Raven Oak's Blog, page 3

Some Data

I’m a huge fan of data, so I have some data for you.

I seem to have made it through some long COVID brick wall or over the hump or whatever you want to call it. My creativity has fired into overdrive in a way I haven’t had since I got COVID the first time around back in 2020.

Just to give you an idea of what I’m talking about, back in the before times, I could write 3000 words in a day EASILY. Many days, it was 4-5,000 words. When I really pushed, my most in a day was a little over 12,00...

Talking Cats

As a reader, I’m a HUGE fan of books with talking animals. After all, I cut my teeth so to speak on Valdemar with talking horses and swords. I love Tailchaser’s Song by Tad Williams and The Ghatti Tales by Gayle Greeno. If it’s a piece of speculative fiction involving cats or horses, I’ve probably got it on my bookshelves. That’s not limited to the realms of sci-fi or fantasy either. Books like Pet Semetary by Stephen King and Bunnicula by James (& Deborah) Howe are also favorites. When I’m not...

Edge of the World

I don’t write poetry often, mostly because I don’t think I’m all that good at it, but some-what because of an asshole professor in college. It was an Introduction to Poetry Writing course as an undergrad and for our first assignment, we were to write a personal poem, which I did. While I was 19 years old, I’d lived through a LOT by this point. My poem was about mental illness and my own struggles with it, which is a common poetry theme with folks that age who’ve lived through what I have.

Thi...

The Power of a Good Song

My Monday began with a panic attack as my anxiety would not let me get my day going without reminding me of every single stress on my plate. Without fail, it listed every task and every way I was failing to keep up with…everything. It’s hard enough to function as an autistic person in a neurotypical world but toss in anxiety and ADHD and I’ve said before, it’s a recipe for chaos.

I thought my day was ruined until I got into my car to run a few errands. A song I love came on the radio and tha...

Too Much Shit

I’m supposed to have a blog post queued up for today because it’s Monday and I’ve been making an effort to try and blog every Monday but honestly, I’m just trying to catch my breath, running to keep up if you will. There’s just too much shit, pun intended. So instead, I will talk about cats and all that…shit.

CONTENT WARNING: I’m going to talk cat excrement… a lot.

Our cats have caught a rare (though it’s increasing in frequency these last few years), nasty parasite, which is difficult con...

Don’t Forget

I keep forgetting something. Seems important. Made this video so I don’t forget!

The post Don’t Forget appeared first on RAVEN OAK.

Atypical Day

Note the title. The play on words is intentional because if people bother to write it out, most people talk about a “typical day” in the life of a writer, a parent, or whatever, but nothing in my world is typical, and it hasn’t been for a long, long time. Prior to the pandemic, I was already disabled. 

NOTE: This post is a bit long but so important. Also, there will be lots of links as I believe in backing up my comments and giving more information about the various things impacting Molli and...

Assholes

As a writer, I feel like I need to get a sign saying “No Assholes Allowed,” and keep it with me for times like this… We’ll consider this post to be Dear Asshole…

I never set out to intentionally write a memoir–not exactly anyway. It was something that happened because of the events in the world around me and how I was feeling at the time. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—it was the fastest I’ve ever written in my life. The words poured out of me and wouldn’t stop.

People had been ...

Storycrafting

I love virtual conventions/conferences because they are safe. They don’t come with con crud and you don’t have to pay for parking. They’re also more inclusive and don’t require folks to pay for travel and accommodations to attend.

The Weeknight Writers runs several events a year of virtual events, the next one being May 25th, which is called Storycrafting Sessions: Publishing. It’s a full day of panels on everything publishing and featuring a whole host of authors…including me!

I’m a panelist...

And NaNo is Dead

Yep. That’s right. NaNo is Dead.

One of the big hubbubs this week was the news that the organization behind NaNoWriMo is officially dead and honestly? That’s a good thing.

Besides the abuse scandal, followed by the AI scandal, NaNo’s board couldn’t even leave without taking pot-shots at its former supporters.

A video released entitled The State of NaNoWriMo: A Community Update states the details in a lengthy, wordy, redundant, OMG-please-stop-talking almost 28 minute video and basically...