[2021] Poll 12 Voting

[Pam]

I like the local industry prompt because it made me think about my community and what makes us unique and interesting. As a KIS option, I would use a store, library, bar, etc. but there would have to be some kind of connection. (E.g. Cherry Hills mystery series which shares the name of my library branch.) But, I came up with other more interesting options! I think it could be one of those prompts that you don’t plan for but a book comes your way and it’s perfect. I love these kind of serendipitous finds! I also like a mixture of prompts - some specific but others broader and open to interpretation.

[Angie]

dalex wrote: "and the prompt about referring to a person by name are the same. And I think people are really misunderstanding the business/industry one. You don’t have to read a book about a barista or a salesman or a book set in a bookstore or a bar! The prompt is “related to...” so (for example) if there is one scene in a book where the characters meet at a coffee shop or stop at a bar for a drink after work....that counts! Why do people think “related to” prompts are so hard?"

I don't think "related to" prompts are hard. For me, basing the fill on one scene where two people meet in a bar is far too broad. The prompt might as well be "read a book." Like others have said, I like more structure in my prompts.

[Jillian]

Avery, I like your example and think it is a good explanation.

I’d be fine with either of the title prompts but I don’t want both of them.

[Kelly]

Personally, I like having a couple of essentially "free space" prompts. I am doing exceptionally well if I read 52 books in a year at all, so if I do a challenge, there's zero room for me to read any other books that don't fit it. It's nice to have a few prompts that are very broad so I can fit in new releases I want to read, or something that suddenly catches my eye. I don't think it's bad to have prompts that you can fill in a variety of ways, but maybe you all read more books than I do.

[Ellie]

I don't mind freebie prompts if they are the kind of thing I can fit SFF into, as I usually read a bunch that just don't fit into either of my challenges. I do think the local business one would require some creative bending to be a freebie for me! However if it gets in I will read something related to tourism, farming or nature, as I live on the edge of a national park.

Although I did notice the most recent book I added to my TBR is Before the Coffee Gets Cold which would work for the whole "everywhere has coffee shops" angle.

[Anastasia]

I like the small business prompt because it made me look closer at my community without reading a book set here.

We have had a zipper factory, clothing factory, tourism is very big here, car factories, university town and colleges. The list is endless really. I can even go into military since we have an armoury and an old fort near by too. Oh, and a canal, so shipping.

[Jess]

These options are really exciting! I only down voted 2 which is rare for me.

[[deleted user]]

Emily wrote: "I know it's not perfect, and I hope the way it's worded conveys what we want to mean without offending anyone."

i hate to be critical but it's just my opinion that it's not clear at all. i know we all have our different interpretations but i literally never would have interpreted the plus sign to mean "all queer identities but lesbian, bi & gay" when it doesn't mention that in the prompt. i think you would only know that if you read the wild discussion? which i must have missed. imo having trans & nonbinary with a plus makes me think it was just a continuation of 'and other gender identities', not 'all other queer identities but three that aren't mentioned in the prompt'. but maybe that's just my brain haha

[Jess]

Angie wrote: "Does anyone know any positive depictions of men dealing with mental illness? My friend and I were discussing this today, and neither he nor I were able to find much. I'd be interested in locating s..."

Verona Comics is a ya romance with the main male character having severe anxiety and depression.

[Irene]

@Annie and @Emily, wow, it's so interesting to see how different our reading trends are!! I would love to not be so behind on my TBR but all those trips to my local indie bookstore have left me with a huge amount of books I already own but still need to read.

I did the number crunching, and I was a bit off - apparently ~8% (6/71) books I read this year were from 2019, although all but 1 (The Silent Patient) were free kindle ebooks, 3 of them being short stories/novellas. And apparently I did read exactly 1 ebook from 2020 this year!

The average year of publication for me is 2007 - it's crazy to me that I somehow read more from pre-2000 than from 2019!

[Irene]

@Avery - Your not-all-rectangles-are-squares analogy is spot-on!

It's not that I think the two prompts are the same, but one prompt that we already have already encompasses every prompt in the other. Every prompt with an occupation in the title would already fit in the prompt that refers to someone without naming them. And on my TBR specifically, it's like an 80% overlap.

So like Jillian, I'd be fine with either one but prefer not to have both, especially since there are lots of other prompts that are totally different from the prompts we already have.

[[deleted user]]

Irene wrote: "@Annie and @Emily, wow, it's so interesting to see how different our reading trends are!! I would love to not be so behind on my TBR but all those trips to my local indie bookstore have left me wit..."

i read a lot of review copies i guess? and read mostly ya, which doesn't date well, i wouldn't read many pre-2010 books at all! let alone anything earlier than 2000. maybe that's something i can work on next year. but it's so interesting to the difference between people's reading habits!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

annie, I would be open to rewording it if you have suggestions!

[Jette]

Pam wrote: "What ideas do people have for the local industry/ small business prompt? My first thought was businesses relating to sports in NM like hiking, camping, skiing, golfing, hot air ballooning. My other..."

We have a coffee shop in our small town named Steel Rails. The railroad industry was a major and historical employer until recently. So based off this, I could go with anything related to railroads, the words 'steel' and 'rails' in the title, or involving a coffee shop. Hope this helps.

[Alicia]

Hey Annie, definitely open to word changes. I actually didn’t run it by the Wild Discussion, but we had discussed it a bit in the voting the first time I submitted.

My intent with the prompt was to push ourselves to read LGBTQIA+ books that don’t focus on only lesbian, gay and bi characters/authors. I focused a lot on non-binary and trans reading this year and discovered a lot of great authors, so used that as my base and the + was added to encompass the queer, intersex, and asexual.

I think it would be confusing to many to just have it say “TQIA+ authors or characters” as I think it lacks context and may lead to confusion, since most are used to the LGB in front. But do you think there is another good way to encompass the different genders and sexualities present there, without necessarily spelling it all out? Or would that be the most inclusive method?

[Avery]

Alicia wrote: "Hey Annie, definitely open to word changes. I actually didn’t run it by the Wild Discussion, but we had discussed it a bit in the voting the first time I submitted.

My intent with the prompt was ..."

I know this slightly changes the intent, and may be more wordy, but here is my suggestion:

A book with TQIA+ author or character from the LGBTQIA+ community

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Avery wrote: "Alicia wrote: "Hey Annie, definitely open to word changes. I actually didn’t run it by the Wild Discussion, but we had discussed it a bit in the voting the first time I submitted.

My intent with ..."

I think it would be good to put in parentheses what the TQIA+ means. If people aren't totally clear on a prompt, they may just not vote for it. It seems like a lot of members don't follow all these discussions, they just look at the list when they vote. It would be great if everyone was familiar with these terms, but they probably aren't (also maybe not the same in other countries?)

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

What about

"A book with a TQIA+ (from the LGBTQIA+ community) author or character"

It's definitely longer and wordier, but it's important to get it right if it makes it on the list, and I'd hate to cause confusion or exclude anyone in this.

[Avery]

I like that Emily, and I agree, changing the wording of prompts is hairy, but this one is important to get right! I hope it gets through.

I think this word changing prompt is for assuming it gets through as a top choice since voting is already underway. If it doesn't get through this time, I'd hope the rewording here would help!

[[deleted user]]

sorry for making everyone scramble to reword the prompt. i was just genuinely confused & completely misinterpreted it!

i'm guessing there is an objection to using the term queer? i know a lot of older people from the community still aren't the biggest fans of the term so i would back the suggest

"A book with a TQIA+ (LGBTQIA+ community) author or character"

or maybe something like this, if that isn't an objection

"A character or author with an under-represented queer identity (TQIA+, not LGB)"

[Conny]

annie wrote: "A character or author with an under-represented queer identity (TQIA+, not LGB)."

I like that! I also have no problem with the term "queer", but then again I am not a native speaker and not a member of the LGBTQIA+ community myself, although I have friends who are, and even one who actually does refer to himself as queer (and he IS a native speaker^^).

I don't have time right now to catch up on three pages of thread, but would something referring "non-cis" or "xis" work in this context? We are talking gender identity rather than sexual orientation, are we not?

EDIT: Shoot. Forgot about the "A" :D

[[deleted user]]

Conny wrote: "We are talking gender identity rather than sexual orientation, are we not?"

we could have changed it to non-cis but the whole issue with the wording that it's not restricted to gender identity. it still includes asexual, aromantic & pansexual (etc)!

i identify as queer myself so i definitely have no problem with it. and i much prefer it as an umbrella term because it's actually inclusive (unlike lgbtqia+ which, imho, isn't) but i get there is a wider audience and not everyone is comfortable using it

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I do like that wording as well, annie. If the prompt gets through this round, we may just work it out in the results thread where people are likely to be more active (at least at first). If it doesn't get through, we can workshop it in the Wild Discussion.

Today is the last day for voting!

[[deleted user]]

love that idea, thanks emily 😊

[Conny]

annie wrote: "Conny wrote: "we could have changed it to non-cis but the whole issue with the wording that it's not restricted to gender identity. it still includes asexual, aromantic & pansexual (etc)! "

Yes, sorry, I noticed that after I posted. I missed the entire discussion about the wording and just skim-read.

I like your wording and I would love to see the prompt make it into the final list :)

[[deleted user]]

sorry i didn't see your edit until after i posted either! fingers crossed it makes it through

[Steve]

Nadine wrote: "Angie wrote: "Does anyone know any positive depictions of men dealing with mental illness? My friend and I were discussing this today, and neither he nor I were able to find much. I'd be interested..."

Jumping in here late, but yes! It's a much "lighter" story involving bipolarity. The book and movie are two of my favorites. I don't know what Quick's background is with people with bipolar disorder, but as someone with a lot of exposure to it in my life, he NAILED it in so many ways (and Bradley Cooper nailed the portrayal of it in the movie).

Hope everyone is doing well! I basically took the summer off from reading... I can't share the quarantine blahs. I'll have to scan through and see what prompts I missed in my time off!