#Medium Partner Program

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

Writers From the Newly Added 77 Countries Aren’t the Problem

For some weeks now, Medium has been going through some challenges.  Because Medium has offered no concrete explanation about these recent challenges, some writers have taken it upon themselves to advance various bold assumptions and insinuations. There have also been misinformation and false accusations about the actual causes of low earnings on the platform.  I have unfortunately stumbled on…

[grouchydairy]

https://ramyeonjpg.medium.com/subscribe

[transmonstera]

"[My top surgeon] fully removed all of the previous scars. There is simply no trace of them anymore. The second they were cut from my body they became nothing more than medical waste, same for my breast tissue and skin that was no longer wanted or needed."

i wrote a piece about my thoughts and feelings following top surgery <3 enjoy!

[eggoatt]

I was looking through my copy of unicorn dysphoria again today and I didn’t really think about it when I first read it because I was just gushing about species dys/euphoria feelings but are all the pieces in that zine made with traditional media and then like… scanned? I know sometimes programs can mimic the look of paint/ink/other physical media but it didn’t seem like that to me? As someone who loves physical mediums that observation immediately got me PUMPED to make my own project

short answer: yes

long answer:

unicorn dysphoria was made in a fervor while trying to meet a deadline (my partner was tabling at a local zine fest, she said if i made a zine it could be on her table), my computer was shitting itself, and i was in the middle of moving 1000 miles away.

so i did all of the work traditionally in my sketchbook(s), took the best photos i could, and then did a crazy amount of color/lighting correction to make it look like i scanned it. as for specific materials/media, it's a mixed bag: copics, colored pencil, sharpies, graphite, assorted other pens/markers, basically anything i had easy access to.

i would def recommend getting your paws on a scanner to make your life easier, but otherwise i would totally say you should do this. the looseness of traditional media gives sequential work like zines and comics a really unique feel and its also really fun to have the original artwork to look through. usually when i do a big creative project there's no evidence of it by the end, but doing it on paper makes me going insane over a cartoon horse very tangible, like when you walk into a room and see some kind of destruction and you just know Something Happened Here

[romanceyourdemons]

i was simply not prepared for how hard ne zha (2019) fucks. i’m genuinely beginning to believe 3d animation is the ideal medium to depict martial arts and especially xianxia type combat, both in terms of seamlessness of effects, sense of speed, complexity of choreography, and complexity of cinematography. wonderful story about what it’s like to be autistic in a school that has recently combined the special ed and gifted programs due to budget cuts. my partner and i literally bought tickets to ne zha 2 (2025) while the credits were rolling, WOULD recommend

[zebulontheplanet]

One of the things I’m proud of as an intellectually disabled, learning disabled, medium support needs individual, is how well I’m doing in school after being homeschooled basically all my life and never doing well in school before. I’m only in my first semester, and I know it will get harder, however I’m doing really well in my school.

When I tell people that I’m in a school for the disabled, they automatically undermine it, and at first, I did too. I thought “they surely dub down the curriculum”. I was told on the first day that wasn’t the case. I was told on the first day that I picked THE hardest program within my school, and I picked a program that was indeed no different than if I went to a regular college. The main difference? It’s at a slightly slower pace. And it has more accommodations. Accommodations do not mean that things are easier. They simply allow others that struggle more to actually have a chance.

I’m doing well in my classes. I have mostly As and Bs. One C, but I’m working on it. I am currently, thriving. and I’m very proud of that.

That does not mean I’m not working hard. I’m working REALLY hard. I’m working probably harder than a lot of my peers. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not doing well. I study. All the time. It’s what I do. I don’t go to parties (not that there is any here anyways). I don’t go out. I don’t do drugs. I don’t drink. I don’t do any of that. Not that any of that doesn’t mean you’re a hard worker, because you can still absolutely do these things and thrive and succeed, but it does mean that I spend most of my time doing three things. Going to class, studying, and spending time with the one person I like here. My partner.

Not only am I thriving in some areas, I’m doing better than some of my peers in some areas. And yeah, I’m bragging. Because I deserve to brag. In my typing class/transcription class? I’m anywhere from one to two chapters ahead of all my peers. Yes, all. And I sorta joke that this is because I literally type to communicate.

During my student review, I was the shortest one. Why? Because my teacher and counselor simply said “yeah, keep doing what you’re doing” and sent me on my way. I don’t miss class. I don’t skip. I don’t do any of that. My peers? Whole different story.

I’m doing well, and it kinda makes me want to rub it in all the ableists faces that think that people like me can’t excel in college. It makes me want to rub it in everyone’s faces, cause hah. I actually can do well in school. Fuck you.

[sincerely-sofie]

I’m a skeleton gal who likes to draw and write! Currently I’m posting chapters of Better the Wool!

Find Me Here: KoFi | RedBubble | Ao3 | YouTube | Twitch | BlueSky | Sideblog

Featured Tags: #Stuff by Sofie (Tag for my creations) | #Sofie Says Stuff (Tag for my rambles) | #Sofie Answers Asks (Tag for responses to my inbox) | #Obbyposting (Tag for raving about how awesome my boyfriend is)

You can read more about me, my projects, and what I’m up to under the cut!

About Me:

I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!

I’m interested in writing, making webcomics, game dev, 2D animation, character design, programming, singing, small business management, self-improvement, and all around way too many crafting mediums to count.

I like green, bugs, hot chocolate, kawaii future bass music, video essays, Ooblets, and Animal Crossing.

I have a pet blue death feigning beetle named Gamer Girl, sometimes fondly referred to as GG!

I make a lot of things. This blog is a way for me to record the various projects I create on my journey to be unashamedly sincere!

Some of My Projects:

Better the Wool: A Cult of the Lamb AU focusing on the Lamb and her relationship with Narinder as she works to resurrect the Sheep killed by the Old Faith. Has a dedicated tag on my blog.

The Present is a Gift: A finished, but still semi-active, post-credits AU and fanfic for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky which focuses on the hero taking in an amnesiac Darkrai. Has a dedicated tag on my blog. Also has a dedicated sideblog for chapters and can be found on Ao3, Tumblr, PMD Fanfiction, and Wattpad through there!

Mortality Exchange: A collection of “What-if” scenarios based on a piece of worldbuilding in my Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fanworks— if a Legendary pokemon dies, a nearby mortal pokemon will inherit their powers and immortality. Has a dedicated tag on my blog. There are no plans to make a long-form storytelling project of this.

Dugtrio Day: A time loop AU for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky that stars a prickly Eevee hero, a sociable Treecko partner, and a nihlistic Celebi. Has a dedicated tag on my blog. There are currently no plans to make a long-form storytelling project of this.

Common Questions:

My inbox is always open if you want to ask or send something in! I like to queue up responses to things sent into my inbox, though, so sometimes they take a while to get posted. You can always send a DM or additional ask about the state of the thing you sent in if you’re curious!

I don’t mind being tagged in things. It’s a great way to make sure I see something :>

Fanart and other works based on my AUs, original work, and persona are all things I love to see! If you ever make something along those lines, send me a pic or the link to where it’s posted! I’d love to be able to shout it out if possible!

If you want to voice act / do a dub of my work, the same rules apply from the above bullet point! I’d love to see it! Send me the link! However, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use AI to dub over my work. I’ve had my work stolen for use in AI dubs in the past, and I’d really like to avoid the stress of that happening again.

If you’re curious about something, send in a question, whether anonymously or not! You don’t need to be nervous or shy about it. I’m a pretty chill gal— I promise I won’t bite!

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 10/29/2024

new boot goofin. also a great book for the cowboyblogger crew and TWO cat photos

listening

afterimage by JUSTICE and Rimon was on a spotify autogenerated dance playlist and it is So soothing to my brain. sometimes described as heavy metal disco, it itches the same brain scratch as daft punk's interstella 5555. comforting and familiar road trip music where the road trips are in spaceships with a sort of clunky engine thrumming away in the background. you know that extremely early ass o clock in the morning road trip feel where it's very pale and a little misty out and you're only sort of awake? i feel like this is a very different kind of road trip music animal than than late-night road trip music. it's pulling you out the door. it's for beginnings, not for very tired almost-ends.

-

reading

thank you mackie. very reading heavy week. im tryign to redirect myself into library books instead of election doomscrolling and im trying to read more physical books bc i have a tremendous pile of shit i genuinely do want to read and almost none of it is on my phone. first we'll talk about Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard, from randomly perusing the library stacks. really really really fucking loved this one.

Award-winning author of The Red Scholar’s Wake Aliette de Bodard comes for your heart with a compelling tale of love, duty, and found-family in an exciting new space opera that brings xianxia-style martial arts to the stars. Jockeying navigator clans guide spaceships through the Hollows: an area of space populated by the mysterious but deadly creatures known as Tanglers. When a Tangler escapes the Hollows for the first time in living memory, each clan must send a representative to help capture it—but the mission may be doomed and the hearts of two clan juniors may be in danger too.

first off: this isn't fucking found family. this is a group of coworkers. tor dot com loves to slap found family on anything gay.

politics is about control and inter-group dynamic politics are also about control. and grappling for control in your life when you grow up in a Young Leadership program. i really liked this, one of the least annoying examples of someone getting overstimulated and needing to lie down in a dark quiet room and how hanging out with some people does not impair rest and hanging out with some people is extremely extremely draining. the love interest is what if lee van cleef was a young vietnamese woman in the far future who can navigate faster than light travel.

very snappy little 160-pg novella that does not overstay its welcome. packs a genuinely surprising amount of worldbuilding and character work into its pages: i have a lot of trouble with ensemble casts post-Covid and keeping everyone straight (especially in hard copy form where I can’t easily search a book) but everyone is a fully formed person here and i had no trouble keeping everyone straight in my head. i will be asking my siblings to acquire a physical copy for me for christmas. i love a fucked up political mystery with spacewalks and space monsters.

the lead, nhi, reminded me a lot of friends at the table's brnine, a self-sacrificing perfectionist fish. hope that's useful information to all three of you i have bullied into listening to fatt

The Shabti by Megaera C. Lorenz. this finally came off my holds, hat tip to i think someone else's tuesdaypost? cannot immediately locate it. holler if it was you.

Can you flimflam a ghost? It’s 1934. Former medium Dashiel Quicke travels the country debunking spiritualism and false mediums while struggling to stay ahead of his ex-business partner and lover who wants him back at any cost. During a demonstration at a college campus, Dashiel meets Hermann Goschalk, an Egyptologist who’s convinced that he has a genuine haunted artifact on his hands. Certain there is a rational explanation for whatever is going on with Hermann’s relics, Dashiel would rather skip town, but soon finds himself falling for Hermann. He agrees to take a look after all and learns that something is haunting Hermann’s office indeed. Faced with a real ghost Dashiel is terrified, but when the haunting takes a dangerous turn, he must use the tools of the shady trade he left behind to communicate with this otherworldly spirit before his past closes in.

this keeps getting reviewed as cozy horror, which i do not agree with bc i hate the term and believe it oxymoronic. it is a fairly straightforward romance with paranormal shit happening in the foreground. a period piece not particularly for the folx end of the fag/folx gay book spectrum-- they happen to be gay but there's a lot of other shit happening. not a spicy romance as the tiktok girlies say. it is a period book that sort of elides over the worst parts of the 30s? eg there is no on-page or overt racism or antisemitism that the characters have to Confront. one of the lead's neighbors is a black nurse trying to start a NAACP chapter, but she's so fully fleshed out and such an enjoyable character it doesn't feel like the book is looking for moral points from modern readers. i also liked the general slow-build of the book and their relationship — i have no complaints about the intensity or pace of their relationship.

the one ding i have is that it is perhaps a touch too enthusiastic about period slang. it's fine when the two leads are talking to each other, especially bc their word choice is a large way they show their personality, but when there are more than two people in a scene it can grate a little for me. i do think the dialogue is generally the strong suit here, and the author particularly excels at two-person back and forths, so it’s not a frequent complaint.

i liked the contrast of the scam medium with the academic egyptologist, since many egyptologists were also scams. the scenes with the spirit are genuinely eerie, which is a very good contrast with the fairly straightforward, often sparse narration.

grudging respect for keeping a joke simmering on the back burner for four hundred pages before deploying it. this was a well-paced read i have no major complaints about.

i have to spin this book around in my brain and get a physical copy and flip back and forth and lot and make notes to myself in a separate notebook before i talk about this one here i think. same brain itch as a canticle for leibowitz.

i also read a bunch of comics but this section is already long enough goodbye

-

watching

the first episode of the currently airing penguin tv show! at my bestie's house bc she has an hbo max subscription from something, unfortunately it is an emotionally fraught very tense show and we're kind of full up on those so i will have to finish this on my own. at no point did i say to myself "whoa that's colin farrell". both the prosthetic and accent work are off the charts.

i do Not like a piece of media about the mob. i will stomach it for batman. it's really wild how the accents they've chosen for gotham and her suburbs make me so so so weirdly homesick. one of the locations is an early McMansion and my bestie and i said almost simultaneously "are we in fucking Cherry Hill???" a jersey noveau riche town infested with notable McMansions.

i am constantly chasing the high of s1 black sails where everyone is frantically scheming and falling all over them fucking selves. this gets pretty close! it's big budget prestige tv with the storytelling chops to match so far. one of my favorite comic runs is The Long Halloween, partially about the fortunes of the Maroni and Falcone crime families of Gotham. this is loosely following that, but deviates enough to surprise me, which i enjoy. there have been enough faithful adaptations of that comic run imo.

optimistic about the rest of the season! i have such low expectations for batman media that it's refreshing to get like a genuinely good pilot episode out of the franchise.

-

playing

i have Got to find a new game to play that i already own. genshin is such a good podcast game but i need Something New. surely the 576047357649857689 games across five libraries will save me.

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making

so many things happened this week. cat neuter and constipation episode. helped take apart and put back together a children's' room. lot of running around.

crunchy! i almost left these docs at goodwill bc i don't have a super high opinion of the company or the quality of the boots. i have heard my ENTIRE life about how long-lasting they are and how people have had the same boots for years but i completely shredded a pair during eight months in 2019. like the soles were worn almost completely smooth to the point they were a slipping hazard, half the eyelets were broken, and the leather was genuinely disintegrating. that was one of the busiest and most active periods of my life (classes at other campuses both semesters, a summer in new hampshire, the beginning of the makerspace) but i did expect them to hold up a little better or a little longer. they only got to experience about a month and a half of salt at the beginning and were regularly cleaned. yes i did buy them straight from the company.

anyway. these extremely ugly docs industrials had almost all their tread and magically fit me. like the rest of me, my feet are large and wide and difficult to fit. they are by Far the ugliest shoes i have ever owned. however. they will be the boots i will wear for when i need to be okay about potentially destroying my footwear.

hit em with some saddle soap and polished the toes, i seem to be flat out of leather conditioner so i was only able to hit the heels and one tongue. the laces are in the warsh.

they're real leather and were twelve dollars and miraculously fit me. you know that quote about americans being temporarily embarrassed millionaires? i still, in many ways, think of myself as a temporarily embarrassed abled person. i am slowly giving up on the idea of another remote job, bc they seem to all be fake, and going harder on city and county jobs. while i would rather wear my beloved CAT steel toes with the nice padded cuffs any day of the week, maybe these will be good for tromping around somewhere inspecting something. would Love a weights and measures inspection job if their office would return my polite messages.

also ruby goes home tonight! goodbye ruby!

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

Medium Now Supports 77 New Countries, Including India

How can this milestone enhance inclusivity and diversity on the platform, making it more vital and sustainable and benefiting writers and readers around the globe? As a dedicated writer, reader, editor, curator, content strategist, and multiple publication owners on Medium, I am delighted and thrilled to share some incredible news highlighting the platform’s commitment to inclusivity, diversity,…

[johannestevans]

A Queer Indie Author’s Experience of 2024

Looking back on my top stories, sales stats, and best experiences of the year past, and looking to the year ahead!

Hello hello!

I’ve just been in the process of attending to my yearly tradition, ordinarily attended to in the last days of December and the first of January — I sit down with my new year’s calendar, and I write down all the vital dates and pieces of information. 

On the current calendar in front of me — a charming Peter Rabbit family planner with a little attached whiteboard, as I wasn’t able to get the Discworld calendar this year — I’ve transferred over the birthdays of all my friends and loved ones, written down some of the main conventions of 2025 I’m planning to attend like TeratoCon, and other already established professional and social plans, as well as deadlines for different submissions. 

As I’m looking ahead, I thought it would be worth looking back a little bit as well, for a nice bit of contrast!

Statistics for 2024:

Total Books Sold Through KDP (Amazon) in 2024: 1,548

1,265 of those units were eBooks and 283 were print books — my top performer was my first novel, Heart of Stone, which sold 637 units (396 eBooks, 241 paperbacks), and after that was Touch-Starved, which sold 209 total units, then Powder and Feathers, at 82 total units. 

Approximated royalties are at $2,288.42.

Total Books Sold Through Draft2Digital in 2024: 13,529

Draft2Digital is the company through which I publish to several platforms, particularly Kobo and Kobo+, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Everand, Smashwords, and then library programs like BorrowBox, Hoopla, CloudLibrary, etc. 

The sales are so incredibly high because it was the Smashwords End of Year sale, and all of my 99c shorts were discounted to free for most of December, so 12,548 sales were in December, and I only had 981 sales for the rest of the year. 

I unfortunately have absolutely no idea how to look at the breakdown between eBooks and paperbacks for D2D, but my top sellers were Touch-Starved, at 464 units sold, Sweet On, at 400 units sold, and Hitting the Books, at 369 units sold. 

Approximated royalties are at $1,117.56, with $354.52 of those royalties being in the last month. While obviously ten thousand books were free books sold, my advertisements for the free books and the freebies themselves drove a lot of traffic to my other works like Heart of Stone or Strange Liberty, etc.

Total Royalties from Medium in 2024: $1073.92

Medium pays out royalties based on views of subscribers and how much time subscribers spend reading each work. I normally tock up my top story for each month on Medium, but Medium has helpfully taken away the option to do that for months January through July, thinking that only the last six months are useful in the stats block for the Partner Program rather than the last 12. 

Nonetheless, for the months I can see:

August’s Total Earnings on Medium: $64.39 September’s Total Earnings on Medium: $47.33 October’s Total Earnings on Medium: $56.25 November’s Total Earnings on Medium: $57.27 December’s Total Earnings on Medium: $57.08

August 2024’s Top Performer was Yentl: A Trans Man Studying Talmud is Distracted by Gay Thoughts. It earned $3.80 that month, and its lifetime earnings, having been published in July 2023, stand at $163.36. It was also September 2024’s Top Performer, earning $3.79. It was also November 2024’s Top Performer, earning $3.71.

August 2024’s Top Fiction Performer was The Devil’s Mark, which earned $2.76, having been published that month, and has managed $3.12 lifetime earnings since publication. 

September 2024’s Top Fiction Performer was Street Trade, which earned $1.15, and has managed $1.81 lifetime earnings since publication.

October 2024’s Top Performer was Passing Privilege: Through My Eyes, as a Trans Man Who Passes, earning $11.64 that month, and its lifetime earnings, having been published in June 2023, stand $138.04.

October 2024’s Top Fiction Performer was Bred & Betting, which earned $2.09 that month, and has managed $3.10 lifetime earnings since publication. 

November 2024’s Top Fiction Performer was Divine Service, which earned $2.52 that month, and its lifetime earnings, having released on Medium in May 2024, stand at $32.99. It was also December 2024’s Top Fiction Performer, earning $2.21.

December 2024’s Top Performer was A Transphobe Ruined His Own Night Because I Was Existing Next to Him, which earned $13.42 and was actually a new piece, so that’s its lifetime earnings. 

Total Income from Patreon in 2024: $16,502.38

Of course, Patreon is always the bulk of my income, and I’m very grateful for my Patreon subscribers! 

On my Patreon, I publish all of my short stories and essays, barring a handful that due to Patreon’s guidelines can’t be cross-posted there, and the new benefit I’m going to be offering my patrons is going to be giving them voucher codes so they can always buy eBook versions of all my works on Smashwords as an additional benefit. 

I try not to look at my general new subscriber and unsubscription rate on Patreon each month, but my Active Subscribers currently stand at 420 (noice), with 104 new subscribers and having had 102 cancelled subscribers in the past year. 

People regularly unsubscribe on Patreon and come back later when they can afford it, or go between Medium and Patreon, depending on what works best for their income at the moment. 

What I Did in 2024

This year has been really good for me, and I’ve been absolutely delighted with the results, but the past few months particularly have been especially good, and I’m really excited with some decisions I’ve made and what they’re gonna look like for me in 2025. 

Firstly, in February I accompanied Dalton Harrison, author of The Boy Behind The Wall, and Kirsty from Bi+ Leeds to HMP Askham Grange to run a Q&A and read from some of our pieces in Transmuted to the prisoners there. 

It was such a privilege to be able to talk to some of the prisoners incarcerated there, especially other queer and trans people, and to advocate for prisoners’ queer identities to guards and staff in a way that prisoners often don’t feel able to approach in the same way for themselves, but mostly just to spread a little joy and talk about creativity and art to the prisoners in place there. 

In April, I delivered a talk with Romancing the Gothic about Crimson Peak as a modern Gothic Romance, and I of course ran my usual Monstrous May prompt event, although I don’t think I did enough promotion for it in 2024 and I don’t think my prompts were necessarily that enticing. I’m hoping to drum up more excitement and interest in 2025. 

 I went to WorldCon in August, and I had an excellent time, it felt really fulfilling as a creative professional, I loved being on several panels and also being able to moderate a panel, and I’m very excited to further cultivate my skills in the next year or two in interviewing and moderation for Q&As and panels alike! 

I didn’t unfortunately get to any other conventions in 2024 because WorldCon was very expensive between con tickets, travel up to Glasgow, and the AirBnB, but more cons is absolutely the goal. 

I also got involved in a few other projects that are going to be published in 2025 — I contributed a short story to Dudes Rock: A Celebration of Queer Masculinity in Speculative Fiction, edited by Jay Kang Romanus and published by The Circus Collective, and the anthology is currently open for preorder, due for release on January 10th! 

I’ve also contributed to SLAKE HOUSE, an erotic horror Choose-Your-Own-Ending anthology presented by Noah’s Ark and Radha Kai Zan that’s due for release in the next few months, and I’m very excited for that as well, it was such a cool project to be a part of, and I was so delighted to work along so many splendid and deliciously fucked-up creators, both other authors and amazing visual artists!

I made some changes to my social media presence — most notably swapping the bulk of my activity from the dying-a-swift-death X, née Twitter, to BlueSky, which has now added threading — enabling me to write my first ThreadFic on the platform — and publishing more actively to Reddit, especially in the fantasy, romance, and queer subs, as well as making a Threads account. 

And finally, the biggest change I’ve made in 2024, I went through my back catalogue of longer shorts, those that were in the 5k to 30k range, and made each of them available as 99c shorts, with new eBooks published in the 5–10k range to be published as 99c shorts, and ones closer to the 20k range or above to be priced at $2.99, apart from my serials that get re-edited and published as extended novels.

For a long time, I was quite reticent to publish shorts in this way, convincing myself that I absolutely had to publish shorts in big collections or otherwise I was somehow cheating the reader by giving them such a short piece, but I’m so glad I managed to shake off that anxiety. 

The response to all these 99c shorts has been overwhelmingly and absurdly positive, and I’ve reached a huge swathe of new readers even before the Smashwords sale where I sold off 10k of these shorts for free. Quite a lot of readers have been really excited at the short story, novelette, and novella formats for a lot of these pieces, especially because they’re so varied in their subject matter, genre, and characters, and obviously like…

Each of these books individually can work up its own popularity and readers who have affection for it, each of them individually being recommended on their own strengths, but having so many shorts available, people often recommend a handful in the same breath, especially those that play with similar topics or themes. 

Going from having a back catalogue of seven or so eBooks and paperbacks to 50 eBooks and 20 paperbacks makes a big difference, and it’s going to be great to be able to pick out paperbacks to bring along to sell at conventions and so on that exactly match the brief or the theme!

As each of these shorts and novelettes gain reviews, I’m excited for them to gain more of an audience over time as readers find them as their favourites, similar to the response Heart of Stone has received over time, and that I hope Powder and Feathers and other long novels in future to receive, such as the next expected release, An Uncommon Betrothal. 

I’ve come on leaps and bounds with my own ability to design book covers, working with a pared back vintage style that incorporates a lot of public domain etchings, sketches, and block prints, the sort I grew up seeing in adventure novels and so on, and also in editing and formatting my books for paperback on KDP! 

My Goals for 2025

Most of what I want to achieve in 2025 is more of the same.

I definitely feel that because I was working on a lot of longer pieces this year, and then because I was working on making eBooks and paperback versions of various pieces available, that I didn’t publish as many fiction pieces overall, but I’m very proud of what I have published!

I want to attend more conventions, as I’ve said, and involve myself in more literary and author-run events where I can, as well as maybe selling books and merch at pride events. 

I haven’t focused that much on merchandise this year, but now that my printer is up and running, I’m excited to design new badges in a few months, as well as maybe make some bookmarks, postcards, stickers, and similar. Depending on how my income looks in the next few months and how significant a difference my back catalogue makes, I think I’d also like to have some business cards printed.

I’ve definitely made more money business-wise this last year than I ever have before, and I’m keen to keep those growths doing, but we’re hoping to get a cat this year as well as do some home repairs, so I want to be modest about how I’m reinvesting that new income as I keep it building up. 

I want to be more creative about how I’m advertising to new readers and meeting new people — I actually put up some posters around Leeds last month to advertise the Smash sale, and I definitely think I want to get into the habit of regularly putting up posters advertising my work in queer spaces around Yorkshire, both around Bradford and Leeds, but also if I’m going out in York, or even if I’m going farther afield to Manchester or Bristol or London. 

And my biggest goal I think is that when I finish An Uncommon Betrothal, I want to do an official in-person launch for the paperback and do an event where I’m reading from it, selling copies, and signing them as well! 

That would most likely be in Leeds, and I just think it would be a really fun event if I can do it, and would drum up a lot of support and sales both online and in paperback. 

Thank you so much for all your support, and wishing everyone a happy new year! 

[gnawer-of-table-legs]

IF YOU LIVE IN THE US, PLEASE READ AND PREPARE

this is not meant to cause panic. Panic helps no one, and we WILL get through this. I’m not the best at giving advice and this post is a bit rushed. If you have any other ideas, please reblog with additions or suggestions for changes.

“Delete the terms sexual orientation, gender equality, awareness and sensitivity, diversity, equity, inclusion, abortion, reproductive health and reproductive rights out of every rule, regulation, contract, grant and piece of federal legislation that exists....”

This is an actual quote from Project 2025. It’s not TRUMP’s plan, but he has a very similar one (Agenda 47), and he definitely won’t stop the Republican Senate majority from carrying either of them out.

….So life sucks for Americans (and everyone honestly) rn but the fight is NOT over!! Stay vigilant, stay prepared.

Educate yourself on project 2025/agenda 47 to the fullest extent. If there’s something on that list that you NEED and will be banned, take care of it as soon as possible, if you can.

For example: Those behind Project 2025 want to get rid of no-fault divorce. That means that if someone wants to leave a marriage but their partner doesn’t agree, they’re essentially trapped. That’s dangerous! If you want to leave a marriage, do it NOW. If you’re in a bad relationship, do NOT marry, get out of there. Even if you’re in a good relationship: please, please, PLEASE keep in mind that you may not be able leave it if you get married.

Take advantage of existing programs while they still exist and are relatively accessible (healthcare, etc).

Do research on queer/disability/etc support groups and general life tips and share them around in case that information becomes unavailable in the future. In a similar vein, take note on whether having a diagnosed mental illness or disorder would be helpful or detrimental in the future (again, see the above quote).

Download and Save forms of media that you think you may no longer have access to (fanfic, etc). Since KOSA (or some similar internet censorship bill) may pass, take note of what mediums you can use to stay in contact with online friends and support systems. Some suggestions i've received:

Scratch (the coding website) <- may be affected by KOSA but parents are less likely to look twice at it. Again, may not not be affected by KOSA since they already have filters set in place (for swears/violent language, not for queer topics. that may change).

Google Docs/Photos/Chats. All you need is a google account

Apple Photos: you can make chats somehow

**************It goes without saying that you should always be safe online and limit the amount of personal information you share. Please be responsible. **************

Reblog, and add further ideas if you have them— we can and WILL get through this!

edit: maybe this seems a bit too urgent, sorry. Just. Keep an eye on legal proceedings and take advantage of what is currently available. I’m not saying that everything in project 2025 WILL happen, but the conservatives DO have control over the Senate. Please, please plan ahead

[mariacallous]

For years now, Hollywood has been on a losing streak. In the film and television business, good news has been harder to come by than original stories, with the successive disruptions of the pandemic, the writers’ and actors’ strikes, and the wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles in January. “Survive till 2025” was the motto that kept the town going last year, but this year has offered little reprieve. Production is down, jobs are scarce, and morale is low; scripted entertainment is losing the battle for eyeballs to video games, YouTube, and social media. (Over the weekend, Trump himself weighed in, writing on Truth Social that “the Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death”—while proposing tariffs that could hasten its demise.) In a recent New York magazine profile of David Zaslav, perhaps the most hated exec in L.A., the writer Michael Wolff pronounced that the industry’s “gradual decline” has “arguably reached the all-at-once stage.”

If Hollywood still can’t resist telling stories about itself, it can at least strive for honesty about its flop era. That’s the guiding ethos of two insidery show-biz series this spring: the current season of the Max dramedy “Hacks” and the new Apple TV+ comedy “The Studio.” On “Hacks,” a long-stymied comic named Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) finally lives out her dream of hosting her own late-night program, only to discover that she’s been crowned the queen of a castle made of sand. And, in “The Studio,” Seth Rogen stars as Matt Remick, a freshly promoted movie executive who soon realizes that his new job is to “ruin” the medium he loves in pursuit of profit.

For its first three seasons, much of the pleasure of “Hacks” lay in its examination of life on the D-list. We saw Deborah through the eyes of Ava (Hannah Einbinder), a wunderkind comedy writer who gets cancelled after tweeting a bad joke and ends up in Las Vegas, where Deborah has a fading residency. Ava helps Deborah shake the cobwebs off her act, and Deborah introduces her to the myriad, often shady money-making opportunities afforded to those no longer chasing prestige: QVC clothing lines, supplements businesses, cruise gigs. At the end of Season 3, after the two have successfully reinvented her persona and rebuilt her career, Deborah lands the late-night show of her dreams and promises to make Ava head writer, only to renege at the eleventh hour—prompting Ava to clinch the position via blackmail instead.

Season 4, the first to be set firmly in L.A., charts the aftermath. In the press, the two are the very picture of feminist solidarity. Deborah is the first woman at eleven-thirty; Ava is the youngest head writer in the history of late-night TV. But, behind the scenes, their mutual resentments threaten to derail the entire enterprise. (When Ava tries to convince Deborah to let her take control of the writers’ room, telling her, “I’m trying to make your life easier,” Deborah responds, “Then kill yourself.”) Neither can afford the dysfunction. Their task isn’t just to create a hit show, but to redeem all of late-night. “It wasn’t a choice between you and someone else to host,” a network boss (Helen Hunt) informs them. “It was a choice between you and no one.” To be deemed a success, they’re expected to emulate the likes of James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke,” which became the source not only of viral clips but a five-season spinoff series. These days, a show isn’t worth launching if it can’t spawn a franchise.

This bleak vision of Hollywood makes for a fascinating backdrop. Deborah and Ava’s mandate reflects real-world anxieties about audience retention. The portrait is deepened by the parallel plight of Deborah’s manager, Jimmy (Paul W. Downs), and his own protégé turned partner, Kayla (Meg Stalter). One subplot involves their struggles to manage another difficult client: a bite-prone Collie starring in a TV remake of “Lassie.” Loopy but astute, Kayla quickly demonstrates her ability to navigate this diminished version of the industry by getting the half-hour series green-lighted at a time when “no one is buying” them. (The line is also an oblique acknowledgement of a painful reality: streaming companies, many of whose subscription bases are international, prefer content that can “travel,” so comedies, which tend to be more culturally rooted, have become a hard sell around town.) The surest sign, perhaps, of the business’s increasing irrelevance is its dependence on the kind of social-media star power its gatekeepers still don’t fully understand. Deborah, who’s always willing to suspend her own judgment if it gets her the reaction that she craves, brings on to the show a TikToker named Dance Mom (Julianne Nicholson, in a delirious comic performance). Dance Mom proves a hit, but the version of the show that Deborah and Ava can take pride in slips further and further away.

Female ambition is “Hacks” ’s object of obsession, and while the series’ portrayal of Hollywood feels timely, it’s used mostly in service of developing the central theme. Early in the season, Deborah explains to Ava that she isn’t the right person to lead her writers’ room: Ava’s taste is too political, too niche, and “late-night is for housewives and mechanics.” The pair have worked hard to find Deborah’s voice, but by straining it further in a bid for mass appeal, she risks losing it all over again. Blind ambition can take you upward—or land you on a glass cliff.

In “The Studio,” the three real-life showrunners of “Hacks”—Downs, Jen Statsky, and Lucia Aniello—make a cameo as the rare Hollywood creatives lucky or savvy enough to get quality shows made and to win awards for them. The scene is set at the Golden Globes, and their appearance is bookended by cracks from Ramy Youssef, the evening’s host, about the otherwise dire state of the industry. “I’m starting to feel like I have to go to the movies,” he says. “Like, if I don’t buy a ticket, the whole thing’s gonna fall apart.”

“The Studio” is much more explicitly about Hollywood’s decline. In its pilot, Matt Remick, the new studio head played by Rogen, is given an edict by his boss, Griffin (Bryan Cranston), to make “movies,” not “films”—beginning with a blockbuster about Kool-Aid. (Griffin has aspirations for features based on Jenga and the Rubik’s Cube as well.) Matt, a devoted cinephile, thinks he’ll be able to have it both ways, envisioning a “Barbie”-esque brand-based auteurist project helmed by his hero, Martin Scorsese. Instead, he’s forced to kill the legendary director’s passion project. That night, Matt and his deputy, Sal (Ike Barinholtz), watch Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” to remind themselves why they got into the business in the first place.

There’s something undeniably cathartic about a figure as successful as Rogen, who co-created the series, speaking out about Hollywood’s creative cowardice. (It’s possible he’s feeling the pinch, too; Hollywood has drastically cut down on the kind of mid-budget theatrical comedies that made him a star two decades ago.) And, like “Hacks,” “The Studio” has a great ear for insult comedy: the boorish Sal calls A24’s output the purview of “pansexual mixologists living in Bed-Stuy.”

But the series is better at diagnosing the problem than at getting us to care about those responsible. Matt and his direct reports quickly reveal themselves to be spineless, self-important, thin-skinned, and out of touch. On a date at a gala for pediatric oncologists, Matt insists that the hyperviolent franchise he helped launch, which involves a superhero who telepathically explodes heads, is “art,” and that his job is just as important as the doctors’. (To triple down, he rubs in their face the fact that he makes more money than they do.) With people like him in charge, “The Studio” implies, it’s no wonder the multiplexes are full of such dreck. And, though we catch glimpses of the kinds of films Matt ostensibly wants to shepherd into the world, it’s the blandly schlocky Kool-Aid movie that we’re stuck with episode after episode.

Like most Rogen projects, “The Studio” is proudly potty-mouthed but ultimately toothless. One gets the feeling that the actor-producer is too ensconced in the system to truly go for broke. Where “The Franchise,” last year’s short-lived HBO satire of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, gleefully eviscerated its targets, “The Studio” is far gentler with the many real-life figures who pop up throughout the season. Perhaps the most revealing guest appearance is that of the Netflix co-C.E.O. Ted Sarandos, in the episode set at the Globes. Netflix is cleaning up, and Sarandos is praised endlessly by his artists (including Jean Smart) in every acceptance speech; Matt, meanwhile, is on the verge of a meltdown as he tries to persuade Zoë Kravitz to publicly acknowledge his existence. When the two men run into each other in the bathroom, an agonized Matt asks how he gets the talent to appreciate him. “It’s contractual. I force them to,” Sarandos says, baffled. “Otherwise, why in the world would they possibly thank us?”

[akitasimblr]

👑MARIA HARPER👑

HARPER LEGACY DIARIES | Heiress | Generation Eleven

full name: maria harper

nickname: honeybun (by alvin only)

life state: spellcaster | elder | married

parentage: marcello harper & lucia martinez

partners: alvin sherwood

offspring: ursula harper

aspiration: computer whiz | spellcraft & sorcery

main traits: recycle disciple | childish | music lover

born in: strangerville

lived in: strangerville | evergreen harbor | oasis springs | moonwood mill | glimmerbrook

career: tech guru career - esports gamer branch (pro gamer - level 8) | paranormal investigator (n/a)

degree: computer science (foxbury)

👑generation milestones illustrated👑

Complete Aspiration: Computer Whiz

Complete Aspiration Spellcraft & Sorcery

Complete Aspiration Big Happy Family

Max DJ Mixing

Max Medium

Max Programming

Max Robotics

Max Video Gaming

Satisfaction Reward Traits: Brave, Fertile, Paranormal Investigator

Collections: Decorative Eggs, Holiday Cracker Plushies, Magical Artifacts

World: Oasis Springs, Glimmerbrook

Extra task: Become a Paranormal Investigator in Glimmerbrook.

Optional: Learn all 24 spells and 16 alchemy potions.

EXPLORE MORE START READING THIS GENERATION

*passport template credits

[shiftertech]

"One day, we'll all dance in the link."

The silent hallways of a steadily transiting haul-ship, lit by dim red lights and clusters of stars outside its view ports, are disturbed with the muted footsteps of a pilot's off-duty sneakers. Her steps are light as she breaks the cyclical night curfew, keeping to the less frequented corridors. Most of the night-crew are just performing navigation, sensors and engineering tasks—a skeleton crew.

From her pocket, she fetches a small handheld device. Provided by a trusted mechanic, it's loaded with a simple program which spoofs a valid night-shift keycard, and then runs an exploit which should clear the auth logs on the access panel before it reports back to home. They said it was a simple hack all things considered, but that stuff was never her forte.

The door to the drop hanger was right ahead. As instructed, she held the device to the flat grey panel affixed to the wall, and to their word, it flashed a quick green and then a blue as the logs were wiped. The door opens with a hiss, and the pilot wastes no time crossing the threshold and striding towards her destination.

A bulky frame, with sleek lines and medium range armament, sits patiently in its transit harness just in front of her, nestled amongst other frames of similar design. Pock-marked burns from a long history of combat sorties remain visible as marks of experience. Emblazoned on the shoulder plating is an insignia featuring the head of an African wild dog from the old world, and the mech's name"Pictus" in bold lettering. She reaches out and trails her fingers down cold alloy skin, whispering gently.

"Hey lovely, I missed you."

Transit time doesn't permit much link time between pilots and their mechs, seen as wasteful up time for a mech confined in a tightly spaced drop harness for extended periods of time. The routine maintenance already makes sure that the mechs will be ready when it comes time for them to drop into hell. Perhaps it makes sense in a budgetary and combat readiness context on some detatched and dull report somewhere in the navy archive, but fuck if it doesn't leave a pilot yearning.

There's movement from behind Pictus, and panic briefly spikes within the pilot before giving way to recognition. A mechanic—her mechanic—glides towards her with a pretty smile dancing on their lips. Pretty enough for her to rush forward into their arms and steal it with a kiss. They hold eachother close, shadowed by Pictus; a mech which they mutually pilot, care for, and love. Pictus flickers her idle light nestled into the torso hatch, and the pair smiles, understanding intention in the gesture.

"Oh, she definitely missed you," the mechanic replies on the mech's behalf, motioning with their eyes to Pictus, "was being a real brat with fault codes earlier this cycle."

A light giggle gets muffled into the mechanics shoulder, the pilot swaying with her partner. It wasn't often they got to spend time either between pilot simulations & briefings, tight maintenance windows, and other operational busy work. Their relationship gets caught in the middle of it, and she'd be lying if she said it didn't cause hardships between them. All of that goes away with the way they drop a kiss into the short curls atop her head. Even when they eventually pull away from the embrace, she still feels like everything is just right. There's just one missing piece...

"Alright, I'm sure she can't stand waiting much longer with you here. Let's get you linked up before she decides to break loose from the harness! You know she hates being in standby for too long," they say amusedly, turning towards Pictus. Twisting and pulling hard on an embedded handle on the torso, they reveal the cockpit behind the heavy hatch. A well worn seat, system control panels, and a neural link harness sit dormant inside. The mechanic helps their pilot climb inside, the pilot sporting just a t-shirt and sweats as she sits down on the seat of their machine of war.

"Let's wake you up a little," the pilot says, eyeing the controls around her. She first confirms that ground power is connected and active, poking the rotary switch with a finger in affirmation and noting a green light. Then came the internal running lights, and bringing the pilot assist intelligence out of standby mode. Finally, a single switch remained: the toggle for the neural link. She patiently waits while her mechanic climbs in with her.

The mechanic straddles their pilot in her seat, while their calloused hands reach behind and above the seat, snatching the end of the link harness. They bring it to an embedded metal port in the back of her neck, caressing it sweetly with a hand, while they lean their forehead against hers. Their eyebrows furrow.

"If only I could join you both..."

And the pilot surges forward to kiss them, affirming and lovingly. She reaches a hand behind their neck as well, tracing a circle with her thumb, roughly the size of a neural interface port, over unmarred skin. The pilot whispers into their lips, spoken like a promise.

"One day, my love. We'll have you augmented too, and we'll dance in the link together with Pictus."

They open their eyes, seeing their pilot gazing deeply at them. They believe her. A smile tugs at the corners of their mouth and they remove the hand from her neck. With a notchy click, they firmly fit the harness cable into her nerual port. She briefly winces in discomfort, the feeling of metal bumping against metal within her never feels amazing, but it's followed by a satisfied smile as she knows the only thing left holding her back from Pictus is a single switch.

Her hand reaches over instinctually, but is stopped short when her mechanic grabs it. She looks at them, their soft gaze melting her heart then and there. They guide her hand over to the switch, her index finger just behind the small metal lever. With one final kiss of her mechanic lover, she flicks it, and the link opens like a flood gate.

lovelovelovelovelovelovelove

LoveLoveLoveLoveLoveLove

LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE

Data flows, and the link echoes a feedback loop of feelings and emotions, as a machine of war welcomes her loved pilot home, and she feels just as strongly. It's an exclamation, a declaration, a bio-technical embrace, and it is everything.

The mechanic watches their pilot slump in her seat, a goofy smile growing by the moment as she runs abandon within the link. They curl up into her lap, resting as close as they possibly can to their two loves. They drift off and dream beautiful dreams of dancing in the link with all of them.