#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 2: Do you have any annual traditions not tied to holidays?

Nope.

Well, other than enjoying the first thunderstorm of the season. But I'm a little iffy on how well I even do that.

There's also the annual "take things of sentimental value into the basement for tornado season" that tends to happen when the tornado sirens first go off. I plan on being a bit more proactive this year.

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 3: What's a creative project you would want to give someone for their birthday?

I don't really do birthdays anymore, and even if I did, it would be something cool I found that I know they'd like. This seems geared more toward makers and I'm not a maker.

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 4: Our next featured creator is a comic artist. Tell us about a comic strip or web comic you enjoy.

I haven't read any regularly since 8-Bit Theater ended. I mean there's xkcd that I follow a reposter bot here on Fedi, and sometimes I remember Awkward Zombie exists, but anything beyond that is mostly a nostalgia check-up. As far as those go, Three Panel Soul probably gets most of my remaining curiosity.

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 5: You now have the same occupation as the main character of your current WIP (or book you are reading/last read) What job are you doing?

Space courier. All the flight training to be a non-commercial pilot and it goes to delivering fragile instruments from colony to colony. Thank God for railgun systems to let you point your ship and chill for a bit.

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 6: Our featured creator makes graphic novels. As a reader, which do you think is more important in a graphic novel, art or words?

Both are essential.

There's more to writing than words. Art can convey plenty, but you have to write that art. There's also more to words than text. I've done webcomics. Typesetting is an art in its own right; sound effects would lose all their impact if they were just put in the same comic font as everything else; bubbles can express emotion.

And, of course, absolutely no one is going to read a graphic novel if the writing is garbage, whether that's done in words or not. People will get bored of the art, the same way they'll be left confused or unsatisfied if the art is garbage. A graphic novel has the air of expectation hanging around it. A manufactured legitimacy, sure, but no one's buying xkcd off newsstands.

The idea that a good finished product isn't a gestalt for which the removal of any component leaves the rest lesser is short-sighted.

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 7:

[Placeholder, as I cannot see or interact with mastodon.art from tech.lgbt.]

See the post on my mastodon.social alt here.

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 8: How do you define a book? Do audio books and graphic novels fit your definition?

Does it have more than one page and/or is that page sandwiched between other things? Then congratulations, it's a book! Audiobooks are books being read, but someone is reading that book, just like we have to children since ever. Concerts are books being performed. There are books of literally nothing but colors.

The sooner we understand that a "book" can be filled with anything, the sooner we can let go of the idea that things like audiobooks or ebooks don't "deserve" to be "books." A "book" is not some sacred artifact; it is the plate holding the meal you're about to eat. I wouldn't review a restaurant based on its plates.

[Reposted due to account reply shenanigans.]

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 9: Is 1 the loneliest number?

Loneliness is exacerbated by boredom. If you keep yourself entertained, you'll still get lonely eventually, but it will take much, much longer. And, I think, as a writer, it can be a lot like people-watching. I'm not saying you should shut in and live in the world in your head; that's far from healthy. But it can tide you over if, say, someone went on vacation. Ultimately we're social animals and need that connection. But we don't have to condemn ourselves to pacing the cage right away. We can cope a bit.

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 10: What is the most out of character creative thing you enjoy? That thing that never matches the assumptions about you.

Honestly, that's harder to answer these days. People used to be surprised at my sense of whimsy because I was so phlegmatic. Four years at this job and people think I'm funny, which caught me completely off-guard after a lifetime of my sense of humor being completely misinterpreted.

I've been on my sleeve about my pursuits for so long I don't think I could whip out anything not in my profile.

Wellll... there may be ONE thing. The fact I have my own pizza recipes. But that would require anyone to not know my first job. I'm actually a good cook; I just hate cleaning up after it. XD

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 11: Aside from the official birthday song and the ubiquitous Beatles song, is there a song about birthdays you like?

I am particularly partial to Sal's Birthday with the raucous loop cut off the end, which I think ruins the whole vibe. I share this video sometimes because it does that.

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 12: Guffaw?

A word I use exclusively for bullies. Maybe that's petty revenge, but I spent a large chunk of my life being bullied, so...

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 13: How well do you sing? If you don't consider yourself a good singer, do you sing anyway?

I used to be really good, but fell out of practice and lost my air. In some ways I'm a better singer in character than I am with my natural voice. I have a good natural voice, though.

#ScribesAndMakers 2/14. How are things going for you this month, creatively or otherwise?

Trying to shake a slump. March will be better, I think. SAD is at its worst in February and while I don't have it, it does vindicate my feelings. Once March rolls around, I'll probably have more energy.

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 16: Do you have a favorite decade of music? Which one(s)?

If I had to pick, it would probably be the '80s, but my musical tastes are very eclectic just because of how little music I had for much of my life, since Grandma conditioned Mom to hate the radio as a kid for sake of a daily contest. Everything I ended up amassing came off the radio and I lost a chunk of it when Google Play Music went offline and deleted my purchased library straight off my PC, whatever I hadn't backed up elsewhere. I never amassed much again after that. Now that I don't have an hour commute and don't spend time screaming into my elbow in a bathroom stall like at my old job, I've gone back to not listening to much.

Just a bit of note to self, Feb. 15 was about cake and I had nothing to say; Feb. 17 was about a favorite past prompt and I haven't been doing it long enough to say.

Feb. 18 is here: https://tech.lgbt/@bluestarultor/116094527940652120

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 19: Our featured creator is an avid gamer. Does gaming affect your creativity?

OMG, does it ever, but not how you think. XD

So many of my ideas are games. My whole site is dedicated to them, obviously.

But mostly I think games influenced me in ways books didn't. I don't think a book ever changed how I viewed the world quite the way a game has. Like Final Fantasy VII hit me right in a stage of my life where Red XIII and I lived parallel lives, even accounting for later releases. He drilled the idea into me that a person is a person, no matter what they look like. Always having been different myself, and really not having been treated as a person by my peers, his struggle hit home. Helped me realize my own value.

Maybe if I'd given FF9 a chance closer to release, I would have also lived at least a little parallel with Vivi, and I am very lucky to have had my own Zidane, but it just... kinda hit different to see it as who I had been. Right thing at the wrong time.

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 20: The alpha male is a misconception perpetuated in popular media that our featured creator works against in her wolf books. What's a misconception that bothers you in popular media?

Any idea that autism means you can't live a normal life. I'm AuDHD and hold a steady job, pay my taxes, and function largely like a normal person. I think representation has gotten better with things like Donatello being depicted as spectrum-coded in newer versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but that's been a rather hard-fought battle as society adapts to the idea that all the nerds of yesteryear actually have a reason for it.

Like The Big Bang Theory is incredibly damaging because of how none of these guys are properly functional and Sheldon is absolutely spectrum-coded even though the writers swear he's not.

It's the 21st, and another Talk to me Day.
Today our featured creator is fantasy writer Hannah Steenbock @Firlefanz You can find her work here: https://books2read.com/hannahsteenbock

Please join us with your questions and don't forget @ing @Firlefanz and adding the hashtags #ScribesAndMakers and #TTMD
Or feel free to follow along without asking a question. There is only one rule: be kind.
Please keep your questions mostly to writing, and please don't ask about politics.

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How do sequels emerge for you? For me it's a realization that all my ideas won't fit in one entry.

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 22: Create a poll giving a line from a book you wrote (or a favorite if you haven't written one) along with lines from two other books. Ask people to choose which was from yours.

What better line than the first from each book? 😁

In his shabby room in the formerly elegant hostelry known as the Grand Atumpquah Palace, Jack Warner pulled the coarse weave sheet up about his ears and composed himself to sleep.

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It was peaceful, for the moment, in the apartment of the Wells brothers.

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"I'm telling you, you're calibrating it wrong!" Celsius ripped the pizza box-like manual out of Fahrenheit's hand, his breathy tenor going squeaky.

I feel like this would be harder if I didn't have so much reason to talk about my writing across these various daily tags. XD

The answers are:

Edit:
#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 23: Reveal the answer to your poll.

Oh, hey, I already did that! Ya-whoops! XD

Edit 2:
I feel I should be grateful that almost half of you would think I could stand with greats like Laumer and Asimov.

#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 24: What's something you learned about one of our community member's creativity from the hashtag games?

Generally speaking, people have varied perspectives and that just adds to the color of the community.