#published in a legit journal though

[frevandrest]

do you know any resources for queer studies of frev?

Unfortunately, no. (As in, a specific queer approach to frev/full studies, not just mentions). There was supposed to be a study years back from Unspeakable Vice, but I don't think it ever materialized (?)

There are some articles/book chapters that I found over the years. I wouldn't call many (most?) of them specifically queer studies approach, but there is a talk about same-sex relationships during frev/late 18th century France. Some talk about legal stuff, like the penal code of 1791 that legitimized same-sex stuff on a technicality. Things like that. There is also some stuff about Marie Antoinette (slander pamphlets), but it's more about propaganda and not queer studies.

For example:

Sodomy Laws in France: How The 1791 French Penal Code Decriminalized Sodomy Without The Will of The People Homosexuality in Modern France

Please note that I mainly know of these articles; I didn't go through them all so I can't say how they speak about the subject or what the stance they take.

Also, I mainly know English-language sources, which are generally not the best for frev. But I am not sure what was written about it in French.

@sieclesetcieux will know more about this topic!

[strawbaby-jelly]

I got a rather exciting piece of Star Trek history in the mail that I wanted to share!

Note: I am far from a Star Trek historian. What I say here is going based off of mostly old blog posts and fan forums. Apologies in advance if I get information incorrect and feel free to correct me!

“Killing Time”

“Killing Time” by Della Van Hise is #24 of the Star Trek pocketbooks. Published in 1985 the first edition of this book was recalled after a bit of an outcry, apparently in part from Roddenberry himself, as it seemed to imply that Kirk and Spock had something more than a friendship between them. Editions after this remove and replace the “offending” passages.

Though the novel is rather infamous it is sought after by collectors and fans of the Kirk and Spock relationship (like myself.) And though it’s infamous, shunned by Roddenberry and IP holder there are accusations that the plot of the first alternate original series movie was at the least inspired by the novel.

Who is Della Van Hise?

Della Van Hise had an extensive history of writing fanfiction on an old typewriter from a young age. Along with that experience she was known amongst fans that traded their stories back and forth as a rather prolific K/S writer, often publishing fic under pseudonyms. It is apparently fans of these works that encouraged her to submit Killing Time to be officially published. Della went on to have original works published such as poems and novels like “Quantum Shaman.”

According to a Facebook from Della’s wife, Wendy, she passed in March of 2021 after repeated health issues.

At the beginning of “Killing Time” there is a series of acknowledgements. The first of which is to a Wendy.

Just How Rare is this Thing?

The true rarity of this novel is a bit hard to parse in my opinion. There are Star Trek books out there far more expensive, such as “Stitch in Time” by Andrew Robinson. Sources say around 250,000 of copies of the first edition were produced, with 100,000+ having already been shipped before the recall. Copies that were swept up into the recall were destroyed but according to some fan forums many copies did end up on store shelves and were sold. It’s unclear just how many copies of the first edition are left but there are plenty of stories of fans stumbling across the first edition on second-hand bookstore shelves, in thrift stores or even in EBay lots of Star Trek novels sold by people who apparently didn’t know what they had.

As of now this book isn’t worth $100+ and I don’t believe you should buy it for that much if you see a listing for that price. My copy I bought for $60 which $60-70 seems to be the standard accepted value going off past eBay listings. This of course isn’t inexpensive, especially for pocketbooks when you can usually find them for less than $10 in stores and even less online. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a way for fans to enjoy an uncensored copy online if they can’t afford a physical copy. The most I was able to find is this.

A journal entry which compares the uncensored to censored parts of the book.

How do You Know if it’s the First Edition?

So say you’ve run into a copy of this book out in the wild or you’re looking at listings online and are unsure if it’s the recalled edition or not. There are luckily a few quick and easy ways you can figure out if it’s legit.

1. An Embossed Title

Now this way is not always a guarantee if you have a 1st edition copy. Apparently there was some copies that were printed with flat lettering but all first editions I’ve seen of this book through listings and blog posts do always seem to have the raised lettering on the title.

2. Publishing Date

The first edition was published in 1985. If you have a copy or are looking at one that has a publish date past 1985 then it’s not first edition.

3. Page 41 Uncensored

Now this is a guaranteed way to find out if you have a first edition copy. There is a sentence that is only included in the uncensored version on page 41.

“I understand that you were probably playing with dolls and wearing lipstick until you were twenty!”

If you have or have found a copy of “Killing Time” with all these things included then congratulations you’ve got the recalled first edition!

My Thoughts

I am *very* excited to own a copy of this book. It’s been a dream, I know silly, to own it for many years. I’ve avoided spoilers or even having the second edition of this book with the hopes that I would one day own it. I am a K/S fan of course but also as a lesbian I am curious to see if the book is truly as bad in its uncensored state as some claim. Homophobes have a way of blowing up the smallest moments. Some blog posts from the early to mid 2000s claim the book is disgusting and should’ve never been published for its content, others say it’s exaggerated and it’s mostly blink and you miss it moments. I can’t wait to see for myself!

I may leave a review of this novel after reading it. 🖖💖

[strangebiology]

Free Resources I Made for Nonfiction Book Writers - $$$

If you're writing a nonfiction, non-memoir book, you're welcome to join my free monthly video chat group Authors of Nonfiction Books in Progress (ANBIP.) If you join you'll get the recap emails and the invites to meetings, but if you don't like meetings, then just enjoy the emails. Note that it's sort of a professional group so we talk about book writing as more of a job than some universal higher calling or whatever.

Through that, I've had a few people ask me for some of the following documents in this journey, so I decided, why not just make a copy for sharing so that anyone can find them, instead of just people who email me? Feel free to use these as samples, share them, whatever. But first:

What I wish I had known before the book: While I'm here, before you start your book proposal, I learned too late that you can get paid $80,000 to write one at a journalism fellowship! People do that at the Knight Science Journalism Fellowship, The Scripps Fellowship at the Center for Environmental Journalism, and probably the other Knight Journalism fellowships that I haven't looked into. So, keep your ears open for fellowships if you're thinking of starting a nonfiction book proposal.

To the resources...

Results from my agent search Note: most people suggest Publisher's Marketplace, so, even though I didn't like my results from looking there, there is surely a reason everyone else does.

My Book Proposal & how I contacted the agent Result: contract with MIT Press to write a book about dead animals and $50,000 advance.

My Proposal for the Sloan Grant Result: I got $56,053 for the book Carcass. Also, at least two other people in my group got the grant, and one mentioned that she never would have known about it if it weren't for ANBIP, nor would she have applied!

List of suggested grants to apply to Note: most of these book grants--and most legit ones in the world--require a traditional contract. I find a lot of "prizes" for people without trad contracts are not grants at all, but an effort to get you to think you "won" what is, in effect, a contract. That's fine if the contract is fine, but don't let them stroke your ego with the words "you won" if you think you could get a better contract elsewhere. A grant is more like free money.

I also got $500 and some free resources--and miiiiight get some more money in the future?--from a program called Investing in Wyoming's Creative Economy, so, maybe your state has something similar. IWCE is brand new (started in 2023) so we'll see if it even continues on. MANY funding opportunities only exist for a few years before they run out.

My contract with my fact-checker

How I found Science Advisors & how I described their task Note: I really just made this up, as with the contract with the fact-checker. I'm just some person and I'm only giving these to you because I couldn't find anyone else's that may have been done better! Make a copy, read through it carefully, and make all the changes you need to yours. Or if you already have a better one to look to, send it to me and LMK if I can send it to my colleagues at ANBIP!

Spreadsheet National Park Artists in Residences Applications Note: I have never got any of these, and most don't pay or work well for writers, TBH. But I know a science writer who did get one. Also, I only included the ones I liked in this spreadsheet and left out the historic parks. Here's a map of more and the National Park Arts Foundation. I only apply to free ones because I noticed that one residency said they got 800 applications and the fee was $120, which, mathematically, is like paying $96,000 to do it (and that one paid $4,000 to the winner.) Also: state parks and BLM land have Artist in Residence programs!

Copy of #PublishingPaidMe spreadsheet (I didn't make this, and I don't recommend making graphics or pivot tables from this as some of the numbers are def wrong)

Book Progress thermometer

That's all for now! If you found this helpful, just pay it forward by being open with your experience for the next people who ask you.

PS. My next task is finding events to hire me to do talks about the topic of my book, which is dead animals. I know some authors make plenty of money on speaker fees after their book is launched! But I'm struggling to find events/places to speak because I mostly only want to go places where I am paid, but I also worry about a conflict of interest if I'm paid by organizations I've covered--or even, orgs that promote or protest anything that I've covered in general! I don't want to be a PETA-funded journalist or a Safari Club International-funded journalist either. If you have experience with setting up a book tour where you profited financially and were journalistically clear, I'd love to hear your story!

[fallynleaf]

Hello! Love reading stuff you write.

What are your thoughts on axiz reunion? I'm assuming you're caught up.

Also wondering if you're into the idea of them doing a program against Golden Lovers. I believe there could be such delicious dynamics there.

aww, thank you!!

and yes, i have MANY thoughts on the Axiz reunion!!!!! a lot of my thoughts on the team don't seem to be super popular in the main eng fanbase for NOAH, so i've sort of been keeping them to myself... 😅

i did publish a very short fic, though, after their first match back together as a tag team. and i've been thinking about the bodyswap fic again 🥲

most of my wrestling thoughts so far this year are in my wrestling journal, which i guess has sort of replaced giffing for me because it's way less time-intensive, though i'd still like to publish some of this content as gifsets, especially the TJPW story stuff, which as far as i can tell is not getting written about (in English) anywhere else. the wrestling journal itself is unpublishable in its current state because i also use it to bookmark some of my favorite fan photos, and i wouldn't want to republish those. but i do love it when people read it and comment on some of the stuff in there! i'm constantly falling behind on it and getting caught up super last minute, but it has been a rewarding project overall.

as far as Axiz specifically goes, i also created a separate Axiz journal just for tracking stuff related to their 2023 run. so if that team is the main thing you're into and you don't care about 90% of the other wrestling stuff i'm on about, that has all of my current thoughts and observations on them! it also contains various supplemental material, like tweets and stuff from shupro, plus my very rough translations of the material. there's also a long ramble about the third Axiz photobook, Green, and about how it becomes a different book entirely depending on when you read it (pre-betrayal, post-betrayal, post-reunion).

the main reason why i made that document was because: 1) i've gotten spoiled by my own TJPW blog lol and i get frustrated by how hard it is to browse old post-match comments in other companies due to how poorly organized basically all wrestling companies are and how ephemeral this stuff is, and 2) i have some amount of actual Japanese proficiency now that i did not have when i first got into Axiz in 2020. so i've started to prefer experiencing the stories through the original Japanese, and i sometimes get frustrated by the official translations and want to keep track of the Japanese 😅.

i've also been having fun exploring the Japanese side of the fandom and sort of ignoring what's going on on the western side of things. i've been using it as an excuse to do some low-stakes Japanese reading practice without having the pressure to translate for hundreds of other people like i do with TJPW. so far, all of the Axiz comments have been super short (way shorter than i'm used to with TJPW), so it has been a doable side project for me. the translation quality is way lower than my TJPW translations, though, so just a warning about that. i didn't want to bother my translation tag team partner and ask them to check even more of my work, haha, so there might be mistakes in there, though it's certainly not the worst NOAH translations that you will find... 😅

as far as Axiz potentially doing a program against the Golden Lovers goes, anon, i want that so bad 😭. the only thing i want more would be them doing a program with the Magical Sugar Rabbits 🥲. Axiz vs Golden Lovers feels actually legit plausible, though, considering that Kota has expressed interest in working with NOAH, and considering the AEW/NOAH partnership.

also, i do have one bonus meme that is not in the Axiz journal lol. you might need to read the journal for context, though, depending on how closely you've been following this stuff (i'm tuned out of the fandom at large and don't know what has and hasn't been getting talked about).

here it is:

Kenta Kobashi: "Go, take back the time you missed when you were gone!!"

Katsu:

[florwal]

omggg im so obsessed with dead end save !!! The attention to detail is chefs kiss i love love the townies (Lilah is my fav). The stories like i was legit tearing up reading the journals. Also !! i actually get kinda scared exploring Millhaven. So anyways i love both of your saves, thanks a lot for making/publishing them (i hope you get to enough rest tho) so take care!!! <33333

🥹 i love delilah i could write a whole damn book about her it was so hard to not give her 500 journals. lmao the scariest part of millhaven is the pizza delivery npcs that still spawn even though i have the home regions mod and assigned literally 100+ sims to moonwood mill to avoid them rip. thank u for playing my saves it means a lot 💓🥰

[glass-rose-paperweight]

The thing is, scientific fraud works - sometimes, at least for a little while. My field of talking about scientific fraud is limited primarily to psychology since that’s what I got a degree in, but psychology is rife with fraudulent psychology over our checkered past. One of the most notable was from decades ago, where this guy straight up fabricated his data. Like, basically all of it. But it looked sound enough that no one questioned it for a very long time. And because it was considered to be legit science, people based further research on this guy’s research. When it was finally found out that he had literally completely made up data, all of the papers written after based on the original research had to be reevaluated and many of them completely thrown out. I’m talking several dozen doctoral theses that were no longer considered legitimate and therefore those people’s doctorates were no longer considered legitimate.

But perhaps more importantly, and scarier, is that people believe fraud - even after it’s shown to be completely fraudulent, mostly because it aligns with what the WANT to believe. Remember the guy that “discovered” vaccines cause autism, only for the most rigorous science out there to discover that it was absolute bullshit and the guy ultimately lost his license? You know how there are still people claiming that vaccines cause autism? A more specific and personal example had to do with a family member sending me an article “proving” that masks don’t work to stop the spread of COVID. This article (which came from a very right leaning news organization, surprise surprise) linked a journal article that “proved” masks don’t work. This journal article was problematic for a number of reasons, but the biggest one, which ultimately led to the entire article being rescinded (though, you were still allowed to access it and read it for academics integrity since the journal did originally publish it) was because the article straight up lied about what it’s sources were saying. There were at two or three articles that this one referenced that this one claimed conducted an experiment proving masks don’t work when the experiments conducted actually proved the exact opposite. But despite that rather egregious issues, despite being able to easily see why the article was rescinded, despite having “rescinded” all over the article while you are reading it, this right leaning news source still had this article as being “proof” of their political ideology, and even spun the issues with article as “proof” of the conspiracy of “the left” trying to cover things up and hide the truth about COVID, and because my family member trustee this source, he trusted that the source was accurately reporting the article.

TL;DR: Scientific fraud is often ridiculous because it’s the fraud we easily catch. People get away with it all the time, or at least get away with it long enough for people to believe and promote really dangerous and harmful things.

Scientific fraud is the most baffling thing ever to me like do they think they're just going to make a huge breakthrough and no one will notice that it's fake by trying to replicate their results

[kenniesue]

Why does the Orgasm Gap exist?

Psst! This is where metacognition becomes really important. We need it to be able to recognize the different interconnected components (mistakes!) that result in the Gap, and to be able to understand the ways we can bridge the Gap itself.

At the heart of the Orgasm Gap is what Zoe Williams with The Guardian describes as a “Fordist understanding of sex” (Williams).

Named after the style of mass production introduced by the Ford Motor Company, this understanding is based on the false assumption that everyone with a vulva experiences pleasure the same way at all times and always wants the same things in all sexual encounters (Jessop; Williams).

Here’s a common example: the presumption that vaginal penetration is highly pleasurable for everyone with a vagina. In heterosexual sex scenes in movies, TV, and pornography, the woman is frequently able to orgasm powerfully from penetration alone. Beyond Hollywood, though, this is often not the case.

According to a study published in 2018 in The Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, only 18.4% of the over 1,000 women surveyed claimed that penetration was enough for orgasm (Herbenick et al.).

These inaccurate portrayals of female pleasure in media can impact both heterosexual men and women in unique ways, especially for those who have received little to no formal sex education (Shearing).

For heterosexual men, this might mean assuming that penetration alone is enough and paying the clitoris little to no attention.

For heterosexual women, not orgasming from penetration after seeing women do it on TV might cause feelings of insecurity and doubt in their bodies.

In addition to being exacerbated by the media we consume, The Orgasm Gap and the Fordist understanding of sex are also exacerbated by the way we talk about and think about sexual interactions.

For example, the term “intercourse” is often used in place of “sex,” so the two become synonymous. But there is so much more to sex than just penetration. When we only say, “intercourse,” we rule out the possibility of acts like oral sex and mutual masturbation counting as sex (which they do, by the way!) (Williams). 

So if we think about “legit” sex as only involving penetration, of course there’s going to be an Orgasm Gap—unlike the glans (head) of the penis, the glans clitoris isn’t in a location that always gets stimulation from vaginal sex (Williams).

Part of mending the gap, then, involves expanding what we consider to be sex to other, non-intercourse acts (Williams).

[themomsandthecity]

Halsey Swears That Breast Milk Can Heal Your Skin. Is the Claim Legit?

While some moms would rather gatekeep their postpartum secrets, Halsey is not one of them. In a new interview with Nylon, the 28-year-old singer-songwriter shared a wellness discovery about breast milk that'll make you do a double take: After giving birth to their son Ender in 2021, Halsey says that they started using breast milk to heal and nourish their skin. "I started breastfeeding, and I figured out that breast milk is the best skincare ingredient ever because it's so full of antioxidants and good fats and stuff that speed up the healing process," they said. Halsey didn't explicitly say they use their own breast milk on their face, but called out a Biologique Repecharge serum made with colostrum (the nutrient-dense milk your body produces first during pregnancy), which she says she "got into" when she first had her son. Still, the benefits of breast milk for the skin are legit - serum or au natural. According to a study published in journal Nutrients, "breast milk has natural antibacterial properties, so it can be used to treat a range of skin problems, including cuts and scrapes." In fact, the study authors note that many common skin problems that occur during lactation and breastfeeding - particularly around the nipple, areola, and breast - can be addressed by rubbing a few drops of milk gently into the sore nipples and letting the "healing properties of human milk" take effect. Halsey says they wouldn't have considered using breast milk in skin care if it hadn't been for their son, but becoming a mom has changed their outlook on a lot of things, including their wellness routine. "I've always been really conscious about what goes on my skin, but when your baby is kissing you or snuggled up against you, you become hyper-cognizant of what's on your face." Halsey's skin isn't the only aspect of her health that's changed after having a kid, though. The singer-songwriter has been open about several health issues post-childbirth, including being diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective-tissue disorder, and Sjögren's syndrome, an immune disorder often accompanied by dry eyes and a dry mouth. Halsey also noted that their endometriosis has exacerbated since giving birth to Ender, in addition to acquiring a host of new allergies. Last year, she told fans they were "on a treatment plan" for many of these conditions. The fact that Halsey's opening up about all of these postpartum changes, from their skin to their autoimmunity, is just another reminder of the many ways your body can change after giving birth. No matter what, it's important to remember to find the healing and recovery methods that work best for you. And who knows? Maybe that starts with your very own breast milk. Related: Keke Palmer Thanks Her Son For Her Postpartum Curves: "Get Into It" https://www.popsugar.com/family/halsey-breast-milk-for-skin-49151981?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

[musicrunsthroughmysoul]

Found the short story I wrote two years ago that I’ve wanted to get published for that long. (I had to find it because my mom asked to read it ‘again.’ x_x)

Wish I still had the drive or desire to send it to journals and stuff to possibly be published because I’m still protective enough of it to not want to share it online unless it’s published.

[that-disabled-radfem]

Happy back-to-school y’all

I’ve attended and worked at a couple of super liberal universities. I avoid the gender studies departments for obvious reasons and I still had a lecture in which the female prof gave a brief overview of TERFs and proclaimed her hatred of JKR. Being openly critical of gender ideology, the porn industry, kinks, and ‘sex work’ are the kind of things that can ruin your future in academia. Not to mention the fact that any speech or actions that could be labelled transphobic (ie. defining woman as adult human female) can get you a suspension according to many universities anti-hate-speech policies. 

So, here’s a list of small and smallish (small in terms of overt TERFery, some may require more effort than others) radical feminist actions you can take as a university student:

(this is a liberal arts perspective so if you’re a stem gal this may not apply. but also if you’re in stem maybe you can actually acknowledge that women are oppressed as a sex class without getting kicked out of school. idk)

(Note for TRAs hate reading this: One of the core actions of radical feminism is creating female networks. This is not so that we can brainwash people into being anti-trans. This is because female solidarity is necessary for creating class consciousness and overturning patriarchy. It is harder to subjugate the female sex when we stand together.)

Take classes with female profs. Multiple sections of a class? Pick the one taught by a woman. Have to chose an elective? Only look at electives offered by women. When classes have low numbers they get cancelled. When classes are super popular, universities are forced to consider promoting the faculty that teach them

Make relationships with these female profs. Go to office hours. Chat after class. Ask them about their research. Building female networks is sooooo important!

Actually fill in your end of year course feedback forms. Profs often need these when applying for tenure or applying for a job at another university so it is very important (especially with young and/or new profs) that you fill out these forms and give specific examples of how great these women are. Go off about what you love about them! Give her a brilliant review because you know the idiot boy in that class who won’t shut up even though he knows nothing is going to give her only negative feedback because he thinks any woman who leaves the house is a feminazi b*tch. 

(note: obviously don’t go praising any prof - female or male - who is blatantly racist, homophobic, etc.)

(Also if you have shitty male profs write down all the horrible things they have done and said and put it in these forms because once a shitty man gets tenure they are virtually untouchable)

(also also, leave a good review on rate my profs or whatever other thing students use to figure out if they want to take classes. idc if you copy paste your feedback from the formal review. rave about the class to your friends. do what you can to get good enrolment for that prof for reasons above.)

Participate in class. Talk over the male students. Say what you mean and mean it. Call out the boys when they say dumb shit

Write about women. If you have the option to make a text written by a woman your primary text in an essay, do it. Pick the female-centred option if you’re writing an exam-essay with multiple prompts. (Profs often look at what works on their syllabus are being written about/engaged with as a marker of whether to keep those texts the next time they teach the class. If there are badass women on your syllabus, write about them to keep them on the syllabus) Use female-written secondary sources whenever possible. 

(pro tip: many women in academia are more than happy to talk to you about their papers. expand your female networks by reaching out to article authors through email and asking them about their cool shit)

Get your essays published! Many departments have undergrad journals you can publish in. This will ensure more people read about the women you write about and will demonstrate to the department that people like learning about women

Consider trying to publish your undergrad essay with a legit peer-reviewed journal. If you can do it, your use of female-written secondary sources boosts the reputations of the women who wrote those secondary sources. Also this helps generally to increase scholarship about women’s writing!

Present your papers at conferences! Many schools have their own undergraduate/departmental conferences that you can present at. Push yourself by submitting to outside conferences. Bring attention to women’s works by presenting your papers. Take a space at a conference that would otherwise be reserved for mediocre men

Talk to your profs and/or your department and/or your university about mandating the inclusion of female works in classes if this isn’t something they do already

Sit next to other women in your classes. Talk to them. Make friends. Form study groups. Proofread each other’s essays. Give each other knowing looks when the boys are being dumb. Just interact with other women! Build those female networks!

Be generous with your compliments. A female classmate and I were talking to a prof after class and the classmate told me (out of the blue) that I always have such interesting things to say. I think about that whenever I’m lacking confidence about my academic skills. Compliment the women in your classes for speaking up, for sharing their opinions, for challenging your classmates/profs, for doing cool presentations, etc.

Talk to other women about sexist things going on on campus. Make everyone aware of the sexist profs. Complain about how there are many more tenured men than tenured women. Go on rate my professor and be explicit about how the sexist profs are sexist

Be active on campus and in societies. If a society has an all male executive or is male-dominated, any women who join that society make it less intimidating for more women to join. Run for executive positions! Bring in more women! 

(Pro tip: Many societies’ elections are super gameable. You can be eligible to vote in a society election sometimes just by being a student at that university — even without having done anything with the society before. Other societies might just require that you’ve taken a class in a particular department or attended a society event. (Check the society’s governing documents.) Use those female networks you’ve been building. If you can bring three or four random people to vote for you, that might be enough for you to win. Societies have trouble meeting quorum (the minimum number of people in attendance to do votes) so it is really super achievable to rig an election with a few friends. And don’t feel bad about this. The system is rigged against women so you have every right to exploit loopholes!)

(Also feel free to go vote “non-confidence”/“re-open election” if only shitty men are running. Too often people see that only candidates they don’t like are running and so they give up. But you can actually stop them getting elected)

Your campus may have a LGBTQIA+alphabetsoup society. That society definitely needs more L and B women representation. It may be tedious to argue with the nb straight dudes who insist that it’s fine to use “q***r” in the society’s posters and that attraction has nothing to do with genitals, but just imagine what could happen if we could make these sorts of societies actually safe spaces for same-sex attracted women and advocated for our concerns

Attend random societies’ election meetings. Get women elected and peace out. (or actually get involved but I’m trying to emphasize the lowest commitment option with this one)

Write for the campus newspaper. Write about what women are doing - women’s sports, cool society activities, whatever. Review female movies, books, tv shows, local theatre productions. Write about sexism on campus. We need more female by-lines and more stories about women

Get involved with your campus’s sexual assault & r*pe hotline/sexual assault survivor’s centre/whatever similar organization your campus has if you can. This is hard work and definitely not for everyone (pls take care of yourself first, especially if you are a survivor)

(If your campus doesn’t have an organization for supporting survivor’s of sexualized violence, start one! This is probably going to be a lot of hard work though, so don’t do it alone)

Talk to your student council about providing free menstrual hygiene products on campus if your campus doesn’t already do this. If your campus provides free condoms (which they probs do), use that as leverage (ie. ‘sex is optional, menstruation is not. so why do we have free condoms and no free pads?’)

If you’re an older student, get involved with younger students (orientation week and such activities are good for this). Show the freshman that you can be a successful and well-liked woman without shaving your legs, wearing heels, wearing make-up, etc. Mentor these young women. Offer to go for coffee or proofread essays. 

Come to class looking like a human being. Be visibly make-up less, unshaven, unfeminine, etc. to show off the many different ways of being a woman

Talk to the custodial staff and learn their names. (I know there are men who work in this profession, but it is dominated by low-income women) Say hi in the hallways, ask them about their lives, show them they’re appreciated

Be explicit with your language. When you are talking about sex-based oppression, say it. Don’t say ‘sex worker’ when you mean survivor of human trafficking. This tip is obviously a bit tricky in terms of overt TERFyness, so use your best judgement

That’s all from me for now! Feel free to add your suggestions and remember that feminism is about action

[bottlealleytotheharbor]

So any headcanons for the newsies at Pride?

oooh. I have not though about this. let me ask my brain. ok.

Jack

this mf loves pride so much like, super excited to go every year

and then just ends up fighting the people who come to protest pride the entire time.

wears a bi flag like a cape, yk the way

owns a pair of bi themed converse just for this event (my jack is always a converse slut)

goes topless to show off his binder and later top surgery scars

Davey

hates rainbow capitalism so much and will tell corporations to fuck off while he's there

his flag of choice is the progress pride flag, he paints on his cheeks instead of wearing a whole ass flag

can and will fight exclusionists

super into the history of pride and the queer community as a whole

Katherine

sews her own skirt in the pan colors to wear out of pride flags

takes soooo many pictures

probably the one who organized everyone to come

has d e c k e d queerphobes in the past and will do it again

has made out with someone she wasn't dating just to make a statement (she asked first. consent)

brings her journal and writes about it and has published articles in the past.

Sarah

scary ass mf

combat boots, eyeliner that could kill a man and a lesbian flag that she ties around her waist

the defender and collector of queer children

vandalizes cop cars

always carries around a backpack with supplies like water and bandaids

Crutchie

decorates the living hell out of his wheelchair

that shit is a work of art

very kind and patient with queer children but often gets into fights with anyone else who is being an asshole

he will physically assault someone but also routinely pulls out legit scientific articles and can verbally obliterate someone

the only reason the gang isn't late every year

Race

crop tops omg

doesn't usually wear flags but still looks violently queer

eyeliner

buys everyone in the group pronoun pins

makes a connection with every bisexual that he can

knows so many people that aren't in their group and half the time is just gone

Spot

fuck off combat boots and a trans flag that he wears around his waist

spot/sarah brotp tbh

they hang out the entire time and often have to be kept from doing something that would land them in jail

also carries around a backpack but it's literally just covered in pronoun pins and full of flags that he just gives away

feral

can and will fight a bitch

this is getting long but if anyone has someone specific they'd like to hear about send me an ask and i'd love to talk about it. also, everyone want's to fight someone but this is newsies, idk what you want from me.

thanks for the ask love!/p

[tuulikki]

That was an interesting question and I did some poking to find an answer. It’s only an answer limited to English language standards. But the answer is: a while ago. Like you said in your tags, it’s similar to how a lot of people only heard about “Ukraine” vs. “the Ukraine” recently. But it’s been the norm for years. A blind rummage through the USA’s Library of Congress (LOC) archives suggests the official short-form name has been plain “Sudan” since at least 1991:

But I don’t have proof that was following a set standard. So here’s The Economist citing their style guide in 2011:

Do not use the definite article before Krajina, Lebanon, Piedmont, Punjab, Sudan, Transkei, Ukraine.

But the Caucasus, the Gambia, the Hague, the Maghreb, the Netherlands—and La Paz, Le Havre, Los Angeles, etc.

Yet here’s an interesting BBC article from 2012 about how it’s plain “Ukraine”, but the professor they interview is endorsing “the Sudan” because of its link to the geographical feature. He’s probably got tenure, though lol

People learn how to write something one way as a kid and generally don’t check to see if it needs updates. But place names are inherently political, so governments track them and style guides follow. The dynamic duo of the USA and the UK work together to produce the closest we have to an Anglophone consensus, with the USA’s Board of Geographic Names (BGN) and the UK’s Permanent Committee on Geographic Names (PCGN). The styles guides follow the governments, and that sets the standards for publishing, journalism, and academia. The rest of us can fuck around, but people who are paid to write words of a certain calibre follow those standards.

As a related function, I’m pretty sure the US Library of Congress also serves as Anglophone standard for transliteration (yielding “Kyiv”, from the Ukrainian).

Sidebar: I started wondering when “Kyiv” hit the English world as a standard, because it has been standard for any publication with a budget for a legit copyeditor for years! But since the full-scale invasion, I think it’s fair to say the average dumbass native English speaker is only recently aware of and noticing “Kyiv” vs. “Kiev.” It’s also gotten a certain domestic political inflection by association with “lefty PC/woke terminology policing.”

…Which is why it’s funny that the earliest publication from outside Ukraine using “Kyiv” that I can find is from Christianity Today in 2008—years ahead of even the UN’s 2012 acceptance of new name standards. And the second-earliest article was from the actually respectable Christian Science Monitor in 2009 (don’t be fooled by the name). 2012 is when others show up at the party: Al Jazeera (English), the New York Times, and Forbes. CBC comes in fucking swinging in 2013, followed by The Mirror. Hardly a representation of the globe, but an interesting scatter.

Sorry if all this is boring or excessively word-nerdy, I’m just kind of an English language geek and most specifically an onomastics (history of proper names) geek. I wanted to answer in case you genuinely were hoping for an answer.

Disclaimers: I fucked around on google for these examples and others can and should try their Google-fu. I could be shit at google, for all you know. Also, English language copyediting crap is wholly different from Ukraine’s official romanisation, which obviously came first and kickstarted all the ponderous Anglophone adjustments.

when did we switch over from "the Sudan" to "Sudan"?

[gallavichthings]

We’re back! After a short break, we’re back in full force with this series! Please enjoy our interview with the lovely @wehangout​, an unique writer in the fandom, author of stories such as Coming Undone, One by One, Help Me (Tear down My Reason) and the Our Souls series. Oh, there are two surprises this time...

GT: What can you tell us about yourself?

J: A bit about me ... I'm in my thirties, married with two kids and two cats, and I desperately want a dog. Life has yet to give me one, though I continue to wait ever impatiently. I live in New Zealand which legit might be the best place to be as of the last eighteen months or so, just sayin'. I love to read and write, I love all animals but have a weird phobia of sharks, and I'm currently bingeing Lucifer, so tag your spoilers, friends!

GT: Yes, from what I've heard from a friend in New Zealand, things are as controlled as possible there, which is great!

How old are your kids? Is it hard to find time to write with them around?

J: They're 9 and 5, so with them both at school that does give me my days to write, but I tend to have more motivation at night, haha. Once my youngest is in bed for the night I'm good to go. My oldest is a bit of a "gamer" so she does her thing and I do mine.

GT: Oh good, they're somewhat independent enough then.

I love cats, so I must ask you to please tell me more about yours. 

J: My babies 😻 They're getting to an age where I don't know how long they have left and I want to talk about them all the time, haha.

This is Chiko. She was found tiny and cold on the side of the road. The vet first thought she was about 6 weeks old, but after a check up realized she was about 6 months! She was so tiny she was only allowed half a cup of cat food a day. Now she's a queen.

And this is my Moe, Moses, Malloy-loy. He's a fighter and has cost us so much in vet bills, but he's a big baby, the best napping companion, and the most handsome.

GT: They're amazing, I love them. 

You said you like reading and writing. Is that books too or mainly fanfiction?

J: Oh, for sure books, too. My first fandom I wrote seriously for was The Outsiders, I'm a huge HP fan (Death of the Author very much applies to both here), and I have a giant pile of to-read books, haha. I've written original stuff, too ...

I think fanfic is just easier, though? For both reading and writing. With writing, fanfic gives that instant gratification, whether from readers or beta readers - there's always someone willing to give it a go, unlike with original writing. They don't need to be introduced to new characters, new situations, etc. I think the same goes for why I read for fanfic, too. It's easier and quicker for me to submerge myself into a good Ian and Mickey fic than it is to pick up an unread novel. I'm part of my own problem lmao.

Plus, to be fair, there are so many fics and writers in this fandom that wow me more than a lot of books do.

GT: Do you aspire to publish your own original stories one day?

J: I mean, that's the dream. I just find it so difficult, and not just the lack of instant gratification. Even finding someone invested enough to beta or bounce ideas around with is hard. I feel like, until you've made a name for yourself, not many people are interested in your original writing.

Technically (lol) I am published. I've placed in a couple of writing comps and one of them published my short story in a journal along with a bunch of others and some poetry. That was cool.

Plus my best writing is usually in second person, and that's hella frowned upon in original fiction lmao

GT: Why do you choose to write in second person?

J: It's not really a choice, to be honest. I struggled so hard with the constant he/him pronouns the first time I tried to write M/M romance that I followed in the footsteps of a friend and gave second person a go. Trying to do the whole "he went over to him, cupped his face in his hands, and a sigh fell from his lips" thing messes with my head. Like, who is who? I can't do it without constant proper nouns and that just gets messy, haha.

I have huge respect for literally every other writer in the fandom for being able to write Ian and Mickey's love story in third person pov, but even when I try I slip into second without realising it half the time. I mean, the first time I wrote in second person was a good eleven years ago and now it just feels ... right. You know?

GT: It's certainly unusual! Not a lot of people doing that.

How did you get into Shameless?

J: Through tumblr. I was fading from SPN and Destiel, and I guess a few of my mutuals were, too, because my dash was full of Don't and Together and epic club kisses. Ian and Mickey ruined me before I saw a single episode lmao.

GT: Same thing happened to me. When did you start watching it?

J: Right between season four and five.

GT: So you also suffered the 5x12 heartbreak.

J: I did! And then, like many, I stopped watching unless Mickey was there, haha.

GT: Yeah, I think many of us did that

What did you think of the last two seasons?

J: I mean, they got married and lived happily ever after, so I can't complain. I think, for me at least, after the shit-show of s5 it was all very whatever. The worst of the worst had already happened, so if we got great stuff (and we did, for sure) then yay ... if we got not great stuff (and again, we did), then it wasn't a surprise, you know?

I wasn't terribly invested in anyone else's storyline, to be honest, so as long as Ian and Mickey were good, I was good.

GT: What's your favorite season?

J: Four. I mean, they still had their issues, but every scene between them in that season is iconic. Many were problematic, but the change in their relationship from the second they saw each other again was just beautiful.

GT: Do you have a favorite episode?

J: Those s4 episodes kill me for the Ian and Mickey stuff, but for an episode as a whole, I'd go with 10x12 Gallavich! To be honest, I'm an Ian and Mickey fan, not a Shameless fan.

GT: I can relate.

What made you want to write for them?

J: Ooh, that feels like so long ago that I have no idea! I think it was probably just my love for writing and love for their relationship combining.

GT: What do you like best about writing Gallavich?

J: I love the endless possibilities of them. No matter what kind of AU we stick them in, their characterisation still works and they always end up madly in love! It could be the 1800s, or Mickey might be a witch, maybe one of them is a serial killer. It doesn't matter because they fit in everywhere and they always end up together.

GT: He could be a witch and a serial killer. ;)

And what's difficult about writing them?

J: Ooh, Ian's POV lmao

Witch and a serial killer - love that idea 😂

GT: Where do you find inspiration for your fics?

J: Usually other fics/books/writers. Sometimes a line in one fic or book will make me think of something else entirely and then a whole fic idea will come about.

Or even someone's AU will make me think of another completely different AU that doesn't relate at all, haha.

And then other writers. They just inspire me in general. I want to be able to write like them and tell stories like they do and that makes me want to try, you know?

And often a fic will give me such intense feelings that I want to evoke that kind of feeling through my own writing and for people who read my writing.

GT: Which Gallavich writers or fics are your favorite?

J: My favourite writer is pink_ink (@palepinkgoat​). I'd follow her anywhere. Literally. Her last fic was ABO, which I don't like and refuse to read, but someone talked me into giving hers a go, and ... phew, it was so good. I also love devovitsuasartes (their originality is mind-blowing), @loftec​, J_Q, @romanticalgirl​ (though they don't write for Shameless anymore), and Shamelessquestions [@goodkwuestion​].

My fave fics ... yikes. My all-time favourite is Our Freedom in My Sight by lilbatfacedgirl. Ugh, it's so good and I'm working myself up for a reread. Also, Lost in Translation is a go-to, the Four Eight series inspired me to start writing Ian and Mickey, and the little things give you away by kissteethstainred simply kills me.

GT: Lost in Translation is one of my all-time favourites

What about your own fics? Do you have a soft spot for any of them?

J: Ooh, maybe my most recent fic, Thicker than Forget, but maybe because it's my most recent? But also maybe because it's somewhat cheerful and has lots of banter and it's so different to things I've written in the past. It all came surprisingly easy and it just feels super chill and makes me happy to think about. It didn't feel like work at all. It was so fun and easy to write - the banter is chill, the attraction is obvious, and the love is real. The hardest part of writing that fic was getting the ice-cream flavour names because the American Baksin Robbins website wouldn't let me on lmao.

I also wrote a Band of Brothers/WW2 AU for GW a few years back that I've since taken down. It might be my fave thing that I've written, but I took it down, made it original, and used it for a writing competition. It's one of the ones that came third, so worth it, I guess, haha.

GT: What are some of your favorite tropes?

J: Oooh, yes, I love that. Enemies to friends to lovers, mutual pining, and fake dating would be my faves.

GT: Do you have any pet peeves when it comes to reading Gallavich fics?

J: Okay, I totally have pet peeves. I could make a list. First-person pov, not using paragraphs, not using an oxford comma (though I can look past that one), draggy beginnings where it takes forever for the story to really begin, lyrics littered throughout the fics ... there are more, but I'll hold back lmao

GT: Tell us a bit about your writing process. How do you start a fic?

J: My process is a mess. Sometimes I plot/bullet point the entire fic, other times I just write and see what happens lmao. The only constants I have are that I need to know how the fic ends before I can get fully invested (even if I'm not sure how I reach that ending!), and I need a solid first line. I can't write anything until I have a first line that I love.

GT: How do you choose your titles?

J: Usually from songs, occasionally from a phrase in the fic, once or twice from poems. The amount of time I spend going through song lyrics is ridiculous, tbh.

GT: What kind of comments do you just love to get?

J: I mean, I for sure love all comments obviously, but the ones that quote bits of my fic back to me absolutely make me warm inside. When they comment on what line or what scene they loved, and I can compare that to how I felt writing it - it's just such a good feeling. I also still love the i-don't-usually-read-second-person-but comment. I've had a bunch of those and I get a little thrill every time I convert someone 😂

GT: I can totally see why that would make you happy!

Alright, what's next then? What have you got planned?

J: I was planning something for all 7 days of GW, but real life got in the way lmao. I do have one WIP I want to get back to, but I don't want to give too much away about that. Other than that I need @shamelessbigbang to do another round this year, because that seems to be what inspires me most 😂

GT: Whatever you make for GW I'm sure will be great! And since I'm the one who runs it, let me assure you if you finish your things at a later date lots of people will be equally happy. Content is content. The idea of GW is to give everyone who needs a bit of a boost, so we all win at the end.

Ok, that was my last question. Thank you so much for doing this. Any final words?

J: Just thank you! I love, love, love reading these, so to be included in one is amazing! It was a lot of fun, and I'm sorry I took forever to get back to you after each question lmao. And for anyone who reads my writing - 💜💜💜 it's so very appreciated!

GT: It was my pleasure! Happy writing!

[actualgina]

SO I SOLD MY BOOK

SO.

SO!!!

[Text: Publishers Weekly’s Rights Report]

I went into sub(mission hell) with a glorious mix of high hopes and low expectations, which was the only practical way I could process things: want for everything, expect nothing. My agent Elana sent emails out to editors and I descended into literal hell by playing Hades (I’ve since gotten the true epilogue, by the way).

Then a week later I get an email from Elana mentioning “fun news”—two hours after she sent it because I am a west coast timezone straggler.

I leapt out of bed! Crashed into the bathroom to brush my teeth! Fumbled for my phone!

The fun news: A PREEMPT!! OFFER!!

There were more fun details in the call and subsequent calls and emails that flew around, and this all happened very fast. This book couldn't be in better hands from my agent to my now-editor Hannah and the team at Delacorte. Hannah and I have been not-subtly circling each other ever since she read my short story “Fools” in Foreshadow. It was truly to my utter relief that she adored my manuscript, too, and we were both so excited to finally yell at each other (“You were watching me?? I was watching you??”).

The thing that I could have never prepared for is, after the deal settled in, I felt the next years of my life hurtle at me. Everything is about to change. Everything is not hypothetical anymore. The thing I'd been working forever toward—it's here. Oh my god.

Counting from the beginning, Violet Made of Thorns (formerly known as Vile Vile Violet) took four years, but the latest incarnation of my manuscript really only took root in 2019, and I completed most of it during the first half. I queried in 2020 and heavily revised for three months after signing with Elana. I'm big on big revisions, I love doing them, and I expected to do this one because it was only after this last version that I really adored this book.

If you know VMOT's inspiration though, you know it started nearly ten years ago, when I started writing a snarky contemporary fanfic just for fun.

I had only barely begun writing continuously, and I was still in my I-don't-like-writing-I-just-wanna-tell-stories phase (I was That Self-Taught Artist who wanted to make a webcomic as a teen, should’ve seen the signs). I wrote fanfic in the loosest sense: 98% of my characters were original characters or the most minor of canon, they just existed in a fandom space. The only reason I figured out I wanted to tell original stories was because I had such a supportive audience; that love was born from reader interaction. Though I keep a professional divide from my fanfic, I’ve always been open about referencing it, because without it, I wouldn’t be writing at all and besides, we’re well past thinking fanfiction is a taboo or inferior medium (and my opinion is people who do think that have no imagination re: storytelling or can’t fathom that some stories simply aren’t written for them).

The fic that inspired VMOT—it became so much more than I ever thought it would. I wrote an indulgently prickly gossip girl OC who reigns with a scathing pen and pursues a questionable relationship with the resident golden boy—and readers loved her! Okay, a lot of readers also said they hated her but also said they couldn't help but be hooked.

And as the story progressed, the silly satire became a more personal story, and so many people said they never read any character like her and that they felt seen for the first time. I got essays, y’all, legit hundreds of essays in the comments that I loved responding to (which I can’t do as a pro author, forewarning, but I appreciate any future essay writers) because I knew exactly what they meant, because I was writing about stuff I always wanted to see myself. The way ambitious (anti)heroines were rendered across media often left me wanting, coming across as wish fulfillment by and for people who didn't actually understand these characters. In this story’s case, I wanted to see ambition dissected uncomfortably, cynicism that can't be solved, romance for someone who didn't totally get romantic love, and everything tied up with a startling frankness.

So I decided to write these characters all over again, but in a completely original setting.

Writing an original second-world fantasy is very, very different from writing contemporary fanfic. I had to fill so many gaps in my skill I never had to deal with before. These last four years were spent learning how to worldbuild and introduce characters that an audience wouldn't have an automatic buy-in for and structure a story that wasn't serially written. While I worked on it, past readers would pop up and tell me they couldn't wait for me to get published while I'd be like "hahaha we'll see," because I knew the realities of publishing, but truly, it was the sweetest thing.

I don't know how many of you have been lurking all this time, but I'm glad that optimism hasn't been for naught and I will actually have a novel to show you after the long wait. This story is very different from the one you know. It's a love story. Like, really, actually, this time. And it's fantasy. Like, fantasy fantasy. It’s still blithe and bantery until it slingshots to serious (less about celebrity journalism and more about uh, complicity in imperialism and environmental destruction), but the plot, the words, the everything is different. The most obvious echoes come from the characterizations and those personal themes I wanted to explore, but even so, Violet isn't totally like her previous incarnation—and I never wanted her to be.

And I'm a much better writer now. Violet Made of Thorns is the best thing I've written. I hope it doesn't stay that way, because I have a lot more stories to tell, and also Book 2 to finish :)

Things you can do right now ♥️

Add Violet Made of Thorns to your Goodreads

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram and here, on Tumblr

Sign up for my nascent newsletter, if you prefer getting your news condensed and intermittently

Yell to your friends about this, to their utter confusion

[ivy-kissobryos]

I was so excited to read Dionysos: Exciter to Frenzy because it does connect a lot of the Dionysian mythos with a lot of occult concept (not explicitly so sometimes, but more like it has helped me see some things which I missed).

I’m only skim reading atm but I skipped forward to that passage about Dionysos Melanaigis and... 😬 If you think my claim that Dionysos as a Witchfather-figure is lofty then you must be laughing your ass off at the author trying to connect Dionysos with Baphomet. I was laughing too. In my opinion, it’s like grasping for straws.

I thought after talking about the Sabbatic goat they’d go on perhaps link the whole thing where the goat is Dionysos and the goat being historically ritually killed and consumed etc could be a symbol for initiation or something similar. Or even the whole Dionysos/Sabazios route. Or just like, you know, how Dionysos Melanaigis is literally describing a man dressed in black aka the Man in Black link. Or the whole trickster god vibe he has going on, of which there are loads of evidence for.

But nooo you have to go and connect him to Baphomet, who I had nothing against, but just because they both have a goat motif doesn’t mean they are the same.

Also... there are no references for the “dark wine” and “wrapped in dark storm” explanation for that epithet as far as I can tell too. And Melanaigis as a psychopomp? Where’d the author get that from? I need historical sources!! Although I definitely agree that Dionysos can act like a gatekeeper between life and some form of death, but c’mon if you’re publishing a book then please back your claims.

So ugh the book is great but take it with a whole bottle of salt please.

Also, the author, as far as I can tell, has no qualifications except a course on ‘The Origins of Human Behavior’ at Oxford University. And it’s an online course??? Not to diminish the value of online learning (the course is legit too) or to be classist, but idk, the course doesn’t have to do much with Hellenic studies and a 10 credit online module is hardly equal to a 3 year undergrad course in my opinion.

If the author is gonna claim herself an expert and publish a book based on that qualification, then idk feels shady to me.

She has done research, but don’t expect her book to be as rich in research as something found in an academic journal.

The book does capture the essence of Dionysos though. I just feel the research behind it to be somewhat iffy.

[rochelle-echidna]

@pyro-sea​ I swear I had a draft saved for your asks for the Fic Ask Game, but Tumblr has seen fit to send it to the shadow realm or somewhere equally nefarious **sigh**

SO, I’m going to attempt to rewrite my answers to your questions as best as I can here, since I feel bad you never got a response before now :)

9: Are there any fics you’d love to see but don’t want to write yourself? What are they?

I actually tackled this one here already, if you’re still curious about the answer!

17: What has been the proudest moment for you so far since you started writing?

For a non-fanfic answer, I would say placing in the top 10% in various screenwriting competitions and having my prose work published in literary journals is all stuff of which I’m damn proud - though, I’ll be real, I’ve been less focused on those moments lately since falling back into the fandom void haha

As for what I’m most proud since I specifically started writing fanfics, there’s legit too many moments to name! I always get massively giddy when writers I respect - which is most of y’all tbh - comment on or like my work, or when people say it’s helped them get through something tough or was relatable :D I was also super chuffed to have gotten the chance to work on the @conspire-with-you zine, so that was probably my proudest moment last year lol

But like a lot of creative people, I also genuinely wonder every time I post a story whether this will be the one that bans me from the fandom or if it’ll go “too far” or something... So, in a sense, the proudest moment recently was me posting my latest fic, because I was so terrified of how readers would respond to such an admittedly hard-to-digest topic - but the overwhelming positive reactions made the worry all worth it, and in the end I was glad I’d allowed myself to be a bit vulnerable for a change and actually write again after depression had kicked my ass ;n; I believe creation is all about putting yourself out there and speaking your truth no matter if you write fanfics or compose music or choreograph dance or do whatever you’re compelled to do, so in a roundabout way I guess I’m proud for continuing to write each day and do something I actually love for a change!

Sorry if these weren’t exactly the answers you were expecting, and doubly sorry I took so long to respond - I hope I answered them alright, and that you too know you’re awesome :)