#and that's important to acknowledge because that's why I'm polishing it up now

[rubberduckyrye]

@w@ I know I'll be thanking myself in the future for it, but fuck is editing the prologue of Twins AU taking forever. There's just....... so so much. Aaaahhhh....

[drowninginredink]

I realized something. In Abigail Thorn's (PhilosophyTube) coming out video, she said that she waited until she was at least a year on E to publicly come out because she was probably the most prominent trans woman in the UK, and if transphobes saw any of the awkward in between bits of her transition, they would attack her for it. If she was anything less than a perfect, feminine, fully transitioned woman, it was going to be used as an anti trans talking point and she'd be attacked for it. Any less than polished moments, any stumbles along the way, and any hints of not passing would be used against her.

Dylan Mulvaney. She didn't want to be Dylan Mulvaney.

I love Dylan Mulvaney. I'm glad she was willing to be herself and transition very publicly. It is very important that someone did. We shouldn't have to hide the reality of transitioning and force trans people to be perfect. It's phenomenal that Mulvaney had fun with it and celebrated the joy of girlhood.

All that said? Thorn was entirely right. She was so viciously attacked and became the symbol that US conservatives were rallying against as why trans people were a problem. Mulvaney is a trailblazer, and I don't want to victim blame her, but I fully understand why Thorn did not want to give the UK anti-trans movement a similar figurehead. Plus while things are not great in much of the US, and acknowledging that things may get really bad after the upcoming election, the UK both now and at the time was much worse in terms of transphobia. Adding fuel to that fire would have gone even worse. Plus, I can't blame her for not wanting to face all the hate that Mulvaney has.

I don't really have a point here, because I don't want to end up congratulating Abigail Thorn for not being Dylan Mulvaney when, again, I respect Mulvaney a lot. I just want to point out how smart Thorn was to see that entire situation coming and how much foresight and effort it took to avoid it.

(Also, let's just acknowledge that some of it was worse because Mulvaney is naturally flat chested. They would have respected her more if she had bigger breasts. Abigail Thorne was always going to seem less fake to people because she has a prominent chest. That's bullshit, obviously, just a matter of genetics. Having an androgynous name that is her birthname also didn't help Mulvaney, and again, it's awful that changing it would make her taken more seriously. Plus, she made light, bubbly, fun content while Thorn does serious and academic work. The deck was always stacked against Mulvaney in ways it wasn't with Thorne)

[lesbianamalvada]

What resources is an actress stealing from the community?

Also I found this quote looking it up.

She then asked if being a lesbian means “you are ONLY” attracted to cis women and if being attracted to trans men, trans women, and nonbinary people makes you pansexual.

And it seems to stem from confusion, not any kind of maliciousness. I can see how someone who spent time in the feminism or lesbian tags would walk away confused with this same opinion because of how TERFs are trying to redefine women and lesbians.

Additionally, she uses both labels, not saying pan lesbian as one label like you made it seem.

They seem to be someone who, with a quick Google, is just confused, learning, and exploring. And you're being really hostile about it for no reason.

That said, if she thinks she's a lesbian is it stealing? If she ends up being lesbian after a few more years, is it stealing just because she didn't know that now?

I think people like you are why it takes so long for people to find identities. You make it unsafe to explore when that's half the reason the queer community exists. Because more than just straight, cishet ppl exist and we should be normalizing that.

So again, do you have a link for these stolen resources, cuz I can't find anything online.

i never said they stole resources. you are making a strawman. there isn't that many resources just for lesbians to begin with. they do steal our communities, spaces, and conversations. they scold us for not being "inclusive" enough. I'm all for people experimenting and if you identify as bi and then are gay or vice versa it is whatever. but when you try to change the definition of lesbianism, and say that men can be lesbians and we can be attracted to men, and then furthermore shame us for not being attracted to them or for our identities not being inclusive enough, i cannot support you. it is the same homophobia we experience from cishet ppl with a rainbow polish. you have made our own community a hostile environment for us. and we cannot vent about how alienating and degrading it is without people like you scolding us, saying our boundaries make others "unsafe" or how we are using bigoted dog whistles and we are the reason conservatives are winning etc etc.

we can all acknowledge that being bisexual, asexual, trans, a drag queen, etc comes with unique experiences and that they shouldn't be erased or overlooked. yet when it comes to lesbians we are not allowed to say the same? if someone is only attracted to one gender they are not bisexual so they shouldn't talk over bisexuals, police them, invade their spaces, or try to change the definition of bisexual. I just believe the same is true for lesbians.

Also someone using a contradictory label like "pansexual lesbian" and being questioned on it is not them being unsafe. they are not in any harm. what is unsafe is teaching young kids who are homosexual that they could emotionally like the other gender just not physically, hearts not parts, everyone is a little bi, the genitals don't matter that much and caring about them is weird, your sexuality should be inclusive etc. All of which I have seen happen in online queer spaces that champion the notion of mspec gays and lesbians.

It also doesn't surprise me that the only sexuality that excludes men is the one a large section of the queer community will use their dying breath to center men in. "lesbians can be men, lesbians can have sex with men, lesbians and men are best friends" it is always non-lesbians saying this. And then we push back and get comments like this. Lesbians with boundaries are the reason so many people have hard time finding their identities. Gtfo of here. Other people's feelings and journeys or whatever are not more important than our lived reality. We are the only group that is surveilled like this.

[vannral]

i finished the veilguard. got the good ending. i'm exhausted and done. under are some of my disjointed thoughts and feelings so spoilers, beware.

soooo, okay. so my thoughts as a da fan who has been one since like, 2012.

i can't help but to be a bit disappointed. there were some good things, some things that i did like, but it really didn't feel like a da game, it wasn't made for dragon age fans and old players. i felt like they played everything too safe, too lukewarm.

i did like the scenery. it had variety, i especially loved the imagery with the eclipse and lighting, that was beautiful. nice touch to have the lighthouse reflect the eclipse too. weisshaupt was very interesting but sadly that didn't go anywhere. lavendel was eerie and i thought the cauldron had so much potential with the strange, cursed artifacts kept away because they were dangerous or they didn't understand what they were or what they could do, i thought that was very interesting!!

the game itself was very polished, the hair technology was an amazing upgrade, the sound design was good. the level design was... interesting.

i don't like the writing very much, some of the dialogue is so jarring.

you can't call people out, you can't really be angry. the confrontations between the companions are... strange. no animosity. they are a bit... one dimensional. (i get it lucanis, you like coffee, i understand why you like it and why you drink it, but still!!)

the lack of choice is also very noticeable. i did love rook's voice a lot, (that's important to me!!) and i did end up really liking my rook.

i loved manfred, he was the most adorable freaking thing. i liked emmrich, ended up romancing him. lucanis had some funny moments.

but you can't speak to your companions and ask them questions about their thoughts and past like before. none of the companions really... interested me. very lukewarm. also i wasn't a fan of raising the approval of the factions either, i found that extremely grinding.

solas's memories were interesting but... yeah. that's about it. the lore established in previous games didn't make a lot of sense here or maybe i just didn't get it.

AND VARRIC, i was so happy to see him, i LOVE HIM, and i was so relieved when i thought he survived the prologue, but my heart began sinking at the later half of the game, like no one visited him, he had nothing really to say, no one acknowledged him, there were just vague and super ominous "and varric paid the price".

i cried when they revelead he was actually dead. when he had his speech, i had tears streaming down my face. i was heartbroken. probably the most emotion i had felt playing this game.

i thought solas was the most interesting part, the inquisitor should've been a bigger part but i'm glad they had their happy ending. dorian and isabela were nice to see but they didn't really do anything with them. also it would've made sense to have zevran too but now i'm glad he wasn't, who knows what they would've done with him. maybe nothing i dunno.

yeah. 6/10, maybe. i probably have more thoughts but i'm tired.

i'll go back to bg3 now.

[myristicisms]

A gentle hum, curious for a moment before his eyes rapidly blink; Cloud had a point, after all... Though to Zack, the point was a bit void specifically because everyone loved who he used to be, what he was and what his potential had allowed him to do and be. As it stood now, the man the blonde was scolding was nothing more than a husk, a violent shell of a once proud and optimistic teenager grown into a man who seldom sought a reason to continue onwards despite everything in his life forcing him to push forward. “ I got to be First because of my capabilities and connections, without Angeal seeing what I could do if I were a bit more polished then I'd have been stuck in Second Class limbo and there's nothing wrong with acknowledging that, but... There was never a respect for me from the others in ShinRa, Cloud. ” Only disdain and brown nosers, he'd heard many of his lower ranked companions complain about his own promotion, dealt with far too many ‘ comrades ’ talking about him as though he were nothing more than a bumbling fool and not a man who worked his ass off to earn his rank.

There were exceptions, of course, like a few of the more notable Turks and some of the troopers he'd spent his time with such as Cloud but... ( They never had to see what I put up with on the SOLDIER floor. ) Zack had tried so hard to hide it, to keep his own self loathing to a minimum but here it pooled from his mouth as though he'd drown if he didn't spill, “ I know people wanted me, but they didn't really want me, they wanted SOLDIER First Class Zack Fair, not some goofy guy with a lot on his plate. That's what I mean when I say I don't get why I'm so important, because regular citizen Zack Fair is a nobody, a miserable man who can't even fake a smile to comfort people like the big strong SOLDIER he was advertised to be. ”

@strifesoldier | Cloud Strife sent;;

' You and me. Your body near mine, close. I'm not right when you're not with me. I get the shakes ' oop zack made him codependent...

Vulnerability, no matter how small or largely given, was always a difficult thing to express; Years of forcing himself into the mold of what Zack thought was the ideal hero only further forcing him to push the overwhelming desire to rely upon someone else to the back of his mind. Being relied upon was the closest he'd ever come to sharing a vulnerable moment with anyone and it was something he cherished far more than even his own life. That much so had never been in the question though, only further proven with each moment where he took a beating to protect those he cared for most, often coming as victorious in each battle he'd carelessly chosen for himself.

Perhaps it was the hubris of a man who has lost damn near everything already or maybe it was just the delusion of someone who had grown lonely over the years, someone who felt as though nobody bothered to know who he was outside of his uniform and rank; At least not until after he'd managed to establish a connection with another person for the first time since... ( Nevermind. ) Zack has come to rely upon being needed, feeling helpful and he's long since found that purpose at the side of his blonde companion. While he'd known that Cloud was capable of taking care of himself well enough, he also couldn't scratch the desperate itch to feel helpful, to do more than just stand beside the other man silently like some brooding shadow.

Though that's what he's become, hasn't he? Bitter and violent should he feel it necessary to be so, a trained killer unafraid of ripping and rending through flesh that managed to be snagged within the maws of an enraged beast, many saw the once proud warrior as nothing more than a monster as of late; A creature that thrived on combat and the destruction of the very people that made him into who he was today, but not Cloud, never Cloud apparently. Lips curl into a gentle grin at the idea, he was helpful to someone at the very least, even if he'd grown all too protective throughout their time beside one another and perhaps he cared far more than the average friend should have, but then again; Average friends don't go through the same horrors as the duo had to endure together. That's how Zack justified it, anyways.

A rabid guard dog trapped in an endless loop of biting despite never wanting to bring harm to those unfortunate to cross into Zack's poor graces, a feature of which was far easier done than said given how low his tolerance for anyone daring to cause problems for either Cloud or himself truly had become. That dependency, as it seems to be, is reciprocated. Though that hardly came as much of a surprise, being without the blonde felt off, something so viscerally incorrect that his very being often trembled with wrath when the two were separated for too long and the verbal confirmation he wasn't the only one to experience that... ( Validating, freeing even. )

“ And here I was, stewing about whether I'm being overbearing towards you. ” He huffs out, amusement glimmering within mako stained eyes; An odd calmness kept Zack completely and uncharacteristically still. At times such as this, he'd often be pacing or doing squats, clears his mind and allows the former SOLDIER to focus on his surroundings but instead he simply sat, jaw twitching while his tongue feels at the sharp canines meant for rending through his foes and that familiar emptiness he'd been so prone to slowly seeps in. “ I'm always here though, always nearby until you tell me to go away and mean it, I promise. ”

[la-grande-dame]

Hi beauties it's been a while....

Im not going to hold you but, you have to leave the things that arent in your best interest, on the table. Ladies you have to be willing to walk away if it doesn't meet your needs. Period.

When you intimately entertain men who do not meet your standards or your needs, you'll confuse yourself. You'll be dickmatized trying to convince yourself that he may really work out for you or he offers you something valuable because the sex feels good you'll entertain it for a couple of months get pissed off cuz he's not giving you the same energy or attention he did before you gave him the p**** and then you'll be sitting around wondering what happened. I'm warning you now don't go down that worm hole if you are looking for long term investment.

Only spend time and energy with men who bring you value. That depends on where you are in your life. Through the different versions of myself, my needs evolved. My needs as a college grad in my 20's are not the same needs I have in my 30's as a 6 figure earner and business owner. My price today is not yesterday's price.

My sponsor is still main, and I now essentially (on paper) make more than him. Our relationship will need to evolve. But when I tell you when I needed anything whether that be trips hair nails spa treatments computers rent paid car service. ANYTHING! That man gets it for me.

He recently had a meeting with my ex-husband because it was time and my ex-husband asked him why would he date a divorced woman with two kids. Which I find kind of funny that he would ask that, sounds kind of shady because he till this day is still trying to get back into my bed. But I digress...

Main told him "because she gives me purpose". Give a HV man purpose and life is lit lol. So I would say first looks definitely matter. Ladies you have to look the part if you don't look good, if you don't look polished, like you spoil the s*** out of yourself then these n***** is not going to do that for you. I'm also going to say second to looks it is definitely your energy. What you pour into someone who invests in improving your life is important. You can't just sit there and look pretty because once they get the p*ssy that's it. They're on to the next thing and that's the game. You have to respect that. You have to acknowledge that.

But if you understand that you are the only you in this entire universe and you hone that s*** and you really master that, any man that comes into your presence that has earned the privilege of having you intimately is going to be hooked. But you have to understand that you have to know who you are and you need to really be able to work your sh*t like spell work. No lie. While he's giving you head there's a specific s*** you should be saying to him in between of all the nasty dirty talk lol. Queens know what's up.

So that's where I am now I am not I am no longer in a place where I'm looking for assistance with my rent My rent is well covered I am no longer in a place where I need my hair My nails done if Main decides to walk today I got that covered. My qualifications to be in my space intimately is different. And there are men who can meet me at that level and there are men who cannot meet me at that level. Ladies you need to decide which man is offering you what and if it's worth your time and your energy cuz you can't get that time nor energy back.

And the ones that you reject they will try to make it seem like you aren't up to some task or capable of being on some sort of level. And that's okay because what they're essentially saying is that you're not on their level and you just literally by rejecting them told them that you're not on their level so let their little ego have it smile and walk away. Because your value is more important than their satisfaction if they're not on your level.

To quote Jill Scott "If you can tell me what to do, then you can tell me what to do. But if you can't tell me what to do then you can't tell me what to do"

[overlookedfile]

Man I wish I could write like you. All your Alfred stories have been amazing!!!! I keep trying but I know I'll never get anywhere

I appreciate the compliment. 🥰🌹

But don't sell yourself short. I've been writing stories in one fashion or another for 3 decades. And you know what? I still don't consider myself "good", only "good enough". If you're asking yourself "good enough for what?", the answer is: "To convey my stories in a way that feels true to how I feel about those stories."

I grew up reading Brian Jacques, J.R.R. Tolkien, Anne McCaffrey, Richard Adams, etc. and I was reading them all by 1st Grade (about 6 years old, for the non-Americans). I developed a very deep love and appreciation for detail and characterization and sprawling, ever-continuing stories from them.

What took a much longer time to develop was an understanding of just why I loved those authors and how to bring that into my own writing. It wasn't the minutia of jargon, elaborate meals, or their obsessive presentation of detail, although I definitely tried to copy 2 of the 3 when I wrote (I'm no good with food, unfortunately). It was emotion, specifically the way their styles of writing carried a weight that went beyond the mere list of details on the page and evoked a primal response in the reader.

My style is still a work in progress. I still get hung up in the details to the point of hurting (or at least not helping) the story. I struggle with pacing, both of the overall story and within individual scenes. Characterization sometimes drags me into a dark alley to give me a thrashing. And, in case you can't tell, I have a fondness for verbosity that borders (hopefully only borders) on being rude and pretentious.

But each and every thing I write is a step towards improving. The very best thing I've ever done for my writing, perhaps even more important than learning the technical rules of writing and identifying who I wanted to emulate, was giving myself permission to write "poorly", to allow myself to put things out there that aren't the very best, most accurate, most perfect, polished version ever. You wanna know when I started allowing myself that? May 3, 2022. I know the exact date, because that's when I published my Nervous Energy fic on AO3.

Every single thing you've seen me post has flaws. Big glaring ones, to me, in every story except the Diego Rivera fic. That one only has a few tiny things I might have changed, things that I am able to acknowledge matter to me, but not to the story. Otherwise, there are sentences I didn't write that I wish I had. There are whole scenes that are "missing" in some things. There are entire plots, thousands and thousands of words, that were written and then scrapped for my inability to articulate them the way I wanted to.

So far, I've posted about 60k words to AO3 since May 3rd and it's all messy, incomplete, and imperfect. But I am glad for each thing I've posted, because it feels like for the first time in over a decade, I'm finally growing as a writer again. I still overuse commas (as well as semi-colons these days), have questionable or downright broken sentence structure, and find myself falling into a rut of using the same words too frequently, but I enjoy those things now. When I add them or leave them in, it's not because I don't know any better, it's because I'm making a conscious choice to prioritize story over perfection.

Writing isn't a skill that develops overnight. Writing style isn't some immutable thing destined to forever shape your works. Both are personal experiences that will grow and change with you. Let it. Be messy and imperfect. Write that gratuitous self-insert, or smut, or fluff, or epic sprawling fantasy that's clawing at your soul. Write them poorly. Until you can write them in a way, good or bad, that makes you happy. And when you've done that? BE happy.

Anon, just write. If you want feedback? If you want critique? If you want help figuring out your style? Please feel free to reach out. Because you're the only one who can write your stories. And if I haven't already, I look forward to reading them.

❤️❤️❤️

[dragynkeep]

Were it not for the fact I'm using mobile this rant would be longer) whats funny is while they went 'its arrogant to think they can do better-original creation is tough' etc is the fact that some of us know we can do better. Because we would have a timeline, notes of past/important events, efforts spent in world building and an actual plan from beginning to end. Yes OG stories and stuff are tough, but it is a thing that also requires passion (which they don't give RWBY) and time. Thats why we're not getting alot now a days in OG stories.

Bringing up Hero Hei showed the person is definitely the obsessed stan as H.H. is mostly just news on behind the scenes with RT. The fans get mad at him because they'd like to believe 'Rwby is fine! RT doing fine!' But without HH i wouldn't have known they stopped shipping to Australia before the Virus increased or the quality of certain rwby products got shitty.

I got back into writing my projects because I know I can do better. I just need to keep at it. (<- main part )

that's just it like it really felt derisive to fanfictions when some fanfictions i've read have absolutely felt more polished off & character intensive than actual published works — & it's clear the publishing world is beginning to change their views considering fanfic works are now gaining recognition. really it reeks of some self imposed superiority complex which is hilarious considering both of rt's main works outside genlock, rwby & red versus blue, were built from taken from other established works.

rt themselves can't even be as "original" as their fans claim but sure, fanfiction writers are just effortless grifters who don't know how to write. it's so dismissive to the amount of effort & literal years put into their craft that these fanfic writers do, all because of some misaligned loyalty to a frankly, awful fucking company.

as for hero hei, i have no idea why they brought him up because just like you said, he really doesn't focus on rwby as a show but the actions of rooster teeth as a company, & while i really don't like him, a lot of rooster teeth's actions deserved to be called out. the abuse of animators, the various predators exposed, the absolute low quality of the merch that they charge out the ass for, the fucking attempted murderer they didn't even acknowledge for a week.

rwby fans hate accountability, we been knew. ♥

[localmutantlesbian]

Hello hi! Seeing as I go to the school - the university program, not the high school - I can try to answer some of these.

1. That is an extremely good point. Like I have nothing to add ur right

2. Tbh...the school isn't great about handling non-white identities in general. There's usually the like, Token teacher of color they have do all the ~cultural~ shit and non-Indo-European languages (for a long time it was Storm, also Karma and Jubilee every now and again). There's not really any acknowledgement that we're on land a white British dude stole so...yikes. We do have a program for international students but it's a sort of catch all. Our BSU is just now coming back after dissolving due to low visibility

3. There's a pretty strong resistance to "sapien" assimilation nowadays, and the facility seems to extend that courtesy to other identities. However there's virtually no effort to include that diversity in the curriculum. Most classes come at issues from a very White American standpoint

4. We actually have a lot of students whose first language isn't English, and some who don't know any English. Telepathy usually solves any major communication issues (I might make a post on how telepathy interacts with the brain...lemme know if any of y'all are interested). Spanish and ASL are prominent at the school, enough so that most students have at least a basic knowledge of one or both. We have Spanish-specific classes as well as course materials translated into Japanese, German, Polish, Russian, Swahili, Vietnamese, French, Apache, Cheyenne, Arabic, and Chinese.

5. Religious needs are met, yes! The prayer room has been around for five (?) years now, which is a lot more comfy and has generated some discussion on Muslim mutant culture. Special dietary restrictions are also readily met.

6. Neurodivergent mutants absolutely have a place at Xavier's. Even hardasses like Prof Summers and Prof Logan (and Prof Frost when she taught here, so I've heard) are totally chill working with both mental and physical disabilities/disorders. Because learning how to master your mutations is the prime goal of the school's, mental health is seen as pretty important.

7. I actually help with kids who come in and can't for whatever reason be in a "traditional" school setting. Since I'm in the Mutant Underground, some kids I know or who pass through decide they want to go to the school, and they come to me. A majority of these kids are traumatized - you don't rlly end up in the MU's company unless some shit has gone down. Not all kids stay, but I've seen the school really try its hardest to provide for students who can't do traditional school. Sometimes that looks like online learning, sometimes one-on-one classes with teachers, sometimes classes at unusual hours. If there's one thing Xavier's is actually not shitty about, it's working with students.

(8. BUT I DO WANNA COMPLAIN ABOUT ALL THE GODDAMN STAIRS HERE AND THE GENERAL LACK OF MOBILITY ACCOMMODATIONS. OUR PRINCIPAL IS LITERALLY IN A WHEELCHAIR WHY IS THIS SCHOOL LIKE THIS.)

Mutant culture is escaping an abusive family only to be militarized as a teenager by some dumbass who treats teenage mutants like weapons

and then see that same dumbass praised as a shining example for mutantkind for. traumatizing children? assembling a child army?

anyway fuck the Xavier School

[crimsondomingo]

You should 100% be proud of Lovesick (I adored that fic to high heavens & I'm sure it'll be a great original novel!) but I just want to say as much as I loved Lovesick, I actually think The Color of Love is kicking off to be even (somehow) better! I've read Out Cold, Lovesick, The Color of Love, & I actually think you get better with each fic- your characterization stronger, your plots more gripping, your prose more poignant. I enjoy(ed) all 3 but your abilities as a writer seem to only grow

cont:  (same anon on your writing) I hope you take that as a compliment, because I mean it as one sincerely. I'm a longtime reader + commenter on your fics and really feel you deserve a ton of kudos and acknowledgement (more than a simple "can't wait for the next chapter!!!"... even though I legit can't wait for the next chapter of TCoL haha). Anyway, I just thought you would like to know the thoughts of one of your devoted readers who's also a writer herself :)

No worries at all, anon, I completely know what you mean! And I agree! It’s one of the reasons why I love fanfiction writing so much, because of how it helps polish my writing in general, my handling of prose and characters and plot structure. 

I have great love for Out Cold and I always will...but it’s not good narratively. I never really thought it was, because it was a sort of whim writing project, a work of passion, this idea I had that I didn’t really flush out for a good point by point story. Lovesick was much more cohesive, and the places where it falters I’m fixing in the original novel version. 

Color of Love is coming together after coming off of all of this very intense writing and storybuilding, and I feel like I know these characters so much more intimately now, I hope it will be my best piece yet. 

I still feel like what Lovesick is and represents, especially with where I’m taking it in the original version, makes it a better story in the long run, at least for a novel outside of fanfiction, but it means alot to hear from a reader that you enjoy my stories MORE as you stick with me and check out the new tales I spin. 

So thank you so much! I hope I can continue that same theme with every new book I write too, always improving, always getting better. It’s important not to get too caught up in...well, cringing at yourself sometimes when you look at your old work, but instead relish in how much that means you’ve improved over time. 

Thank you again! :-)

[duanecbrooks]

Gabby and Hodie: You're Number One     You may recall that, in a past article, I laid out what are my all-time favorite literary creations. You my also recall that I said that the books that I picked as my all-time etc. are those once and for all categorically and for all time. Well, what's happened is, upon further reflection--and upon my dear, warm, sweet,loving cousin Emily's words to me (surely I don't have to tell you what they were) further coming to fruition--I've come to realize my real and true all-time favorite literary offering. And it's a tie between the women's-beach-volleyball sex boat Gabrielle Reece's ("with" Karen Karbo) life-lessons guide My Foot Is Too Big For The Glass Slipper: A Guide to the Less-Than-Perfect Life and the Today-show's-Fourth-Hour gal Hoda Kotb's ("with" Jane Lorenzini) personal/professional memoir Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee.               Allow me to say here that in coming to said realization, I had to dump quite a lot of weight. At first I thought that the former television-morning-show host Rene Syler's ("with" Karen Moline) parenting guide Good-Enough Mother: The Perfectly Imperfect Book of Parenting deserved to make the aforementioned list. However, further pondering has caused me to realize that, as humorous and as charming as Syler's tome is, in the final analysis it has to do with the doings of children and with the raising of children--and as much as I love kids and love reading/seeing what it is kids have to say, an entire book centering on them is simply not my aesthetic. For a while I sincerely believed that How to Lose Everything In Politics (Except Massachusetts), the then-journalist Kristi Witker's inside-the-1972-McGovern-presidential-try memoir, merited making the cut. Yet in time I remembered that, ever since 1976, when Carter won the White House and kicked Ford and all those other Nixon-era Republican third-raters out on their asses, my consistent interest in politics has majorly decreased--indeed, in the main I've come to sympathize with what the master TV interviewer Dick Cavett once told the 1960s/1970s far-left activist Jerry Rubin: "Politics bores the ass off me." Thus I've arrived at the conclusion that Witker's book, while it's chock-full of lively wit and penetrating insight, when all is said and done involves an area, namely politics, that on the whole has long stopped being my thing.                       OK. Now I'll go into why Reece's and Kotb's tomes have seized my heart.             .The front and back covers of both books are damned enticing. Both the front and the back covers of Reece's tome picture her with her intensely attractive offspring, both times sporting an insanely appealing bathing suit and both times showing off an insanely appealing pair of bare feet (The back cover of Reece's book clearly shows that she has an equally alluring stepdaughter). The front cover of Kotb's tome displays her dressed in a quite stylish blue pullover blouse and adorned in the kind of slacks that fully exhibit what her Today cohort Kathie Lee called her "long Egyptian legs and toes." (The fact that Kotb is wearing red toenail polish slightly takes away from her dazzling visual appeal, but only slightly) And on both the front and back covers there are the sort of endorsements that easily pull you in. On the back cover of Reece's tome the former television Friend Courteney Cox is quoted as asserting: "I read My Foot Is Too Big For The Glass Slipper in one sitting...Everyone who is married--or thinking about getting married--should read this." On the front cover of Kotb's book there are words from People Magazine ("Bubbly and engaging, just like its author") and from the greatly-lauded novelist Adriana Trigiani ("This book is a manual for overcoming obstacles and living life with passion and purpose...Hoda is the working girl's Cleopatra. She rules!").               .The prose of both tomes is colorful and lively. Both Reece's and Kotb's books feature the kind of writing that, upon seeing it, immediately rivet your eyes to the page. Upon seeing any page, its wording has you absolutely hooked, positively pleased to be in the company of such charming, sprightly gals, gals who obviously love life and do not hesitate to embrace it entirely. And, again, that feeling comes no matter what page of theirs you're on (Kathie Lee in her super-bestselling compilation of essays Just When I Thought I'd Dropped My Last Egg at one point said: "I love my new co-host Hoda Kotb. She is an absolute doll and so much fun to work with." The writing style of Hoda causes you to fervently agree with KLG's every syllable).               .Both women in their tomes have greatly witty and greatly incisive things to say. In both Glass Slipper and Hoda there's sparkling humor and eye-opening observations, whether Reece in her book is discoursing on how cathartic it can be for a parent to swear ("[A] little bit of cussing does wonders. The later in the day it is, or the earlier in the morning, the more important this is for your sanity, and to help you feel less like an underpaid servant and more like the sassy teenager that is still lurking somewhere inside your bill-paying, car seat-purchasing, sleep-deprived self") or her regular almost-all-women's exercise class ("Sometimes someone comes up to me after class and wants to pay me, or otherwise do something lavish to show her gratitude. I tell her, she's already doing it, by inspiring me with her commitment...When my women show up, day in, day out, with their great attitudes and their great energy, they don't realize that that's their gift to me") or her parenting style ("[Excessively spending time with electronic pleasures] messes with your head, and I don't want it for my kids...So I say no. A lot. And tell me I don't feel like a shit mom when little Brody, who's been cooperative all day, has a meltdown in the afternoon and sobs miserably, 'I. Just. Want. My. Electronics'") or whether it's Kotb in her tome telling of her lifelong struggle to establish her own identity (I will always be asked [as this one "older black woman" did while Kotb was in a phone booth making a call during her early days as a television journalist, taking Kotb's face in both hands and looking into her eyes] 'What is you?' And while I'll proudly explain I'm Egyptian...again, the answer in my head will always be: I'm just me") or acknowledging her refreshingly non-high-minded, purely self-serving motivation for going into and staying in TV news ("Procrastinating to me is simply a way to create a time crunch...After I phone in a takeout food order, I'll stay at work as long as possible, then race home to my apartment to meet up with the delivery guy...[T]elevision news is the perfect career for me. I need to know that my work day has a start and a fight to the finish. I'm competitive, persistent, and not afraid to risk being the hero or the goat when airtime hits") or the near-overwhelming thrill she felt when the Today show's Fourth Hour hosted the always-and-forever-bootylicious Queen Bey ("When Beyonce walked into the room, [Kathie Lee and I] were blown away by her beauty and her presence. She's about 5 feet 7, but her red heels added several inches. She wore a gorgeous short dress, designed in her favorite color, red. She was a knockout. Her frame is sexy and solid and she carries herself with confidence around every curve...Her words were laced with a touch of Texas twang (Beyonce was born and raised in Houston). As her people began touching up her hair and makeup, all I could think was, There's absolutely nothing wrong with her! Bring that stuff over here!"). After reading these books, you effortlessly feel invigorated because you spent quality time with two insightful, funny, considerably observant ladies who have, to quote a line from the classic 1960s song, "looked at life from both sides now" and are bright enough and centered enough to retain the lessons such observing has taught them.             Also: Both Reece and Kotb conclude their tomes in grand style. The former closes by assuring her readers that should they choose to assume the role of "queens" of their household, "[y]ou will live interestingly ever after." And she ends her "Acknowledgements" section by lauding her hubby, the professional surfer Laird Hamilton: "I cherish the gift of knowing you, your love, and your partnership. Oh, and when our girls [their daughters] are difficult, I do blame you for those traits." The latter, for her part, ends her book with a forward that itself finishes with her naming her "special wooden box" inside of which is the "letter that lists the three most important traits in my man" and assures us readers that "there's a chance it will end up accidentally buried by books, an over-sized tote bag, a plaque, or other random crap." Kotb's own "Acknowledgements" portion winds up with a fond shout-out to her "co-author," Jane Lorenzini, "the most brilliant writer I have ever known...Your dad was right. It has been an adventure...Your name should be bigger on the [front] cover. Oh, well...next book."           During the 1980s, it was Barbra Streisand who famously crooned, concerning creativity:                                                     "The art of making art                                                     is putting it together, bit by bit,                                                      Beat by beat, part by part,                                                        Sheet by sheet, chart by chart,                                                              Track by track, bit by bit,                                                          Reel by reel, pout by pout,                                                      Stack by stack, snit by snit,                                                          Meal by meal, shout by shout,                                                              Deal by deal, spat by spat,                                                          Spiel by spiel, doubt by doubt.                                                      And that is the state of the art."           To read the books of Gabrielle Reece and Hoda Kotb is to bring about enormous gratitude that said authors--and their ghostwriters--took the time and the trouble to put them together, employing every "bit," "beat," "part," "sheet," "chart," "track," "bit," "reel," "pout," "stack," "snit," "meal," "shout," "deal," "spat," "spiel," and "doubt" so that "the state of their art" would make them such eminently satisfying reading experiences.