Nicole Field's Blog, page 16
June 17, 2016
the-yachronicles:
In the middle of packing our PRIDE WEEK...
In the middle of packing our PRIDE WEEK boxes! If you want to get one while it’s still a surprise, get your order in now! The boxes will be shipping out on Monday :)
June 16, 2016
Writing Prompts -- Daily Converstaions
“Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.” – Alexander Pope.
I just had my first conversations with staunch Trump supporters yesterday. They were… *clears throat* a tiny bit intimidating.
But it got me thinking of a turning point scene in one of my current WIPs that I’d been struggling with, centring around two sets of opposing groups of people who are equally sure they are fighting the right fight.
One of them has all the power and is incredibly intimidating to the other who, in my story at least, are the underdog who will come out on top.
It’s given me a new kind of language to play with and insight with which to handle characters.
So I bring to you today’s short instruction on how to take artistic inspiration from daily interactions and otherwise intimidating scenarios AKA turning lemons into lemonade.
June 15, 2016
Prima Facie ARCs
I have author copies of my trans male novella Prima Facie and it’s the last few days before Prima Facie is for real on sale, so that means it’s ARC time!!
Just click on the link if you think you can read and review between now and July 6th. I’ll be sending these out over the next few days.
June 14, 2016
lgbtqreads:
nickyoflaherty:
moodboards: complementary &...
moodboards: complementary & acute by ella lyons
“I thought, maybe if I met some other girls, I might be able to forget about all these feelings I have for you.”
Anabelle opened the other eye. Jac was staring up at their ceiling. “Feelings?”
“Feelings,” Jac confirmed. “Big, stupid, messy, can’t-sleep-at-night feelings.”
“For me?” With a sigh, Jac rolled over and touched her fingertips to Anabelle’s cheek.
“For you.”
“Oh.” Anabelle couldn’t think of what to say. She bit her lip to stop herself from smiling, but it didn’t work. She reached up and covered Jac’s hand with her own, lacing their fingers together.
Reblogging every time it crosses my dash because I love this edit and this story so much.
I would have loved this just for the bitchy shot of Blair in the top left corner, but this book promises to be absolutely amazing and can be grabbed here on Smashwords for free!
June 8, 2016
roachpatrol:
diabolical-mastermind:
maskedlinguist:
rale:
it’s kinda cool how our generation has...
rale:
it’s kinda cool how our generation has created actual tone in the way we write online. like whether we: write properly with perfect grammar, shrthnd everythin, use capitals to emphasise The Point, use extra letters or characters for emotion!!!!!, and much more - it means we can have casual conversations, effectively make jokes using things like sarcasm that’s usually hard to understand without context and much more. this “incorrect English” has really opened avenues of online conversation that isn’t accessible with “correct English” which is pretty interesting
#this is why attempts by the media to portray online communication by “’‘millenials”“ really frustrate me
#because there are Rules okay
#like see that’s different to saying ’'there are rules” (tags via @soaringsparrows)
My class and I literally taught some of the nuances of this to our english teacher, things such as the difference between “yes” and “yes.” or “..” and “…”. It makes perfect sense linguistically that we would create this complexity to ease communication in a medium without body language and tone, but what my teacher was really floored about was that none of this had ever “learned” it, we’re “native speakers” of a whole new type of english.
back when telegraphs were the main faster-than-mail communication, the operators learned to identify one another by ‘hand’— even though all communication was in long and short taps, every operator developed a unique rhythm, as distinctive as a voice. they also had plenty of abbreviations.
new communication technology makes us fluent in new forms of communication. it’s pretty fucking cool.
June 7, 2016
elvenrealm:
“I am interested in art as a means of living a...
“I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living.” ~Robert Henri
Crafted up this magical light up crown for a very special someone. Can’t wait to send it off!
June 6, 2016
Asexuality with BDSM elements.
I just had my first experience of being topped the other night since I started IDing as asexual, and I want to Talk about it.
Because it’s also the first time I’ve had a different reaction to being topped/Dom’ed/whatever you want to call it for more than 10 years, and that made it Notable to my mind.
This was also the first time I’ve ever been in a situation that went from something as innocent as some head scritches with my newly shorn fresh fuzzies, while we were both reading, to Something Else.
Vulnerability.
I felt vulnerable, which is not uncommon for anyone who has ever experienced sub space. At this point it becomes incredibly obvious whether you trust the person before you to treat you well, or whether you need to Get The Hell Out Of There.
But I felt differently about this vulnerability, and that sat weirdly with me. A first possible reason is that I haven’t known this person for an incredibly long period of time, but that’s been true of people who have topped me in the past. I tend to trust on sight, for better or worse, based on little more than instinctual feelings. Second was the aforementioned not intending for things to go as they did. We weren’t in a fetish club, we were in my room. We were fully clothed. I’m ace. There were books. Distracting me from books in any way is generally kinda like trying to distract me while I’m watching an episode of Buffy. Although this person being a top and me being a sub had been mentioned, it had been talked about in a ‘Interesting weather we’re having this time of year, pass the butter?’ kind of way. There were no indications of things to come.
So I’m left feeling that my experience of vulnerability was different because, well. Because.
Sex + BDSM.
Despite my own wants and inclinations, BDSM in the past has often been linked to, and led, to sex.
This was nothing like that. There was the lightest touch of fingers against my hair, trailing down my neck, light against my jaw. I was still holding my book, lying in bed against the person in question and, at certain points, I’m sure they were still reading their book.
And it was one of the most titillating BDSM experiences I’ve ever had.
Tense and hardly breathing and wanting to show in my micro movements that I was completely on board and present and consenting and oh wow so enjoying what was going on.
And there was aftercare. fingertips stroking along my upper arm while my head was rested on their stomach.
Past Experiences, Present Situations.
Having written and seen this on the page, I think that my changed experience in vulnerability was less about an old experience with a new personal identification, and more about tension inherent in waiting for it to turn sexual into a sexual experience rather than one that was intensely both sensual and seductive without needing to be more.
I was waiting for it to turn, not knowing what I would say if it did, knowing what I should say if it did.
I was sitting on the edge of a precipice, knowing how close we were to blowing things before they began, and being maybe too selfish, maybe too comfortable, in the Present to be willing to pass that up. Yet there was nervous energy just in these thoughts occurring to me.
And then… it was a self contained, perfect experience. And I was an idiot for letting past experiences colour the moment with someone who had made it incredibly clear even in our limited experience that they were incredibly conscientious when it came to my new and evolving boundaries.
It was strange, as we settled into the rest of our night together, how much I felt like we were on the same page while at the same time knowing that we had so many conversations about boundaries and expectations to come
Now I just need to figure out those boundaries and expectations beyond not moving any further forward for a little while while I process old and expected play through the new filter of asexual identification.
From Warren Ellis’ weekly email:
”I received the following email last week:
I always enjoy your newsletters, but your typical laundry list of deadlines generally makes me want to throw up. I’m curious to know how you manage your time. In a future newsletter, would you be into illustrating what a typical workday looks like for you and/or any guiding principles you employ while engaging an overwhelming workload?
I’ve had this request in similar form several times in the last few weeks. So, then, a typical day, which means the weather is not warm and I’m not writing a novel:
I wake up some time between 11am and noon, usually to the alarm on my phone, which is currently either playing “Morning Sun” by Holly Herndon or, for no good reason, “Meditational Field” by Susumu Hirasawa. I will usually skim the iOS notifications pulldown while in bed, to get a sense of the overnight news and traffic, and fire off a couple of snaps to a few friends to denote life. Often, I will also press the button that fires an old Thames Television ident image along with a timestamp to Twitter, as a general signal that I’m awake. (When it fucking works properly.)
(There’s a whole thought process to unpack about the pressing of that button.)
Mornings are not my best time. While my podcast app is updating, I juice a lemon and drink the juice mixed in half a pint of water, eat a protein bar for 30 grams of protein, because I’m 48 and my metabolism needs a fucking hand crank to get started, and put an espresso on. I spend the first hour of every day outside in the back garden, drinking three or four espressos, most often just with my phone and a set of earbuds. I read through the overnight email, get a slice of Twitter and Instagram, read the Guardian and BBC news headlines, properly process Snapchat and WhatsApp, skim the single Slack I’m on, read Economist Espresso, and listen to the Best Of Today and Economist Radio podcasts. Sometimes also Five Thirty Eight Elections, which has been excellent.
That first hour is vital. If I don’t get it, I am beyond cranky for the rest of the day. I need to power up slowly and peacefully.
Ideally, after this hour, I should walk for thirty minutes, where I will listen to a documentary podcast like In Our Time or a music podcast. I might push it til later. :Lately, I’ve been so insanely busy that I’ve only been walking once every two or three days, which is bad.
At this point, I should be making a smoothie, but I’m probably just grabbing a bottle of water (drinking at least two liters of alkaline water a day) and going to the office. I fire up the laptop, the external monitor and the old iPad 2, the latter of which is my office music system. On the iPad, I’m putting on a podcast or Berlin Community Radio or Soma FM Drone Zone, and running Panic Status Board over the top, which is mostly used for news and timezone + weather tracking.
I’m throwing Tweetdeck up on the big screen to see my six Twitter lists, opening Feedbin for my RSS feeds, and I am answering emails and reading more news. Usually also prepping an edition of a private newsletter I run for friends and fellow travellers. Thinking about getting a sidecar clip to put another screen, maybe a tablet, on the right edge of the big external monitor.
I put on a Pebble Time Steel watch at this point - it saves phone battery life and lets me see phone-based notifications while typing if I so choose.
All my messaging apps are on, at this point. They include WhatsApp, Snapchat, Messenger, Twitter and IG direct messages, Telegram, Skype. Most of them get turned off if I’m crazy busy - Skype is usually the first to go. People with my Skype number can call straight through to my phone (thanks to a Skype redirect product) if it’s important. But, honestly, most of them are pretty quiet - it’s just handy to have them.
And then I start work.
From here until around 630 it’s basically a blur. I get up once an hour to stretch and have a cigarette outside. I live in OpenOffice, Word, Gmail and Google Calendar. I eat lunch at my desk during this period, unless I’ve pushed my walk to later and have decided to grab lunch while I’m out.
I am guided by the whiteboard on the wall over my desk, by my calendar, by my notebook and by email. Often, it’s triage – what most needs to be done? Sometimes it’s just, what do I feel like writing? I have a few projects on the go at any one time, and, on the good days, I can just decide which one I’m in the best frame of mind for. When the job is dictated by the schedule – well, I have notes on every project, so sometimes I just take a deep breath and hope that I can get into it or fake it that day. (Everything gets two drafts - if the first draft is solid, the second draft can be faked, and if the first draft is shit because I faked it, it can be fixed in the second.)
No coffee after 6pm. No drinking at my desk before 6pm.
At 630, I break for dinner. Dinner is often also eaten at my desk, and it’s when I sample some streaming tv or take in some other form of video content.
After which, I am working until around 2am. Sometimes a little earlier, occasionally much later, but I aim to be heading towards bed before 2am. The sign is my closedown ritual, which is a good way to tell my own brain to pack it the hell in now. Back in the stone age, British TV channels would actually close down, late at night, and finish with a static card, that often said “good night.” I have a jpg of the old Thames Television closedown card, and I post that to Twitter. As soon as that’s posted, everything is turned off. I’m done. I go to bed and read until around 3am - backlit Kindle Paperlight. That, by the way, should answer the FAQ of how I read a book a week.
Once again: I am not a role model. You will note from the above that I have no social life.
Well, that was staggeringly fucking boring, wasn’t it? This will teach you people to send requests. NEXT.”
June 5, 2016
sharpestrose:
“Electrifying.
Chilling. Enthralling. Amazing.”...
“Electrifying.
Chilling. Enthralling. Amazing.” – L.J. Smith, author of The
Vampire Diaries
In
this new edition of the acclaimed series, Goth teens and rock
musicians battle ruthless vampires – and the perils of the
heart.
The
mean streets of Chicago belong to The Wolf House – a pack of
vampires like
Blake,
who loves toying with hunters;
Tim,
who’s lost several centuries of his memory;
Cora,
who has an unquenchable thirst for cruelty.
Facing
off against them are a collection of artists, punk rockers, and
misfit high schoolers – smart, talented, angry … and
doomed:
Bette
and Rose,
best friends lured into the vampires’ world;
Lily
and Will,
vampire hunters, musicians, and all-around human disasters;
Sofie
and Jay,
who barely survived Cora’s brutality and are now Blake’s
pawns.
In
the world of the undead, love is a curse and friendship a weapon.
When the sun goes down, the games begin … and innocence dies.
1.
Origins and Overtures:
At first, Bette and Jay are more fascinated than frightened by the
secret underworld of vampires … but they’re about to find out just
how wrong they are.
2.
Roads and Crosses:
When death creeps in closer than ever, it destroys the equilibrium
Lily and Will shared. Can the new people they’re becoming hope to
regain what’s been lost?
3.
Fair Game:
Vampires obsessively stalk those they love and gleefully manipulate
those they oppose. As tensions between humans and vampires begin to
boil over, Bette and Tim wonder how much of a person’s identity can
survive those new instincts.
4.
Fire Proof Heart:
Having an eating disorder was miserable enough as a human. Now that
Ash is a vampire, it’s a living hell. She’s the latest victim of
Cora’s evil games against Blake, but now Blake – capricious,
charming, endlessly bloodthirsty – is the only one who can save
her.
5.
Last Girl:
In the horror movies Michelle watches with her friends, the last girl
is the one who kills the monster and gets to live, even when everyone
else is dead. It’s not a role Michelle wants, but that’s not her
choice to make. And it seems as if Alexander’s only reward for
tenaciously surviving all this time is to lose everything over and
over again. When all’s said and done, is being the last one standing
a blessing or a curse?
“Rock'n'roll,
sex, tattoos, feminism, bisexuality, and a sense of what teens really
are about.” -The Age
If you’ve ever read any of the series, it’d be great if you could leave a rating at the page! It makes a huge difference. If you don’t like writing reviews, all you need to say is ‘I liked it’ and a rating. These really affect an author’s visibility!
(reblogs and boosts would be gratefully appreciated also!)
