how lovely! @kumikko - Tumblr Blog

i feel like something inside me has gone moldy

By the way, if you're coming up on graduating soon, whether from middle school or high school or college, there's a very good chance you're stressed and, if you're anything like me, potentially pretty scared about how it's going to go once you're out of the world you know.

So let me offer some words of reassurance:

Growing up is great. I know it's scary and sometimes it sucks, but big picture, I genuinely think growing up is great.

(I say this as someone who had a p Not Fun Time when I was younger, so btw, that's both my bias and also proof that you do NOT have to have had a good childhood/adolescence to enjoy growing up.)

Leaving middle school? Fantastic. One of the greatest blessings of life is no longer being in middle school. At least 95% of adults will agree with me on this. (translation: ages 11-14 in the US)

Leaving high school? A bigger jump, and adulthood has a lot of stuff to figure out, but honestly really nice! The vast majority of adults would also agree with me that "No longer being in high school" is one of the great blessings of life! You just get so much more autonomy, potentially in not having to go to school/do homework and/or just as a newly legal adult. Also, most jobs are both easier and more bullshit than high school, and college is at least way less strict/gives you so much more autonomy/treats you like an adult (translation: ages 14-18 in the US)

(And because I know some of you are like me and definitely wondering: No, you do not have to ask to go to the bathroom or to leave the class in college, and yes, it is glorious.)

Leaving college? A good thing! Next stage in your journey! Yeah, if your college experience didn't suck, you probably have some things you're really gonna be sad to lose, but that's not inherently a bad thing! And if your college experience did suck, then the prize is no longer being in college! And whatever the case, just like for high school, I promise that the vast majority of jobs are both easier and more bs than being in school (translation: tertiary education, ages = adult, yes this explicitly includes community college and trade school)

Seriously. It might be hard, but there's a very, very good chance things will be easier than you fear. You've got this.

lokaror

In my new gacha game, you can now pull for scantily clad anime women who represent famous airplane crashes.

bobdylanyaoi

biting the hand that feeds me but im also sucking on the fingers a bit

eldr1tch-cr0w

number one rule! never believe ur thoughts after 10 pm . unless its about The Character then believe all of your thoughts wholeheartedly

whyenn-reader

"ingredients you can pronounce" i can pronounce anything

#sent to me

shitter

absolute gold on Reddit today

#sent to me

kvothes

a good thread

elumish

I agree with all of this. But! I think it is also important to recognize that there are subgenres where it is significantly harder to find certain things, and it's actively unhelpful to readers to pretend that you can just find whatever type of book you want to read if you just know how to look for it, especially if you are sticking to trad publishing.

It is possible to find both sapphic SFF and M/M fantasy. It is significantly harder to find, say, aro urban fantasy. Or trans romantic suspense. Or intersex mystery.

A lot of the advice above only really works for trad published or popular books and for identities/subgenres/content that aren't too niche.

So here's some advice if the advice above isn't working for you (either because you can't find books with what you want or because the books you are finding don't end up being the vibe you want), from someone who reads a few hundred books a year:

Find websites or lists dedicated to the specific thing you are looking for. They will generally have more variety and will post you to examples that don't show up in regular rec lists. (ex: aro book recs, ace book recs, intersex #ownvoices database, sapphic books). Goodreads lists can (sometimes) also be your friend.

Get comfortable reading self-published and small press books. Trad publishing has its blind spots.

Check Reddit for recommendations

Start figuring out what it is specifically that you like and then start making your searches more specific. This can be subgenre (if you want urban fantasy, you're rarely going to find it just searching "fantasy"), tropes, plot devices, vibes, etc.

Look at the "readers also bought" on Goodreads/Amazon, similar books on Storygraph, etc. if you read a book you like. Even if you don't end up reading the one you click on, it can show you similar authors (similar to looking at the blurb on a cover), especially because far fewer books have blurbs now.

Check out the Literature Map for similar authors.

nipple-brains

Another fantastic resource is @queerliblib !!

They have lists on Libby with very specific topics and will answer questions on Tumblr about recs for people after very niche stuff and almost always have a starting point for someone!