It truly is! I'm so bad at it. I'm hounded by imposter syndrome the whole time.

I taught two George Saunders pieces ("Puppy" and "Sea Oak"), and now half my students are writing kind of like him.

It's cute and kind of funny.

The artist of this doll maker is Kinibee, by the way!

Magical girls I created on a doll maker

To pull myself out of this funk, I started writing down some ideas for magical girls.

Then I started making them on a doll maker, and oh my god I love them so much.

Left to right, their names are Indirah, Maylis, Jade, and Aleksandra. 🥹

Both, really...

I think I will take a break.
But damn this shit sucks.

I don't know how I'll even come back.

Knowing I'm a good writer, but my stories are never "a good fit."
It's really affecting my psyche.

Like, writing is the most essential part of my identify.

I've never not been a writer. I was telling stories when I was still writing in crayon..

The main characters here are Jamal and Malika, both children of Black Panthers.

The setting is that Obama has just won his first term.

Malika is very miliant, pro-black, and thinks Obama is just a figurehead.

(Will come back later. DnD session is about to start 😂)

So in Imarisha's response, the aliens instead appeal to our sense of solidarity -- help free all scarred peoples of the galaxy in exchange for advancex technology, *only* to be used by the marginalized. +

In the 90s one, the aliens offer gold and riches and tech beyond all imagination, in exchange for the U.S. selling its black population as slaves.
The U.S. sells them off in a heartbeat.

The one black conservative figures out, then, that his loyalty to the party all those years couldn't save him +

It's called "Space Traitors" (2019) by Walidah Imarisha! It's written in response to "Space Traders" (1992) by Derrick Bell.

In both, aliens come to earth. In the 90s version, they ask for all the black people. In the 2019 version, they ask for all the "scarred peoples," so any people of color +

I teach the kiddos about the Black Panthers every chance I get. 🥹
There's a specific sci-fi short story I teach that mentions them.

Like, I like Jodie Whittaker and I loved her as the Doctor, but like... Chris Chibnall could never.

Dr. Who was one of the best things about living on this Earth, until Steven Moffat left.

French translation of the first paragraph of my fantasy novel in progress.

Translating my WIP into French -- one paragraph a week -- is a good language exercise and helps me rethink the material when I have writer's block. 🥰
#writingcommunity

That's fair!

I'm certainly doing my best! Teaching gets harder every semester, especially with A.I. creeping into everything. But I'm happy to be teaching creative writing again!

Gonna try to finish writing a novel this year.

And also I'm in a band. We're recording today 😃

Thanks, friend!

Gosh, I never see your posts -- how ARE you? 🥹

I added "Jesus Shaves" by David Sedaris to my syllabus this semester -- I'm so excited. 🥹

It's been a while since I've added a new short piece.

And anyway, the students tend not to enjoy "Puppy" by George Saunders as much as the others.

Honestly? Fair 😂

Me in my office on the university campus. I'm wearing pink glasses, a pink bow in my afro, pink handmade earrings I got from a friend for Christmas, pink and gold understated necklases (they're two that came together -- a pink stone on one and a gold crescent moon on the other) and my pink-and-white sailor-inspired lolita dress (from a Taobao brand).

First office selfie of the semester!

My creative writing class is finally getting into the swing of things.

We had excellent discussions about "Wildwood" by Junot Diaz and "Model's Assistant" by Alissa Nutting

So this thread covers some gaps in my knowledge 🥰

Thank you for this thread! 💕
I can't wait to check out the links when I get home.

As an amature historian, my knowledge includes Rococo era, mid-19th C to present day, but also the Viking age and all the stuff about Anglo-Saxons I learned studying old English +

🥹💕

People who don't read and don't know what good writing look like think that A.I. writing is indistinguishable from good human writing.

kenny from south park is standing in front of a computer monitor Alt: kenny from south park is standing, looking angry, and talking; the subtitles say "[muffled]."

The best of the OG four 😌

a woman in a blue scrub top is standing in front of a door with #schittscreek written on it ALT: a woman in a blue scrub top is standing in front of a door with #schittscreek written on it

I must know more expeditiously

Right? Like, it's hard to get one's book noticed, it truly is.
But maybe try making actual connections with people first, and build an interesting feed.

Dude didn't even mention his book's title or what it was about.

That is SO obnoxious omg.
If anyone did that to me, I'd think they were unhinged.

Ew. What horrid advice.

Hard sells never work. I'm here to interact with people -- to share my thoughts and engage with others.

I could ignore the immediate "Buy my book!" but the unfollow to inflate numbers is just so scummy.

That's fair! Bsky has a learning curve for sure, but I liked it a lot the more I used it.
I've always hated Twitter and Bsky is what I wished Twitter was like.
On Twitter, all I did was scream into the void.
Bsky seems... homier. 🥰

And I for yours, friend!

Neutral characters truly are interesting to write! They have their own inner sense of how to live, and it is usually at odds with what most people believe.

(Now, if only so many people didn't treat True/Chaotic Neutral as Neutral/Chaotic Evil 🥲)

Nice to meet you, Andy! 🥰
I'm Jasmine (she/her), and I'm an English professor.
I love sff and literary fiction and I write a blend of the two.

I hope you like it here on Bluesky!
As soon as I made my accounts here, I left fb so fast lmfao