#I gotta finish the audiobook sometime......

[spocks-kaathyra]

all these ASIT posts have me thinking abt it again so here's Palandine

[jessaerys]

where do you find the books you read? and how do you decide? not the files but the titles themselves. just curious because you mention interesting books

that's a great question honestly usually through searching "books/novels about [__]" lol. and comparing reviews; if a title keeps getting mentioned i give it a try. occasionally friend recommendations or seeing something that sounds interesting on my dashboard from my intellectual mutuals; i keep meaning to find critics whose taste i trust, bc i truly believe this is the easiest path to finding reliably enjoyable media.

also i listen to the first hour or two of SO many audiobooks on libby that i end up dropping if they don't catch my attention; of 30 audiobooks i sample, i am going to hit the middle mark for maybe 12, and finish maybe 4 or 5. the key is to not just roll with what is easy to listen to (i often find myself 3 hours into a junk food novel and i realize wow i truly don't care about this) but what is genuinely pleasing to your ears and intriguing to your mind. unfortunately ultimately finding something good to read/watch is a numbers game so not being precious about finishing things even if you hate them is key. though for me hating a novel usually means i am finding it mediocre / unfulfilling / vapid / unintentionally predictable / etc, not hating something because it's giving me a hard time understanding it or getting through it.

also sometimes i come back to novels i dropped months or years ago and restart them with fresh eyes. i remember trying to read american psycho in my early 20s and hating it, but it's gotta be my favorite, most moving novel ive read in the past 12 months. siri play that quote about reading war & peace in your 20s and your 40s

[lambergeier]

2022 book post FINALLY

this post is six weeks late because, frankly, i was on my honeymoon over new years and its hard to get up the will to type all this shit when everyone has already posted their book lists ages ago!! but also i read a lot of good books last year and wish to gloat, so here we are. italics are rereads, bold are my favorites, asterisks denote not-prose, and reviews are interspersed throughout as i felt like it:

January

No One is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood (this book made me cry so hard lmao. first part is a sickeningly true-to-life depiction of Being A Blue Check Person and then the second part makes you cry so bad.)

Sorrowland - Rivers Solomon (what the fuck happened to the last third of this book? what shit-ass x-men knock-off did it come from?)

What Soldiers Do: Sex and the American GI in World War II France - Mary Louise Roberts (got on a whole ww2 history kick because, gotta be real, i watched all of band of brothers during winter break 2021-2022 and developed a bug up my ass. pulled this off the shelf at the library on a whim and it was STUNNING. excellently, thoroughly told history of sex, venereal disease, and race among american GIs in normany following the invasion. would read anything roberts now.)

How to Blow Up a Pipeline - Andreas Malm

Hello, Sailor: The hidden history of gay life at sea - Paul Baker and Jo Stanley

Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II - Allan Berube (another excellent ww2 book, frequently quoted on this site and for good reason. not written by a historian, so incredibly easy and engaging to read, that presents you with just this amazing overview of how modern american queer identity was totally, inextricably shaped by the us military and the experience of being part of it or even just near it lmao)

February

Possession - A.S. Byatt (really really lovely romance that was such a consistent pleasure to read that i got to the end basically unable to remember favorite lines or even scenes i was just like mmmmmmmm. book good.)

Uncanny Valley - Anna Wiener

Howl’s Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones

The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World - Patrick Wyman (this book sucked ass we gotta stop giving podcasters history books)

Watership Down - Richard Adams (so fucked up. loved this. love that we give this to children to read.)

Dead Collections - Isaac Fellman

March

The Hidden Palace - Helene Wecker (much better than its prequel, imho! resolved many pacing issues but lost no heart!)

The Vanishing Half - Britt Bennet (part of the reason i managed to read so much this year is that i had to drive a lot for work and started putting audiobooks on in the car, having never been an audiobook person before. i listened almost entirely to contemporary litfic this way, a genre i also had not previously engage with, and this was both a fascinating entry into an entire other world of books and also kinda boring sometimes lmao. vanishing half was good, certainly better than some of the other stuff i ended up listening to, but still not something i would have finished if i weren't in the car)

The Reformation - Patrick Collinson (this bitch was so funny his preface to the book was 'i didn't list any sources because i've been teaching this topic for 60 years. the source is Me.' anyways almost totally unreadable but did provide me some good context on the counter-reformation, which i want to learn more about.)

Fleischman is in Trouble - Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Home Baked - Alia Volz (soooooo good all bay area homies please read this)

River of Stars - Vanessa Hua

April

Light from Uncommon Stars - Ryka Aoki (INSANE BOOK. SO FUN.)

*Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller

Book of Dust - Phillip Pullman

Gold Diggers - Sanjena Sathian

*Angels in America - Tony Kushner (disconnected me from reality for like 24 straight hours. scared to reread it.)

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (read this in high school and hated it because i was a DUMB TEENAGER!! THIS BOOK IS SO FUNNY!!)

Good Omens - Terry Pratchett

Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett

May

Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia (strongly eh.)

Oh the Glory of it All - Sean Wilsey (loved it but feels impossible to recommend.)

Magic for Liars - Sarah Gailey

Foundation - Isaac Asimov (absolutely fascinating as like, a history of the genre thing, even if i only "enjoyed" reading the first two or three stories lol. also, HE COULDN'T PREDICT FIAT CURRENCY?? ACTUAL PLOT POINT THAT THERE AREN'T ENOUGH METALS ON THE PLANET TO MINT COINS???? reader i lost my mind.)

June

All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy (all the pretty horses my insane high school problematic fave. i will never read the sequels)

Have His Carcase - Dorothy L. Sayers

The Power - Naomi Alderman (as i said on private twitter after rereading, this book makes me sick to my stomach not because of the gender shit, which is like, i know what the book's about that's what it's about it's not gonna be a different book, but christ it's so bleak. love an oral history style but i gave my copy away once i finished lmao.)

Murder Must Advertise - Dorothy L. Sayers

July

Such a Fun Age - Kiley Reid (great audiobook narrator, and a very funny book)

Several People are Typing - Calvin Kasulke (PLEASE LISTEN TO THIS AUDIOBOOK THEY HIRED A FULL RADIO-PLAY STYLE CAST AND SURE THE ACTUAL STORY DOESN'T STICK THE LANDING BUT IT'S SO FUNNY. i finished it on my own and immediately put it back on for emma to enjoy. so good.)

They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South - Stephanie Jones-Rogers

Hawk Mountain - Conner Habib (oughhhhouguhughuhghh the dread. great book. wretched creeping horror. queer, if that matters. gives you the Dread.)

There, There - Tommy Orange

August

If an Egyptian Can’t Speak English - Noor Naga (experimental fiction, i listened to it on audiobook and actually missed a lot of what it was doing in print but still incredibly good. absolute sucker punch of an ending.)

The Loneliest Americans - Jay Caspian King

Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People - Elizabeth Fenn (great clear thorough history of the mandan nation of the upper missouri river, really enjoyed this.)

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us - Ed Yong (ed yong is the best science writer working today and this book was tremendous. i quoted like every other line of it to emma and she still went and borrowed it as soon as i was done. we immediately bought a copy for the house.)

Sheer Misery: Soldiers in Battle in WWII - Mary Louise Roberts

September

Black Sun - Rebecca Roanhorse (damn so much modern sff is bad)

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life - Ed Yong (not as good as the animal book but still VERY good)

Dark Rise - C.S. Pacat (unfuckingreadable. a masterclass of incoherent bullshit)

Nona the Ninth - taz lol (this should not have been its own book.)

*Ducks - Kate Beaton (cannot recommend highly enough. intense subject matter, also made me cry many times, but holy shit ms beaton you killed it with this one)

Unreleased Friend Book that I Love So Bad (soon!!)

Normal People - Sally Rooney

October

Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (another book i haven't reread since high school holden ilu. you are my little problems boy)

Pachinko - Min Jin Lee (read it all in one day while on various airplanes. what a BOOK)

Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Foundation - Mercedes Lackey (thus begins the valdemar stage of the year)

My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh (uh. would not recommend.)

November

Devil House - John Darnielle (ur crazy for this one mr mountain goats. still don't know if it was good or bad lol.)

Arrows of the Queen - Mercedes Lackey

Arrows Flight - Mercedes Lackey

Arrows Fall - Mercedes Lackey

Magic’s Pawn - Mercedes Lackey (vanyel i love you)

December

Magic’s Promise - Mercedes Lackey (vanyel i'm obsessed with you)

Empire of Wild - Cherie Dimaline

Magic’s Price - Mercedes Lackey (oh misty we did NOT stick the landing here. rip to vanyel.)

Winter Counts - David Heska Wanbli Weiden

Neuromancer - William Gibson (loved so many individual sentences and, like foundation, a very interesting work for understanding the history of the genre. however in many ways, totally incomprehensible.)

total books: 66!!! nice work, me! really enjoyed how much i read in 2022 and how generally varied it was and after a long while of not reading too much at all, it's been very nice being back in the swing of it. also god non-fiction is so good. i can't read it particularly fast but every time i read a good one i enjoy it so immensely. look forward to reading more of it this year!!!

AND, FINALLY, A SHOUT OUT TO THE WORST DNF OF 2022:

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab sucks shit.

[novapark]

My sister and I have been talking books a lot and she mentioned she struggled to sometimes finish reading them. So I suggested that maybe she's enjoy audiobooks because she can listen while she does other things like housework (we are both sahm) and she pulled the whole "I feel like my brain wouldn't be working as hard" line on me. I did explain that it's not like watching tv, you still gotta imagine what is being said in your head and internalize things. What I didn't say but probably should is that it's a bit ableist of her considering she knows I'm severely dyslexic and that's the only way I can consume a lot of text media. Like even here if you use the tiny font or particular caption colors and I read your story - There's a robot reading it to me because it's just way too easy for me to read it wrong. Universe bless the read allowed extension.

[expelliarmus]

Hi there, long time admirer, first time asker.

I just saw your post on the audio stories by Big Finish. I was just wondering, where do you listen to them?

Hi!! There are a whole bunch of stories that are free to listen to on Spotify, you just need to search for Big Finish Productions. For the newer ones, I'd usually buy them on the Big Finish website and then listen to them on my phone. Sometimes they'll offer stories for free or discounted on the website as well, just gotta keep an eye out! And then for some of the older ones, I'll sometimes look them up on audiobook bay to download.

[fangirleaconmigo]

I've decided to listen to the audio books of the Witcher series via my library's app while I finish up a big quilt for my sister's christmas gift. I feel bad for skipping the first book in the publishing order, but they're short stories and there's like 14 people ahead of me for checking out The Last Wish. I'm enjoying Sword of Destiny so far, as well as the narrator (Peter Kenny). I'm usually so picky with narrators due to sensory issues, but he does a distinct voice for every character so it's easier to keep track of who's speaking. It makes the work I'm putting into the quilt go by faster, especially since I gotta redo some parts because it won't fit into the quilt otherwise. If it's the same narrator for every audio book, I'm probably going to enjoy the series this way since I've always got a project to work on and television is too distracting for me. Thank you for getting me into these books, I've always enjoyed your fics and hearing your opinions on the franchise!

ooooo you can quilt? I have always wanted to be able to do that. I think about the quilts my gran used to make and I want one. Also, what a good sister.

I have the books in physical form now, but I did the same as you. I adore audiobooks because yes, you can do crafting and such, and also I regress to childhood when my sister used to read to me and it's one of the times I remember feeling the happiest and most safe. I get them from the library and yes there is always a wait for me too! I'm also very picky about narrators and will listen for like thirty seconds and turn it off if I don't like them.

Peter Kenny is great. There are some voices he does where I'm like....eehhhh. Like when Dandelion first comes on the scene your'e like....are you serious? He seems to calm down with that voice later, though. And sometimes the women voices are just a taaaaaaad too breathy for my taste. But the thing is, his Geralt is so fabulous, and his acting is soo good that I just enjoy myself so much listening to him.

And thank you for saying that about my fics. I feel so much gratitude when people say things like that. It still feels slightly miraculous that I can put my little words from my heart out into the world, and strangers I will probably never meet read them and connect with them.

[otgwbgyu]

ig i should start doing full entries again esp bc school’s starting and ill probably being feeling way worse

in chicago like THE big city today. and for the next couple of days. trying to enjoy vacation but summer reading haunts me everywhere i go. it’s so unfair that we have to do school work during the summer. like i’m not gonna become illiterate over the summer…. chill…. but it’s just something i can’t shake and will always worry abt. like during the game i started listening to the audiobook bc i got so anxious over it 💀 ik it’s kinda on me for not reading earlier but like…. the books r mid NOBODY actually wants to read a how-to on reading ���😕 i do get random bursts of motivation tho when i fantasize abt being a productive, straight-a honors student with a national merit scholarship like my dad, and i also kinda get competitive with my friends. bad for r relationship but good for my grades and sanity for sure

i kinda snapped yesterday too lmao. like i joined call w sarah and she was being so uninterested and unresponsive while begging others to join call and the minute ava joins she’s all happy and conversing. like damn ok?? u can be closer w others but presenting it like that hurts lmfaoo. after 5 min I left bc i just wasn’t having it tbh. it rlly stung and pissed me off

o yeah i finally finished catcher in the rye OMGG… i honestly dunno how to feel about that book. like i get holden but at the same time i dont?? i can be angsty like him but he’s like my angst on steroids. that guy cant find any enjoyment anywhere he goes and it pisses me off. i may seem grouchy and miserable on here but im more friendly irl. remember this is primarily a VENT acc where all my dark thoughts go, the main ones aka the happy ones stay in my head or get shared with others. and hes so pessimistic, not like MY type of pessimistic where i think everything’s gonna fail or go wrong, pessimistic as in everything sucks and theres nothing to enjoy in life. like omg aren’t u just a bundle of sunshine!

i feel bad bc he is just a kid and has trauma, but that doesn’t give him the right to make others miserable. like humanity sucks yeah but u gotta learn to deal w it man. ur not gonna like everyone and not everyone’s gonna like u, it’s just something u gotta live through bc at the end of the day there’s a good bunch of ppl who do care abt u, and that love, even divided, should matter more to u than the hate others feel towards u. bc why r u concerned abt strangers’ hatred and not your own family and friends’ love? but he’s a teen whose mind is clouded by depression and angst, so i can’t be too harsh. and even i catch myself acting like him so it’d be kinda hypocritical. still think he was an asshole sometimes tho, nothing’s changing that

biden dropped out the race in the middle of a baseball game (minor league) mom and i BOLTED and did r research. the democrats r in flamesss 😓😓 republicans next 🤞🤞 glad biden is out, hated his ass, kamala surely will redeem us 🙏🙏🙏 she’s no saint ofc, she’s a politician, but compared to trump she’s jesus the messiah himself. i’d vote her if i could 🥥🥥🥥

[taste-thewaste]

Hi I'm nosy and a little bit of a hater so I'm so curious what this terrible audiobook is. Obviously totally fine if you don't want to share but sometimes you just gotta vent about a trash book, you know? Either way, have a good day!

Hi anon!! You have excellent timing because I just finished it (in time for book club in 2 hours lol)

It’s called “The Searcher” by Tana French. I can’t wait to be the only one who hates it at book club tonight (everyone else I’m friends with on goodreads from there has given it 5 stars).

It’s basically this 500 page book about an ex-cop who moves to Ireland and one of the local teenagers wants him to find their missing brother. It just goes on forever and the reveal kinda makes the whole novel pointless. Dying to know why everybody else loved it so much because to me it was just so boring.

Also there’s this weird part where the author has the main character go on a tangent about how everyone “these days” seems to think that people don’t have morals if they don’t respect other people by using “the right words for other people” and that “the right words for other people keep changing and therefore people’s definitions of morality keep changing” and it was basically just a rant about how people should be able to call people whatever they want and I hated that

Sorry for the book report!!

[laluminosidad]

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

This was actually the first audiobook I finished*!

(*Still waiting to be able to finish my Gideon the Ninth listen tbqh. u_u She was my first audiobook ever.)

The audiobook version was specifically recommended to me by a very good friend and I gotta say, the narrator's voice acting skills I think did push this book over the top for me! I love the main character, Lillian, and her internal narration, how she thinks about the things and people around her, and I love the conversations she has with the kids she's caring for and with their stepmother who was her adolescent best friend. I don't know! I think if I'd just read this book, I can't say if I'd have been as strongly affected, but the emotion coming through really helped push it for it me.

Coming away from this book, I think what hit me hardest is just the way this book cuts through to the heart of what it feels like to be overlooked and undermined and undervalued, like, constantly. The anger, the defeat sometimes, and how deeply that affects how you interact with others afterwards. I also just really enjoy how Lillian treats the kids with a level of respect that is like... so often kind of absent in how adult-children relationships are portrayed. What I appreciate most is that, at the end, Lillian, whose never really wanted or liked kids but has come to love and want these kids as her own, is not left with a neat "well, it all worked out for me!" in the end when that does happen. It could have gotten... extremely Lifetime, very easily! Which would have made it fall flat. She still doesn't know if she's ready or capable or if this is something she wants. She mourns that her life has made a permanent shift, which narratively, has been scary for her! And I quite love that, that struggle up until the end but the desire to try and do it scared anyway.

Pacing wise, I feel like this does happen all very fast and the conveyance of time passage is... kind of minimal, at best. For how fast and for how, like, guarded both Lillian and the kids are, I think this might have benefitted from slowing down just a tad, to allow a bit more room for these characters to breathe and open up to each other (and themselves). But otherwise, it was an emotional and funny listen, and I loved every bit of it.

Rating: 4.75/5!

[hauntingthechateau]

Thursday November 9th

Tried to see how fast I could get up and out the door this morning... the answer is not very fast if I'm wearing makeup hahah. Got to the studio around 7:50 after a brief detour in the village. Really gotta go for a full walk of the village sometime. The wind was howling and the water was burbling and I made my way over the bridge onto the property (this I think will be the sound I most associate with this place) and got to chai and journaling. Realized my shirt was inside out... getting out of the house fast is clearly challenging for me 😅

Over breakfast, Stephanie paid me the complement "you look like someone who reads books" and sure enough our goodreads accounts are super similar! So I started on Iron Wing (surprised it was just available from the library with no waitlist) on audiobook so I would have someone to scream at about it haha.

After breakfast Beulah gave her bussiness of art talk in the salon with big trays of coffee and tea. While some of it was stuff I've been doing for years, it was great to have the perspective of someone who has owned galleries, been doing art for years and has lived all over. I definitely have some new resources to look through and want to follow up with Beulah about more international representation stuff later.

The bussiness talk ended around noon and although I usually take a later lunch, I just killed a little time doing computer work before grabbing lunch and heading down to the studio (theived a profiterole for later 😈).

I've been accidentally carrying around a bottle of wine in my bag because I keep forgetting to take it out. I finally remembered this morning and my bag is feeling much lighter now haha.

I saw a picture of a sculpture the other day (Gaetano Motelli (1806-1858) La sposa dei Sacri Cantici (1854)) and I love it but I don't know what to do with it, so I will put it here for later inspiration. I've really been vibing with victorian art lately, which is always mixed feelings because these fuckers really ruined society and so much of what they were doing is often seen as milk-toast versions of better art, but there's something about some of the art that really has a teenage angst to it that I'm drawn to. Also, so much of the art o medieval inspired in a way that I wish I could incorporate into my work!

Wasn't really feeling painting this afternoon (this always happens if I don't get to work in the morning) so I spent the day collecting resources and preparing for the next bunch of paintings. By end of day I was getting a little itchy to play with paint, so I finished a couple smaller pieces. Dusty came down to the studios to visit at one point (followed Stephanie down from the Chateau) and he had a lil look around my studio.

Headed up for dinner, Schnitzel, spaezle, scalloped potatoes, fresh radishes, salad with corn, zucchini soup and these little creamy seafood bakes that I didn't catch the name of, but they were INCREDIBLE! I'm definitely having another for lunch tomorrow! Dessert was creme brûlée!!!

Went home early with Lauren and conquered our laundry machines (turns out its quite easy when you have translate on your phone and theres an english manual online). Read in the living room while waiting on laundry and I really feel like I'm getting close to the end of the book now! Due back in four days!

[theglowingjournal]

Turning 24

This blog comes right about the time I’m turning 24. I feel like I have lived through alot in a short time and gained some cool insight from people & experiences in my 24 years here. There’s alot more than 24 little lessons I could gather together but I’ll stick to 24 for now. I hope some of these call you to action or thought or even better, God.

1. Dont hold onto bitterness - living with anger & resentment halts growth and sometimes even opportunity. It’s not fun! Really lean into “Don’t let the sun go down on your anger”.

2. Have a servants heart - who can you be serving in your life? Do you need poured into too? Check who’s filling your cup and whose cup you’re filling.

3. Halt the worst case scenario mindset - don’t live life in worry of the worst happening. Some scenarious call for worst case prep but if it’s causing you anxiety, halt it!

4. Set aside time to be in the secret place - if you feel like you have no time for God, change your schedule.

5. Choose fellowship & community over isolation - sometimes, you gotta fight the urge to stay home and watch netflix instead of fellowship time with others. It could be just what you need! Go be with people.

6. Be confident in who God made you to be - He made you just the way you are meant to be, why want to change that when your very own Creator is perfect?

7. Awkward is fake & made up - that thing you thought was really awkward? You might be the only one who thought it was… and if not? It’ll either be forgotten or you might just be showing someone else that they’re not alone in feeling or being ‘awkward’.

8. Be real with those who value you - we all go through tough times, and the only way to know you’re not the only one who’s been through it is to share. Tell your friends what you need help with and prayer for.

9. Nothing in this world actually brings joy - just Jesus. That’s it.

10. Thank God continually for blessings & trials - remember to thank God for everything He provides daily, even the hard lessons & trials! Knowing He is good and has a purpose coming to fruition is something to be grateful for.

11. Stop overthinking - it’s so easy to get into your head and overthink things, daily! Work on stopping the overthinking process when you realize that it’s happening.

12. No one has it all together - not even the big adults with the big jobs. Everyone is just doing their best.

13. Take more photos, but at good times - as opposed to bad times where you aren’t being present! Capture moments with your eyes & mind’s eye first, then, if so led, take out the camera.

14. No more comparison game - cut out whatever is causing you to compare. Social media? Gossip from friends? TV shows? Out.

15. Read more, but get audible - I always have new books I want to read but I have trouble finishing books/feeling like I have time to read. Get the audiobook & listen while running errands, doing chores; it’ll cut the time in half!

16. Go for the ice cream - Period.

17. Patience goes a long way - pause before responding, and take a breath before getting annoyed. Alot can happen in those few seconds that will go a longggg way.

18. Let God write your love story - He’ll do it better than you could ever do on your own.

19. Communicate with everyone - bad communication is like, the #1 thing that leads to issues. All over the world. Everywhere. Communicate! I am speaking to myself here too; don’t put off texting people back. Just do it.

20. Go listen to The Beautiful Letdown album - Switchfoot’s lyrics are speaking to the world more and more and share such good gospel based messages. Pivotal album, go listen.

21. Baking can be therapy - try it out! Especially when you’re going to give it to others.

22. Lean on God and trust His sovereignty - in every question, decision, emotion, anything, trust that He has it under control and if you’re living in His will, you can live without fear.

23. We’re all in different seasons. Give grace - a reason why we should share with each other what we’re going through. If not, we don’t know what kind of season someone’s in, and can judge their actions or behavior. Give grace, as you want grace too.

24. Go for a walk - it can be silent, a talk with God, listen to a podcast/book, getting exercise, to let go of emotion. Whatever the reason, even if for no reason, get a nice walk in.

If you read this far, thank you! And please message me with what lesson you can start implementing. Peace out!

[elvesofnoldor]

since my work consumes about only 40-50% of my brainpower, i've gotta listen to a podcast or an audiobook so that i can stay concentrated and be productive (and not get fired). i have been taking advantage of my need to read/listen to as many books as possible. i can chew my way through two novels in less than two weeks, and i have never been able to chew through novels at this speed before because i always take my sweet time reading anything ever (and all that daydreaming while reading just exponentially increase the reading time lol). honestly i thought i cracked #the code and found a way to catch up asap on all the novels that i should have read/finished reading in uni and in high school. but unfortunately the experience of listening to a book just cannot substitute the experience of actually reading a book with mine own two eyeballs. i have to do almost a second read of some of the books i "read". obvs i could get the gist of the plot etc etc, but important passages that would have stood out to me while i was reading the book might flew right past my head while i was just passively listening (and oftentimes too concentrated on to want to pause and rewind to listen to what i just heard for the second time). And unfortunately Horror fiction in audio format with no zero ambient music or sound somehow just isn't scary to me, which is a bummer cause i really wanted to recreate the MAG listenership experience. And sometimes passages that required me to think on before they can be properly digested got forgotten the moment i heard them. ex. i would not have left IWTV (published in 1976) feeling confused about where the horror is in this gothic horror fiction. i should have known what kind of person louis really is and could have stopped acting like boo boo the fool on tumblr dot org sooner.

[dyrewrites]

We're going to on an adventure now, are you ready? Tiny timewarp to last year, when I self-published my first short story out of spite.

->this adventure is long<-

In the Marrow was written in a bit of a fugue state, as many of my stories are because I am easily devoured by my own imagination. When finished I...didn't know what to do next. I edited it myself (too many times) and had at least two people read it (with varying results for content but they found no glaring errors).

As an aside; there are editors out there catering to self-publishing authors who will do these things cheaply. I am poor as hell. I did it myself. But I will need one for any novels...because that's a lot of words. I'll include links to some I found at the end.

But what next.

What do you even do with a finished story?

I'd never tried to publish anything but poetry and that was a contest when I was maybe twelve.

So it was on to Google! Or Ecosia actually (for the trees), to find out what someone does with their stories when they want other people to see them and maybe also get paid for it.

Magazines, apparently. Sell them to magazines.

I read all the guidelines, read a few stories in the magazines I was thinking of submitting to (gotta make sure yours meshes, that it's something they'd print), found some pre-written cover and query letter templates to mess with and I sent it out! Woo!

Terrifying, oh dear so scary. Heart in throat, they're going to hate it, someone's going to ask me what's wrong with my brain. Just...terrified.

Rote rejections all around. Except one that simply said, "we don't take body horror"...from a magazine...about horror...with a very gory cover.

Alright then! Alright. Well, you know what. I think it's a fun story. It made my husband say, "it's fantastic, I'm never reading anything you write again." It freaked him out. He is not easily freaked out.

Clearly, it was a good enough story to share.

On to self publishing! I will make people read this story. I will prove that I can do this and I will be an author. You just watch me, stupid magazines. I'll do it.

Back to Ecosia, we are learning things!

How to format for ebooks, check!

Where to sell ebooks (Amazon, really, but there's other options I just picked them first and locked myself out of the others for a bit). check!

How to market ebooks...uh...not yet. We'll get to that.

Covers!

Apparently even short stories need a cover if you're selling them yourself, so I had to learn to do that. I can art, in a fashion, but the only graphic design I'd done was for logos a few times. Fun to try covers...not sure how I did.

But! I found Canva to help. Hated all the 'free use' art they had, so doodled some bones (story is about bones) and slapped em on a background with text using Canva. Cover below (one on the right was used for an audiobook, only one I've done and no one bought it so we won't discuss that...but I like the cover more). Not my best but it works. It's interesting enough.

Okay, so cover is done, manuscript formatted, everything is up and 'published' and...now what?

Marketing and how to make you hate yourself and everyone else.

Social media is where every search said the marketing happens.

I made this account here to babble about writing and encourage myself to write more (haha, it worked too well) some of my first posts were just snippets of my dark fantasy novel. But as I wrote 'In the Marrow' sometime after (few months maybe)...I thought I'd share it here.

No one cared. Which is fine, no one knew who I was or what I was doing so of course they didn't care. I shared it on Twitter too, no one cared there either. Because no one knew me. I was just some voice in the ether begging for money as far as anyone knew.

But that's where you start, as a voice no one knows.

When it's all up to you to get people to care...people say you need to sell yourself. Which is the worst, honestly, and I tried to be someone marketable to make that happen. Tried to follow little guides of how to share stuff and when and where and...also the worst (I will burn instagram to the ground).

Don't do that.

Be you, be part of whatever writing community you like being in and when you share your books people will care. They'll share them too. Because you made it and they like you.

But you don't need it. Social media is not needed. Communities are for fun and camaraderie, it is a side effect that sometimes your friends here will also buy your stuff and tell other people to (looking at you, @aziz-reads, you chearleading treasure you).

What you want, in theory, is a place people can find when they look up your name. Such as a website that has all your work on it for sale. Also a newsletter to let people who care know when the new thing is coming.

And maybe you share that in your community, or the places you already have (no making new accounts just to market, is my point).

Theory, of course, as I am still figuring this one out but I've been watching others and seeing what works and what doesn't. And making a social media account to wail into the ether about how awesome your book is...doesn't work. Those covers with arrows naming tropes have become tacky and people do not like them. Videos of you and your book, talking about what's in it? Those still seem a thing people are into...but like hell am I doing that.

I promise you one thing only for marketing; if you share links here to your work, I will hock that shit until my fingers fall off. Okay? I will be here to yell into the ether and tell people to buy your books. Because I think you're awesome and I'm sure your book is too.

--

Editors I've found with decent rates:

https://www.irismarshedits.com/ //charges by the hour

https://clioediting.com/services/ //$0.007-0.03/word

https://www.magicwordsediting.com/services //$0.03-0.05/word

whenever i think about publishing, i just get so overwhelmed and give up before even starting. i’ve already written the whole thing and now you’re telling me that i need to find someone to help edit, then i need to find a place to actually produce the book, but first i have to find some type of cover art, and also i need to find a place willing to publish it, and probably also an agent unless i do self publishing, but then that means i have to do all that on my own. and then i also have to market it?

[phosphini]

book asks: 6, 18, and optionally, 2

Book Asks

6. Okay. Okay so, you gotta understand. I don't have a job and have a lot of free time on my hands. And listen to a lot of audiobooks while multitasking. So. With that understanding. The books I've read so far this month;

Two books I started reading before this month but finished this month: -Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer -Dracula by Bram Stoker (yes i was Dracula Dailying) Warrior Cats: (Look, some people watch The Bachelor or Say Yes to the Dress. I read Warrior Cats. Sometimes you just have to.) -Shattered Sky -Darkest Night -River of Fire -The Raging Storm Graphic Novels -Clementine: Book 1 by Tillie Walden -Other Ever Afters: New Queer Fairy Tales by Melanie Gillman -Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer's Bible by Ryoko Kui Fiction -Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir -Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin -Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie -Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie -Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (found out theres a new book set in the world coming out and reread to brush up!) Nonfiction -The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World by Jonathan Freedland -Chokepoint Capitalism: How Big Tech and Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets and How We'll Win Them Back by Cory Doctorow and Rebecca Gilblin Started but Haven't Finished Yet: -Mason Bee Revolution: How the Hardest Working Bee can Save the World one Backyard at a Time by Dave Hunter and Jill Lightner -How am I Doing?: 40 Conversations to Have with Yourself by Cory Yeager -The Found and the Lost by Ursula K. Le Guin (This is a collection of novellas so technically, that's uh, several more books sdgfh)

18. Historical novels... hmmm, I do read them but I don't think that I tend to favor any particular time period. Looking through books I've read a lot of them are WWII era but I think that's largely due to there being a whole fucking lot of books set in that time period, and they were really popular at the library I worked at so I read a lot of them so I could give recommendations. 2. Top 5 books of all time... This is fucking hard. 1. All Systems Red by Martha Wells. Goes without saying. This book is everything. 2. Tales From the Inner City by Shaun Tan. I cried at the dog poem. (I had to think hard to choose between this one and The Arrival tho, ...now I'm second-guessing myself, The Arrival is fucking mindblowing) 3. Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children's Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut, but SPECIFICALLY the graphic novel adaption by Ryan North and Albert Monteys. The best adaption of a book to a graphic novel I've ever read. It's art. 4. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers. All the books in this series are great but you know me I love an AI protag. 5. I Want My Hat Back by John Klassen. This is a children's picture book. And it's so fucking funny. I love it.

[demon-that-slayed]

alright hello I'm already gonna warn you, this'll be long. btw, thank you sm for doing it, I'm really hyped! you're gonna do amazing, I know that, so do ti as you wish, full creative freedom. (btw, I'm gonna copypaste this because I've already written it once, hopefully that's alright with you)

okay! so. starting with me ig. i dont even know how to begin.

im listening to music atm. i always do - people that dont always listen to some music are kinda psychopaths if you ask me. like, if im not listening to music, i'll be listening to an audiobook or a podcast or be watching some video or netflix. i cant not do anything. i say i love reading, but the last time i read a book has been weeks ago. i just have reading slumps sometimes. not saying that i dont read regularly - god, no. i'll find enough fanfics and oneshots and shit to count for a book. but most of the time i can spare, i try to write. and at the moment, im really doing good! i write drabbles almost daily, and i try to finish a chapter for my actual wip bi-weekly. which... i gotta admit doesnt work all the time but im trying! im just a shit ton of a procrastinator. like, sometimes it physically hurts telling myself i need to do something but not being able to get up and actually do it. i kinda zone out a lot too when im forced to sit through something boring or just when i cant listen to music/watch something at the same time. i fidget a lot, too. so basically as you can see im always doing something, always have something going on inside my head, am quite loud. like, literally, im the loudest person i know, except for maybe my dad, and im really expressive. could be italian with how much i gesture.

for my hobbies, well, ive told you about some of them so far. im not really... sporty. in the slightest. and i dont like sports either. but the one thing i do indeed like is badminton, which i do somewhat regularly. i think i'd suck at quidditch, but, unlike football, i do believe i'd be interested in watching. also i just really want to fly a broom - like, if i could pick any animal to be, i'd be a bird. always would have said so in the past too. maybe a cat, just because i really love them, and am planning to get one as soon as i get my own apartment. i'll take one from the shelter, i think, and if i could pick it'd be a black one so i can call it toothless. i do have a dog right now tho, or rather my family does. i love her, but she's not as cuddly as i'd like her to be, which, i mean, is fine im trying my best not to step over her boundaries, but then again my love language most certainly is physical touch, so my favourite moments with her are when she just allows me to cuddle her in front of the fireplace. its kind of a tradition at this point when theres fire in there. what else is there to say?

ive said quite much already but i feel like im still missing some.

i guess im really insecure of some things. dont get me wrong, i know my strengths, and i fucking love correcting people, my ego is over the moon sometimes. im stubborn and i hate being wrong and i know that im obnoxious when i discuss, just because i cannot stop discussing if theres still something to discuss. but im trying to better, really. some of it at least. still, i am in fact really insecure it seems. i worry so much what people might think of me - i cant present anything to anyone other than my closest family or friends because my voice will start to shake and i will start to sound like im gonna cry. on the topic of that, i cry so so easily. its horrible, really. plus, i have huge anxiety and i get panic attacks regularly, which kinda fucks with my sleeping schedule because they always happen when i go to bed.

okay, but enough with the depressive shit, im not done talking about myself yet. if you let me talk about myself i can and i will write paragraphs. really, dont worry putting all of this into your response. just think of it as me being super happy youre doing this because, honestly, genuinely, i am.

but getting on with it. when im excited, im kinda... like a child, in a way. like i let out unnecessarily high pitched screams and i cant stop laughing when ive started, and i clap my hand in front of my mouth or shake my arms out. im just really, really emotional tbh.

my favourite feeling is melancholy though. its... beautiful, in a very terrifying way. its the kind of feeling you get when you think about your childhood, or old friends, or family members you dont see anymore. its a feeling but its so much more and - i dont know. i dont know how it couldnt be my favourite.

i love sunrises and sunsets and i love the sun in general. im a summer person, partly because im always really cold (my circulation in my hands and my feet is fucked lmao, plus my blood ran low on iron for a while) but like, its summer, i dont get how it cant be people's favourite. plus, my birthday is in june, and my birthday is my favourite holiday. with christmas following.

okay i match you with…

REMUSSS

okay so be warned this is a very bad description but i think you guys would be great with eachother like these are very random things sos I’ll make a list :

(these are like headcanons if that’s fine)

okay so at night when you can’t sleep, he’ll just like cuddle you and make sure you’re fine, and you would make him happy just being there I guess, yk

anyways you two would like bond on liking music and what books you like and you always would have like mini arguments which end in him sarcastically admitting youre right which makes you feel good even if it’s not bc atleast you are right about this song being better or this character being more beil. than the other.

in summer and winter you always dragged him out for the sunrise/sunset and like he would jokingly complain sometimes because he would melt in the heat because it was always cold in the dorms and he had his sweater on

in the winter though you would steal lots of his sweaters and wear them piled on top of eachother because you froze in the cold

also when the full moon was near you’d always like be there and make sure he’s okay and you’d be like there for eachother all the time and like

he would sarcastically/jokingly be annoyed at you but actually really enjoy being around you, especially before you guys date.

oh yeah and you have picture albums filled with pictures that you, remus, or someone else takes that fill the albums

anyways, i hope this was good, ive never done this before lmao

[hellishgoat]

Fanfiction would you rather?

Tagged by @radellama thanks man!! This was a lot of fun :’D now … good luck on the read through of this xD

Friends to lovers or enemies to lovers?

Oh easy. Friends to lovers I am SUCH a sucker for that tbh. It’s always awesome! It’s the BOND 😭

Tho enemies to lovers is also cool it’s got a good flare to it…. But I gotta agree I kinda don’t want that baggage attached to it xD can be frustrating if not done well.

Be forced to watch a terrible movie adaptation of your favorite fic or an amazing adaptation of your least favorite fic?

Ah oh my god this is so hard…. Idk my gut says to go with the terrible adaptation xD because then at least weeeellll if it sucks I still have my fave fic to go back to lol and if the sucky one gets a movie that rules? I would be too butthurt and stubborn to admit it xD plus at least I could also make fun of the terrible adaptation that’s a good pastime I spoooose

Read fanfic chapters backwards, last to first, or read them as parsed from google translate?

Ahm backwards I’ve tried the google translate with fics before and it’s seriously not great xD

Consume every fanfic as an audiobook read by a monotone narrator, or have to read every fanfic on a tiny printed piece of paper written in yellow highlighter?

Narrator, I’d never be able to read it with YELLOW HIGHLIGHTER that’s not even cool xD

Get a tattoo on your body of every fanfic title you read, or never read fanfic again?

Get a tattoo, not that I couldn’t live without fics, but like I’ve seen some damn epic titles that would work perfectly (plus some are lyrics and like cmon who wouldn’t want some lyrics from like SENTENCED (😉) on them!)

Vampire Au or Werewolf Au?

Ahmmmm I never really read either of these but werewolf. Werewolves are awesome xD 10/10 creatures

Get sold to a boy band, or be stuck in a time loop with your love interest?

TIME LOOP TIME LOOP!! Plus the boy band would return me xD

Kill your favorite character, or marry your least favorite character?

Oh marry. I would take that burden so my fave can live xD it’s what they deserve. And who knows maybe … I could learn to live with my least fave…..unfortunately I am already thinking of who that would be xD urgh not sure I could survive xD

Meet your love interest in a coffe shop AU or a college AU?

Ahmmmm college Au? Both aren’t much my cup of tea lol but I will give it a look

Have your fic history leaked, or never read another fanfic again?

Have it leaked lmao you guys can enjoy the epic thousand rereads xD

And honestly yea I agree I would absolutely LOVE to find some fics I read back in the day xD

Be able to read amazing fanfiction but it always has an mpreg plot twist, or only read bad fanfiction for the rest of your life?

……mpreg? I can deal with it sometimes … idk this one is tough cause I have some major gripes with mpreg. But I won’t get into that xD

Gay ships or straight ships?

Both??? If it’s an interesting dynamic Imma read it no matter what xD

Ship a rarepair with almost no content, or a pair with lots of content but almost all of it is cracky nightmare smut?

Ship a rare pair baby!!! Get yourself a lil rowboat and find your pal who will help you set sail with it xD that’s all ya need! Plus I don’t think I could mentally handle the cracky nightmare smut, well maybe I could xD

See your OTP shatter years after their happily ever after, or never have the happily ever after happen in the first place? 

Never have had the happily ever after.

Because if they had that happily ever after? There would be no shattering they are that perfect xD

Read a poorly written but complete fanfic, or a literary masterpiece last updated June 2013?

Literary masterpiece. There was this one Star Trek writer? Their fic never got finished and like they haven’t been online in … almost a decade 😅 but let me tell you it was some of the best shit I had ever read in my life. The drama was perfect, the characters amazing!!! And even tho it wasn’t finished it had so much that I can just sorta forget that part xD

Read SSSS++++ tier smut with almost 11k words, or 70k words worth of fluff?

BOTH BOTH CMON BOTH

Read only alternate universe fanfics, or only canon fanfics?

Au’s??? I think???? I would wanna do some exploring since I already have the canon right there lol and I think it can be done really well. Sometimes tho yea absolutely it is 100% out of character and weird xD

Introduce fanfics to your normie friend with an ongoing smut fic with great writing, or a complete fluff fic with terrible writing?

Smut fic xD I’d be all yo dude look at this epicness and they would have to fall in love plain and simple.

Read your NOTP with all your favorite tropes and perfect characterization, or your OTP with tropes you despise and inconsistent characterization?

Notp, hell it could make me like them (unless it is a certain one I have in mind lmao)

But I don’t think my heart could take seeing HORRIBLE tropes and characterization to my faves 😅

Read a fic with an interesting concept but very poor writing, or read a fic with an uninteresting concept with really good writing?

Honestly yea, both, I could handle them xD

Have a major character death, or have a bed sharing scene but it's a ship you hate?

Major character death…… it can be done super well so even tho I was crying about it earlier xD I will read it xD

Read a fanfic that has consistent grammar and spelling mistakes, or one that the characters are wildly different than canon?

Grammar and spelling mistakes??? 😅

Every fanfic includes Jackson Wang, or every fanfic includes at least one NSFW moment?

Idk who the hell jackson wang is. But like cmon ain’t nothing wrong with nsfw moments so I would go for that in a heart beat xD

Read the most absolutely messed up dead dove with your most wholesome otp, or subject yourself to 100,000 words of your NOTP all written in a solid block with no punctuation and horrible grammar?

Dead dove? 😅

Have the power to read every fanfic in existence, or have the power to make any ship canon?

Make them canon baby!

Have your OTP get together in canon but one of them dies in a tragic way, or all members of your OTP survive but get together with other people?

Both are too painful and I’ve read both

I can’t choose this!! 😭😭😭

Read a cringy 70 chapter Harry Styles mafia AU, or a highschool Kpop AU y/n fic horrible grammar?

…. Kpop fic? Idk xD

Accidentally send your boss a super detailed smut fic, or read a super detailed smut fic about your boss?

Read it about my boss, it’s not like I would have to tell them I read it xD and then I could just burn it from my head xD plus if I sent them smut I might die

Read smut fanfic aloud to your parents, or submit fanfic to the employer of your dream job?

Fanfic to my parent…. Tho I don’t exactly have a dream job soooo Hrmm tough call here lol

Pine after an oblivious love interest, or be the oblivious love interest being pined after?

Be the one being pined after xD

Hanahaki disease, or your soulmates first words to you tattooed on your body (and they're really stupid)?

Idk what the hell hanahaki disease is xD so I’ll go soulmates

Be an Alpha, Beta, or Omega in omegaverse?

Oh cmon xD I don’t wanna answe- ALPHA!

Read a fanfic where the characters turn into furries, or a fanfic where the characters all get pregnant?

Furries…. I’m intrigued on what they would be and how that could be xD

Be able to resurrect dead fics, or have the power to create of plethora of new fics effortlessly?

The power to create! I have so many ideas but honestly I’m not a good writer at allll xD so it’s kind of a bummer!

Tagging .. @fonulyn @astarkey @tatsueli @welshbaes @mikey-putrid @kuukigajan …. I stg I’m forgetting everyone’s blog names now lmao it’s been so long since I’ve actually done a tag game 😅 BUT if I didn’t tag you and you wanna do this? Just go right on ahead and say I tagged ya 😘