Thatchickcanwrite - Alley Rose

This is probably asking a lot, especially because it comes out of nowhere, but I figure if this story is gonna get even an ounce of traction, it'll be on timblr.

I'm a disabled, fat, queer, neurodivergent author who writes about disabled, fat, queer, neurodivergent characters and topics.

My current project, Passing for Fine, is about an agender ex-athlete named Jessie who develops fibromyalgia after a traumatic accident. They end up gaining weight, being totally abandoned by their teammates and people they thought of as friends, and moves to a new city to live with their overbearing, perfectionist mom.

While in this new city, Jessie meets a cadre of new friends who all, in one way or another, fall between the cracks, or don't fit the mold you'd expect.

Ryan is an ex-felon turned baker (literally looks like he could kill you but is actually a cinnamon roll) who struggles with the way he's percieved due to his plethora of tattoos (some of whoch are pretty scary). Ash is a wheelchair-bound transman who works at a gym and is the only one of the group who owns their own vehicle. Alexis is a Black woman who helps manage the local community garden and co-op but struggles to feel welcomed in Black spaces due to her lighter skin tone. Eddie is a non-binary phlebotomist who struggles to be taken seriously as a non-binary person due to xir masculine appearance.

Ultimately, it's supposed to be a rom-com, but the story also deals with Jessie's depression, internalized ableism, and self-doubt (all of which they work to overcome/adjust to/live with throughout the story) while they are also helping to save Ryan's café from gentrification and over reaching landlords.

I'm currently in the process of my second draft, but was thinking if enough people seemed interested by this initial post, that I'd start posting chapters here, too.

The cover was made by Carmilla from carmillacreates.com

I work in outdoor education, and you would not believe how often I get to do stuff like this (I love it). But imagine you also have 8-16 very excited elementary schoolers who all also want to hold the slug, or snail, or worm, or [insert bug here], and you have to protect the little friend from a horde of screaming, overly curious children. It's actually kind of the best.

This is actually my coworker's hands, but they are showing off a little spider they found to one of our students.

i like working at plant store. sometimes you ring up someone and there's a slug on their plant and so you're like "Oh haha you've got a friend there let me get that for you" and you put the slug on your hand for safekeeping but then its really busy and you dont have time to take the slug outside before the next customer in line so you just have a slug chilling on your hand for 15 minutes. really makes you feel at peace with nature. also it means sometimes i get to say my favorite line which is "would you like this free slug with your purchase"

Rebloging because I can only assume the Simpsons screenshot is in reference to the people who get hung up on singular their being the ones getting dumber.

Because they are.

Because singular their is grammatically correct and has been established for centuries.

Anyone getting pissy about it is dumb.

A little playlist I have that makes me think of home 💚

This is a real poster in a real town with a real phone number. You will get a voicemail asking you to leave a message about your dreams.

Just a quick note from your friendly neighborhood bookworm/indie author

if you use kindle for the majority of your library, they will be shutting down the function that allows you to download your files and transfer them via USB on the 26th of February. Which doesn't sound like a huge deal, but this also means that if a book is taken off Amazon for any reason—like it being banned—they can scrape it off your kindle as well. So maybe backup your library?

Edit: as an indie author I feel like I should make a small note that this is not an excuse to say “fuck Amazon I’ll just pirate my books”. Please don’t do that. No one’s reaction so far has been that but I’m begging you not to react that way. That doesn’t hurt Amazon it hurts authors.

Some alternatives are

- check and see if the author sells their books on other marketplaces. Hint: any not enlisted on Ku are probably wide

- check your library. If they’re not at your library request them.

- if all else fails, reach out to the author. I have 100% hunted down a way for my book to be available to a reader that couldn’t access it for whatever reason. And I’d do it again.

Just for the love of 🧀 don’t pirate them.

Reblog if your blog is a safe space

My blog is a safe space for: women, queer people, immigrants, neurodivergent people, disabled people, people of any race, ethnicity, and color!

My blog is not a safe space for: N*zi’s, zionists, Trump supporters, republicans, homophobes, transphobes, misogynists, ableists, etc ….

I wanted to start this post by referencing this quote about when the world is shitty, you should make art, but I can't remember the whole quote or who said it, so I guess whoever is reading this is stuck with just me.

Honestly, not being able to find or think of this full quote is pretty much a good example of where my brain power is right now.

I am so scared and sad and angry that I don't know what to do and can't form coherent thoughts. I feel helpless and all I want to do is make all the bad things STOP.

But I can't do that.

Not realistically. Not by myself.

I'm disabled, and a parent, and I run the tiniest non-profit known to man, so I have neither time nor money to dedicate to protests and riots like I wish I could.

I feel guilty. I feel like a coward.

But I also want to help make people feel safe, and I don't know how.

So...I dunno. I'm making art. It's the only thing I can do—the only thing I know how to do.

I don't know what to call it yet, but there's a story brewing inside me, a throat-tearing scream of a book about the need for community and gentleness. And books and plants.

Idk if it'll go anywhere, but I'll try to share it here.

I just know I NEED to do SOMETHING, even if this is all I CAN do.

Same energy