Jan Abel Books

welcome visonairies, dignitaries, creatives, and weirdos novelist/poet || 22 || she/her

[despazito]

[jan-abel-books]

Random Things in My Writing Notebook that Would Pry Be Used As Evidence Out of Context

"A fight for the return to meatspace."

"Return to: the Born-Again, Homophobic Crone"

"To Kill or Not to Kill"

[melmili]

just wanna say i am a big fan of this trope specifically

[jan-abel-books]

is it a trope if it's irl

[jan-abel-books]

The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks by Shauna Robinson - ⭐️ ⭐️

I need to start this out by saying it took me a while to get through this book. (I started it in...October? Maybe September?) Not to say it wasn't good! But I am...not a Hallmark-style story person, and this book sort of had that structure. For someone who is NOT bookish and into that style, this could probably rate higher, but it's just not my cup of tea.

That being SAID, the ending of this book was such a neat wrap up, and the fact it was at Christmas just made it all the better since I'm writing this blogpost about a week and some chance until Christmas.

I also really loved that this has a POC as both the main character and the love interest (not that the love story was the biggest part of this story). I actively need to work more on reading diversely in the new year, but I'll be damned if this wasn't a good place to start :)

So TLDR, not my favorite I've read, but definitely happy to have read it!

[jan-abel-books]

Do I...

Finish cleaning my office so I lose my last excuse to not write

Rest because I have a cold and lost my voice days ago

Voting ended onSep 6, 2025

[jan-abel-books]

if you give a writer an idea, they're gonna ask for a place to work. when you show them a place to work, they'll probably want it to be clean. when it's finally clean, they'll ask you for a water. then, they'll want an energy drink– as a back up beverage. when they drink both their beverages, they may realize they'll need to pee, so that they're comfortable when they write! when they're finished, they may want to pick up the bathroom a bit. they might get carried away and pick up every room in the house! they might even put away all the laundry, as well! when they're done, they'll probably want to take a nap. you'll need to have a comfy couch or even a bed ready with a pillow. they'll crawl in, make themselves comfortable, and fluff the pillow a few times. they might even ask you to tell them a story. so you'll tell them a story, and they may ask for another one. when you tell them another one, they may find an idea of their own!

[jan-abel-books]

Bookish Goals for the Weekend:

Record and edit Chapter 2 of Project Audiobook 👀

Rewrite the first section of The Realm of the Xosha ✍️

Research Shit 🤦‍♀️

Check in with beta readers 🫂

Actually set up the Real Website 🖥️

[jan-abel-books]

An Update: I did...1.5 of these things...

[jan-abel-books]

Bookish Goals for the Weekend:

Record and edit Chapter 2 of Project Audiobook 👀

Rewrite the first section of The Realm of the Xosha ✍️

Research Shit 🤦‍♀️

Check in with beta readers 🫂

Actually set up the Real Website 🖥️

[youre-only-gay-once]

"you can use ai to improve spelling and grammar"

[purgaytorysupremacy]

if you’re wondering why spellcheck and grammar check is worse now, it’s because they replaced it with AI! 🥰

now, instead of maintaining a comprehensive, nuanced, and human-maintained encyclopedia by which to check your document, they have switched to an AI that just compares what you’ve written to what other people write in, say, Google Docs, and use the most commonly used iteration.

ever have it change something like “all intents and purposes” to “all intensive purposes” or “should’ve” to “should of”? that’s why!

people make the same spelling and grammar mistakes so often, AI thinks that’s the way you say it because it is a PATTERN DETECTOR and cannot THINK let alone use language.

[youre-only-gay-once]

"you can use ai to improve spelling and grammar"

[jan-abel-books]

"You ask a lot of questions, you know." Amaria looked at him out of the corner of her eye, silently sharpening her knife, even as he continued to look at her, contemplating. Eventually, she shrugged. "One of the first lessons a desciem learns is to ask questions. The potar tells you what they know, and if they don't, they tell you that too. Helps strengthen understanding," she paused. "Also helps find who doesn't like being questioned real quick."

the dialogue that came to me in the middle of doing anything OTHER than writing wtf

[creativepromptsforwriting]

I haven't abandoned this story. I just put it on the back burner for now. The story is just on a small vacation. It is currently out of office. It can't come to the phone right now. It just fell under my bed to sleep with the monsters. It never left my head. It is everywhere - except on paper.

[jan-abel-books]

you know what sucks about being a beta reader/reading submissions of manuscripts?? i have NO ONE to nerd out with or tell people to read a book (for at least a few months)

[jan-abel-books]

*sigh*

shit you send your creative writing partner...part 6

[jan-abel-books]

sh*t you send your creative partner, part...5?

[jan-abel-books]

Caught Up by Navessa Allen - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So earlier in this year, my coworker recommended what she called a "dark romcom" to me. Now, I am not a romcom person on a good day, but I was also intrigued—read: confused—on what in the hell a "dark" romcom was. That dark romcom was Lights Out, the first book in this series. (If you look further back in my blog, you'll find a review on that book too.)

But let me put you on this book in as little words as possible: mafia son, childhood love-turned-cam star, more than one scene in a catholic church. Need I go on?

On top of the spice, it genuinely has some great moments talking about making sex work safer for people, as well as familial trauma and the effort it takes to break a cycle. And in case you were curious, yes the romcom is still very much alive in this book. How in the hell Allen does it, I have no clue, but I am in awe either way.

I am obsessed with this author, and already cannot wait for the third book in the trilogy!

[jan-abel-books]

Prideful, vol 1, prose 4, "Dear Kid"

a letter to my younger self

Dear Kid,

This month has had a lot of looking back at your own queerness (yes, I said queerness). And it can be a scary thing. I know about the first time you wondered, and I know how far down you shoved the very idea, because it was okay, so long as it was someone else.

You have a good heart, kid, but sometimes you have to remember you're allowed to break the mold. You're allowed to be loud, and messy, and outspoken, and mean. One day you will be, I can promise that much.

One day, you'll find yourself fed up with the world around you. You'll feel like a coward for keeping your head down while others fight. And there will be a night where you're driving home and some words will echo through your mind. Call it the muses. Call it divine intervention. Call it a use for your English degree.

People are free, because others are brave.

You'll spend the next weeks trying to read, trying to learn, trying to connect to a community that in the past you kept at arms-length, something to be acknowledged but not prideful in.

Kiddo, some things won't be easy, and I wish I was able to shield you from the rougher or harder times. But I can also promise you that things will be okay. You'll have a family you can joke with, and friends who become a different kind of family. You'll find a community, and—as cheesy as it sounds—you'll find a part of yourself you didn't know you were missing.

Be brave, Kid.

It'll all be okay.

[jan-abel-books]

prideful, vol 1, poem 26, "violet"

the final poem of the gilbert baker series, and i think a fitting finale for pride month—because even when all of the rainbow capitalism moves on, and the news quits reporting it, and the world feels even worse than it did for 30 colorful days, there will always be your spirit.