Amy Laurens's Blog, page 68

Why Fighting Your Fears Is Complete And Utter Bullshirt.

Fight your fears!
Battle your demons!
Stand against the darkness that envelops you!

Yeah, yeah, we get it. To have fears is to be weak, to have anxious fears (i.e. unfounded, melodramatic, or unrealistic fears) is even weaker, and if you don’t stand up right this instant with a fear-tuned flamethrower and FIGHT THE LIFE OUTTA THOSE FEARS you’re a weakling who deserves to weak.

Sound familiar? Probably not in such baldfaced terms, but it’s definitely a Thing in western society (and possibly/pr...

Anxiety II

In good times,
it is possible for a lion
to purr.
(If you have not seen this,
you will not believe me.)
Your lion wants to keep you safe.
Because of this,
occasionally,
when you are safe
and your lion sees this,
it will rub its cheeks against you
and purr, like the distant rumble
of thunder on the horizon.
Your lion loves you.
Your lion lives to make you proud.

Of course,
there are times when
you are perfectly safe
and all your lion wants to do is grumble—
a snarling pulse, flash-clawed adren...

Storm in A Graveyard

A storm growled eagerly on the horizon as she passed through the iron gates. The wind could have been the voices of the dead, and she pulled her coat tighter around her. Headstones wove in drunken lines, leading inexorably towards the one person she’d sworn she’d never see again. The storm reached the bounds of its patience and broke, fat drops pelting down like bullets. The vibrant red of her mother’s dress ahead seemed even more garishly out of place.

The storm changed the tone of the wind:...

Made It Monday: Peach Cake

Welcome to #MadeItMonday, where I post something I’ve made in the previous week, and where you can join in and post something you made too! The rules are easy: post a pic somewhere of something you’ve made in the last week (ish; let’s say in the last month as the hard-and-fast) and tag it. Sit back and enjoy scrolling through all the beautiful things we’ve collectively created, and celebrate the fact that humans can be awesome!

Now & Then in Fruits & Veggies – Some Amazing Changes

So this is cool: a video that shows ten fruits and veggies that have changed so much throughout their history so as to be nearly unrecognisable. I knew about some of them, because I love heirloom veggies (counting down until I can have a garden again and plant them all; for now I just content myself with browsing the Diggers catalogue every now and then), and you can actually still buy seeds for a surprising number of ‘original’ or early versions of these (e.g. we pretty much only ever grow ‘...

Anxiety

The best way to fight a lion
is to not.
Instead,
approach it sideways,
from the very edges,
looking vague, and non-threatening.
When it realises you are there—
and it will—
it will growl, and bear
its teeth, which feels
a lot like a lump in your throat
or adrenalin in your stomach.
But you would do the same
if you were afraid.
So keep circling it,
a nice distance away,
smiling and nodding, and looking reassuring.
Soothe the poor lion,
who is disturbed by your gaze,
and slowly, slowly,
it will...

From The Ground Up News, and A Plea For Scientific Assistance!

A few of you have been asking lately about what the deal is with my non-fiction book, From The Ground Up, which looks at the relationship between geography, climate and culture. Well. I have News, which I am now able to share. The short version is that I have amicably parted ways with my publisher, and FGU will now be released under Inkprint Press, hopefully in 2019. However, to do that…. I kinda need some help :\ The book has been through a couple of rounds of edits, but it’s still in need...

General Writery Update

Generic updatey-ness today, because Because.

Sanctuary 3, otherwise known as When Worlds Collide, is still sitting in a metaphorical drawer at about 40k (of a projected 55-60) while I try to figure out how on earth I’m going to wrap everything up (think about your series arc before committing to a series, yo). However, I’m hopeful that it will be done by the end of this term(ish), which is to say early April. Provided I can meet that target, we’ll be looking at a July release. I’ll keep you p...

Made It Monday: NOT CAKE!!

Welcome to #MadeItMonday, where I post something I’ve made in the previous week, and where you can join in and post something you made too! The rules are easy: post a pic somewhere of something you’ve made in the last week (ish; let’s say in the last month as the hard-and-fast) and tag it. Sit back and enjoy scrolling through all the beautiful things we’ve collectively created, and celebrate the fact that humans can be awesome!

Whoa: 7 Awesome Real-World Materials PERFECT For Science Fiction

Yo, if you write science fiction, this video is definitely worth checking out. It’s a bit slow paced, but the materials it features are SUPER COOL, and my brain is practically bursting with the possibilities for science fiction worlds :3

Happy Friday, everyone!