Happy Haiku Day!

I'll likely be posting a few more to my Instagram tonight if anyone's interested 👉🏼👈🏼

"Ancient Mural Near Colosseum"

Primary Elections in Minnesota

If you're in Minnesota, then today from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. is your chance to vote in the primaries!

Find your voting place!

In solidarity with Palestine, I plan to vote uncommitted in protest of Biden's continued support and aid to Israel. I'm voting uncommitted because I refuse to follow in Biden's footsteps and facilitate Israel's aggressive genocide against Palestinians.

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TRIGGER WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS IMAGES BELOW THAT MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWERS.

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30,631+ Palestinians have been murdered. 12,300+ of them were children. 72,043+ Palestinians have been injured. 8,663+ of them are children. 8,000+ Palestinians are missing. [Source: Al Jazeera]

Joe Biden is paying for this. Joe Biden supports this. Joe Biden encourages this. Joe Biden minimalizes this. Joe Biden is ignoring this.

Joe Biden's actions in this are unacceptable and unforgivable. When politicians only care about votes, this simple action can help make our voices heard.

Global Stike Week for Gaza

Bisan Owda has called for a #strikeforgaza from Jan 21-28. I'm a day late, but until this strike is over, my posts across all social media platforms will solely be about Palestine and encouraging the world to put pressure on the people who can stop this genocide!

Over 25,000 Palestinians have been murdered with the full backing of the governments of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and too many others.

This genocide HAS TO BE STOPPED.

"Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, whereby those important events of the past, usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. "There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. "And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? "Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. "Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. "More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. "But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot." -V, V for Vendetta

I'm an occasional cane user, and I love, love, love, this! Especially about the canes falling 😅 It really is all the time!

How to write a cane user character

(Written by a cane user)

A few months ago, I wrote a small guide on good disabled characters and why they were good that gathered quite the attention, and I thought that doing another more specific guide this time would be interesting for writers or just people that are curious ! This guide will include general informations, some things to do, some things to avoid and some ideas that might revolve cane users's lives.

Things to know about cane users

Cane users are pretty diverse, and putting us in little boxes usually isn't the best idea if you want to make a character that has substance and isn't just "the disabled one". Here some infos about cane users that might be helpful knowledge !

Canes don't have ages. Most cane users in media are portrayed to be old, but truly, anyone can have the need to wield a cane ! I've been using mine ever since I was 17.

Can users can have a large variety of problems for their canes. Some canes are used to avoid pain from effort. Some canes are used for balance purposes. Some canes are to make walking less exhausting (works the same as walking sticks !) And sometimes, it's multiple problems at once.

Not everyone needs their cane 24/7. Some always need it, some can make small efforts without it but overall often need it, and some people, like me, can spend quite a lot of time without it. I almost never use my cane in my house, and mostly take it outside !

People with canes can run. We're not necessarily slow, I'm even faster than a lot of my friends.

Not using a cane can come with consequences, but not always. Some people might be able to walk without a cane but then suffer horrible consequences, but for others, canes are just a commodity for specific occasions.

Canes don't have to be looked down upon. Look at some characters with canes that look cool as hell ! Arsène Lupin, Roguefort Cookie, Brook ... Their canes serve their style !

We can be pretty healthy. Some people can have canes just because they were born with a bent leg and that's it. Our cane doesn't define our health status.

Canes aren't a curse. Think of them as something positive. It's a tool to make our lives better. You don't see someone sitting on a chair and think "awh, it's sad that they need a chair". It's more something like "hey it's cool that this chair is here so they can sit down"

Things to do

Make them use their cane. And when I mean use, I mean that canes are just funky long sticks usually made out of metal. Have fun with it ! Let them use it as a weapon ! Trust me, one hit in the knees with a cane and you're DOWN. Use it to reach stuff that's too high for everyone ! Have fun. Be creative.

Let them decorate their cane. It's an extension of their body ! You usually put on clothes that you like, don't you ? It's the same for a cane. If they like cutesy stuff, let them paint in it pastel colors ! If they like a more flashy style, add some stickers on it ! If they're a fancy person, give them a beautiful crafted cane with jewels on it !

You can make them a little shy or uneasy about their cane. Some people don't feel worthy of confident enough to wield one. It's not rare to see people think they're "not disabled enough to do so"

But on the other hand, you can do the complete opposite !! Make them proud of that cane ! Make them act like they're feeling pretty and more confident with it ! One thing i like to think about with my own cane is that I look like a cool gentleman. That boosted my confidence immensely.

Things to avoid

Don't make it their whole world. And by that, I do not mean that their cane shouldn't be a defining trait of their personality. Think of Toph from ATLA. She is blind, and you usually can't think of her character without describing her as blind. However, that isn't her entire personality trait. Make cane users have a goal in life, friends who enjoy them for who they are and not just pity them, have fun ... Don't just make them the disabled one.

Don't try to make the character's life just a plain disaster unless it's the focus of your story and you really know what you're talking about. Having a character who's always in pain, who feels bad about relying on their cane and/or who's angry at the entire world for being disabled is a REALLY tricky subject to use if you don't want them to be either a mass of unhappiness and angst for no good reason or some inspirational porn of the character who inside is deeply tortured but outside keeps up a facade because they shouldn't cry to avoid making others uneasy.

Do not, and I repeat, do NOT try to heal them, especially in a magical way. Bad idea. A lot of disabled people's goal isn't to be healed. It's to live a normal life. Making it so the ultimate goal for them is to be healed makes it as if they were worthless as long as they were disabled. Making their situation better physically or mentally is one thing. Curing them completely is really bad. "But some disabled folks want to be cured !" True, true. But if you are able bodied, I'm not sure if you can have the right mind to understand all of the complex details about this situation that leads to someone's life choices and the end result may look like you think the only thing that can make disabled people happy is being freed from their condition. I think it's best to just avoid it altogether. If you need a more nuanced idea, try to give them a solution that still has a few downs ! For exemple, a prosthetic that feels like a real arm, acts like a real arm and basically replaces it perfectly is a full cure. But a prosthetic that takes time to adjust to, needs repairs sometimes and doesn't look 100% like an arm can be a better narrative choice

Smaller thing, but don't make the handle uneasy to wield if you draw the character design. You can decorate most of the cane, but if you have chunky spiky decorations on the place you're supposed to clench your hand over, you're gonna hurt yourself. I've seen quite a lot of jewel handles or sculpted metal handles and usually their not good. If it's detailed metal, your hand will end up cramped in little parts and it can hurt. If it's a jewel, it's so easy for it to slip out of your hand it's unpractical.

List of tropes/ideas of scenes/details about canes to help you write new situations !

If you walk with a cane during winter, you can't put your hand in your jacket to get warm and there's a high chance your hand will get freezing. So after a long walk, you get an excuse for another character to hold their hand and warm them up.

If the handle is metallic, you get the opposite problem during summer. You can burn yourself so easy ! Easy accident if you want someone to help and get closer to the disabled person without it necessarily involving their disability.

Canes are SUPER useful when you're walking upon heights. They make things really easy, just like hiking poles on mountains ! I live on volcanoes and whenever we clim on a harsh slope, I'm always the first to get up there. Good moment for your character to get a boost of confidence if they get all the way up somewhere before their friends !

The first time using your cane feels magical. If you have chronic pains, it makes you feel like your pain disapear. If you can't walk right, it feels like everything is suddenly alright. The moment where a character chooses to wield a cane can be huge for character development. It's a moment of fear because of the impact a cane has on their appearance, but also a moment of confidence and relief.

Canes fall. All the time. And after a while, it becomes fucking comical. Trust me, putting a cane against the wall, seeing it fall and doing it three times again in a row while it doesn't want to stay up makes you embarrassed but also makes you want to laugh because of how stupid it looks.

When you get a cane, you stop being invisible. When you walk outside, generally speaking, people don't look at you. They don't care about you. But when you get a cane, people start to stare at you for no other reasons that you have a cane. Half of them are just curious, especially if you're young. The other half has a very specific look. The "oh, you poor thing" look. Which is, trust me, particularly awful to get, especially when you're just existing and doing nothing special. How does your character react to this ? How do they feel about it ?

I believe that is all I had in mind. I may add some more details in the future if I get other ideas, but this should already be a good start. I would be thrilled to answer questions if you have some, either in my askbox or through DMs.

I will tag this post with characters holding canes that aren't necessarily considered cane users but that some people may be interested in writing as such. Feel free to tell me if you'd like to see tags being added !

Edit : I'm highly encouraging everyone to look at the tag section under this post where a lot of other can users are sharing their experiences !!

First Medium post!

I have some exciting news! 🥳 I made a Medium account last month! 😊

I'll be publishing the 2nd edition of my short story "What It Took", originally published in Spring Thaw Magazine, 2020! It'll be the first time it's available to read online, so make sure you don't miss it when it debuts on 16 Aug 2023 at 9:30 a.m. (GMT-5).

You can also follow me on Medium (@writer.ksmith) to see what I publish next!

This is such a fantastic post that gracefully says what I always think when authors and writers condemn others for not being "diligent" writers!

Breaking 3 Writing 'Rules':

If you have ADHD or ASC or are some other flavor of neurodivergent, the 'rules' many big name authors post about how they've reached success can actually make you feel REALLY BAD because you can't always do the same thing.

Building a positive relationship with writing can make all the difference in getting you writing more.

'Write every day.' - Don't write every day, write when the mood strikes. But you can trick your brain into work mode by trying different things. Put on your shoes when it's time to write. Light a candle. Put on the same playlist every time. After a while, it'll be like a light-switch. When you light the candle, your brain will find writing easier. Just don't force it. When you try to force writing, you build up frustration and resentment if you don't get anything out. Some days just won't be writing days. That's FINE, lots of authors don't write every day (even if they say they do).

'I write 1000 words every day!' - Well, if you WANT to write and are struggling, a goal of 1000 words seems really far away. So do incremental goals. One sentence. One paragraph. 100 words. Usually by then you're in the flow of things and you can write 1000 words pretty easy. And again, celebrate every single one of those goals so you want to keep doing it. If you have to? One sentence, walk away, come back later, add another, GOOD JOB, two whole sentences!

'Sit down and block out x hours every day just for writing.' - Actually, the best way I've found to write is to tell my brain the deadline or end time is really, really soon - so I write in 20-30 minute chunks, and then walk away or take breaks and come back if I want to later. By setting that arbitrary shorter deadline, my brain can see an end and will work harder and focus more because it knows it's just for a little bit. If 20-30 minutes is too long, start with 15 minute chunks.

😂 I wanna laugh, and I wanna cry 😭

I was literally just doing this 😅

Being a writer is just 97% googling words to make sure they mean exactly what you always assumed they meant.

So, I AM a writer after all!

I just wrote 503 words for the third draft of a short story I wrote some years ago that was based on a dream I had. I know it doesn't seem like much, but it's the most I've written (not including research or plotting) in quite a while. And I'm not even done yet 😏

To celebrate, here's an excerpt!

Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney

My rating: 4 of 5 stars Rock Paper Scissors is my introduction to Alice Feeney, and I have to say that I'm quite impressed. In the first half of the book, the pacing is rather slow. I struggled with maintaining enough enthusiasm to pick up the book again once put down and to read more than a few pages at a time. Once I reached the halfway point, however, the book seamlessly morphed into a page-turner. I ended up staying up until 1 a.m. last night because I needed to know what happened. Feeney has a magnificent talent for developing and sustaining individualistic writing styles as well as distinctive voices and tones for each of her characters. The POVs are immersive and believable, as though I was actually experiencing the same story through different sets of senses and thoughts. The story is brilliantly and deliberately postured, as is the foreshadowing. This book is another whose twist genuinely caught me off guard. I'll likely read it again in the future to see if there was anything I missed. Follow or friend me on Goodreads to get updates when I leave new ratings and reviews!

The Writer, Me

Within the depths of my external hard drive, affectionately named Tara, awaits a folder entitled Scribbles. Should one open this folder, many others will be revealed, each with more folders and documents enveloped inside them. They all contain my creations: my poetry, short stories, and novels. All the relevant research I comb through for projects is tucked away in a Misc folder.

Back in the day (meaning the late 1990s to the early 2000s), I didn’t have a computer or laptop. I wouldn’t even get a Nokia Brick, my first phone, for a few more years. A plethora of notebooks, binders, and a variety of pens cluttered those years. Truly, it was chaos. It’s a wonder my mother never grabbed handfuls of it all to stuff in a barrel and burn.

My late cousin, Tabatha, was the one to ignite the passion for writing within me. She’d made the passing statement that I should write down the story I’d just finished telling her. Thus, I started my writing affair with the epic tales I was prone to telling. Knowingly running headfirst into a cliché, writing came as naturally to me as breathing.

It was the details that began to bog me down. I needed every last crumb to fall perfectly into place to feel satisfied with my stories. I needed to jot down every minuscule fragment of thought related to my writing lest it vanish into the void first. It was maddening, yet how could I stop?

As my interest in writing grew, I began reading more poetry volumes. The emotion and truth that went into the poems that I consumed were alluring and spoke to a deep need of my own. Having a history filled with trauma, I realized I could utilize poetry as an outlet. It was a way to pour out all the words my brain, heart, and soul needed to scream.

Poetry was my niche until I was almost out of high school. By then, I had begun dabbling in short stories and novellas. While I had successfully written multiple of each, none of them felt alive. None of them burned with that desire to be shared and devoured. None of them had that something that carried me from page to page without regard for the passing of time.

Over the years, many passion projects have come and gone. Some of them are cringy when I pull them from their cobwebbed compartments within the recesses of my mind while others fill me with regret and a longing for a completion that likely will never come. Of course, I keep them anyway. A writer should always keep their works no matter how cringy, dated, or atrocious they may seem. You never know when they can spontaneously become your next inspiration.

There are two main works that have encompassed the majority of my life as a writer. The first is a story for my mother, my beautiful and intelligent Mama Mattie. When I was in late middle to early high school a friend of mine gave me a stack of books that she no longer wanted. Among them was a book called Seven Tears Into the Sea by Terri Farley.

It’s an enchanting book about selkies, seal-folk who can shed their seal skins when they come onto land and become human. My mother loved this book immensely and wanted her own Selkie story. Thus, I began to research and write. Her selkie story, now with the working title of Torrential, has seen many transformations over the last 15 or so years but has never made it past the first chapter. Mama Mattie does her due diligence in reminding me that I still owe her a selkie story for the ages.

My second work is a story born of a dream, as most of my works find me. Another 15+ year project, it has been the most transformative work I’ll likely ever manage. Originally called Ensphere, the now-titled Shadowstrung trilogy is my all-encompassing passion project. It began as a simple story of fate, endurance, and companionship but evolved when I met my partner Galen and we discovered that the story he was working on seemed to fit together with mine rather elegantly.

Since then, we have gone rounds with this project. All the characters have been renamed countless times, their personalities tweaked, their relationships fine-tuned. The novel became a trilogy. Main characters faded into the background while supporting characters moved to the forefront. All these years later, only the bare bones of SST hold a resemblance to the original concepts of Ensphere.

In early 2022, I made an incredibly difficult decision to put both of these projects down. After 15ish years with little legitimate progress, I felt like I needed something fresh. I needed to see what lay beyond the boundaries of these stories in which I had so deeply burrowed. I spent the rest of the year compiling all of my notes for each so that when I return to them, it will all still make sense.

For the month of Dec 2022, I considered what type of stories I would like to write and I came up with 3 to work on over the next few years. My current work-in-progress is named A Hiss of Sparks. It has been unbelievably arduous to step into this new concept, to stay focused on something ultimately foreign to my mind. I also deal with Autism, ADHD, mental illness, and chronic pain, none of which help the creative process.

Here we find ourselves in May 2023, and I am no closer to having an organized concept of what to write for any of my 3 new projects than I did when they were conceived five months ago. Innately a pantser, I’ve even begun dabbling with plotting and structure to help me to organize. While so far it has been to no avail, I have faith that something will click into place. Until then, I will simply have to try and try again.

and so it begins. May 1st, 2023.

The poetry contest I entered in January posted results this morning, and I just got a look-see!

Unfortunately, my collection was declined.

While I can't deny that I could have used a win for my writer psyche, it helps to remember that each rejected work stokes the embers of my ability and encourages me to continue writing and wanting to get my work out into the world.

And now, I'm off to do just that!

I agree with this sentiment vehemently.

At some point, my writing transformed from a passionate hobby that filled me with joy and wonder into a potential way out of poverty if only I was good enough, if only my writing was stylish enough, if only my characters were perfect, and if only every detail was planned to the last with absolutely nothing amiss.

That flip in mindset sapped every ounce of happiness and creativity that writing usually brought to me. I spent years in this mindset, wondering why on Earth I went from one writer's block to the next, ramming into wall after wall. I eventually put writing down for a few years, thinking that maybe I had "it", that whatever "it" was which had led me to believe I had ever been a writer at all, and was finally able to realize what the problem was.

It's only been a couple of years since I came to that realization and I still have a lot of deconstructing to do in order to fully relax back into writing for pure joy. For now, I struggle with one foot in both mindsets, with reflexive lunges into the mindset of the past. It won't stop me, though!

Maybe someone needs to hear this today, but writing is supposed to be fun. Ultimately, that should be the goal. To have fun. To enjoy yourself; enjoy the process of making something new out of nothing; enjoy tying together your plot lines and scenes and everything that goes into crafting a story. At the end of the day, your number one goal should be to have fun. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with copious self indulgence if that’s what makes you the most happy. And if you’re not having fun writing right now, it’s okay to take a break! If you’re feeling burnout, there’s nothing wrong with taking a step back to breathe. Remember: art should be an enjoyable process. Yes there is work, and yes there are times where it’s strenuous, but it should be fun, too. Write for yourself. Write for YOU. (Or: don’t write right now if you can’t/don’t want to! That doesn’t make you any less of an artist.) The rest will come later. Just have fun! ♡

Reddit Writing Prompt

[WP by u/je_naime_pas_French] The world has been taken over by mind-controlling aliens. You, a person with Autism, are immune to the mind-control due to your brain working differently.

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I sway rhythmically on the cold metallic floor, my fingers doodling absentmindedly in the air, as two aliens speak in their sonorous voices. Occasionally they glance my way only to face each other once more and continue their discussion. I don't know how long they do this before approaching me. In English, my native language, the alien with the barbed-wire spikes running down its outer arms says, "What technology are you utilizing to subvert our mind control?"

My fingers stop their idle air-tracing and my eyes settle on the alien that spoke. "I don't have any technology that can do that. My iPod barely boots up most days."

I smile and give a light chuckle, oblivious to the growing aggravation of my alien captors. The other alien, the one with luminescent eyes and talon-looking things growing off its elbows, makes a brassy noise at me before saying, "If not technology, then what are you utilizing?"

"For the mind control thing?"

Both aliens now sound that brassy noise. I frown at them and I start tapping my fingertips together from my discomfort. The same alien responded, "Yes, 'for the mind control thing'. Do you have a genetic variant? Neurotraumas?" The alien leans in closer. "How are you doing it?"

My face brightens. "Genetic variant? I guess, sorta. I'm Autistic. Some people think it's a genetic thing." I blink up at the aliens, my hands beginning to swish excitedly by my sides. "Did I get it right? Could that be what it is?"

"Autism?" the barbed alien says, turning to their taloned friend before speaking in their language.

The taloned alien strides away to some kind of advanced piece of technology. After a while, it comes back and begins a conversation with the barbed alien, again in their language. The taloned alien suddenly speaks to me. "We now know of Autism and Autistic people. Our current methods of mind control will not operate on you."

I nod slowly, looking between them. "So, in that case, can I go now? I already missed dinner, which is supposed to be at 4:30 and it's 7 now. I was also supposed to shower at 6 so my hair can be dry by 10 when I go to bed because I don't like how my scalp feels when I go to bed with wet hair. Oh, and--"

"Enough!" exclaims the barbed alien. "Yes, you may go! We will continue our observations so we may decipher how to alter our mind-control to suit your divergence!"

"Cool, cool," I say, climbing to my feet. "Just not on Friday, because the movie for my favorite video game comes out that day." With a wave, I follow the alien that has purple veins and translucent skin as it escorts me home.