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Barn owl

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When you like birds it's literally so easy to have a good day. I have cramps but I sat at the window - literally didn't even go outside - long enough to spot a woodpecker in the snow and now I'm doing great. This has been birder propaganda.

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having online friends who are busy is just like. I LOVE YOU. I miss you. YOU GOT THIS. I'm giving you space to work. I LOVE YOU.

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Thanks to finding out that the owners of Substack are chummy with the far right, I will not in fact be using that platform. I will instead be moving the promised articles about all the ace & aro stuff I couldn't fit into the book over to a Medium blog. I know Medium is famous for its paywalls, but I'll make sure anything I write is free to access.

So watch that space to watch me eventually yell very loudly about why the aspec characters of Critical Role are so excellent and important.

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Welp, I have been informed that substack's owners are a little too friendly with the alt-right and alas it does seem to be the case. Yikes.

So I'll be looking for an alternative - if anyone knows any good similar platforms, please do let me know! When I find something, I'll make a post on the substack so those who already signed up know where to go.

So there were some things I had to cut out of my book on aro & ace -ness for various reasons. Mostly, I had to trim it so it'd fit into a lower price range, but sometimes... I had to sigh heavily and admit that something was just too self-indulgent and it had to go.

These included:

A study of some historical figures whom I think might have been ace or aro (not to 'claim' anyone as aspec - we have no idea how people from the past might identify today - but I think it's important for us to remember that historical figures should not be considered straight by default, and that their lives shouldn't be painted as tragic if they didn't have a partner.)

In particular I got very annoyed with adaptations of certain historical figures' lives that write in romances that never existed, as if their lives are uninteresting unless you shove romantic love in there

A couple of thousand words yelling about how groundbreaking Critical Role's ace and aro characters are (this one PAINED me to remove)

A rambling diversion into animals that breed cooperatively and how they disprove the dumbass narrative that 'the sex drive trumps everything so being ace is obviously ~unnatural~'

A bunch of other stuff where I had to look myself in the eye and say 'Sky. I know this is fun. But is this relevant. Is this necessary.' Alas it was not.

Anyway it makes me very sad that I couldn't include this stuff, and the upshot is: I'm starting a free substack (EDIT: I'll be looking for an alternative, see reblog below) so I have a place where I can yell about everything I couldn't fit in the book. I'll probably use it to yell about general aspec & pop culture things in general!

I'd love to to have you if you're interested in my aspec gushings <3

(Book available for pre-order here & here)

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" Yellow Throated Toucan " // © KHUSHBOO SHARMA & RAHUL SHARMA

[sky-scribbles]

So there were some things I had to cut out of my book on aro & ace -ness for various reasons. Mostly, I had to trim it so it'd fit into a lower price range, but sometimes... I had to sigh heavily and admit that something was just too self-indulgent and it had to go.

These included:

A study of some historical figures whom I think might have been ace or aro (not to 'claim' anyone as aspec - we have no idea how people from the past might identify today - but I think it's important for us to remember that historical figures should not be considered straight by default, and that their lives shouldn't be painted as tragic if they didn't have a partner.)

In particular I got very annoyed with adaptations of certain historical figures' lives that write in romances that never existed, as if their lives are uninteresting unless you shove romantic love in there

A couple of thousand words yelling about how groundbreaking Critical Role's ace and aro characters are (this one PAINED me to remove)

A rambling diversion into animals that breed cooperatively and how they disprove the dumbass narrative that 'the sex drive trumps everything so being ace is obviously ~unnatural~'

A bunch of other stuff where I had to look myself in the eye and say 'Sky. I know this is fun. But is this relevant. Is this necessary.' Alas it was not.

Anyway it makes me very sad that I couldn't include this stuff, and the upshot is: I'm starting a free Medium blog (EDIT: formerly on substack but moved for Reasons) so I have a place where I can yell about everything I couldn't fit in the book. I'll probably use it to yell about general aspec & pop culture things in general!

I'd love to to have you if you're interested in my aspec gushings <3

(Book available for pre-order here & here)

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trees are very 🥺 because sometimes i’ll stand under the shade of a tree and look up at it and it’ll sway its branches about in the wind and i’m like oh my God i’m alive and YOU’RE alive. we are alive together and made up of the same starry stuff and standing right next to each other in this moment on this earth. do u feel it when i reach out and press my hand to your trunk? can you hear me? i think you’re so neat. and then the sunlight filters through its leaves just so and that lovely green color leaves me dazzled. it’s just very nice to be an alive thing next to a different sort of alive thing

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99% of queer discourse stops right before they define the true difference between bisexual and pansexual!

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we share a warriors bond (we were both in the same fandom at the same time and now neither of us are in that fandom anymore but we’re still beloved mutuals)

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I love birding so much. I found someone who knew the location of a bird species I’ve been after for 4 years and she sent me the exact coordinates (an abandoned farm in the middle of nowhere) and I instantly found one. Nothing gives me more dopamine than someone saying ‘go to this location and you’ll find the beast you seek’ and it’s there

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First time at the seaside....

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THEY SENT ME MY AUTHOR COPIES

A lot of thought went into the cover design:

Green for aromantics

Purple for asexuals

Orange and blue for aroaces

And the background colour is based on a playing card (as a nod to the ace card symbols!)

(Available for pre-order here and here!)

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My book on aromanticism and asexuality comes out in a month! Shout-out to my publishers for just... giving me free rein to ramble about:

How amatonormativity hurts absolutely everyone

Why there are so many nonbinary and gender non-conforming aspecs

Why asexual awareness is essential in pushing back against incel culture (because men and boys deserve to know that manhood is not defined by sexual desire or prowess)

Why coming out as aspec can be so incredibly complicated, espeically for aspecs of colour

Advice from aspecs on how to navigate sex and relationships as an ace and/or aro person

A really wonderful bunch of stories from aspecs on what their non-normative relationships and families look like, from queerplatonic partners to poly aspecs to best friends raising kids together

How refusing amatonormativity can help us fight the loneliness epidemic, by encouraging people not to retreat into two-person units and instead invest in multiple close relationships of every kind

What steps we need to take to challenge aspec discrimination in medicine and the law

Why all you aspec people out there are an indispensible, revolutionary force that helps us all explore and create new models of love, relationship and family

So uh please do check it out if you think it might be up your street (or just because it'd really, really annoy a certain children's author who's decided aphobia is the new big thing)

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origins au where the warden dies of their injuries in flemeth’s hut after ostagar. and flemeth sees that the existence of a buddy grey warden was extremely emotionally load-bearing for the one she did manage to save so she puts a spirit in the warden’s corpse and drags them out with the exact same you worry too much young man! look, they’re fine! spiel