Otonoke- Creepy Nuts
Have y’all been watching Dandadan? I finished the entirety of the manga that’s been released so far the other day and when I’m tell you I’m hooked on the story and the characters. I started reading it because the anime was finally released after I saw a video about it a couple of months ago. Since I’ve finished the manga, I’m just impatiently waiting for new episodes to drop every Thursday.
How have you been? Hope it’s been swell. My birthday was three days ago and everything has been pretty wild since. I’m 31 now, and I feel it in my knee and back, but that’s neither here nor there. My Bingo card of life has been adding new squares to it that I didn’t anticipate, nor do I appreciate. Yesterday, my work building was evacuated for a gas leak and, while I got to leave early, I certainly had to come back today and sit at my desk while pondering how insane it is that my job almost didn’t want to let us leave yesterday. My life is worth more than $15 an hour. At least, I like to think so.
I’m in some writing groups on Facebook to make connections and pick the brains of other writers for helpful tips or even just have people who understand the work and dedication that goes into writing. In one of the groups, someone posted asking about trigger warnings- if other writers used them and where they put them in their books if they did. There were a lot of people in the group that had some really piss-poor comments about how ridiculous trigger warnings are for books and, if you really think your book needs one, just go put in on your website. I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to pause and go to a website. Trigger warnings are becoming more prevalent in modern media because it’s becoming more socially acceptable and appreciated to show the barest hint of consideration for other human beings. I include trigger warnings in my books, my website, and even here in my blog where I like to explain why those trigger warnings are there. There are parts of Scars that I had trouble even writing, so it stands to reason someone may have trouble reading it. Hence the warnings. Some people may not enjoy reading about those things, so I find it nice to tell my readers that, hey, this could be a difficult read for you if you’ve experienced something similar or even if you haven’t.
It truly boggles my mind.
Off to more book-relevant news.
Bound by Blood is still in the editing stages and I’m about at my wit’s end with it. I’m a little less than halfway through the book and, with each chapter, I catch mistakes that I missed before. I keep thinking that I must have been out of my mind when I was writing this crap, because it just doesn’t feel like my best writing. I’m not used to writing in third person, so I wonder if that’s where my disconnect is, but I’m finding myself increasingly less hopeful about the outcome of the book the farther I go. I can’t tell if it’s that my writing actually is garbage, or if that’s just my brain being mean, again. I had planned to edit in October, send the book out of r ARCs in November, then publish in December, but the holidays are a hella busy season for everyone, and all the money goes to gifts. Final exams are also in December, so I’m wondering if my best bet isn’t just going to be to try and finish editing by November, send it out for ARCs, and give my readers time to get through it before publishing. All of my other projects are currently on hold until I finish up with BbB. I keep trying to tell myself that I’m okay if it’s subpar because I know I need more books on my profiles for people to read. There’s just a lot of things going on and it can be hard to keep up with everything.
Happy Halloween, hoes.
