#Substack Writing Challenge

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

22-Day Formulized Intense Writing and Engagement Challenge for Substack Writers

This is not a usual story writing challenge; it is for gaining paid subscribers subsidized by Substack with a strategic move.  Why 22 days? It is because the offer by Substack ends on 30 November, and some of us have already missed 8 days because we did not hear about it despite my writing twice about it in the last 8 days.  Any story about Substack, including my book chapters related to…

[literaria-journal]

[7/100] days of productivity

worked on my May wrap-up article for my Substack, that will be out tomorrow, read A LOT (I'm currently juggling 4 books), and rearranged my bookshelf.

[sharingcitrusfruit]

-n.p.

[jolenes-book-journey]

What Is Substack And How Can Authors Use It

Substack has emerged as a prominent platform for authors seeking to publish newsletters and share podcasts. It offers a streamlined approach to content distribution, but it’s essential to weigh its advantages and disadvantages to determine if it’s the right fit for your author. Jolene’s on Substack with her Publication called “The Indie Author’s Guide to Writing, Publishing, and Thrivin” Continue…

[othernaut]

Character Creation Challenge, Day 27: World Wide Wrestling

"Haley? We need you. Dan's on the roof again."

The woman in the doorway was twice her size. Half her makeup was off, the other half smeared under a deluge of fresh, red blood. Still, she managed to look sheepish. This wasn't what Haley was here for. Most people knew that by now. Or maybe it was - when things got intense, her brother tended to forget every face but the most familiar. "Are you not your brother's keeper?" her parents would say, hovering over her, expectant. Everyone knew what he was like these days. And everyone knew they could call her to bring him back. Until it killed her, or she killed him first.

"How long've we got?" she asked. The woman in the doorway leaned out, listening, filtering the essential backstage soundscape through a more expert ear. "Ten minutes?" she said. "We can push it to fifteen if he's bad. Just... give Misha a call, if he's, you know..."

"Really bad."

"Yeah."

Haley closed up her homework, suppressed a sigh, and slid out into the hallway. Out there, the noise of a wrestling show in full swing roared and echoed. The crowd, voices rising and falling like a static wave, muffled everything else to bass notes and intimation. The thud of bodies hitting the mat; the announcer's keen radio voice splattering the air with disconnected syllables - unmistakeable and untranslateable. The tall woman - Skorpetta, she remembered, there was a scorpion painted on her buttcheek, that helped - clicked the door shut and hovered nervously at the end of the hall, watching Haley hurry to the stairs. Everything backstage seemed to run on rubber time, either immediately important or too far ahead to worry about. This was a situation that had been building all afternoon, she was sure, but it was only now that it was an actual problem.

She hurried.

The arena wasn't supposed to have its roof open in the winter, but functionally, every time she'd been here, there had been a milk crate propping open the access door. Haley crunched her way outside, toeing past broken folding chairs and decades of cigarette butts. Her breath started fogging two paces from the halo of escaping heat. At least it wasn't hard to tell where Dan had gone off to. There he was, toes over the edge with his arms open wide, stiff-backed and steaming with sweat, staring into the rolling, overcast evening. She could see, in the parking lot, at least three distinct groups of people bunched on the asphalt, filming on their phones.

"Hey, Dan?"

He didn't turn. "It's okay," he said, "I'm gathering my energy." His voice sounded like it was set to .75 speed. He turned his head, caught in profile against the oncoming night. The one pupil Haley could see was as black and wide as a hunting cat's.

"Fuck," she said, "I'm calling Misha."

"No, don't," he squeaked. He stepped back from the edge, somehow stiff and wobbly at the same time, legs bowed like he was riding an invisible horse. He'd sweat through his makeup: the six-fingered alien handprint that was supposed to be the mark of whatever horseshit wrestler lore he'd made up was well on its way to finger number seven. He staggered forward, gripped Haley's shoulder tight, and straightened, as if he was trying to vampire away her poise.

"Dude, you're supposed to fight a guy," she said. She was already walking him back inside, out of the cold. Kicking the milk crate out of the door, easing him down the concrete stairs. "Like, fuck, you're supposed to be on camera."

"Are you worried about me?" he asked. She kept struggling, kept descending, kept wondering. He was six inches taller than her and a hundred pounds heavier, but he was wound so tight, clenched so tense that he felt almost weightless against her. His eyes were locked on the back of her head. She could almost feel his focus. She nodded and concentrated on walking.

He pushed off of her, stood upright, took the stairs on his own. First haltingly, like all the world was made out of gelatin, and then with increasing confidence. She could see a bit of that shit-eating daredevil smile that she remembered from when they were kids, usually seen right before he dive-bombed off the garage or something. "You've got nothing to worry about," he said. "I'm back. This body once again contains me." She smiled, too. Stood nearby while he made it to backstage and zigzagged his way to the front.

She didn't know why she kept doing this, why she kept lying to herself that it fucking mattered. She was only supposed to drive him here and back. None of this shit meant anything to her, but... Dan was walking tall now, almost radiating. Slipping back into the role. After everything she'd seen him go through, all that shit in high school, if this was the thing that brought him back? Out of his room, out into the world, out into somewhere, something that made him smile? Sure. It was worth a couple of hours a week. Until it killed her, or she killed him first.

Skorpetta was leaning by the doors, forehead taped, radiating visible relief when she saw them. "We had to cut to a pre-taped promo," she said to somewhere between the both of them. "You're going right out into the ring." Dan whooped, punched his chest, shouldered through the doors; Skorpetta had to hold him back until his theme song started. Then he burst through, wheeling through the curtains in a laughing spiral, arms swept wide. The backstage corridor filled with raging neon and the roar and clamor of the crowd, like a Garden of Earthly Delights painted with ever-burning fireworks. They introduced him - "Now making his way to the ring, hailing from the Energy Plane, ambassador for the Cyber Mind and breaker of cosmic chains!" - and he ran, leapt, dove under the ropes. Picked up a rolling microphone, started rambling about aliens and ghosts, and they listened. Shouted, cheered, and listened.

Haley should have been getting back to her homework, but then Skorpetta's heavy hand fell on her shoulder, and she stayed. "Hey, thanks for always being there," she said. Haley smirked, dismissive, but stayed in the doorway and watched, even when Skorpetta let her go. This wasn't anything good for him, wasn't what her parents would call a "healthy coping mechanism", but fuck it, right? What's the alternative? He trips balls alone in his dorm room or he does it here.

Some people don't get to have the same experiences as everybody else. Some people have to scrounge for catharsis while the rest of the world achieves purpose. And wrestling's a transitory state, anyway. Ask anyone and they'll tell you no one can be in the game forever. You exorcise the demons you came with until there's nothing left for you to do.

Was she encouraging him?

Would he do it anyway?

Doesn't everyone deserve somebody to stay with them, even through all the dumb shit they do to themselves?

What dumb shit would she be doing, if someone would have been there for her?

*****

Now Making His Way To The Ring: Robo Weapon Hailing From: The Energy Plane Entrance: Trippy & Surreal Stats: Body -2, Look +1, Real +1, Work -1 Role: Heel (less vindictive, more chaotic) Want: Bring An Opponent Into My World! Audience Resets To: +2 Momentum/Heat: ???

Moves: Finishing Move: Roll 2d6. On a 10+, I hit my finisher clean. On a 7-9, choose: I win through guile instead (gaining +1 Heat) or they help me play up my unique approach (we both gain +1 Momentum). On a botch, choose: I still win but it looks terrible (-1 Momentum), or my opponent saves by covering me (booking themselves the win and they gain +1 Audience). Showstopper: Once per Episode, I can just show up in an otherwise unaffiliated segment. I declare my agenda, gain +1 Momentum, and if a wrestler tries to donk it up, they break kayfabe. Play to the Crowd: When I use my gimmick to highlight a real issue, roll +Real. On a 10+, I nail it, gaining +1 Audience. On a 7-9, it's either a hit backstage (+2 Momentum) or someone comes out to take me to task (I gain +1 Heat with them). On a botch, I mishandle it, losing -1 Audience and being booked into a punitive match.

*****

I am mad that this game is good.

It fuses together two things that I don't really like on their own, Powered by the Apocalypse and professional wrestling. Moreover, both unliked halves of World Wide Wrestling are celebratory in their presence, keenly loved by the designers and expertly blended together into a unified whole. The changes, additions, and structure of World Wide Wrestling flow with the structure of PbtA rather than fight against it, making this so far the only PbtA game I've liked that wouldn't have been better suited just making up a whole other bespoke system. The alloy that it uses to weld the disparate, unliked halves together is pure arm-waving enthusiasm and, ruefully, that's where the magic is made.

World Wide Wrestling is clearly written by people with a deep passion for both wrestling and roleplay, people for whom this wasn't a project to bang out but something ruminating in the back of the mind for a long time, and passion is an unmistakeable draw. That's the only real click inherent in wrestling as a whole for me - not the show itself, but being in the crowd with a bunch of people who have all eagerly bought in. The fact that the passion itself is the throughline is what tips the game over from "eh, not for me" into "god damn it, I have to at least have a look at this thing".

This is also why I'm mad. The actually clever role-playing game bits, like the unique player-versus-GM-versus-player system, are so intrinsically also a part of professional wrestling that I don't know how I would excise and transplant them. Player elimination and PVP, both things I try desperately to avoid when running any tabletop of any sort, are accounted for and expected here - moreso, it's handled with the kind of back-and-forth camaraderie that is, again, intrinsic to the medium of professional wrestling and its pre-scripted pageantry. It even manages to suck a little bit of the tedium out of being the GM - more than anything else, you wind the players up and let them go, as if they were screaming, muscley Beyblades, and the little mini-game of making it seem like their shenanigans are what you planned all along makes hilariously explicit an open secret of GMing. World Wide Wrestling isn't a wrestling game that happens to be good, it's good because it's a wrestling game.

The worst thing? The worst thing of all? I might have to play this with actual people. Through what I can only assume is a curse upon my very destiny, I've somehow manage to surround myself with friends and loved ones who are very fucking into combat sports. Like, my best friend in all this world puts out an ongoing and infuriatingly well-written weekly UFC report. I have known this man for decades, I'm officiating his wedding, and I feel his dark spirit hovering over me, watching me write about wrestling. His wife is into combat sports. So's my boyfriend. There is a very good chance that any human being I grow emotionally close to will be a wrestle-liker. And I, the obsessive RPG weirdo, must tell them of World Wide Wrestling, because I love them and want them to be happy, even if the source of their happiness is alien and bewildering to me.

Also, yeah, this character was influenced by the one element of professional wrestling I still remember with clarity - the unhinged, cocaine-fueled promos from back in the 90's.

Next up: Sigmar says its my turn with the soul.

[malusokay]

Stop Flirting With Me Just Because I’m Breathing

On how everything a pretty girl does is seen as flirtation. (from my substack <3)

I look up and blink too slowly, and they think I’m in love. I say “interesting” in a flat voice, and it becomes a riddle to be solved, a clue in some invented puzzle about my affection. I once said “oh?” and was asked if I meant it flirtatiously. I leave a message on read for three days, and suddenly I’m orchestrating a psychological thriller. I wear a black chunky knit because it’s cold and I don’t want to be perceived, so they decide I must be hiding poetry in my bra, and unspoken devotion in the sleeves.

I’m told I look like I’d ruin someone’s life, which is meant as a compliment when all I’ve done is exist politely in a public space. I nod in a lecture, and it becomes longing. I cross my legs, and it becomes a metaphor. Everything becomes a metaphor.

There is no such thing as neutrality when you’re a pretty girl. You become a canvas for other people’s projections, their longing, their delusions, and their need to be chosen. 

Every silence is suggestive. Every quiet moment is a seduction scene they’ve rewritten in their heads by the time you’ve finished your tea. Every disinterest is taken as a puzzle to solve, a performance of restraint. They don’t believe you when you’re bored. They think you’re playing bored. Every boundary is a dare.

I say “I don’t date,” and he hears “try harder.” 

I say “I’m not looking for anything,” and he hears “ but I might be with you.” 

I say “I have to go,” and he hears “ convince me to stay.” 

I say nothing, and he hears everything. 

I leave the room, and it becomes a narrative arc. 

I stay silent, and it becomes flirtation. 

I look at a painting, and it becomes a metaphor for his feelings.

A man at a gallery once told me I had “mysterious energy.” I was just tired. I was just hungry. I was just not looking at him.

But they fall in love with the refusal. The lack. The half-second glance that wasn’t meant for them. They romanticise the unreturned gaze, the closed door, the girl who leaves early. They write poems about women who never replied. They crave the untouched part of you that has nothing to do with them, especially that. That’s the part they try to claim. That’s the part they call fate.

I once sent a man a list of corrections to his love letter. Marked it up in red like a school essay. Split infinitives, misused semicolons, a dangling modifier in the third paragraph. He called it “enigmatic.” Said I was “hard to read.” Said he’d “never met a girl like me.” You mistake disinterest for depth and correction for flirtation. You think anything that doesn’t kneel is mysterious. You call it high standards. You call it a challenge. You call it feminine mystique. I call it punctuation.

The problem with being charming is that people forget it’s often done out of boredom. It’s a reflex, not a promise. A trick you learned at dinner tables, in waiting rooms, on the phone with men twice your age who couldn’t take silence. It doesn’t mean you like them. It means you like control. Or maybe you just didn’t want to be rude.

The problem with being beautiful is that people think it means you owe them something warm. That you’re a hostess of some private emotion, and every glance should be dipped in honey. You smile once, and they remember it forever. You don’t smile, and they call you cold. You hold the door, and it’s taken as encouragement. You cross your legs, and it’s an invitation. You speak plainly, and it’s condescension. You retreat, and it’s foreplay. They want you glowing and grateful. Soft, but not cold. Sexy, but not complicated. They want the kind of beauty that never asks to be left alone.

And when I say no, they always think I’m flirting. As if I’m playing coy. As if “no” is the beginning of a story, not the end of one. I say it flatly, with the softness stripped out, and they still tilt their heads and grin like they’ve uncovered a secret. Like I’m hiding a yes somewhere in my tone, waiting to be coaxed out.

A few days ago, I rejected someone I had known for a while. Kindly, clearly. Two days later, he came back asking if I wanted to hook up. He only left me alone (for now) after I told him I had a boyfriend. I don’t. But apparently, a man’s existence is the only boundary they respect.

Sometimes, I just smile because why wouldn’t I? Because it’s polite. Because I was raised to be gentle in rooms full of noise. Because I don’t see the harm in kindness. But they always think it means something. They take good manners for invitation. A thank you becomes a breadcrumb. A glance becomes bait. Politeness, in their minds, is the opening act of seduction, never just softness for its own sake.

You learn quickly that innocence gets devoured just as fast as intention. That even your unthinking gestures get rewritten in someone else’s script. And then they call you manipulative. Say you “led them on.” As if their inability to read the room is your strategy. As if their projections are your responsibility. You smiled. You were nice. You said, “thank you.” And now you’re the villain in their heartbreak story. 

They fall in love with an idea, and when you don’t return it, they act like you stole something. Like affection was a contract you broke by breathing near them. Like your politeness was a promise you forgot to keep.

my insta: malusokay

[slavdollz4mangione]

luigi supporting you making content on tiktok hc 💌:

shoutout to the anon who got my vision, this one’s for you! <33 as you can probably tell, i went HAM on this one 😭

- luigi hates tiktok. he finds it overwhelming, chaotic, and way too fast-paced for his taste. he’s more of a ‘read a book in silence’ kind of guy, so the idea of endless scrolling and loud trends just doesn’t appeal to him.

- that said, when you tell him you’ve started a tiktok account to talk about your favorite things—books, philosophy, movies, debates on different topics, and even your hot takes on agriculture and politics? he’s immediately intrigued.

- he loves how passionate and articulate you are, and he can’t help but admire the way your mind works.

- despite his dislike for the app, he downloads it just to follow you. he tells himself it’s to “support you,” but deep down, he’s genuinely curious about what you’ll share.

- your videos are nothing like the content he expected. you’re not doing dances or trends, you’re just yapping lol. you talk about your favorite substack articles, analyze the themes of your latest read, rant about why tea is superior to coffee (or vice versa), and even dive into deep topics like religion and politics. safe to say, luigi is hooked.

- he becomes your biggest hype man. every time you post he’s there in the comments, leaving thoughtful responses. if you talk about a book he’s read, he’ll add his own analysis. if you delve into a philosophical concept, he’ll write paragraphs agreeing with you or gently challenging your perspective. his comments are often longer than your videos, and it becomes a running joke between the two of you.

- sometimes, you catch him in the background of your vlogs, quietly sipping tea or reading a book. he’s always smiling softly as you rant about whatever’s on your mind, completely enamored by your passion and intellect.

- one day, while filming a tiktok about your favorite philosophy book, lu chimes in from the background. you’re mid-sentence, explaining why you love the author’s take on existentialism, when he casually interjects:
“but don’t you think their view on free will is a little too optimistic?”
you pause, turn to him, and immediately launch into a spirited debate. the camera keeps rolling, and your followers lose it over the unexpected cameo.

- after that, it becomes a recurring thing. your followers start noticing that the same soft-spoken voice in the background that’s always adding thoughtful commentary or playfully challenging your takes, is the same person leaving those long comments under every video.

- comments start flooding in like:
“wait, is the guy in the background the same guy who writes essays in the comments???”
“luigi_from_fiji in the comments vs. luigi in the background is the best character arc of 2024.”
“the way he just casually drops the most profound takes while she’s filming… i can’t. they’re adorable.”

- one of your most popular tiktoks is a video where you’re talking about your favorite coffee shops, and ofc luigi interjects in the background:
“but tea is clearly superior. it’s more versatile, and you can’t deny the cultural history behind it.”
you stop mid-sentence, turn to him, and say, “oh, we’re doing this again?” before launching into a full-blown debate about coffee vs. tea. the video ends with both of you laughing, and your followers absolutely melt.

- one day, you decide to make a video about one of your favorite authors, fyodor dostoyevsky (self indulgent sorry). you’re gushing about how crime and punishment explores the psychology of guilt and redemption but halfway through your analysis, lu, who’s been quietly listening in the background, can’t help but chime in:
“but baby don’t you think raskolnikov’s redemption arc feels a little rushed? i mean, after everything he did, the ending almost feels… too neat.”
you turn to him, eyes lighting up, and say, “okay, first of all nicholas, how dare you,” before diving into a passionate defense of dostoyevsky’s writing. the two of you end up in a full-blown literary debate, with lu arguing that notes from underground is the better psychological study, while you insist that crime and punishment is the masterpiece.

- your followers go wild for the video with comments pouring in like: “luigi coming in with the hot takes on dostoyevsky?? i’m obsessed.”
“the way she said ‘how dare you’ and then immediately launched into a 10-minute rant… mood.”
“luigi’s face when she starts defending raskolnikov is priceless. he’s so whipped.”

- another time, you’re talking about white nights and how the dreamer’s idealism and loneliness resonate with you. lu, who’s been quietly reading in the corner, looks up and says softly:
“i think the dreamer’s problem is that he’s too afraid to live in the real world. he’d rather stay in his fantasies than risk getting hurt.”
you’d pause, tilt your head, and reply, “but isn’t that what makes him so human? he’s flawed, but he’s real.”

- lu smiles at you, his eyes soft, and says, “i guess i can’t argue with that.”

-the moment is so tender that your followers immediately start spamming the comments with:
“THE WAY HE LOOKS AT HER??? I’M CRYING.”
“luigi’s a simp for intellectual debates and i’m here for it.”
“this is the most romantic thing i’ve ever seen.”

- luigi secretly starts to enjoy tiktok but only because of you. he’d do anything to support you, even if it means spending hours on an app he claims to dislike.

[celestetsang]

The latest interviews in 2024:

Rachel Chak on being a DJ in London and making money as a creative | Rachel's DJ sets

Kathryn Vercillo on her virtual book tour, collaborating with other writers and more

——————————————————

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[drdemonprince]

i’d love to know your perspective on the substack essay “of course people make up disabilities” that freddie deboer just posted today (09/30) if you felt inspired to write about it. no worries if you’d rather not of course! i appreciate your work very much (and i’m expecting to agree with your perspective on this topic wayyy more than with freddie’s btw)

This would make SUCH a good livestream topic to be honest. That would allow me & others to really go through the weeds of it and be appropriately nuanced.

I have several thoughts about it, which I'll just bullet point here:

One of Freddy's big issues whenever he discusses the neurodiversity movement is that he still presumes the pathology model is always correct and appropriate, and should be applied to even how neurodivergent people experience being themselves. This means that throughout his piece, he describes the massive uptick in people identifying as "systems" as there being this very sudden, very large increase in what used to be a very rare and debilitating disorder, DID -- but that's conflating a bunch of different communities into one. Not everyone who identifies as a system identifies as DID. Not everyone who identifies as a system exhibits or even claims to exhibit the symptoms of DID outlined in the DSM. Lots of people who identify as systems are median systems or are heavily masked, which means they don't look anything like what psychiatry has typically understood DID to be, nor does it match with the pop cultural stereotypes. Obviously these are many people who would not be captured by a DID diagnosis in the past. And just like many Autistics who were not diagnosed in the past, many people who were not diagnosed with DID but do identify as having DID argue that the diagnostic process for the disorder up to this point has been highly limited and biased. Of all the conditions in the DSM, DID is the one MOST attached to a small cluster of diagnosticians -- most people practicing psychiatry and psychology have no expertise in it, and NEVER diagnose it because they don't know anything about it. And so obviously, a lot of people have slipped through the cracks, if we view DID as a real, useful clinical label. Furthermore, talking about oneself as being a system serves a variety of functions, and not everyone who identifies as being a system (or even as having DID) sees themselves as debilitated by it. So Freddy's concern that a huge contingent of people are suddenly claiming to be debilitated by a severe disorder is just misrepresenting what a large number of these people are saying about themselves, and how the diagnostic process for DID works.

Freddy takes it as a given that some kind of apparatus for investigating disability claims is necessary, because people lie. He provides no support for this assertion. I'm happy to allow that of course, sometimes human beings lie (or fool themselves), but we don't have any evidence that people doing this places some massive strain on the social welfare system. We have every reason to believe that like most other humans, disabled people are motivated to feel capable, challenged, and engaged, and we know that disability benefits are meager and come with conditions that trap a person in poverty for life -- so why are we worried about too many people accessing disability services? It's an absurd claim for a leftist to make, but then again, many Marxist do have this kind of shitty attitude toward disability, and carry within them the presumption that people need to get stronger and should be pushed to work, so. It's of a piece with that.

I do see some merit to Freddy's observation that disability and one's self-conception as disabled is often a shadowy, shape-shifting thing -- some days you convince yourself you really do have this disability, other days you are kind of rounding up the truth, other days you don't know at all -- but this is because of the subjective nature of how these conditions are defined and measured, and because of the inherent value judgement that psychiatry makes of anyone who appears to be operating differently as somehow inferior or "sick," even if it can't explain how or why they are. I don't understand how he can openly explore just how difficult it can be to figure out whether you are a system (or Autistic, or struggling with bipolar, as he was for years before he got a handle on it) and then conclude that these categories can be assigned to others with full objectivity. He seems to think individuals CANNOT know our own mental health status categorically but that psychiatrists infallibly can? That there is some objective truth to the question of whether a person is DiD or Autistic or whatever else that can be easily determined -- and he's a smart enough and data driven enough guy to go figure out that's not the case. Psychiatrists exhibit frighteningly low inter-rater reliability in their diagnoses!! Diagnostic standards change over time, and are applied differently to different groups of people! Symptoms come and go! How we explain what is going on inside of us is culturally influenced! How could he not understand how complex this all is?

His anecdote about lots of young women suddenly using canes is so needlessly cheap. He's a better writer than this. Why might a lot more young people be physically disabled all of a sudden? Something about a pandemic maybe?? Does he not know POTS is a common side-effect of long COVID? Among many other conditions that would require using a cane?

I do agree with him that sometimes people do fake conditions to make money from fundraising online, or for the attention! Yes, undeniably, it happens! We're on tumblr, we remember the Hatsune Miku binder girl pretending she had HIV. Scammers exist. Fantasists exist. And people who tend to make up elaborate lies about themselves and their lives are typically SUFFERING -- even if we concede that some girls on tiktok are faking having DID (I am happy to concede that, yes, it happens), if someone goes to great and repeated lengths to create false alters and produce endless content about their condition to an audience of thousands, they're obviously struggling in some way most of the time. For some maybe it's some dispassionate grift. Sure. Whatever. It does happen! But in Freddy's own framing, we are talking about a lot of people who are only half-willfully self-deluding, and desperate for attention online -- so would he say they are faking DID but are clearly mentally ill in some other way? Or does he think they just need to toughen up and stop thinking these irrational things about themselves entirely? How does he think that would work? Being so miserable and confused about yourself that you convince yourself that you have a disorder that you do not have and orienting your whole life around that doesn't sound like a person Freddy would call "well." So are they lying? Still not mentally ill? Or mentally ill in a slipperier way, where the way that you think and feel affects the way that you think and feel about yourself, which helps to create your new reality, which then is true for you? If you think you're DID, feel like you're DID, act like you're DID, are debilitated like someone who has DID, are you not DID?

Freddy seems to think of mental illness diagnostic categories as far more contained and distinct than they actually are. Trauma symptoms can morph into OCD, attachment dysfunction can look like Borderline at one moment and then Bipolar the next, Autistic people can become eating disordered for Autism reasons, and people who are desperate for acceptance can take up cutting and then just have a cutting problem. there is no brain scan or genetic test that can definitively tell you which one of these disorders you have, because they are only defined through self-report and observation, and our behavior and feelings continually keeps changing. And so it's useless to talk about what the rates of any given disorder "should be" because there is no objective metric for that, and there is no objective, set in stone standard for what any disorder really is. The eating disorder rate has certainly changed over time as a product of all manner of cultural influences -- was that a bunch of people faking it for attention too?

I really struggle to understand why Freddy, a Marxist, has refused to engage with Marxist critiques of psychiatry at all whatsoever. SO many excellent books have come out on the subject in recent years, from Micha Fraiser-Carroll's Mad World to Robert Chapman's Empire of Normality. He seems, for his own reasons, to be heavily invested in the pathology paradigm and to view regular people as completely lacking meaningful insight into their own mental states, and those with forma diagnoses as utterly incapable of determining what is best for themselves (while also arguing that people with such diagnoses should always be held accountable for their actions). It's frustrating because I like to read his perspective on many topics, even when I disagree with him, but I can't find his work challenging or interesting here because he's so steadfastly incurious about the scholarship that goes against his own pre-conceived notions, so he ends up writing rants on the subject that feel at once earnestly felt but ignorant and reactionary.

[drferox]

Anyway, have some lovely spider-related short fiction on Substack.

I think that’s where I’m going to put my fiction from here on out. If you’re not familiar with the site you can sign up to have the stories emailed to you like Dracula Daily, but I’m only challenging myself to write 1 or 2 pieces per month.

Writing is good for my brain.

[misfitwashere]

February 4, 2025

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

FEB 4

LISTEN TO POST · 18:52

With the benefit of 48 hours to organize, we are beginning to see strong signs of resistance from grass-roots groups, congressional Democrats, and a few media outlets as they challenge the unfolding coup driven by Musk for Trump. This is welcome news, indeed!

[After proofreading this newsletter, I realized that I “buried the lead.” Here it is: There is a protest in D.C. on Tuesday at 5 p.m. in front of the Treasury Building, organized by MoveOn and Indivisible. See article below or just sign up here.]

I start with a quick note about the continued reluctance to recognize what is happening as a coup. Jen Psaki on MSNBC referred to the events as a “hostile takeover of the government.” In 100% of the other instances of a “hostile takeover of a government,” Jen Psaki would call it a “coup,” but apparently, special rules apply to Trump.

Likewise, the New York Times published a well-researched, exhaustive article (accessible to all, here) that details the dozens of actions taken by Musk and Trump to overthrow the Constitution. But that 75-paragraph article does not use any of the following words: “legal, illegal, Constitution, unconstitutional, or coup.” The strongest description of Trump's actions the NYT reporters could muster is this cold sauce:

Mr. Musk’s aggressive incursions into at least half a dozen government agencies have challenged congressional authority and potentially breached civil service protections.

Although the facts constituting the coup are contained within the four corners of the NYTimes’ article, the reporters can’t rouse themselves to speak the truth about what is happening. So, the NYTimes’ reporters get an “A+” in “Homework” but a “D-“ in “Citizenship.”

Apart from independent commentators on BlueSky, Substack, and YouTube, no one in the mainstream press has called Trump's actions a “coup.” (Notably, Timothy Snyder did so in his Substack article, The Logic of Destruction.” Snyder includes the following, “All of this work was preparatory to the coup that is going on now.”)

But The Guardian broke ranks with the legacy media on Monday with an editorial entitled, “The Guardian view on Donald Trump’s power grab: a coup veiled by chaos.

The Guardian editorial board writes,

Donald Trump is provoking a US constitutional crisis, claiming sweeping powers to override or bypass Congress’s control over spending in a brazen attempt to centralize financial power in the executive branch. If he succeeds, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman warns, it would be a 21st-century coup – with power slipping from elected officials’ hands. The real story hidden behind the president’s trade war, he says, is the hijacking of government.��And Mr Krugman’s right.

We need to raise the alarm if we expect our leaders to respond vigorously and urgently to the dagger aimed at the beating heart of our democracy—the Constitution. It’s a coup. Say its name. It’s not an outrage. It’s not a hostile takeover. It’s not a “challenge to congressional authority.” It is a coup that seeks to neutralize the framework of checks and balances carefully crafted by the Framers. 

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

Secrets to Prolific Writing — Summary of the Audio Transcript 

Substack Mastery Boost — Education Series How to Become a Prolific Author in 2025 Despite Life Challenges This interactive podcast script details seasoned author Dr. Mehmet Yildiz’s experience writing four and a half books in 2024 despite significant personal and professional challenges.  He attributes his success to passion, focused single-tasking, effective prioritizing, methodical writing…

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

jesse duquette

* * * *

DOGE in retreat, and the power of persistence.

May 31, 2025

Robert B. Hubbell

[Join me for a Substack livestream Saturday, 9 am PT / Noon ET]

DOGE is in retreat. Not defeated (yet), but in retreat, nonetheless. Still, the writing is on the wall: DOGE is on track to become a monumental failure of historic proportions.

DOGE is in retreat because we persisted.

Our fight is not over, not by a long shot. But we must not let this moment pass without acknowledging the lesson from DOGE’s retreat—that an essential ingredient in reclaiming democracy is the simple act of not giving up. We must not quit or surrender to exhaustion, despair, or cynicism.

We must continue to persist, abide, and keep the faith. A key component of MAGA’s plan is to break our spirit, exhaust us, and make us look away because we are overwhelmed. We cannot allow that to happen.

We must pace ourselves, maintain perspective, take breaks when necessary, and do our part in proportion to our abilities, resources, and other commitments. But we must do our part, nonetheless.

Because we persisted, DOGE is in retreat, and on balance, it has been more of a failure than a success. True, the damage it inflicted will echo for a generation, and DOGE has managed to inject its retrovirus into the immune system of the federal government.

While many commentators emphasize that DOGE is “not over” and proclaim the “successes” of DOGE by reference to the damage it inflicted, I think those are the wrong points of emphasis for two reasons.

First, the “measurement date” for determining the success or failure of DOGE is not May 30, 2025. Just as DOGE is “not over,” neither is our resistance. But on May 30, 2025, the tide shifted. DOGE is in retreat while the resistance is rising.

The actual measurement date for evaluating the successes and failures of DOGE is a date after the last legal challenges have become final and “We the people” have had the opportunity to express our views of DOGE at the ballot box in congressional and presidential elections.

Second, many commentators are conflating “damage inflicted” by DOGE with “success.” Damage inflicted is not a proper measure of success—because that damage was inflicted on human beings whose safety, health, and financial security was devastated by DOGE. Those human beings are not lifeless statistics with no agency. They can vote, speak, protest, and become politically active.

Any assessment of the “damage” inflicted as a measure of DOGE’s success must include the downstream political consequences of that damage. If the political cost of short-term, illegal budget cuts is loss of control of Congress and the presidency, it is hardly fair to say that DOGE was a success because it was able to damage government programs and agencies for a limited time.

By almost all measures, DOGE was a failure in the short and long term.

By reference to its own goals, DOGE was a colossal failure. It sought to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. DOGE’s tracker site claims that it “saved” the federal government $175 billion. But that “savings” is a mirage because it does not account for current and future losses due to government inefficiency and reduced revenue collection by the IRS. A study by the The Budget Lab at Yale estimates that cuts to the IRS will result in $350 billion in reduced tax collections over the next ten years—an amount that is double the alleged “savings” by DOGE.

Most of DOGE’s “cuts” have been declared unconstitutional or illegal in dozens of federal lawsuits. Those lawsuits are not final and will take years to become so. But many commentators are evaluating DOGE’s “success” by assuming that its changes to the federal government are legal and permanent. They are neither. To suggest otherwise ignores the holdings in nearly 100 federal lawsuits.

DOGE sparked a fierce resistance movement that is growing every day. That movement is flexing its muscle in special elections, town halls, and consumer boycotts that are causing some of the nation’s largest corporations to feel the reflected pain inflicted by DOGE.

Elon Musk and Trump are heading for an ugly divorce in which both will lose. Musk made many enemies in the Trump administration, and they are beginning to exact their revenge. On Musk’s official last day as a special employee of the government, the NYTimes ran an anonymously sourced article that portrayed Musk as a drug-addled, out-of-control user dependent on extreme doses of legal drugs to make it through the day. See NYTimes, On the Campaign Trail, Elon Musk Juggled Drugs and Family Drama. (This article is available to all.)

It is no coincidence that the Times’ article on Musk’s drug use appears above-the-fold on Page One, just below the article reporting that Trump and Musk are “parting as friends.” We must assume that Musk’s enemies planted the story with the Times to serve as the equivalent of the proverbial Mafia visit to a local store by two goons who casually observe, “Nice place you got here. It would be a shame if something happened to it.”

As Trump's agenda continues to unravel and the economy worsens, Trump must find someone else to blame. Musk is the logical target. On Friday, Trump foreshadowed his future betrayal of Musk by attacking Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, blaming Leo for the spate of federal court rulings that Trump's executive orders are unconstitutional. See NYTimes, Trump, Bashing the Federalist Society, Asserts Autonomy on Judge Picks.

Trump used particularly harsh language to condemn Leonard Leo, the person who single-handedly guided Trump's judicial picks to produce the Dobbs decision (overturning Roe v. Wade) and Trump v. US (granting Trump presidential immunity). Per the Times, Trump wrote,

I was new to Washington, and it was suggested that I use the Federalist Society as a recommending source on judges. I did so, openly and freely, but then realized that they were under the thumb of a real ‘sleazebag’ named Leonard Leo, a bad person who, in his own way, probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions.

Ouch! If Trump can savagely attack Leonard Leo after all that Leo did for Trump, Musk should be preparing for a bruising battle with Trump. Indeed, there are signs that Musk understands that he is on dangerous ground and has begun to make preemptive attacks on the reconciliation bill.

See Financial Times, Elon Musk criticizes Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ tax bill, (Musk said he is “disappointed to see the massive spending bill, which increases the budget deficit . . . and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing”) and The Hill, Elon Musk criticizes Donald Trump bill over abrupt end to energy tax credits. (Musk said cutting electric vehicle credits was “unjust.”)

If the endpoint of the DOGE effort is a political bloodbath between Trump and Musk, there is no universe in which the DOGE efforts can be called successful.

I am aware that my views are in the minority, and I expect to receive plenty of emails from readers telling me that other commentators are highlighting the damage inflicted and the permanency of DOGE. I have read and viewed those comments and respectfully disagree.

To repeat, DOGE is in retreat, not defeated. It will take persistence and hard work to root out DOGE’s remnants from the federal government. The pain inflicted by DOGE is real and lasting. But virtually all its work has been declared unconstitutional by district court judges, and the Supreme Court will have the final say.

I am not underestimating DOGE. But I believe that others are underestimating the persistence and determination of the American people.

When the final history of DOGE is written, it will be recorded that the American people prevailed because they refused to quit or surrender to exhaustion, despair, or cynicism.

The battle is ongoing. Let’s not tarry over disagreements about the final judgment on DOGE, but instead internalize the lesson that DOGE is in retreat because we persisted.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[misadventured-piteous-overthrows]

Tumblr has changed, but so have I

Scrolling back through my posts, I realized the last time I posted with any consistency was in 2019! So much has changed in our lives since then.

We've lived in the city and suffered through the pandemic, learning to love take-out, Minecraft, and balcony gardening. Our fluffy farm kitten came with us. He quickly learned that he enjoyed being a housecat.

We moved to the country and surrounded ourselves in fresh air. I became a part-time gardener (a fine gardener to be more specific) and evolved my knowledge to include pruning, landscaping and container design. Our garden flourished, and we did as well.

We got married, our jobs and futures changed again, and I found myself in a greenhouse filled with history and native plants. I learned germination techniques, scientific names, and integrated pest management (specifically with beneficial bugs). The garden became filled with leftovers from work, and my love of dahlias and iris abounded.

In 2023, we took the leap and bought a home. It was a change to move from rural farmlands with cows as our neighbors to a more suburban setting. The house needed work but the land was filled with potential. We spent most of the year cleaning up the mess left to us by the previous resident and slowly the house became a home.

The next year was difficult. It began with us adopting a cryptid masquerading as a puppy and ended with me quitting a job I'd loved. I faced challenges with a new manager at work and problems with my own mental and physical health that ultimately led to the decision to move on.

I took time to take classes outside of horticulture. I looked into online jobs. I reorganized myself as I questioned my love and knowledge for gardening. At the end of all of it, I started writing. It became the creative spark I needed to reignite my passions.

Now that spring has sprung and everything is in bloom, I feel myself growing along with it. I'm currently close to finishing a proofreading/editing course, I'm writing two novels, and I'm posting my gardening experience here and on Substack.

So, if you've made it this far in this super long post, consider following. Especially if anything I've mentioned interests you. Comment, reblog, or shoot me a message if you post garden or writing related content and want to connect. I'll be looking for active Tumblrs to follow as I make my way back to a platform I've enjoyed for many many years.

Happy gardening! Happy writing!

[sayras-blogg]

Hello dear friends,

As someone who believes in justice and the value of every human life, I feel a deep responsibility to speak out about the ongoing aggression against Palestinians.

I've written an article titled "Do You Condemn?" to shed light on the reality of their situation and challenge the silence and double standards that often surround this issue. I hope my words can inspire others to learn, reflect, and take a stand for humanity.

It took me a few days to write it, and if I were to print it out, it would be approximately 28 pages long. It's an in-depth analysis of the historical events that surround the oppression and dehumanization of Palestinians on their own land. The article was published on the platform "Substack," and I will leave the link through which you can access it down below.

I hope you can take some time to read even a bit of it or to at least reblog this post so it reaches more people.

Thank you!

[imahgined]

the rosy blog project - episode 2:

꒰ঌ pt. 2 on how we made 2024 actually feel like 2014 ໒꒱

hey there, honeybear! ໒꒰ྀིᵔ ᵕ ᵔ ꒱ྀི১

i loved doing this series so much, i literally couldn't end the year without writing even more ways our beloved rosy blog era got its way into 2024. you can check out part one here!

༊࿐ ⊹ ˚. my take on how we made 2024 really feel like 2014, part 2

| section 2: movies, trends, and nostalgia

ig dumps feeling like the og instagram posting style: omg, literally all i see on ig nowadays are people's photo dumps in so many different ways. this feels so much like the carefree vibe we had for posting when we first opened our ig accounts. i love the way it is slowly turning into a more relaxed and casual app.

reading and bookstagram came BACK: even though this has always been around, 2024 really brought back reading as an it girl hobby, like it was back in 2014. i feel like booktok blew up—there's a creator for every type of genre and style! i have been watching recommendations nonstop and started buying so many books, secondhand or new, to fill my shelves.

book-to-movie/tv show adaptations: also, there were so many book adaptations coming to the cinema, from it ends with us to uglies and the idea of you. i love that we're going to the movies again, dressing up, and being excited to see our favorite stories on screen. last year, we had the ballad of songbirds and snakes in theaters, that was the IT comeback from 2013 in 2023. we also had a teen wolf movie??? that is actually my fav show ever.

the sofia coppola obsession: there is literally nothing better than watching a sofia coppola movie. in 2024, i saw people all over pinterest and tiktok acclaiming her (which is absolutely necessary). and can we talk about the bling ring? it's THE most 2013-2014 movie i've seen. the story is crazy—i was so invested in it, i kept reading about it weeks after i saw the movie! also, not related to coppola, but i would recommend watching spring breakers if you like the 2010s look and feel in movies. it's not much of a good story, but i promise the visuals are insaneee.

actual romcoms slowly becoming a thing again: we had movies this year like we live in time, one day, and turtles all the way down (a john green novel adaptation, so 2014!). i think the industry is trying to bring back those romantic movies we girlies love so much. last year, we even had anyone but you, which became really popular!

substack being the go-to platform for bloggers: this is actually SO cool. everyone these days is writing articles, reflections and overall just sharing their thoughts on substack. this is such a cool way to bring back the blogger era from the 2010s in a modern way. let me know what you like to read on the app! i personally love twirl magazine by @i-miss-2013, go check her out!

girly content trending everywhere: this year, it felt like everyone was posting aesthetic cute vlogs, pink hauls, girly fashion, and beauty tips! i'm SO here for that. i feel like girls are becoming more confident and comfortable embracing their femininity on social media, and i love that for us. so much like the rosy blog days!

quizzes on tiktok: i don't know about you guys, but i LOVED taking quizzes on books, magazines or even buzzfeed back in the day. this year, i saw so many tiktoks with these type of relaxing and cutesy tests, but in a more much visual way, with themes such as "plan your dream wedding" or "plan your dream vacation". this is so 2014 girly magazine coded—i loved it when these popped on my feed!

source: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMkSuhfyN/

"challenges" on social media: this is what i mean when i say that social media is getting back on track with actually being fun and giving us a good laugh! we had such funny "challenges" like the hear me out cake trend, the we listen but we don't judge videos, and even the pretending our DOG got into harvard for no reason trend. ugh, i loved these so much—they were giving the same feel as the challenges we did back in the day in 2014 on social media.

i hope you liked the second post from the series! part 3 will be up tomorrow as my closing for 2024  ೀ hope you're having the lovelist day/night, sending you warm wishes! xx