Substantial Conundrum

some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.

I couldn't remember the word "doorknob" ten minutes ago.

ok but the onelook thesaurus will save your life, i literally could not live without this website

REBLOG TO SAVE A WRITER'S LIFE

Everyone should read their own fanfics recreationally tbh this shit fucking rules. It's like the author knows exactly what I like.

why doesn’t that bitch ever update 😭

THAT WAS THE BEST SONG CHOICE FOR THIS VID

I thought I dreamt this video

you look fine to me

Always reblog~

My cousin once showed me this from a facebook repost because he knows I like pokemon and teen titans, not knowing it was my art. Didnt tell him cuz then he’d look for my blog.

Girl to girl communication

Very pleased to announce that over Christmas my husband and I welcomed a new little light into the world!

Had to commemorate!

Already falling into the parenting thing of taking waaaay too many photos lol!

zinetober day 12....

The Wizard Pack is available on my Ko-Fi shop! This pack features 5 models: Queen Amethyst, V, Prince Tico, @nyxnaiastock, and me, AdorkaStock. We're all doing some kind of magic casting type thing with various wands and sticks. There are a few cat appearances!

Pizza VS Flower with bee on it VS Bisexuality VS Wind turbine

For anyone who doesn't want to watch the video, he used a list of things from Wikidata, pared it down to about 8000 things that most people would have heard of, and made a website where people voted for the best option in randomly selected pairs of things.

Pizza was voted the 9th best thing, making it the best food. Bees weren't in the top 10 best things, but they won 77% of matchups to be selected as the best creature, followed by emperor penguins and hedgehogs. Bisexuality didn't place in the top 10 either, but it won 73% of matchups compared to heterosexuality winning only 45%. (Orgasms were the highest ranked sexual thing, and were miraculously ranked at number 69.) I think the windmill is supposed to stand for electricity, which was the second place winner. And the winner of "best thing" was sleep.

... honestly, I would agree with that list more or less.

good news!

just another reminder that speaking out WORKS

It should also be a reminder just how little Amazon cares about anything. They refused to remove the books because they expected Friedman not to put up a big public fight. They refused to remove the books because they thought they could get away with it. They’ve decided letting very shitty AI books overrun their platform is profitable and they’re going to keep letting it happen.

It was never a good idea to shop at Amazon, but they’re now on a track that’s going to make their website absolutely unusable for finding actual books written by real people who know how to write enjoyable books.

What a new FUCK is this 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

Amazon is the one place I specifically refuse to sell my books. Most authors have no choice; their monetisation methods mean that they need to sell on Amazon (and put up with whatever bullshit Amazon wants) to make a living wage, because most readers have Amazon accounts and can't be bothered buying their books from a less horrible distributor. And the buyers don't bother to look elsewhere because everyone sells through Amazon, because most of them have to, because the buyers... yeah.

Anyway you won't find Derin Edala books on Amazon because I can afford to choose not to sell there. And I constantly get annoyed messages from people who don't want to have to take thirty seconds to make an account with another retailer. I encourage other authors who don't make their primary income through sales to do the same thing (because those who make their primary income through sales can't afford to), and readers to support your authors by buying their books somewhere fucking else.

@derinthescarletpescatarian

What alternatives are there? I'd love to know of alternatives to Amazon but I haven't even heard of any.

Here's a link to everywhere I sell, to start with. Other authors might have others to add.

For authors who don't know how to access other distributors, draft2digital.com is a retail distributor that gives you access to a global market, including places like Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and many other international retailers. If you do opt to use Amazon, you're better off uploading directly through KDP because you'll get more royalties. (It's like a 5-10% difference iirc, which for me is about 20 cents. Which isn't much, but when some of your royalty checks are literally a penny, that 20 cents matters.)

They recently acquired Smashwords as well and are constantly expanding their global market and library distributors.

(If you want to see how many retailers you can reach with them, this is where you can get my books. I'm in over 20 global stores and need to actually update the listings to include more. Unfortunately, I can't afford to avoid Amazon because, as @derinthescarletpescatarian pointed out, it's really hard to get people to change their buying habits, and I like being able to afford food.)

It used to just be for ebooks, but they now do their own paperbacks that give you the same access as the Ingram Spark market and, unlike Ingram Spark, haven't completely trashed their customer service.

The only downside to avoiding Ingram is that it limits your market for hardbacks unless you're willing to use Amazon, though hopefully, D2D will start doing hardbacks soon. (There are a few other places, but they don't have the same market reach as Ingram, sadly. Yay... monopolies...)

They also partner with FindAwayVoices for audiobooks, which gives you access to a wide global market as well. Like D2D you can access Audible through Findaway, but like Kindle, you'll earn more if you upload directly to Audible.

So, yeah, you want and can afford to avoid Amazon as an author? Draft2digital is the place to go.

As a reader, check the links authors post.

Usually, you'll see Amazon listed, but a lot of us are really doing all we can to be available in as many stores as possible and would LOVE for you to use them.

Please. We're begging at this point.

We're counting down the hours on the Lackadaisy Season 1 crowdfund! If you'd like to grab the Card Game, Plushes, Pins, or any of the new hardcover editions of Volume 1, Volume 2, and the Lackadaisy Essentials art book, now's the time!

Find them here!

✨️Lich & Mushroom for everrr🍄

this is a far too serious, unfunny comic about spock & bones playing scrabble. i made it for ME and ME ALONE

fucked up how colors look different depending on what screen you’re looking at them on. that should be illegal I think

this fucking shit, you know

I spend so much time carefully picking and adjusting the colors in every single drawing I make that I’d probably lose my mind if I didn’t just repeatedly push this out of my memory and pretend it’s not a thing. Why am I reblogging a blank empty post that doesn’t say anything??? Weird

good news! you can’t make sure that everyone will see the correct colors on their own device, but you can make sure your monitor is as accurate as possible for printing and sharing by calibrating it! 

there are a bunch of free monitor tests, but here’s an easy one you can use. the passmark and eizo tests are also pretty good, though passmark doesn’t work in your browser. be warned that some tests may cause eye strain.

you can either use the settings built into your monitor itself or use the display color calibration settings in your operating system to adjust the settings until everything looks correct, and then enjoy your accurate colors.

REBLOG TO SAVE A LIFE