My writeblr! Lawyer (but not yours). Current WIP: Collecting Keepers (other projects include Keepers Collected, the Other Delilah, Witcraft, Under the Frozen Tides, and the Heart of Mars). Feel free to reach out and tag me in writing games. She/her/hers (Profile art by Gavin Jantjes, Untitled)
I’m a writer. I’m a lawyer. Those are basically my two personality traits.
I enjoy writing related tag games, so feel free to tag me—I may not get to them right away, but they are always welcome. Also, any game that I reblog is open to anyone to join; the more the merrier.
What you’ll find here:
I mostly reblog nature photos, writing prompts, random things that inspire me, tag games, and the writings of others. In terms of my writing, I like to bounce around a lot both within and between stories. My major WIPs are:
Collecting Keepers (and its continuation, Keepers Collected) - urban fantasy/action/adventure
The Other Delilah - contemporary fiction
Untitled fantasy series - you guessed it: fantasy (high fantasy, specifically), the first installment is called Under the Frozen Tides
Witcraft - sci fi (light)/speculative/crime (sorry, no blurb yet)
The Heart of Mars - what I like to call “high sci fi” because it takes place in the far off future and not on Earth (the blurb is posted but still a work in progress—trying to see if I should more obviously weave the fact it is very loosely based on Snow White)
The Memory Eater - fantasy (I thought it was going to be a short story, but it’s quickly turning into novella length)
The Poison-Fed Priestess - fantasy (right now, it’s a “sandbox wip,” meaning I don’t have a strict plot so I am just playing around with the ideas at the moment)
More in-depth story blurbs are below the cut for those interested.
Happy writing, everyone!
Collecting Keepers (and Keepers Collected)
In the rewrite stage (with the sequel in the redrafting stage)
Protagonists: Adair Knightly, Clayton “Clay” Slater, Amadeus Thatcher, Felix Ocaña
Antagonists: Cadiean Vakrinos, Sienna Satrappe
Setting: this world
Adair Knightly had no idea her necklace was anything special—that is until Amadeus Thatcher and Clayton Slater, members of a mysterious magic-based organization, sweep into her life and warn her of a grave danger. The golden triangle she wears around her neck is no ordinary trinket. It is one of the nine Deltas that, when brought together, form the most powerful object in the world. Adair is a Keeper of the Delta, and great power draws attention.
Cadiean Vakrinos has hunted these objects for over ten years, murdering Keepers to gain control of the Deltas’ power. Together, Adair, Thatcher, and Clay must traverse across the country to gather information, all while confronting an array of allies and enemies, facing magic scavengers, and uncovering the truth about the Deltas’ power. The race against the clock has long since started, for not only do they have to keep Adair and her Delta safe, they must also stop Vakrinos from collecting the remaining Keepers.
The Other Delilah, standalone
In the research phase (loose outline)
Main character: Delilah St. Clare
Setting: UCLA in the present (or the present whenever I end up writing it—honestly, the pandemic has thrown a bit of a wrench into my original plan)
An old, rich art collector has died, and while cleaning out his antique desk, his grandchildren found the letters and sketches of a previously unheard-of artist. The artist’s talent is obvious and striking, and the discovery sparks interest in the art world. Experts, however, have been able to glean little from the letters, except for the fact the artist was an eighteenth-century Dutch woman.
Delilah is a junior at UCLA double majoring in art history and chemistry. When one of her professors mentions the letters in class, she is drawn into the mystery. She finds herself studying Dutch art after the collapse of its Golden Age, pestering experts, and (attempting) to translate the letters—all while resisting her parents’ attempts to get her to apply to medical school instead of pursuing a career in art restoration. While many scholars believe that the artist’s works are simply lost to history, Delilah cannot shake her desire to peel apart the mystery and discover the truth. Together with a ragtag team of talented and sleep-deprived college students, Delilah will try to discover the hidden details of the artist’s life, the nature of her work, and why no one had heard of her until now.
Untitled Fantasy Story, three parts planned
In the worldbuilding stage
Protagonists: Taiomar, Cassika, Captain Nestall, Professor Banni, and Pagalipakiliran “Pagali”
Antagonist: Big Bad is only a placeholder title, still working on that
Setting: secondary world, also unnamed thus far
Taiomar lives in a large trading town on the edge of the sea, spending his days diving in the shallows for mussels and sweet beads, messing around with his siblings, and—secretly—longing for adventure. One day, a stranger shows up to the local tavern and challenges the patrons to a knife throwing contest. After everyone else fails, Taiomar proves himself to the stranger—a girl named Cassika—in the game of wits and skill.
As a child, Cassika was cursed by the Big Bad’s right-hand man. It’s been decades since the Big Bad was defeated, and the world has largely recovered from the wars, famines, and natural disasters that marked his reign. Still, the threat looms: the Big Bad is not dead. Unable to kill him completely, his conquerors had instead sealed him away in an impossible location. Cassika, however, is fated to bring him back. As whispers flurry and the signs portend that he is ready to rise again, Cassika resists this destiny. She is determined to find his tomb and destroy him.
The Big Bad was locked away in a series of underwater caves near the southern pole. Midwinter is approaching, where large amounts of water will be trapped as ice. The two moons will be positioned perfectly to create a dramatic low tide. Their window is narrow, their task nearly impossible. Joined by a frenetic, questionably brilliant academic, a sea captain with a thousand legends attached to her name, and a mysterious man with an onyx eye and an uncanny ability to read people’s thoughts, Cassika and Taiomar must reach the southern sea when the tides are at their lowest. If they can survive the long, treacherous swim through the sprawling caverns and freezing water, they just might be able to reach him in time—and kill the Big Bad completely.
The Heart of Mars, standalone
In the worldbuilding stage
Protagonists: Dana [Last Name], Mariposa “Mars” Neverossi
Antagonist: unnamed
Setting: non-Earth planet, unnamed thus far
For the majority of the human race, Earth is no longer home. Instead, for generations now, they have lived on a new planet called [name], (number) of lightyears away. Scientists and settlers fixed up the atmosphere, added an artificial moon, and brought Earth flora and fauna to compete with the native stock. Of course, even with every opportunity to build the world from scratch—to construct utopia—society is plagued with the standard vices: poverty, violence, greed, and widespread inequality.
Dana [last name] is a bounty hunter, hired by the often-unscrupulous clientele of society’s underworld to find people who disappear without paying their debts or settling their scores—and getting paid pennies for it. His luck turns, however, when a powerful kingpin named Neverossi offers him a fortune to find his kidnapped daughter, Mariposa.
But Mars wasn’t kidnapped. She ran away.
Mars had never left her parent’s estate before. She has been closely guarded her whole life, monitored and scrutinized and kept perfectly safe. She is too valuable an asset to be left alone. When she was a toddler, her parents had a key implanted in her heart. The key is a complex piece of machinery: the codes are fashioned by her in-the-moment biometric data, and thus the combinations are everchanging and unbreakable. Such protection is only required for what is exceptionally valuable—or extraordinarily dangerous. But at sixteen years old, Mars has no desire to be a key anymore, especially not one that paints such a heavy target on her back. When Dana finds her, he must make a choice: he can finish the job and get paid, or he can help her find a way to remove the key from her heart without killing her.
Removing a complex, deeply embedded device from a living person is no easy task, however, and [Name] is far from the only person after the heart of Mars.
Trump attacking big law firms and the law firms bowing at the knee coming to ”settlement agreements” is a really, really bad sign. Because we need more of those these days.
via NYPost: Immigration and Customs Enforcement is preparing to launch a “big f–king operation” across sanctuary cities — including Chicago and New York — immediately after President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, multiple sources told The Post.
Starting Jan. 21, multi-day “ground operations” will be launched across cities that have served as safe havens for migrants because the local authorities do not cooperate with the federal government when it comes to immigration issues, sources said.
my uncle killed my father and married with my mother and now i must *remembers that suicide jokes do nothing for my mental health and wellbeing* put on a play
scurvy has got to have one of the biggest disease/treatment coolness gaps of all time. like yeah too much time at sea will afflict you with a curse where your body starts unraveling and old wounds come back to haunt you like vengeful ghosts. unless☝️you eat a lemon
I am absolutely all for this, but I'm going to need publishers to pay me more than 7% royalties on paperbacks if they do. My paperbacks are between $10 and $15, and I love that for the kids who buy them. The price needs to stay the same for them and the royalty go up for me, and capitalism is the fucking worst, because you KNOW who is going to get socked by the publishing company.
So, I write YA, which means that for most of my contracts when the book is in hardcover, I get 10% of about $20 (YA books tend to be cheaper bc we want kids to buy them. They are going up in price, which is not ideal for kids). An author writing adult books gets the same percentage, but the books are almost twice the price, so the get a theoretical $4 every time I get a theoretical $2.
Once the paperback comes out (if it does), the percentage AND the price drops, but adult books remain higher than YA.
I got a flat fee for AHSOKA (I try not to think about what my life would look like if I got normal royalties, but...let's just say I'd own my house, and that's not counting the rest of my IP books, which I get 1-5% on), but we have been arguing with Disney every contract since then.
This is why we beg you not to pirate books. We need sales numbers to keep our advances (ie the original amount of money our publishers pay us) in the "livable wage" range, and even then, it's not a regular payment, so we need to keep selling books. Publishers only buy our books if we have a sales record, and pirating torpedoes that. Corporations don't really care if you pirate, but literally every sale is important to the author.
(Libraries buy books, so that's great! And used books are also good because SOMEone bought it, and now we might get a new fan. Buying ARCs is not cool--it literally says so on the cover--but I can't really blame consumers for that: it's the bookstore that should know better.)
Tl;dr, capitalism is the death of art, but also: please buy mine bc I have a mortgage. I promise to do my best work for you.
My definitive ranking of my least favorite bodies of water! These are ranked from least to most scary (1/10 is okay, 10/10 gives me nightmares). I’m sorry this post is long, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this.
The Great Blue Hole, Belize
I’ve been here! I have snorkeled over this thing! It is terrifying! The water around the hole is so shallow you can’t even swim over the coral without bumping it, and then there’s a little slope down, and then it just fucking drops off into the abyss! When you’re over the hole the water temperature drops like 10 degrees and it’s midnight blue even when you’re right by the surface. Anyway. The Great Blue Hole is a massive underwater cave, and its roughly 410 feet deep. Overall, it’s a relatively safe area to swim. It’s a popular tourist attraction and recreational divers can even go down and explore some of the caves. People do die at the Blue Hole, but it is generally from a lack of diving experience rather than anything sinister going on down in the depths. My rating for this one is 1/10 because I’ve been here and although it’s kinda freaky it’s really not that bad.
Lake Baikal, Russia
When I want to give myself a scare I look at the depth diagram of this lake. It’s so deep because it’s not a regular lake, it’s a Rift Valley, A massive crack in the earth’s crust where the continental plates are pulling apart. It’s over 5,000 feet deep and contains one-fifth of all freshwater on Earth. Luckily, its not any more deadly than a normal lake. It just happens to be very, very, freakishly deep. My rating for this lake is a 2/10 because I really hate looking at the depth charts but just looking at the lake itself isn’t that scary.
Jacob’s Well, Texas
This “well” is actually the opening to an underwater cave system. It’s roughly 120 feet deep, surrounded by very shallow water. This area is safe to swim in, but diving into the well can be deadly. The cave system below has false exits and narrow passages, resulting in multiple divers getting trapped and dying. My rating is a 3/10, because although I hate seeing that drop into the abyss it’s a pretty safe place to swim as long as you don’t go down into the cave (which I sure as shit won’t).
The Devil’s Kettle, Minnesota
This is an area in the Brule River where half the river just disappears. It literally falls into a hole and is never seen again. Scientists have dropped in dye, ping pong balls, and other things to try and figure out where it goes, and the things they drop in never resurface. Rating is 4/10 because Sometimes I worry I’m going to fall into it.
Flathead Lake, Montana
Everyone has probably seen this picture accompanied by a description about how this lake is actually hundreds of feet deep but just looks shallow because the water is so clear. If that were the case, this would definitely rank higher, but that claim is mostly bull. Look at the shadow of the raft. If it were hundreds of feet deep, the shadow would look like a tiny speck. Flathead lake does get very deep, but the spot the picture was taken in is fairly shallow. You can’t see the bottom in the deep parts. However, having freakishly clear water means you can see exactly where the sandy bottom drops off into blackness, so this still ranks a 5/10.
The Lower Congo River, multiple countries
Most of the Congo is a pretty normal, if large, River. In the lower section of it, however, lurks a disturbing surprise: massive underwater canyons that plunge down to 720 feet. The fish that live down there resemble cave fish, having no color, no eyes, and special sensory organs to find their way in the dark. These canyons are so sheer that they create massive rapids, wild currents and vortexes that can very easily kill you if you fall in. A solid 6/10, would not go there.
Little Crater Lake, Oregon
On first glance this lake doesn’t look too scary. It ranks this high because I really don’t like the sheer drop off and how clear it is (because it shows you exactly how deep it goes). This lake is about 100 feet across and 45 feet deep, and I strongly feel that this is too deep for such a small lake. Also, the water is freezing, and if you fall into the lake your muscles will seize up and you’ll sink and drown. I don’t like that either. 7/10.
Grand Turk 7,000 ft drop off
No. 8/10. I hate it.
Gulf of Corryvreckan, Scotland
Due to a quirk in the sea floor, there is a permanent whirlpool here. This isn’t one of those things that looks scary but actually won’t hurt you, either. It absolutely will suck you down if you get too close. Scientists threw a mannequin with a depth gauge into it and when it was recovered the gauge showed it went down to over 600 feet. If you fall into this whirlpool you will die. 9/10 because this seems like something that should only be in movies.
The Bolton Strid, England
This looks like an adorable little creek in the English countryside but it’s not. Its really not. Statistically speaking, this is the most deadly body of water in the world. It has a 100% mortality rate. There is no recorded case of anyone falling into this river and coming out alive. This is because, a little ways upstream, this isn’t a cute little creek. It’s the River Wharfe, a river approximately 30 feet wide. This river is forced through a tiny crack in the earth, essentially turning it on its side. Now, instead of being 30 feet wide and 6 feet deep, it’s 6 feet wide and 30 feet deep (estimated, because no one actually knows how deep the Strid is). The currents are deadly fast. The banks are extremely undercut and the river has created caves, tunnels and holes for things (like bodies) to get trapped in. The innocent appearance of the Strid makes this place a death trap, because people assume it’s only knee-deep and step in to never be seen again. I hate this river. I have nightmares about it. I will never go to England just because I don’t want to be in the same country as this people-swallowing stream. 10/10, I live in constant fear of this place.
Honorable mention: The Quarry, Pennsylvania
I don’t know if that’s it’s actual name. This lake gets an honorable mention not because it’s particularly deep or dangerous, but it’s where I almost drowned during a scuba diving accident.
The most mind-blowing moment, not only for De La Mata but the scientists too, came when they managed to actually record the sounds that she heard in her ears – which now appear as ‘Left Ear’ and ‘Right Ear’ which begin sides A and B on the album – and in doing so opened up questions about the nature of tinnitus itself. “The NHS definition is that it’s a phantom sound that your brain is creating, that it isn’t something ‘real’, so you should try to ignore it.” By having De La Mata place her ear into an anechoic chamber, with an ultra-sensitive microphone perched in her ear canal, they were able to provide significant evidence to the contrary. “After the first recording of it, it was ‘There’s no way, this isn’t possible.’” They tried again with her breath held, and again with her tensing her ears, and again with other members of staff, but each time it became apparent that yes, the noises De La Mata hears are seemingly something physical.
My methods as someone with schizotypal (feeling of constantly being judged disorder)
1. Even if you do something embarrassing AND someone judges you AND talks about it to others, you really haven't done anything but improve their life. People like bonding over interesting stories. If I'm at the mall and I look strange or act weird, people at best don't care and at worst have a little story to tell their friends.
2. Talking about people is part of life. You probably have done it to others. What comes out of people's mouths when you're out of the room doesn't necessarily reflect their true feelings. Getting words out of your head can be how you check if they're true. Many people might say something mean so they can come to a more neutral understanding. We often think "said behind my back = true feelings" but it isn't true.
3. If someone is actually consistently talking behind your back in a cruel, mean way and being two-faced to you, that's actually them being in the wrong. You aren't responsible for that. You don't have to burden yourself worrying that you're doing something that would make someone act this way. You can operate as though everyone is being upfront and honest and not make concessions for passive aggression.
4. If you talk behind people's backs a lot and operate in a judgemental way to others, try cutting back on that behavior. It honestly helps you feel less scared of others talking about you.
5. If your friend group talks a lot behind people's backs and judges or harasses others for fun, try to discourage that behavior or step away. Seeing people obsess over others isn't good for your health, and those people's behavior isn't normal. Same with hanging out on dramamill websites etc.
6. If you actually concretely find people actually talking behind your back a lot, analyze why. It could be that it's bullying, but it could also be that people don't feel safe telling you their feelings. Think about how you treat others.
7. There's always a risk of being judged and hurt by others, but the rumination on the possibility of it being the case is going to hurt you. The goal should be to live life in the moment and deal with cruelty when it actually emerges. Constantly being on guard for tragedy doesn't actually make it any easier, it just makes you really tired.
Oh, also 8. Imagining a scenario where people are judging you or talking about you behind your back doesn't make it true. You will think "obviously but it can actually be very hard to tell that it isn't true. You start judging people for what you assume they're judging you for. The hard thing is you really can't know what people are talking about, even if they are talking. You can't read anyone's mind, and you have no knowledge of their life when you can't observe it. This is hard to accept, but freeing once you absorb it.
Fred Trump III describes conversations with his uncle about people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
He sounded interested and even concerned. I thought he had been touched by what the doctor and advocates in the meeting had just shared about their journey with their patients and their own family members. But I was wrong.
“Those people . . . ” Donald said, trailing off. “The shape they’re in, all the expenses, maybe those kinds of people should just die.”
I truly did not know what to say. He was talking about expenses. We were talking about human lives. For Donald, I think it really was about the expenses, even though we were there to talk about efficiencies, smarter investments, and human dignity.
I turned and walked away
[from later in the article]
Donald took a second as if he was thinking about the whole situation.
“I don’t know,” he finally said, letting out a sigh. “He doesn’t recognize you. Maybe you should just let him die and move down to Florida.”
Wait! What did he just say? That my son doesn’t recognize me? That I should just let him die?
Did he really just say that? That I should let my son die . . . so I could move down to Florida?
Really?
[...]
Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear Donald say that. It wasn’t far off from what he’d said that day in the Oval Office after our meeting with the advocates. Only that time, it was other people’s children who should die. This time, it was my son.
When you’re legitimately so evil you tell a parent, your own fucking nephew, to their face that it’d be more cost-effective to let their child die because they are disabled.
Honestly, it's not the ableism or eugenics that shocks me. Donald Trump has shown who he is time and time again. I guess what got me was that he’d be willing to hold the same views for family members.
Usually these types of people make exceptions for their own. “It’s not immoral if it’s my abortion, I’m only doing this because I have no choice, mine is necessary” kind of thing.
But nope. Donald just straight up thinks his great nephew should die because it’s expensive to keep him alive.
Jesus Wept.
Fucking vote. Please, I’m begging you. As a disabled immigrant who isn’t able to vote I see so many people saying they’re going to boycott the election by not voting and I want to scream.
You boycott products by withholding money.
Not voting in elections only disenfranchises yourself. You’re not protesting. You’re giving tyrants power.
Please vote like people’s lives depend on it because they do.
If you need help figuring out how to register I will help you but please. Please vote.
When I'm voting this coming November, I won't be thinking of it as voting for Biden, nor as voting against Trump. No, I am voting to keep Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold the position of Secretary of the Interior. I think she's doing a wonderful job under the circumstances and if Trump wins, she will surely lose her job as well as all the work she has done in the last four years to revitalize Native American communities and protect public lands.
From her Wikipedia page:
"On her first day as secretary, Haaland met with tribal media in a press conference organized by the department and the Native American Journalists Association, speaking about her intention to include the tribes as decisions that impact them are made.[73] In April 2021, Haaland announced a new unit within Bureau of Indian Affairs that plans to tackle the decades-long crisis of missing and murdered Native Americans, saying, "We are fully committed to assisting Tribal communities with these investigations, and the MMU will leverage every resource available to be a force-multiplier in preventing these cases from becoming cold case investigations".[74]
In May 2021, Haaland approved the new constitution of the Cherokee Nation with protections for Cherokee Freedmen.[75]
In June 2021, Haaland announced the creation of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. The initiative's goal is to investigate long-standing abuse in the now defunct residential boarding schools that housed Native American children under the 1819 Civilization Fund Act.[76][77] Haaland attended a series of Road to Healing events to bring together survivors and their stories.[15] Haaland's grandparents had also been sent to the boarding schools.[15]
In November 2021, Haaland banned the word "squaw", a derogatory term for Native American women, from all federally owned lands, and ordered a task force to determine new names for the 650 places that currently use the word.[78][79]
In March 2023, Haaland announced $25 million to be dedicated to bison conservation.[80]
Haaland was involved in President Biden's designation of national monuments, including Avi Kwa Ame National Monument and Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.[81][82]"
From this Washington Post article:
"The 54th secretary of the interior and only the third woman to serve, Haaland possesses a biography familiar to many Americans. She has been a single mother who at times has been on food stamps, in forbearance and without housing, crashing on friends’ couches.
“I know what it’s like to have $5 in your checking account,” she said. “I know what it’s like to decide between paying the rent or, you know, buying groceries for my child.”
...
She took the lead in a 20-year ban halting gas and oil development in New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, a sacred cultural site for Native people, which angered some Navajo over the loss of revenue, leading them to blockade the roads to last month’s victory celebration.
...
Her only child Somah is nonbinary, uses the pronouns they/them and works in media for an Indigenous nonprofit and a cultural center. "
I could go on much longer because she has done so much good. But yeah. Here is a person who has personally experienced the worst of America, and wants to put us on a path to healing. That's the future I want for America, and that's what I'm voting for.
You motherfuckers yes I hate Kamala too but when she is announced to be the Democratic candidate we are all going to shoot fireworks and go to the goddamn polls
GRIPPING EVERYBODY’S SHOULDERS SO TIGHTLY RIGHT NOW. YOU WILL VOTE FOR HARRIS. YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THAT THERE IS NO MORAL WAY TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE US AND YOU WILL STILL VOTE TO STRATEGICALLY PROTECT YOURSELF AND OTHERS.
Seems to be most closely related to Luwian, but specialists can't read it yet. It survived because the Hittites wanted to record religious rites in the original language. Thank you, Hittites.
Very glad to see the Hittites getting the respect and admiration they have deserved for 3650 years. If anyone has any further questions about the Hittites please know that you can always come to me, I have a literal PhD in Hittite. That is not a joke! That is a real thing that I have!
Interesting things about the Hittites! Here are four.
They were Aggressively Ecumenical. When they conquered, which they did a lot, they schlorped up everyone else's gods and added them to their own pantheon (hence the multilingual ritual texts). They called themselves the People of A Thousand Gods. They were not exaggerating.
Their first king, Hattusili I, has an official royal edict where he whines forever about how his family was super ungrateful and didn't support him. His son? Gave him a vassal state, rebelled. His daughter? Left her home at the capital, she incited rebellion there. His nephew? Conspired with his mom, Hattusili's sister, against him. We don't know the sister's name because he just calls her "the snake."
There's a Hittite letter to the Mycenaean Greeks which indicates that they could maybe stand to cool their tits about Troy.
The first attested treaty between equal international powers was between the Hittites and Ramses II of Egypt, ~1270 BC-ish. The Hittites had been developing the treaty for several generations prior to this, from border agreements to vassal treaties, and ended up with a six-part template including a historical preamble and lists of witnesses. There's a copy of it on the wall of the UN in New York.
