Raven Oak's Blog, page 3

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...

Outcasts Story Bundle

Amaskan’s Blood is one of 14 books in this batch of StoryBundle’s book bundles. This one, themed the Outcasts Story Bundle, is curated by Danielle Ackley-McPhail and features outsiders, rebels, underdogs, and free-thinkers.

What’s StoryBundle?

If you’re not familiar with StoryBundle, it’s a lot like HumbleBundle in that you pay what you want for a collection of goods and some of your proceeds go to the curator’s chosen charity. In this case, Girls Write Now, a nationally award-winning non...

What am I?

I used to do this posts every month to chat about what I’m reading, watching, playing, or otherwise enjoying and I stopped somewhere along the way. I think life got a bit chaotic, and I didn’t feel like I had the time. But it’s important for me to document and chat about the things I’m enjoying in life so I’ve decided to bring this back. Let’s start with the reading…

WHAT AM I READING?

Because I already love the urban fantasy works of C. E. Murphy (aka Catie) and I love a good cozy myster...

A Good Cry

Everyone needs a good cry from time to time. Sometimes, my Sjogren’s gets in the way with that as my eyes are too dry to cry, and other times, other emotions make it challenging, but music is always something that can give me that cathartic release.

In honor of that, here are my Top 10 Songs That Make Me Cry. Because I want to talk a bit about the songs and such, this post is going to be lengthier than most. There’s also a bonus track at the end.

NOTE: I’m going to embed the videos here...

GenAI is Theft

The Atlantic just released a huge exposé on how Meta (the company behind Facebook, Threads, Instagram, etc.) has stolen millions of books in order to train their GenAI engines. They aren’t the first company to do so and unless we stop them, they won’t be the last. It’s not just that they stole some books, they literally scraped the entirety LibGen.

If you’re not familiar, LibGen stands for Library Genesis and serves as a library to digitize schoarly journals, articles, academic and fiction ...

Attorney at Nothing

Few people like to think about death. So few that according to Gallup, 54% of U.S. adults do not have a will. Those who do are mostly over the age of 65, are upper class, and are white. Most are educated with at least one college degree.

I could say something about how death doesn’t care about ethnicity, skin color, age, education, or wealth, but in reality, it does. Because of prejudice, racism, police brutality, homophobia, genetics, access to health care and countless other issues, some fo...