Nicole Field's Blog, page 14
July 19, 2016
"The first order of business would be to don my bathrobe and go to the kitchen where I would sit..."
The tea was strong, and I added too much sugar to counteract that, yet drank the whole pot while staring into our small rectangle of a backyard. It hadn’t rained in days, and the flowers were wilting.
Without even bothering to put on shoes, I abandoned the tea and stepped out onto the lawn to start watering the plants in my pajamas and bathrobe, grateful that there was a marginally tall fence surrounding the property. The roots greedily accepted what dripped and sputtered out of our hose, and I doused them accordingly, maybe even too much.”
-
‘We Awaken’, by Calista Lynne.
I love passages like this in other peoples’ books, and feel sad that so much editing feedback over the years has taught me that such writing is waffly and unnecessary to the plot, to the point where I largely accept it and don’t write them in the first place.
But quiet, descriptive passages like these always move me deeply. They tell of the quiet moments of my life. They tell of *my* life. My life is wholly without dragons or adventures, or dreams in which sandwomen speak to me. And so I love these passages, and see myself and my little home in them. They’re valuable for their own sake.
July 12, 2016
bookriot:
A couple of interesting findings while doing...
A couple of interesting findings while doing research: there are so
very few books for the 3-6th grade reading levels featuring LGBT main
characters. Even among the lists compiled of best LGBT books, picture
books and YA books dominate, with one or two middle grade titles, if
any, per year. But even more interesting than that was discovering that
books being labeled LGBT for middle grade tend to show a parental
relationship that’s on the spectrum… and it’s not usually the main
character’s parents but parents of one of his/her friends. If the LGBT
individual is someone related to the main character, uncles seem to be a
popular choice.
Despite being published in the last few years, some of these books
are either out of print or challenging to track down in print format.
While they’re accessible via ebook, I can’t help wondering how that
hinders kids in this age group from discovering them organically.
http://bookriot.com/2016/06/13/lgbtqia-books-middle-grade-readers/
I can’t get two of the three books on this list either, sadly, but George was singularly amazing and still seems to be able to get gotten from bookshops and local libraries in Australia at least and even in audiobook for those who read better that way.
George is the story of a young girl written from the viewpoint of a girl who is about 10 years of age. She’s also a character who was assigned male at birth. And as hard as it is for someone to come out, especially when they are so young and their family is so much a part of their lives, this book demonstrates perfectly just how much more hard it is for a trans person to pretend to be a gender that they aren’t.
A whole lot of this story is told through the filter of a class reading and then school play of Charlotte’s Web. George wants to be Charlotte, but of course she can’t because she is a boy. Her best friend Kelly is beautiful about this. Actually, her best friend Kelly is beautiful on all accounts, but I don’t want to spoil so I want go into specifics.
What unfolds through George’s exploration of ‘wanting to be Charlotte’, and just general life around her, is the courage to come out to her teachers and her family and her best friend Kelly about the fact that she really is a girl.
At all times of this novel, I really just wanted to hug all the characters, but especially George. I love the little visual details that recur such as how she combs her red hair forward as if she has bangs, before parting it in the middle the way she’s meant to do it. Even more than that, I love the part where George is, from the start to the end, gendered as she/her. The book is written from her point of view, so maybe that’s obvious. But even the other characters as they find out about her gender almost immediately start using the correct pronouns. It’s perfect.
Because it’s a middle school aged novel, this book is much shorter than I wanted. I could have very easily gone for twice as long again reading about George, at 10, or at 12, or at 15. Whatever. I am so, so glad that a book like this exists, and is up for so many awards.
July 11, 2016
July 7, 2016
Got the hair cut yesterday, and then all day yesterday and today...
Got the hair cut yesterday, and then all day yesterday and today I’ve been been remembering, Oh yeah, that’s right, I like the way I look!
July 5, 2016
sharpestrose:
rendigo:
godtumblersucks:
weavecomic:
Follow...
Follow the Weave on Tumblr! Updates Tuesday and Thursday
Finally, a heroine is here!!
Hey gang, consider checking me out on patreon! I’m really, really close to being able to quit my job and work on the Weave full time, but I need your help! Every dollar makes a huge, huge difference. Patrons also get cool rewards like free wallpapers and early looks at pages, and even things likeactual cameos in the comic! Check it out!
Twitter // Etsy // Teepublic // Welovefine // Gumroad
here ill fix it
*Help an artist quit her terrible retail job*
I’m not entirely sure why you felt the need to correct me on this but thanks, I guess? I try to be upfront about who I am and what I do, and the things that specifically impact the kind of art I make (really gay art), sorry for being honest and unapologetic about my identity I guess!!
Also, queer content makes it harder to achieve mainstream success, and so increases the usefulness of services like patreon, meaning it’s like 200% relevant to mention in the graphic.
Oh my god there’s like 2 years worth of queer comic content and just gorgeous art over here. Clicky!
July 4, 2016
gazztron:
morgan-aleghieri:
gazztron:
stephendann:
mercy-misrule:
sharpestrose:
fyi yesterday...
fyi yesterday @cthonical, @verylisa and I decided to get in on the ground floor and name the Australian Hogwarts houses before JK picked Bunyip and Rainbow Snake or something. They are:
Possum Magic House
Magic Pudding House
Mr Squiggle House
Blinky Bill House
Snugglepot and Cuddlepie House
I hate that I’m in magic pudding house but I totally am
I’d also like to suggest ‘seven little Australians’ house and ‘ocean girl’ house
Kookaburra House: The Slytherin of the South, less said, more chance of surviving their wrath
AntiVenomResearch House: The Hufflepuff house that was previously House BlueRinged Octopus
CoffeeShopAU House: Gryff…oooh just let me grab a latte from this laneway cafe…In oooh, can we get a takeaway from this adorable little cafe that’s just through this magic Door
Magpie House: The Ravenclaw Serial Killer Division. They’re never in their house, they’re always preemptively defending it from any passer-by in a five mile radius
ROUND THE TWIST LIGHTHOUSE HOUSE PEOPLE COME ON
No no the Round the Twist lighthouse is the school itself - it’s enchanted so it looks like a small lighthouse on the outside.
Best addition to this post yet
July 3, 2016
Handwritten letters
I’m feeling quaint and country-ish. I’ve gotten into a physical letters kinda mood. Much nicer than bills in the mail. And I thought that some people might want to receive fun, arty mail. Does anyone want to receive nice handwritten letters? DM or email me your postal address if interested. :)
June 29, 2016
"It took anything up to a year to alter yourself from a female to a male, or vice-versa. The process..."
It took anything up to a year to alter yourself from a female to a male, or vice-versa. The process was painless and set in action simply by thinking about it; you went into a sort of trance-like state. If you looked in the right place in your mind, there was an image of yourself as you were now. A little thought would make the image change from your present gender to the opposite sex. You came out of the trance, and that was it. Your body would already be starting to change, glands sending out the relevant vital and hormonal signals which would start the gradual process of conversion.
Within a year a woman who had been capable of carrying a child–who, indeed, might have been a mother–would be a man fully capable of fathering a child. Most people in the Culture changed sex at some point in their lives, though not all had children while they were female. Generally people eventually changed back to their congenital sex, but not always, and some people cycled back and forth between male and female all their lives, while some settled for an androgynous in-between state, finding there a comfortable equanimity.
”-
Excession, by Ian M. Banks.
I’m fascinated by this idea and absolutely want it to exist. That not being the case, I am more than ready and able to bring it about in my writing. The prize of these books by Ian M. Banks, I’ve heard, is the incredible forward thinking ideas he doesn’t shy away from in his sci-fi and, instead, puts forth.
Prima Facie
Also Me: O.o
Also Me: People are going to read my book.
Also Me: Oh god. People are going to read my book.
Also Me: WHY DID I DO THIS!!!
lessthanthreepress:
LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER PRIMA FACIE BY...
LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER PRIMA FACIE BY NICOLE
FIELDPrima Facie by Nicole Field will only be the special preorder price of $1.69
until 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time tonight June 28, 2016!Pairing: Contemporary, Trans/BisexualNever get involved with the client. That’s one of the first rules of the
business, and a rule Con has never had trouble following. Until Maggie walks
through the door. She smart, charming, isn’t impressed by his family, and
doesn’t care that he’s trans. If anyone is worth breaking rules for, it seems
to be Maggie.
But things that seem too good to be true often
are, and Con soon finds himself caught between his family, Maggie, and figuring
out what really matters most to him.
Word count: 17,000
Price: $1.99 $1.69
Content: Contains some explicit content.
