Just checking in to say I'm still alive. Health and life stuff. Hopefully back again soon.
Remote
Jess Mahler
@JessMahler@indiepocalypse.social
mastodon 4.7.3+glitchJess' weird fish-out-of-water life has left them with an enduring love/hate affair with common tropes. The relationship counselor recommended they break it off, but they just keep coming back to play with tropes (and fuck them up) some more.
In between their tropic indulgences, they write queer fantasy with aromantic, neurodivergent, and generally 'weird' characters, take care of their family, argue halakha, and try to do a bit of educational activism on the side.
(Some details: adopted, queer, disabled, neurodivergent, white settler, Jewish, writer, parent, anti-capitalist. Learning to be anti-racist and learning about decolonization.)
Avatar is a gryphon by @amaranth@weirder.earth
Header is same gryphon in the mountains.
You are not obligated to complete the work,
but neither are you free to abandon it.
1163 Followers
449 Following
39 Posts
Joined June 26, 2023
Pronouns:
They/Them
Website:
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Mood:
the sun is nice today
#WordWeavers July 11: Would your protagonist rather be loved or feared? Why?
Loved. Mildthryth isn't really interested in being feared, even if it is occasionally useful.
#PennedPossibilities 1068 — In your WIP, do you have a MMC, FMC, or multiple MCs?
For Bound by His Oath I have two MCs. All of my stuff has at least two protagonists and much of my work is ensembles.
So writing has taken a very very back seat to family care, including getting ready for the school year.
I'm starting to wonder if part of the reason I burnout last year and couldn't maintain writing schedule/goals is because was doing homeschool for the kids at the same time, and if in the future I can try to give myself gentler goals during the school year and harder 'push' goals during the summer.
Not trying it this year, but worth thinking about.
I don't know why OpenStax wants instructors to 'verify' that they are actually teachers before giving us access, but their process does not at all take into account the reality of homeschooling in many places. Very frustrated right now.
Where to Buy Books Other than Amazon
A few years back I had a habit of every six months or so doing a thread on Fedi about options for getting books other than Amazon. Eventually it finally occurred to me that I could write it once, put it up on website, and update as needed, rather than constantly reinventing the wheel.
Here’s the updated version for the new site.
https://jessmahler.com/where-to-buy-books-other-than-amazon/
#ScribesAndMakers 6 May: Ghoti (fish) is a word created to demonstrate the odd pronunciation variations in the English language. Create a word of your own or share one you've created.
I didn't create any new words for A Smear of Blood, but I have done multiple conlangs for other projects.
In Planting Life in a Dying City, 'lefengawt' means 'mud'. 'Lefeng' is the root word, and 'awt' is the gender marker indicating an inanimate noun.
#ScribesAndMakers May 3. When you see the word 'read', is your first instinct to read it as present tense or past tense?
If it's on it's own, I usually read it as past tense, pronounced like 'red'.
#WordWeavers Apr 6: Can you create a character/place/storyhook/device on the spot, if you need to? If so, share an example.
Dennis was a young man done hard by life. He wanted only wanted one thing. It was a simple thing, shouldn't have been that big an ask. But no, nothing ever went his way. Always had to be something.
Today, it was a busted freezer, and the melted remains of his favorite ice pop.
#ScribesAndMakers May 8. Leviathan?
Ziz.
Not entirely random --
Please don't use the term 'Judeo-Christian'.
It is a supracessionist term that is frequently used to claim a level of similarity between Judaism and Christianity that simply does not exist.
As an example, anti-abortion activists will frequently claim that abortion is 'against Judeo-Christian values', but the truth is that Judaism not only allows abortion in many circumstances, but in some cases requires it (to save the life of the mother).
In the last few decades it has also been used as to reinforce Islamophobia, positioning the 'Judeo-Christian' Western civilization against 'barbaric' Muslims.
And don't get me started on the problems with a 'Judeo-Christian' West when the West spent over a millennium attacking Judaism and Jews at every turn.
If you know what you are talking about applies to both Christians and Jews, just say 'Christianity and Judaism'.
#scribesandmakers March 17. What’s a creative habit you’ve wanted to adopt but haven’t yet?
Dream journaling. I've gotten so many good stories from my dreams, you'd think of be writing every one of them down. Doesn't work with my morning schedule though, so I only write down the ones that A) I wake up from in the middle of the night and B) I remember coherently enough to write the full plot out.
Got some writing done today for the first time since March.
Not a lot of writing, but that's okay. I'm finally recovered and back at it.
G'morning all.
Management is sending exterminator through at [unknown time] today, and it is completely fucking with my head not knowing when we will need to leave the apartment for 2 hours. So nothing is getting done today, yay!
Hope y'all are doing well.
#ScribesAndMakers – 6 Some people have creative work inspired by their dreams. Have you?
Oh yeah. Dreams have been a major inspiration for several of my stories, including one I'm working on right now.
Replying to
#ScribesAndMakers April 26. #TTMD
What is a common trope you both love and hate (or hate that you love) and why?
----
I’ll give you two:
Omegaverse.
I have such mixed feels over this. It started as a werewolf thing, and I was reading all the werewolf romances around the time it became popular, so I found it pretty quick. I’ve seen some really good and interesting things done with the trope, but so, so much of it is ‘we want to have our sexism but make it gay.’
And then people started piling ‘fated mate’ trope on top, and I just… yeah, noped out for a few years. I’ve recently started reading a bit of it again, most in platonic fanfic that emphasized the family/pack aspect without the romance.
The Good King.
I have a whole essay about the problems with this one: https://jessmahler.com/the-good-king-makes-a-good-fantasy/
At the same time, I admit I love the stories where the rightful heir returns or the true king faces down the great evil. I think the appeal is ultimately the same as with superhero stories – the idea of people in power doing something good with it, and the ability to project ourselves as the people with power doing the right thing.
@willelm@indieauthors.social
#PennedPossibilities 1001. Is your MC confident or not? Tell us why.
"[Iberto] carried with him the brash confidence of youth, a certainty that he knew what must be done which had carried him far. But having spoken with him now, Santosh could see cracks in the young Called's confidence."
Santosh's PoV of Iberto and his confidence.
*waves*
Hi all.
Sorry for long silence. Got sick, then Passover, it was a whole thing.
Will hopefully be around more now.
Some days I REALLY miss Write or Die. Today is one of them.
Stimuwrite is awesome, but... not the same.
#PennedPossibilities 1008¹⁵. One or more of your characters, of your choice, are about to sneak into 'something'. Why are they sneaking and what are they sneaking into, are they successful?
Iberto is sneaking into the monks quarters to spy on them. So far, he has been successful every time.
Replying to
I'm considering adding Hari Zayid's "Black Boy Out of Time" to the list, but it's a pretty rough read.
Replying to
@willelm
Much the same here!
I think I'm finally coming out of it? Or at least gaining real interest in creative stuff again.
My novella, The Last Lady of Lună, is part of a the Autistic SFF (+ a 'lil romance & more) Bundle
Now available on Itchio
34 books by autistic authors, with autistic characters, for $30
Lună is a why choose vampire romance novel.
The autistic character in Lună is Karen, a mercenary with special interests in knives and timelines. She gets hyperfocused when on the job, and can be a bit scattered and distractable off it.
Replying to
@cb@boop.bleepbop.space
I know there is an easier way, because my partner showed me how once. I have no recollection of how it works, though. Sorry.
Replying to
@danielscardoso@scholar.social
It's been on my to-read list, I'll need to bump it up as well as getting them a copy.
Replying to
@danielscardoso@scholar.social
Thanks! I don't know if they're up for academia, but this gives me more of a starting place.
Replying to
@danielscardoso@scholar.social
His "The Fire Next Time" was one of the few nonfiction pieces I've been able to read without struggling. Amazing writer voice. But he does not pull punches. I'll need to check that one out.
Disabled family needs $30 to make it to the end of the month. Most of that's for toilet paper and other hygiene stuff.
Any help is appreciated.
Paypal: jessicaburde@gmail.com
7/30
Got the one page synopsis done. It came out closer to two pages, but meh.
I'd hoped to get more done today, but family stuff intervened. So... hopefully tomorrow.
G'morning all.
Hope y'all got more sleep than I did.
Gonna try to get some writing done. Fingers crossed.
Replying to
@hiisikoloart@writing.exchange
I want to offer to trade, bc I could really use art for book covers rather than trying to cobble something up myself, and I don't mind doing publishing stuff. But my health is such I'm not very reliable in terms of getting shit done in a timely fashion.
G'afternoon all.
Brain is not functioning too well today, but it is functioning, which is improvement on this time last week.
How are y'all doing?