 Pinterest (Viridi) From pets to people-- distractions can feel unending. Especially once you've hit your groove!
What are some ways you keep your focus?
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 “Hello, my name is Jade and I am a Person Who Stutters.”
My first day, the members began with this— Person First Language. The idea was that the hardest part of all interactions was trying to hide the stutter, but being upfront about it relieves the anxieties and pressures of hiding it. When it was my turn…. I couldn't say the words. Not because of my stutter, but because all the years of negativity associated with my stutter held me back even though I was literally in a room filled with people who stuttered too. I was allowed to cry. I was allowed to sit in silence and just listen. If you’ve ever been bullied as a child, you may know how it feels to be an adult carrying the weight of those negativities that you’ve thought faded with time. How, you might ask, is this reflection relevant to writing and creativity? Once I started introducing myself this way, my relationship with my stuttering changed (don’t get me wrong, I still do have anxieties relating to my stutter and socializing in large crowds). My focus shifted to the ways my stutter has worked in my favor:
 It's easy to focus on the negative when the negatives are so visible— it's in the expression of the person you are talking to when you stutter. It's the scrunching of your face as you try to get out a particularly challenging word. It's in the exhaustion and embarrassment that droop your shoulders after you realize that you’ve been ignored (again). After 29 years, I’m starting to refocus myself on the positives. I never lost that childhood love of storytelling, only just shifted gears. Are you or someone you know a person that stutters?
 Text-to-Image. Canva. "Woman reading" vs "Black woman reading" This post is about race: I thought about putting a “warning” behind it, but realized it defeats the whole purpose of this post. Because, until anyone mentions race other than “white,” it is met with controversy. My race should not have to come with a trigger warning: I am a black woman and a BIPOC writer. Terms that have to be entered or applied in a world where the default function is set to “white.” The Default Argument, in programming language, is a function that when a value is not specified, results will return to the values initially specified in the parameters. This is why when you search for a term in images (depending on your location), the images you get will always be of the standard default (white) unless specified otherwise.  Larbalestier's cover character is described in the book as a brown skin biracial girl. Initial cover (right) depicts a white girl. The author had the cover redone to the one on the left Growing up, I never realized (or paid attention to) the defaults of the world. From a young age we were conditioned to associate the “default” with “white.” There is the idea that, unless a book character’s race is explicitly stated, then he or she is “white” (check out White As Default). Most recently when receiving feedback on my manuscript, a beta suggested I describe my main character’s description in chapter 1 so that they (singular “they”) could visualize her from the beginning. I sprinkled in a few key details throughout the first three chapters, stating that her mother was a black woman in the very first chapter, and detailing her physical features in chapter 2 and 3. “Aminat is not the typical Eurocentric heroine, just as Rivercross is not the typical Medieval-Renaissance-esque town. You should make that clear from the beginning,” said the Beta. Good feedback. However, you have the Janet Watson Chronicles, a retelling of Sherlock Holmes starring a queer black woman living in a dystopian society, where the author takes Every. Single. Opportunity. to hammer in that this character is black in the most stereotypical ways possible (from stares whenever she walks into a room, the “don't touch my hair” quips, the afro, people clutching their belongings when she walks by). Then you have the reverse: Book covers primarily featuring/favoring white characters regardless of their in-book description such as the case in the Liar controversy. I first came across this story in my first year of public librarianship researching displays. The story has been around since the book’s 2009 publication but has been popping up as a prime example in visibility (or lack thereof) when it comes to book covers and minorities, most recently mentioned in The Sistah Girl Next Door.  Ad as it appears on the Newsfeed via Facebook “Default” once again resurfaced in library school where we learned that, when it comes to programming technology, black and brown faces are primarily kept out of the algorithms, leading things like automatic faucets not to recognize black and brown hands, and even facial recognition software to struggle. Generative AI technology needs specific descriptors to generate characters, or else it will automatically default to giving “white” results. You would never have to type “White woman reading” in Midjourney or other text-based generative AI applications. the cover photo for this post compares the results to “Woman reading” on Canva. Canva generates 4 results each iteration. All four results to this text for every iteration yielded the default white woman reading. Minorities must type “[insert race] woman reading."
This is the same for stock photos. Nappy.co An ad on my newsfeed inspired this dive into “defaults”. Nappy.co states, “I love Unsplash, Pexels, and Shot Stash, but one of the things I’ve noticed is that all of their content could use a little more diversity. As an influencer mgmt agency for black and brown creators, we’re very intentional about cultural representation in the work that we do. And because of that, we aren’t always able to find the photos we need from those sites.” The site is simple: it provides diverse stock photos as a default. From hiking, families, office spaces, the people in the stock photos are of BIPOC. It eliminates the need to have to type in "black_____" to yield results. As an amateur photo manipulator (Gimp and Canva), when I illustrate my characters, the pool just got a whole lot broader with Nappy.co. Further Reading:  Monday's post had me reading through the stories I'd written as a child-- and its true what they say: Writing is Therapy. But flipping through my childhood notebook I found a couple of fables. Each of them ended with a famous quote. I realized what Child-Jade was doing: finding quotes and reinterpreting them. This is a fun little exercise on days where you can’t seem to get your head into your WIP, or a creative warm up. Like musicians warm up with their scales, painters warm up with techniques, writers warm up to writing.
Post in the comments what you come up with! Here are mine, circa 2008 (be warned, these are the words and interpretations of a 14 year old!): Every morning and through the afternoon, the squirrel would run and search for nuts. Acorns, walnuts, cashews. High and low, big or small, more and more and more. One day, while on his hunt. The squirrel encountered a simple mouse. “You look tired and thin,” she said. “Why not take a break.” In truth the squirrel was worn out and eyes shown not of health, but weariness. “I cannot,” he said. “I cannot rest now, with my meager supply of nuts while Bird grows full with his spoils.” On this day, when the sun shown dim behind the gray clouds, and the gulls squawked profusely in the sky, the fisherman brought in their weekly catch. The cats that live around the dock would gather, licking their lips and twitching their tail, anticipating a slip of the hand. They sat, peering from behind the posts, and looking down at the plentiful fish as the men worked. On this day, the young cat leaned over the dock just a little too far, ready to steal himself a meal. The men were busy, and despite the growing warnings from the other more experienced, the youth continued his dangerous advance. He knew what he was doing as he reached out a paw to grasp a floundering fish and — SPLASH— into the water he fell. The duck and the swan paddled through the shallows of the pond. They laughed and chattered of their day, gossiping as old gals do. Every morning they’s gather at the pond and share their latest news, and every afternoon, they’d go their separate ways. One day, like every other, they paddled contently in the pond. Like every other day, while the sun was high in the sky, the duck said her good-byes, and took to the sky. Bang! Unlike every day, the duck fell lifeless to the earth. The monkey laughed and played through the trees with his friends. He helped his friends perform tricky tricks, and hugged them when they cried. He also helped the elders gather their food and the younger monkeys climb. Monkey smiled every time they thanked him, loving every moment they were happy. “I love writing short stories. I’ve been publishing novels since 1995 and writing screenplays for twenty years, but in many ways, short stories feel like my purest fiction.” — Tananarive Due  Short stories and micro stories compiled between 2004 and 2009 In a 2022 Writers Digest article, Dallas Washburn lists the importance of the Short Story:
When I was old enough to be allowed on the family computer, I began typing short stories (or novel length ideas that only got as far as shorts). I’d sit for hours, 1 finger typing out these stories that emerge from dreams. I learned a few things about myself during this time: 1: I loved horror/Speculative (I even took a Horror and Suspense writing class when I got to college). 2: I liked to experiment with rhythmic prose or prose poetry, writing stories that had more of a poetry fairytale feel. 3: the more I wrote, the more I learned “the rules” (beginning, middle, end). My first short story publication was Sophomore year of college, “The Invisible Boy.” After years of writing, that first publication really showed me that I really was a “writer” and could be an “author.” It would be years still before I attempted (and finished) my first novel.  First Draft (aka. "Ugly Draft") of The Path of the Cave Stars, circa 2020  Photo of the book give-away table taken by me  Belle and the Beau. HarperCollins, 2002 *Long Post Ahead* Today is Juneteenth, the day in history 138 years ago that slaves in Texas learned that they were free (two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863). Under one of my many hats in the library, I hosted a Lunch & Learn where my guest speaker said something very powerful: Juneteenth is a recognition of how important knowledge is to freedom, for it was a lack of knowledge that kept them bound to slavery, and knowledge that eventually set them free. Francis Bacon famously said “knowledge is power.” Truer words this occasion. It wasn't until six years ago— at twenty three years old— that I first learned of Juneteenth. So in addition to the Celebration of freedom for all, this day is also about Reflection, Knowledge, and Power. Reflection: My coworker and I recently received an award honoring the diverse books we bring into the community on behalf of the library. Not only did we give away books about Juneteenth, but we gave away books written by Black authors, like Octavia Butler, Kai Harris, and Kennedy Ryan (in 2019, became the first black person to win a RITA) and for children, “Remi Blackwood”. We don't just stop at black books; as an ordering librarian, I am amazed and excited each time I see a book written by and about people of color (and an extra surge in LGBTQ fiction). It also saddens me. As a child (and really, into my adulthood), there was zero visibility for BIPOC authors and stories. I'm sure there were some out there, but again… visible. Diverse books were either written by white authors (Chu Ju’s House by one of my favorite authors at the time was written by a white author, and sixth grade required reading of To Kill A Mockingbird, an important story about racism and black pain through the eyes of a little white girl also written by a white woman) or about the trauma of being "other" in a white world (required reading in eighth grade was Black Boy by Richard Wright and Diary of Malcolm X by Alex Haley). This isn't to knock required reading, I was exposed to some of the greats through required reading: Toni Morrison (Beloved in high school and Song of Solomon in College), Zora Neale Hurston (Their Eyes were Watching God in High School), Nella Larsen (Passing in College). But, as a child and really into adulthood, these things I couldn't relate to. They were topics I did know enough about (because they weren't taught and taught well). I had no connection to it. I received my first "black book" from my aunt when I was in middle school: Belle and the Beau, an Avon Teen Romance written by Beverly Jenkins. Though historical fiction, it did not focus on black trauma as a plot device. At its core, it was about a black girl falling in love with a black boy. I asked my aunt for the sequel, Josephine and the Soldier after I ate up the first. Until then, the first black book I bought for myself was after seeing an ad in an American Girl magazine, Honey Bea by Kim Siegelson, about a slave girl on a Louisiana Plantation who, on her 13th birthday, realizes she has a certain power and uses it to thwart the romantic advances of her master and save a boy she likes…. Are you seeing a theme in black books? I frequented Borders Books and Barnes & Noble. I spent almost every day after school at one library or another and read voraciously. I didn't know enough to seek them out, and happening upon them was rare— especially in the genre I gravitate more toward: horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Knowledge: In Tananarive Due’s Introduction to her book, The Wishing Pool and Other Stories, she writes: “As a creative writing student learning from the “canon,” I lost sight of myself as I began writing contemporary realism about white male protagonists having epiphanies. Not genre. Not black women… Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day taught me that a Black woman could be respected writing Black characters and the metaphysical”  Regina Brooks, Founder & President of Serendipity Literary Agency In a similar situation, the stories I told as a child and wrote were of the default. In my mind, they were either white or undefined. Black characters, in my mind back then, suffered and were slaves. Working at a public library opened my eyes. Going through the stacks, I saw all these books that were not displayed (I found Jason Reynolds’ Track series, and read them all in two weeks!). Paging through ordering magazines and Ingram lists and Publisher’s Weekly, I saw a rise in black (and other marginalized) authors (I JUMPED on My Sister the Serial Killer the moment it hit my library’s shelf, and how I came to discover the work of fellow SHU grad, Michelle Rene Lane). I focused on displays and curated lists highlighting the diverse collection we had (At Night All Blood Is Black, for the speculative/horror fans). I didn't start with the intention of “diversifying the collection.” I started ordering diverse books because I finally had the access I never had growing up to diverse materials. And, because of this, it inspired a push in my library to continue to order and highlight diverse books. In a year, the combined efforts of the Children’s collection development department, and Adults (my department) increased the diversity of the collection by 88% in a single year. Power: #WeNeedDiverseBooks trended on Twitter in 2014 and snowballed into a non profit organization dedicated to bringing the stories of marginalized communities to the forefront so that everyone can see themselves on the page. The movement created by the lack of diversity in children's books, spawned the #OwnVoice movement by Corrine Duyvis meant to inspire authentic stories written by those of the communities written about (“OwnVoice” movement and hashtag are no longer in used as of 2021. Check out Book Riots to learn why). Both movements also lit fires under the publishing community which historically has been “unbearably white” and has favored the careers of white male authors. I read about Serendipity Literary Agency in Publisher’s Weekly at work. Serendipity’s founder Regina Brooks, stated in the feature, “After I saw the dearth in the number of people of color in the business, I made a commitment to try to bring more people into the business and train them.” Serendipity was founded in 2000 and has since cultivated a number of bestselling and award winning authors of color. In my querying journey, I came across literary agent, Hana El Niwairi, a founding member of BIPOC Publishers of Canada. Just as the list and visibility of BIPOC authors are growing, so are efforts within the publishing industry. “Times are also very different now than when I first began testing my skills as a writer,” Due writes in the concluding paragraphs of her Introduction. “With the growing respect for the late Octavia E. Butler, the rise of Jordan Peele, and a slew of talented writers of all races and ethnicities, no speculative fiction syllabus would be complete without a much broader spectrum of voices.” To the person who said about Juneteenth that the slaves should have known that they had been free, and that they should have taken it upon themselves to find out/learn: you don't know what you don't know.  artwork by Bob Flynn / www.jinxthemonkey.com / twitter: @bobjinx On a forum I love, I mentioned the "Gas Powered Stick" villain concept as something I learned from Bravest Warrior. Took me until recently to connect the dots that it was a parody of the "Artifact of Doom" trope: The Artifact of Doom is somewhat an unusual villain in that it is a (seemingly) inanimate object. Nevertheless, it's pure evil; and is a threat of corrupting all to The Dark Side. It may also cause Great Insanity, not to mention death, or worse. The Ring from the Lord of the Ring series immediately came to mind even before reading the article on it. One could argue the Force became Anakin's "Artifact." Even W. W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw" deals with decent into insanity all from one object. In reflecting on my past works (and WIPS), I've noticed that my characters create their own hells without the help of an object/artifact. Their slips of sanity or lapse into the dark side are self inflicted and cannot be blamed on anyone or thing other than themselves. It originated to explain away why a person of good standing would suddenly rebel against the norm ("D&D/Rock Music/Rap/Grand Theft Auto are turning kids these days into punks!"). As Oscar Wilde once said, "We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell" ('The Duchess of Padua', 1891). This, I feel, creates a deeper connection and a conflict not so easily solved after the object is thrown away away. What are your thoughts on the Artifact of Doom (or, as I will hilariously refer to as "Gas Powered Stick" until the day I am sued) trope? *** Does your story feature a "Gas Powered Stick"? Check out EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ARTIFACTS OF DOOM by Britton Perelman. 
Contrary to what the title says, my first fantasy love was not the Avatar series. But, as see pictures from the set of the new live action remake and start the Earthsinger Chronicles, I'm reminded how I got to Avatar in the first place.
My first fantasy series obsession was the Chanters of Tremaris trilogy by Kate Constable. In a world where magic is conjured by song, we find our main protagonist, Calwyn, as a young convent novice at a in the froze North, surrounded by a wall of ice. The ice protects not only the priestesses and the village, but Ice Call— the magic that allows the priestesses to make and manipulate ice and snow. Ice Call, like all magical abilities in this world, cannot be learned but inherited. Calwyn's a bit of a pariah amongst the novices and the priests. Her mother broke her vows in more ways than one a priestess when she went beyond the wall and when she came back with baby Calwyn. Without her mother, Calwyn has had to put up with a number of abuses from her peers and superiors who remember her mother as a traitor, but Calwyn always wondered about the outside world. Enter Darrow, a man with Iron Call who does the impossible and climbs over the wall from the outside— and subsequently falls and breaks his leg. Afraid, yet curious of the outsider, Calwyn hides him away and nurses him back to health. But Darrow comes with a warning: there is a man that has learned more than one song and he is looking to harness all of the songs to become ruler of Tremaris. Once Samis' apprentice, Darrow has been on the run. He warns Calwyn that Samis will come to the north to steal Ice Call and kill him once he finds him. When Samis does arrive and attacks the convent, Calwyn has no choice but to flee with Darrow, still far too injured to fight Samis. Together, Calwyn and Darrow must find a way to stop Samis from achieving his goals, while also trying to stay far enough out of his reach. Calwyn finds that Samis isn't the only one skilled in acquiring other songs and she just may be the only one who can lock him away for good. Each book tackles a different issue: battling Samis in Book 1, tackling Darrow’s traumatic past and the fraternity of sorcerers that made him who he was in Book 2, Calwyn dealing with the loss of her abilities. As the trilogy progresses, so does her relationship with Darrow and the rest of their ragtag team comprised of a surly fisherman begrudgingly roped into Darrow and Calwyn’s mission early on, a half-deaf misfit from a men’s college, a young Wind Call girl rescued from pirates, and Calwyn’s mute long lost brother whom their mother had left behind when she returned to the convent (like Toph, he's learned to adapt his abilities). I kid you not, I reread this series again and again, too stubborn to move on from the world of Tremaris (and my first book crush, Darrow!). (Not seeing a connection yet? Stick with me now...) 
After I finished the series, I was older but still wanted something similar: insert The Pellinor Saga by Alison Croggin. The concept is similar: magical world fueled by song and name. Instead of being shut away in an ice convent, the protagonist, Maerad, is shut away in a slavers settlement where she is a slave. Cadvan, one of the Great Bard of Lirigon, becomes her "Darrow" as he takes her away and becomes her mentor. He teaches her as much as he can about magic and enrolls her in the School of Pellinor to learn more while he goes away on business, but an uprising results in murder and Maerad and Cadvan must flee together to stop dark forces threatening to regain power. The books grow darker and darker with each one. Child soldiers, death, and army of the fallen, murder, we even see Maerad permanently maimed before the series conclusion.
How can I possibly top these series written for Middle and High Schoolers? 
I discovered L. Penelope’s Earthsinger Chronicles during the COVID closure. The library was closed to the public. Staff had taken the opportunity to shift the entire fiction collection, replace old labels, and reorder yellowed and stained copies. I came across Song of Blood and Stone and, after reading the synopsis, nostalgia came flooding back to me.
In the first book of this Adult fantasy series, Jasminda (like Calwyn and Maerad) is an outsider in her community. As a mixed race young woman living in a territory that only sees the side of her they hate and fear (the side of her that inherited her Lagrimari father's gift of Earthsong), she struggles just to survive as an ordinary citizen. But when she rescues an Elsiran soldier, Jack, as he's being held captive by Lagrimari enemies, she is thrust into the start of a war between the two nations. Though it took me a while to finally pick the book up again to actually read it (work, life, and a TBR list longer than the COVID lockdown), so far, I am not disappointed! It looks like each book focuses on a different set of characters, so that should be interesting. Hmmm, swap the genders and substitute Singing with Martial Arts…  Spider-Punk (2022) #1. Published: April 06, 2022. Writer: Cody Ziglar. Cover Artist: Olivier Coipel. Marvel.com  via Facebook Since the release of Across the Spider Verse, my Facebook Newsfeed has been flooded with the various Spiders. Most notably, Spider-Punk. Now, don't crucify me here, but as of writing this post, I have yet to see the movie! I have, however, seen and listened to the Spotify playlist that the writer of Spider-Punk (Cody Ziglar) made for the character.
The playlist is….. FIRE! Not because of the songs, but because it introduces me to this character before actually “meeting” the character on screen. Creating character playlists is not a new concept. I distinctly remember my elementary and middle school years when the first Twilight book came out in 2005. Stephanie Meyer was still unknown to much of the world and the saga had not taken off yet. I was going into the seventh grade when I happened upon it. I remember going to her website (back then, it was an angsty black background with neon green accents) and coming across her playlist for Twilight. I listened to it again and again. There were some bands I recognized, like Relient K and My Chemical Romance, but others my angsty middle-school self gravitated towards. It was through Stephanie Meyer that I fell in love with the band, Muse (Hyper Music). Though her original page no longer exists, the awesome folks on Fandom created a wiki page of the songs here. Fun little reflection: Breaking Dawn came out the summer I qualified for the Junior Olympics in Track & Field. Unfortunately, I did terribly in all of my events (my first time running in a stadium, I was so nervous!), and to cheer me up, my mom bought me Breaking Dawn! Character and manuscript playlists are growing in popularity. In my querying journey, I came across an agent that asked for a link to a character playlist or manuscript soundtrack. It was optional, but still an interesting request. I’ve always written to music, and yes, a song or two has come on at the right moment that emphasized the scene or character. But I never gave thought to putting together an actual, narrative playlist. Author, Elijah Menchaca (Glintchasers series) challenged himself to create a character playlist. He writes, “Making playlists for your characters is, at worst, a really fun way to procrastinate actually writing, or whatever else you’re actually supposed to be doing right now. But, at its best, it’s a fun way to explore characters in a way you probably wouldn’t be able to with your standard character profile.” His playlist challenge: make a playlist with a minimum of 8 songs. No repeating artists, and no more than one song per character aspect/event/relationship. To help with the process, he provides these prompts:
Check out the full article here See what playlist I came up with in Bonus Content! And post yours in the comments below :D  I paused an episode of Naruto while I left the room and came back to this meme-worthy gem! Meme created on Imgflip *WIP= Work In Progress |
