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writerly-ramblings · 11 months

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Books Read in May:

1). Charming Billy (Alice McDermott)

2). The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem (Julie Phillips)

3). The Dressmaker (Beryl Bainbridge)

4). The Pleasing Hour (Lily King)

5). Eat, Memory: Great Writers at the Table (ed. Amanda Hesser)

6). The Mirror & the Light (Hilary Mantel)

7). Disappearing Earth (Julia Phillips)

8). A Life of One’s Own: Nine Women Writers Begin Again (Joanna Biggs)

9). Kitchen Bliss: Musings on Food and Happiness (Laura Calder)

10). A Month in the Country (J.L. Carr)

11). Dinner in Rome: A History of the World in One Meal (Andreas Viestad)

12). Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader (Anne Fadiman)

#my literary life #booklr #book list #writing an absolutely deranged Substack wrap up because that’s how May went #alice mcdermott #julie phillips #beryl bainbridge #lily king #amanda hesser #hilary mantel #laura calder #julia phillips #joanna biggs #j.l. carr #andreas viestad #anne fadiman #adult booklr

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juan-francisco-palencia · 26 days

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Quotable quotes.

"As cruel and painful as it may seem at times, we have to accept that some people can only be in our hearts, not in our lives."

— Juan Francisco Palencia.

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no-where-new-hero · 5 months

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omg I need your thoughts on the terminally o line author culture bc ngl it makes my eye TWITCH, there are authors I deliberately avoid even tho I've heard their stuff is good bc they're like that 🙈

HHHHH oh good lord, okay, from how I see it, there are two angles on this, both aggravating and sad: the official decree one and the spontaneous ecosystem one.

The officious one is that the nature of publishing nowadays demands an author have an online presence. You need Twitter/X. You need to let every potential reader know your book is coming out. You need engagement through reviews and pre-orders incentives (if you buy now you’ll get a special keychain!!) and word of mouth assurances from your peers that yes your book is as cool as you say it is. You need a newsletter with links (more buying! more voting on lists that are simply popularity contests!) and promises you’re still working on the next thing, don’t forget about me in the morass of everyone else doing the same thing. You need an Instagram and TikTok now to post pretty pictures and videos because one or two authors made it big off this kind of promotion and now everyone thinks it’s the ticket to the bestseller list (sadly, it seems to be working). You need an OnlyFans (a joke but I do recall a twt spat that was a joke/not joke about how rupi kaur will always be more beautiful than her critics and people who took issue with the conflation of beauty with talent). At the end of all this, you’re basically an influencer, a content creator creating content for the content you should be focusing on creating, the finished novel. And the novel itself seems to be disappearing behind the masks used to promote it (fanfic-style tropes, moodboards, playlists, memes) until I now no longer trust the book that I’ll pick up to have any resemblance to the enticements that brought me here. I’ve seen an author or two complain about the stress all this self-promotion generates, but it’s become such an entrenched part of the industry, I think people just accept it. And thus spend too much time online hoping that if they tweet just a little more, produce just one more reel, maybe that’ll be the difference between a sale and no sale.

The other side of this, distinct but obviously connected, is the ecosystem created by this panic of being perpetually visible coupled with the fact that so many of the new authors came of age during the rise of internet fandom culture. That opinionated community mindset that blurs the line between anonymity and friendship is the lens they bring to their own work. I mean, it makes sense I suppose—if you love yelling about characters and words, why wouldn’t you do that once you start to produce your own? This really came home to me hearing about that reviewbombgate “scandal” and how people involved were in reylo circles and that was used to provide receipts. You’re interacting with your readers and peers about your intimate work but they are also all strangers. They will not always give you the benefit of the doubt, and now—as opposed to the past when maybe the worst that could happen was a handful of bad reviews in newspapers—you will either be tagged in hate reviews, sub-tweeted, explicitly called out, demanded to atone for your sins. It’s no longer the morality of consumption but the morality of production. Of course, the easy answer is just log-off, touch some grass. But that can work only when you and everyone else are separated by anonymous accounts or when you have no platform to maintain. As an author trying to make your livelihood from this, suddenly it’s do or die. We’re in a strange moment of authorship bringing the Internet’s echo-chamber and claustrophobic into the real world (this is a lie: publishing now is no longer the real world. But it looks like it) and thus you can kind of no longer escape things.

Will the average reader who isn’t aware of all these machinations care about reviewbombgate? Would a reader browsing at Target think about the controversies around Lightlark? Very likely not. But the impression I’m getting more and more is that the average reader isn’t the one buying all the books. Or shall we say—a bestseller’s status relies on bookstore stock. Bookstore stock is only huge when they know a book will be a good investment. They’ll only know a book is a good investment if it and its author has street cred based on booktokkers, bookstagram, bloggers and reviewers (have you noticed how many books out these last maybe 1-3 years have these kinds of accounts thanked in the acknowledgments? Yeah), and THESE are also chronically online people who will Know. And decide the cast of fate.

Honestly, @batrachised, I see why you avoid these kinds of writers, though I wonder how long it’ll be before the disease becomes epidemic.

#i’m very doom and gloom about this if you couldn’t tell from my tone lmao #and of course it’s not a perfect formula; i read a decent debut this year by a writer trying to be very active on socials and idk how much #of a splash her book made because literary sff is a dying genre even with an ecological bent compared to the glut of romantasy #also this feels very timely because the goodreads choice awards were just announced and i am seething at seeing d*vine r*vals #get another accolade to its name #blake’s last braincell #blake talks shit #writing life

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fairydrowning · 15 days

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– Poetry: Molly Burford, Instagram Account: "mollyburford"

– Visuals: Zainab Hudha, Instagram Account: "from.zainab"

[Text ID: you are under no / obligation to stay in places / you no longer want to be, / even if those places exist only / in your mind and heart. End ID]

#nowadays i start cutting off the people who are toxic in my life and believe me it's so much peaceful #dark academia #light academia #excerpts #fragments #poetry #romanticism #spilled thoughts #spilled ink #thoughts #literature #literary quotes #writings

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tofubutter27 · 10 days

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Life is just water that trickles away, it will all soon pass, and be forgotten.

So why not live to the fullest, before the last drop falls?

Enjoy the sunshine, hear the birds sing, feel the rustle of the leaves.

Embrace your inner peace, and remove yourself from anything that brings unhappiness.

#thoughts #poetry #my writing #self expression #creative writing #thought of the day #my short writing #my own quote #quotes #mental health #living life #inner peace #peace and love #literary expression #life quotes #literature #creative expression #peaceofmind #peace

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fleurral · 12 days

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for someone who loves words, i find it difficult to put my thoughts together. i have so much to say but the alphabets seem to stay alphabets alone—no phrase expressed, no sentence constructed. i wanted it to be coherent. i wanted it to be in-depth. i wanted it to be meaningful yet noncomplex. i want the words to linger and not just touch. stuck and not just hit. absorbed and not just flipped over. however, for someone who loves words, i cannot identify the right words to utter. it feels like no term can justify the feeling i wanted to memorialize. no idiom is that deep. no speech is that articulate. it is like there are not enough words in this world to seize the emotions i bear. though i love words, i am afraid i cannot find the words that are worthy to depict my experiences. with that, i am also afraid that such experiences will remain as memories in my mind—most likely to be forgotten and left behind.

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thisispoetrybyamyy · 1 month

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My heart kinda aches when you're talking to someone else. Can't wait for our turn again

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ivynightshade · 7 months

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fatima aamer bilal, excerpt from moony moonless sky’s all the blood in my mouth screams devastatingly desperate, miserable girl.

[text id: and i wonder if all the people who were once my friends, feel the relief of not knowing me anymore. / i know, it's exhausting to be with someone who's grieving all the time.]

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writerly-ramblings · 4 months

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Books Read in December:

1). A Memoir of My Former Self: A Life in Writing (Hilary Mantel)

2). Big Swiss (Jen Beagin)

3). On Histories and Stories (A.S. Byatt)

4). Fire (Kristin Cashore)

5). The Fun Stuff (James Wood)

6). Tom Lake (Ann Patchett)

7). Love (Hanne Ørstavik, trans. Martin Aiken)

8). Written on Water (Eileen Chang, trans. Andrew F. Jones & Nicole Huang)

9). An Editor’s Burial (ed. David Brendel)

10). Walk the Blue Fields (Claire Keegan)

#my literary life #booklr #book list #adult booklr #hilary mantel #jen beagin #kristin cashore #james wood #ann patchett #hanne ørstavik #eileen chang #david brendel #claire keegan

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mswyrr · 9 months

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more on michelin stars

I genuinely think it's going to be an important plot point in s3 re: why exactly Sydney wants a star and why *one* specifically. I went and researched and discovered something I used in my fic, which is that one Michelin star restaurants are excellent cuisine that normal people can still afford. And that connected, for me, to what Sydney had told Marcus about how going out was so special when she was a kid and she wanted to share that kind of amazing thing with people:

We didn't really like eat out a lot growing up, so when we did, it felt special even if it wasn't.... I wanna cook for people and make them happy and give them the best bacon on Earth (1x08)

I'm so hopeful/convinced that the research they have with, like, Matty (the chef who plays Fak) right there on set, means the writers know that about what one star places can be like. And that it's meant to be part of this - more humane vision of excellence for Sydney, where their spot is AMAZING, but it's not a cruel kitchen culture, it's not only for the rich.

For her, it’s *part* of her vision, where she says:

“I think this place could be so different from all the other places we've been at. But, in order for that to be true, we need to run things different.“ (1x03)

But Carmy sees a star and all it means (all he’s ever known it to mean) as a repudiation of that kind of humanity. You say the word "star" and immediately Carmy goes "fuck stars" (2x01) as pure self-defense - because stars are just pain and suffering to him. They're NYC chef and everything that mess became.

He's so traumatized by the whole thing he doesn't think to ask the right questions: why do you want one? What is your vision for it? Why do you specifically want *one* instead of two or three? What timeline do you have in mind for getting there and how can we strategize on this together?

Instead, because he wants so desperately to please her, despite that instinctive, self-defensive "fuck stars" he relents and asks - okay, are you sure? Are you positive this is what you want? Really?? It's terrible. It's just dread and fear and throwing up every day before work. You really want me to give you this?

(I’ll give you anything you want)

He never asks the right questions. Just assuming the level of pain which is his only experience of this is what the thing IS--playing into that theme about how people only know what they're taught, only know what they are given, and if we are given pain and patterns of it it is so hard to even imagine things can be different and, when you can imagine it, still so hard to actually get there.

(It’s not a coincidence that the ASL sign is one of the few positive, healthy examples of kitchen culture Carmy witnessed - we only know what we’re taught, and it can be hard work to even figure out what “not shitty” IS let alone doing it)

So he's assuming all of that and it's like - if she's his CDC, does she want him to push her as hard as he was pushed? Push himself that hard again? He doesn't want to do either of those things. But that's all he knows. And she keeps saying this is what she wants. And he wants to give her everything she wants.

(In the same conversation she kept saying yes, this is what I want, she expressed admiration for the designer chef outfit he later buys her as a gift - he wants to give her everything she wants, even when it seems like a terrible idea he’s torn about)

I think this misunderstanding is intentional and it’s going to come out in S3. A one star restaurant fits so perfectly with what we know of Sydney’s goals and love for her work! And Carmy not able to even conceive of something better because of the patterns he’s stuck in and finding his way to her vision makes sense for him.

I think Carmy figuring out how this work can be joyful and humane is going to be a huge part of S3. Sydney not becoming lost in the high stress environment, not following in younger!Carmy's footsteps living a life of pure drive and dread, and Carmy finding that for the first time.

I do think that, given where they both end in 2x10, there’s going to be a period of conflict and a real bunch of issues for both of them - but with themes and ideas like this seeded into the story there’s so many ways to make s3 start out in a bad way and then really end in joy in a beautiful way?

#the bear #sydney adamu #carmen berzatto #sydcarmy #carmen x sydney #the bear meta #my meta #annnnd i'm back to my point that #this show would be utterly miserable and not enjoyable for me personally to watch #without sydney #because like.... she keeps having vision in ways #that this partnership needs #on his own he can't see the way to climb out of the dark hole he's lived his whole life in #and (Sorry i am quoting this verse in a strictly literary sense not preaching LOL) 'where there is no vision the people perish'#the show without sydney (as some reddit assholes seem to want...) is a short season about one guy's awful breakdown that time he tried to #bury his grief in fixing up the family restaurant #and had a breakdown after max 6 months #and then nat sold the place for them both #for both their wellbeing #to like - keep ONE brother alive #looking at it in fairy tale terms #(not my expertise but lemme try for a sec)#the restaurant is also the family #and they're under a kind of curse?#curse of the past #the awful patterns #carmy is under a curse #and sydney is the person #who is able to walk in #and break that

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juan-francisco-palencia · 1 year

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May my words accompany you.

"In all of us there is a great feeling that gives the strength necessary to kindle love called embrace. The embrace is an emotion that manifests the soul and widens the heart".

— Juan Francisco Palencia

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fictionadventurer · 11 months

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First Letter from Julia I. Sand to Chester A. Arthur

[1881 Aug 27]

To the Hon Chester A. Arthur.

The hours of Garfield's life are numbered--before this meets your eye, you may be President. The people are bowed in grief; but--do you realize it?--not so much because he is dying, as because you are his successor. What President ever entered office under circumstances so sad! The day he was shot, the thought rose in a thousand minds that you might be the instigator of the foul act. Is not that a humiliation which cuts deeper than any bullet can pierce? Your best friends said: "Arthur must resign--he cannot accept office, with such a suspicion resting upon him." And now your kindest opponents say: "Arthur will try to do right"--adding gloomily--"He won't succeed, though--making a man President cannot change him."

But making a man President can change him! At a time like this, if anything can, that can. Great emergencies awaken generous traits which have lain dormant half a life. If there is a spark of true nobility in you, now is the occasion to let it shine. Faith in your better nature forces me to write to you--but not to beg you to resign. Do what is more difficult and more brave. Reform! It is not the proof of highest goodness never to have done wrong--but it is a proof of it, sometime in one's career, to pause and ponder, to recognize the evil, to turn resolutely against it and devote the remainder of ones life to that only which is pure and exalted. Such revolutions of the soul are not common. No step towards them is easy. In the humdrum drift of daily life, they are impossible. But once in a while there comes a crisis which renders miracles feasible. The great tidal wave of sorrow which has rolled over the country, has swept you loose from your old moorings and set you on a mountain-top, alone. As President of the United States--made such by no election, but by a national calamity--you have no old associations, no personal friends, no political ties, you have only your duty to the people at large. You are free--free to be as able and as honorable as any man who ever filled the presidential chair.

Your past--you know best what it has been. You have lived for worldly things. Fairly or unfairly, you have won them. You are rich, powerful--tomorrow, perhaps, you will be President. And what is it all worth? Are you peaceful--are you happy? What if a few days hence the hand of the next unsatisfied ruffian should lay you low, and you should drag through months of weary suffering, in the White House, knowing that all over the land not a prayer was uttered in your behalf, not a tear shed, that the great American people was glad to be rid of you--would not worldly honors seem rather empty then?

Make such things impossible. Rise to the emergency. Disappoint our fears. Force the nation to have faith in you. Show from the first that you have none but the purest aims. It may be difficult at once to inspire confidence, but persevere. In time--when you have given reason for it--the country will love and trust you. If any man says, "With Arthur for President, Civil Service Reform is doomed," prove that Arthur can be its firmest champion. Do not thrust on the people politicians who have forfeited their respect--no matter how near they may be to you as personal friends. Do not remove any man from office unnecessarily. Appoint those only of marked ability and of sterling character. Such may not be abundant, but you will find them, if you seek them. You are far too clever to be easily deceived. In all your policy, have none but the highest motives. With the lamp of patriotism in your hand, your feet will not be likely to stumble.

Do you care for applause? Of course, you have had it, after a fashion. Perhaps from the dregs of the populace, inspired by the lowest of politicians. Possibly it pleased you at the time--it may have served some purpose that you solved then. But in the depths of your soul, do you not despise it? Would not one heart-felt "God bless you!" from the honest and true among your countrymen, be worth ten thousand times more? You can win such blessing, if you will.

Your name now is on the annals of history. You cannot slink back into obscurity, if you would. A hundred years hence, school boys will recite your name in the list of Presidents and tell of your administration. And what shall posterity say? It is for you to choose whether your record shall be written in black or in gold. For the sake of your country, for your own sake and for the sakes of all who have ever loved you, let it be pure and bright.

As one of the people over whom you are to be President, I make you this appeal. Perhaps you have received many similar. If not, still believe that this expresses the thoughts in many hearts, today--and do not give those who have had faith in you, cause for regret.

Yours Respectfully,

Julia I. Sand.

46 E. 74th st. New York.

Aug 27th 1881.

#history is awesome #presidential talk #last week if you'd known me in real life there's a 50% chance i'd have tackled you and forced you to read this #isn't this letter just astounding?#imagine sending this to a soon-to-be president!#and him *saving* it!#there are such lovely turns of phrase #even while she is *so* brutal and unflinching #my favorite line might be 'you are far too clever to be easily deceived'#just appealing straight to his vanity #brilliant!#i haven't loved a letter this much since 84 charing cross road #the moral of the story is that the best letters are written by slightly cracked politically-minded literary spinsters

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fairydrowning · 10 months

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– Written by Sabrina, Instagram account "sabrinagazali"

[TEXT ID: "there is nothing significant happening in my life life except that I'm still alive and able to enjoy doing the things I love and loving the people who truly appreciate my presence and existence. I thank think this is significant enough to be written about." END ID]

#my situation nowadays #dark academia #light academia #excerpts #fragments #poetry #spilled thoughts #spilled ink #sabrina #words #daily diary #literature quotes #lit #life quotes #literary quotes

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badass-magizoologist · 3 months

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If I see one more person say "Alastor admitted they're his friends" "Alastor is a fallen angel" or god help me "Alastor's surname is Altruist" I'm dropkicking everyone back to primary school

#hazbin hotel #alastor #radio demon #There is NO HOPE for the TikTok generation #I have no seen such appalling media literacy in my life #It's not even literary skills at this point it's just basic knowledge of the English language #It's not even deep enough to be called literacy skills #And it's not like it's one person either these are the top theories

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herigo · 8 days

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catfayssoux · 25 days

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