at the ranch, which are kinda like the standard all-rounders of the horse world in the US; they're good riding horses, not tremendously expensive compared to other breeds, good specialist horses when needed, and generally have pretty even and mellow temperaments vs. other breeds, but they're also mid-range in size and not good for fatter riders purely because it can injure or kill the horse, not because anyone wants to shame you for your weight.

If you're fat and you want to ride? Then the size of your horse can be matched to your weight in order to maximize both your safety and the horse's. The only time I was ever forced to tell a fat person they couldn't ride at the teaching ranch I worked at was when the person's body weight exceeded what the horse's size could handle, and if we could, we'd just pair the person with a larger horse that could handle bigger people in the saddle. However, there were a couple of people that were so big that we literally didn't have any horses in-house that could carry them (again, the 30% weight ratio rule), and had to refund their money and turn them away with a sincere apology and a recommendation to other places to try that had larger breeds.

And yes! You could still be visibly fat AND in amazing riding shape! Fat equestrians have been A Thing for thousands of years! Even Henry VIII was considered to be one of the best equestrians of his time and even specialized in dressage! Just like with professional weight lifters, body fat =/= unhealthy in riders. It's just that so much of the real workout in riding takes your entire body that rather than dropping a bunch of weight from riding to put on muscle in A Place, your body is building muscle underneath your body fat in All The Places, so there isn't a lot of visible weight loss in a lot of riders. If anything, you may gain a little bit of weight just from the muscle you're putting on from learning to ride. It still means you're getting exercise and putting on healthy muscle! Anyone who looks sideways at you if you're fat and a regular horseback rider is seriously just being fatphobic and has 0 understanding of realistic horseback riding. Fuck 'em. Love your curves like you love your horse: you both deserve it.

Writers, this also means that your scene depicting your main protagonist riding with the secondary protagonist on the same horse IS NOT REALISTIC. Horses usually CANNOT carry more than one adult rider (carrying a small child or baby is different) for long without serious injury, or even getting a broken spine. Horses also cannot handle the shock of you "jumping" into the saddle from a tall height (example: Robin Hood: Men In Tights). If you were to try to jump from a high spot and land in a horse's saddle, not only would you probably break your hip and seriously damage Everything In Your Crotch, but you can also snap the horse's spine and kill it in a horrific, godawful way.

[voxmyriad]

I was so tired I didn't realize these were two separate posts

I was just like wow...your bedroom is huge...

[dduane]

(snickering) What…? Seems obvious.

DIANE AND PETER PLEASE

[that-bored-aroace]

@dduane idk you but this happened on my Tumblr dash and I was like "huh well that's not right"

[universalcaffination]

I'm in the middle of reading one of the star trek tos pocket books, this one is by Ms dduane and has been wonderful so far! She's captured the feeling of a tos episode in the unique aliens, characterization, and intriguing plot beautifully. This is the cover for any interested parties

I noticed something peculiar about the art here, it's a very small detail but still present!

What's this I see? Why, I believe those are the braids of the second in command! But wait a minute...

Bones' long sleeve uniform has different braids, as he's in charge of his department but not in the direct chain of command (kirk, then spock, then scotty). He may be fourth but that's not the point

My theory is that the artist for this cover used a still from one of the episodes as a reference for the pose, which is completely fair when you're trying to capture realistic detail like hand position and cloth folds. And, since spock is also in blue, it would be easiest to use a pose where spock is sitting in the command chair

I couldn't find the exact pose they used, but this is the most visually similar. Entirely possible they made some minor adjustments to small things! And such a minor detail as command rank braids isn't necessarily on an artists mind when their making a piece (aware of the show but not a fan, I believe that's how James Blish was when he began the novelization of episodes)

It's just a fun little thing I noticed and thought would be fun to share 😊

[ailurinae]

well that's brownies sorted at least.

[53rdcenturyhero]

Ask Diane Duane, it's likely she wrote it. Seriously!

One thing that's funny about "ancient" fandoms, is when newbies are very confused about how certain new lore apparently weaves into the story with "no foreshadowing" so they try and write up these really deep theories about why these things happen using the more well known instalments. And then some old Enoch-mofo comes along and is like "Actually that part of the lore was explained 20+ years ago in some throwaway line, they mentioned it like twice back then, and it's still canon even if no one fucking remembers that lore-origin. But they occasionally still build on that part even if it was never explained again." it's funny, old and new meeting. : D Also made me realise how much hidden knowledge old fandom folk have, because some 20+ fandoms might have a lot of lost media in some form or other.

--

I'm suddenly reminded of lierdumoa's post about that Vulcan from First Contact.

[weilaverdui]

To honor the beginning of our friend's Johnathan's misfortunes, I made some paprikash. (Mind you, I usually pair them with knedliks from slightly different region, because my family really loves them).

Happy Dracula daily to those who celebrates!

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

..,.,.oh fuck me, JANUARY is gonna have to be the Month Off Of Words, huh

[kaikama]

Today is a confusing day for my gender. I want to (genuinely) thank some people on Tumblr for that, but I don't know how. I know many people consider their blogs as being a sort of public diary, but I've never used mine like that before. I reblog art and memes, and sometimes ramble in the tags, but almost never make posts of my own, and certainly don't talk about anything important when I do.

However sometimes the best way to get ahold of something slippery that's swimming around in your head is to first get it out of your head. I may not even post this, though contrary to how I present myself on this blog, I do very much love talking about myself (especially when I can indulge my inner 12yo-fanfic-author and be a bit dramatic and poetic about it) so we'll see.

However, to the anxiety of making a long, eventually emotional post I will cede the small victory of a readmore:

I guess the place to begin is with the lovely @dduane. In particular with the recent post she reblogged talking about @redgoldsparks's book Gender Queer. I was reading through the comic therein when I remembered that I actually had the book e was talking about sitting on my "to-read" shelf... okay, one of my "to-read" shelves. No avid reader with disposable income should be surprised I have so many such books, nor that any book could get lost in such a pile, no matter how... personally relevant it is.

I picked it up one day, not at my usual book store, but actually at a local comic book/board game store. It caught my eye of course by presenting the words "GENDER QUEER" in big, bold letters, and and further enticed me when I flipped through it briefly and saw it didn't censor itself unnecessarily. In a graphic novel that's largely about gender, it was relieving, for example, to see bodies being addressed without fear that showing them was too obscene.

So I bought it but, as I mentioned, it sat on my shelf for at least months, probably a year or more, if the time dilation typical of the pandemic period can be assumed.

Then today, after seeing that post, I decided to finally take it out. It only took a short while to read, maybe an hour or so. Unless you include the time it will spend lingering in my mind, in which case I may never finish reading it.

I related to it in many ways. In ways that were the same, but upsidedown – since I was amab, but could still feel a connection to the ideas within. Technically a different wavelength, but... a harmonic of the original. But one point in particular is the whole reason for this post. Page 189.

If you don't have the book, well firstly I highly recommend you go get it now and simply read through it to see the page in question. But in case you can't, I'll describe it here:

In panel 1, the author laments about wanting to switch pronouns, but that "they/them" doesn't feel quite right. In panel 2, e asks eir conversational partner what e uses. In panel 3, as you have probably guessed, e tells the author that e uses "e/em/eir" and, important to my story, uses them in a sentence: "Ask em what e wants in eir tea." In panel 4, e reacts with a huge smile and starry eyes.

Here is where I'll pause and mention that reading that passage gave me a shiver down my spine. I love seeing people explore their identities – or in this case, eir identity – and that especially goes for things I could never wrap my head around, such as neopronouns. As much as I respect them, I never could understand. To me, gender has usually been a nuisance. Something that I have to perform. If I don't, people will assume some performance anyways, one which is usually wrong. I wish I could just work backstage. Or maybe it's more like I wish everyone had a program guide, so instead of having to constantly tell people I'm not a man, they can just see the description in the guide for themselves. I'm just so tired of it. So tired.

But! That's why I get shivers like this, since it warms my heart to see people like me, also pushing through. E shouldn't have to struggle to be known. E does. But that strength inspires my own, which I hope inspires others, in a cycle of propping eachother up!

Then in panel 5 e says "I love those pronouns! I just got the biggest tingle down my spine."

And I recall my spine tingle.

And I'm really confused.

Do I want those pronouns? I've been using "they/them" for a while now, and I've known about (and had friends who use) "e/em/eir" for some time now. Surely I would've realized they fit me sooner than this, right?

Then again, I think, I have been kinda growing dissatisfied with "they/them" for a bit now. But I always just felt tired of gender as a whole. I don't want pronouns that even fewer people will understand, I said. At least with "they/them" I can point at the neutral usage everyone uses them for. Anything more obscure would just be all the more effort. All the more tiring.

...but does that make it untrue? Or simply unfair? Everything to do with being queer is unfair, sorta' by definition. If I wanted it to be easy, I could stick to "he/him", but that would only really be "easy" for other people, I realized. Neither "he/him" nor "they/them" are easy for me. Neither "male" nor "female" nor "non-binary" are easy for me. Neither the old gender binary nor the new gender trinary are easy for me. I'm just so tired.

I wish I had an answer to finish with. Not for your sake, but for mine. I have a sort of modus operandi I like to use: "prepare for the worst, but hope for the best, and expect something in-between." It's a bit of a compromise between the phrase"high hopes, low expectations" and my optimism. Well, I forgot to do that here. I had hoped that I would've found my answer by the end of this post, but I forgot to "prepare for the worst," and as such had no middle ground to set my expectations.

Maybe the answer is to stop caring so much? But that seems like it would be a disservice to myself and my wants and needs. Also it seems impossible. Or at least like clinical depression, which shouldn't be anyone's goal.

Maybe I should try using different pronouns? None of my friend would care. But they would make mistakes. It's extremely rare for one of my friends to slip up now, but it does still happen. And using something new would give me those small rock-in-the-shoe, scratchy-shirt-tag irritations that @redgoldsparks mentioned in eir book all over again.

...or maybe "they/them" is dorta' doing that now, and I've just gotten used to it? I remember when I switched I hadn't realized that "he/him" wasn't great until then. Not because I felt bad hearing it, but because I suddenly felt good hearing "they/them." I still think I don't feel especially disphoric over "he/him," but now that I know the euphoria I could have, it feels worse in comparison. Maybe the same would happen if I switched again?

My how many thoughts I have about this. I want an answer. There is no simple answer. Life is work. I love life. I hate work. I'm so tired. But it's worth it.

I think that's most of my metaphorical brain-fish on the topic disgorged for now. If you listened, thanks for listening. If you're confused, imagine how I feel. And if you think you felt like you resonate at some harmonic of this, please go read @redgoldsparks's book Gender Queer. It probably won't have clear answers, and the feelings it evokes probably won't be exclusively positive ones, but if you've read this far into my ramblings, then I can promise you it will be a valuable read.

Thanks for your time! -Kai

[bat-in-the-machine]

Genuinely, if you follow me on here there's a good chance you like the same kinds of things I like, and one thing I can tell you is that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE WRITING OF DIANE DUANE. The Young Wizards series is everything a fan of urban fantasy could possibly want. Also a character heavily implied to be the Doctor shows up for all of one scene in the third book, which is great.

As we continue tweaking prices at the store, and in the wake of the recent price change on the "All The Wizardry" bundle, it made sense to adjust (downward!) the price of the 9-volume New Millennium Edition box set.

So we've done that, reducing it to USD $24.99. (Yay!)

Don't need all the wizardry we've got, but just want the first nine books in the main sequence? The link above is what you want.*

And as the nice men in the commercial used to say, "Thank you for your support!"

(PS: please note that since Kindles don't take Amazon's old .mobi format any more—they've finally finished switching over to the industry-standard .epub format—that's what our Kindle box set now contains. Just in case you were wondering. But if for some reason you prefer to have .mobi files, we can still supply those: just drop us a note via the store's support email.

*Assuming you're not in the UK, as—unfortunately—due to Brexit-related BS, we can't sell directly to you any more. Details are here.