Why haven’t I seen this Amazon Japan commercial yet ? Nefeli, explain. It’s been 10 days since its release and has a dog in it.  >_<

AHHH

Aww this is precious~~

#readwomen

When I was in grade 12, my English class was given the choice between two novels to read for our novel study. Or rather, some of us were given the choice between two novels. 

The boys in the class had to read ‘Fahrenheit 451′ by Ray Bradbury, but the girls in the class were given the option to either read ‘Fahrenheit 451′, or they could read ‘The Bean Trees’ by Barbara Kingsolver instead. When asked why the boys weren’t allowed to read ‘The Bean Trees’ as their novel study, my teacher simply stated that because it featured female characters, the boys wouldn’t be able to understand or relate to the story. 

At the time, I had just accepted his answer. I didn’t really understand his reasoning, but I trusted his judgement as a teacher. Looking back on it, this is a huge flaw that still persists in the primary/secondary education system and perpetuates the favouring of male authors over the female authors. 

Teachers don’t think twice before assigning books written by and focusing on men to their classes, regardless of the gender make-up of the class. It is however, quite rare that a book written by or starring a female will be assigned or taken as seriously in an educational environment. At least, not at the middle/high school level. It wasn’t until I was university that I was introduced to some amazing female authors and poets. 

And I mean, take a look at some of the biggest series of our generation: Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games… All of these series were created by some kickass female authors, yet it’s the male authors that tend to be celebrated more among the general public.

This is why I’ll be participating in #readwomen this December. Female authors are out there and they are creating incredible worlds and characters; taking the time to celebrate it is important and, in my opinion, necessary in the process of normalizing gender equality within fiction. 

http://mental-health-faq.tumblr.com/ (via psych-facts)

The Dales, Yorkshire, UK (by raymond beardsall)   

i was 14 and i was walking through a mall by myself at 12am after my shift at coldstone creamery lol and a bunch of men started whistling and meowing and getting really close to me and they kept asking me questions and i kept not answering until i didn’t know what else to do so i said “i’m only 14” and almost in unison they said “we don’t care” i was so fucking scared i didn’t know what to do and they kept talking about how i looked and how my body looked and what they would do i was on the verge of tears i was all alone in a huge mall i knew i couldn’t outrun them all i felt totally hopeless until a maintenance worker came up to all of us with a huge industrial broom in her hand, i thought she was going to yell at all of us for being in the mall after hours bc she probably thought we were all friends but instead she cursed all of them out in spanish, threatened to press a panic button on her belt and then proceeded to walk me to the basement garage and waited with me until my mom got there to pick me up she had a death grip on her cart the whole time and a face of steel she looked so strong and i just kept saying thank you and she kept saying not to thank her because she had to stop them.

that was the moment i realized women were the most important beings on this planet and we have to protect each other bc nobody else is going to, she didn’t even know me, we couldn’t even communicate that well because of the language barrier, she could have lost her job for waiting with me in the parking lot but she looked out for me when she didn’t have to, she had nothing to gain from it, i’m 21 now and i tell everyone this story even though it happened 7 years ago, what she did that night helped me form and shape lot of my beliefs early on. 

i was at a grocery store really late one night and some old guy kind of eyed me as i walked out of the store next to this other lady. She and I made eye contact and i knew she was scared too. we loaded up our groceries into our cars as fast as possible and I had way more bags than her so she got done faster than me. I panicked because i was sure she was going to leave so i just hurried faster, shaking a little, and then i noticed she sat in her car, watching me and making sure nobody came near. She waited not until all my groceries were loaded, or until my cart was put away, or until I got into my car. No, she didn’t drive away until I drove away. 

And that was the moment that I realized how much women need other women. That we can’t win this war without each other and we have to be looking out for each other, every second. 

my last year in new york city, i got off the subway around 9 or 10p.m. i only lived about 5 blocks from the f train, but i hadn’t gotten more than two before a woman’s hand suddenly touched my arm. 

“that guy behind us is following you,” she said. “he was watching you leave the train car and followed you up.”

i hadn’t noticed him, or at least not noticed him following me. when we stopped outside a grocery store, he stopped half a block back and loitered. the woman linked her arm with mine and walked me several blocks out of her way to my front door and made sure i got inside safely.

another time, nocigar and i were walking home and at a stoplight a stranger grabbed my arm when i wouldn’t respond to him and tried to physically drag me over to him. she—who is, by the way, not a very physically imposing girl—ripped his hand off my arm and snarled, “don’t fucking touch her.”

protect your friends. protect strangers. there are good men in the world, but don’t wait for them to do something if you can do it yourself.

I was at a club once and my friend left with her boyfriend so I finished my drink and was heading out to the parking lot when three girls came up to me and basically surrounded me. 

“Those guys behind us were talking about following you. We can walk with you.” 

I have MMA training but have never in my life had been offered the protection and sanction of my own gender. This is so important. 

GIRL CODE. FUCKIN’ GIRL CODE. LEAVE NO GIRL BEHIND. EVER.

in celebration of psisly here’s some more of covinsky bein cute on social media

Queen of Shadows preview

As some of you might have noticed, BookCon has released a preview from Queen of Shadows, but only those with an Apple device can read the file. No worries if you were unable to access it, we typed it all out to make it available for everyone. Click read more if you want to read the first three chapters now, instead of waiting until September 1st.

Keep reading

BIG BANG-Loser (via qaerin)

Why you should love Celaena Sardothien as much as I do

- kicking ass and taking names like nobody’s business 

- still likes dresses and sparkles and books and dogs even though she basically grinds people’s faces into the ground as her job

- has the Percy Jackson habit that when faced with almost certain death eXCUSE ME I MUST SARCASM

- sort of girl who would wear a really short skirt just to mess with you then wHOOPSY DAISY how did these thirty-seven knives get in my waistband

- can and will eat one and a half pounds of candy in one go

- goes through boys like a normal fucking teenage girl

- she’s perfect

- bye

books-and-cookies

ACCURATE.

*slow clap* yo thank you so much for saying all of this.

I work in self-publishing and Amazon is a better outlet than Barnes and Noble. Indeed, most self-published authors will tell you this. Amazon is a better outlet because you reach a larger audience and make more money. Amazon makes money where people buy things. Romance and Westerns are the leading category of fiction for women and men respectively. As a writer, I make less money if I go through a publisher, and I make less money if I sell through Barnes and Noble than if I sell through Amazon. In closing, I’m pissed off and hearing people with such a closed-minded view spewing their filth isn’t something I have time for right now.

Well you made enough time to respond to it, friend, so I’m going to return the favor. I’m not talking about self-publishing. The words ‘self-publishing’ are nowhere in the original post. That’s an entirely separate issue. Amazon is indisputably bad for traditional publishing. And while there are some great things about the ease of self-publishing (and yes, Amazon is probably the best market for that kind of publishing), it’s barely relevant to the conversation at hand. So, next time you attack someone for spreading ‘filth,’ you might want to read the whole post and make sure you actually understand what they’re saying first. As a writer, you should know the importance of doing your research before you publish. (That applies to the internet, too.)