Samantha Keel

Just call an Uber and pay it myself for them.

.

You're not paying EMS for the freaking ride. You're paying for the knowledge, experience, and training of the EMTs and paramedics. You're paying for the equipment and diagnostics they can bring to bear. For the knowledge of WHICH hospital is the right hospital for you and your condition.

Getting to the hospital quickly (or cheaply) isn't everything. Getting there alive is.

And if the condition isn't so urgent that it's threatening a life... Why are you seeking care at the ER, and not a doctor's office or urgent care clinic?

Fuck them. Fuck them all. I previously have been a very measured voice of opposition, but now it becomes personal.

“Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were told of the list of forbidden words at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute briefing. The forbidden words are “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.”

**edit

Look at the specific words they chose. Look at them.

Vulnerable. You know who's in vulnerable populations.

Transgender. A specific group of vulnerable patients near and dear to my heart.

Diversity. As if by getting rid of the word you can get rid of the concept.

Entitlement. As in, the way someone thinks they are entitled to say what the biggest health governmental body in the fucking world can or cannot say. But how can you criticize a group of entitled people without calling them so?

How can you say that people -- not some people, but every person -- is entitled to good healthcare if you can't even use the word?

Evidence-based. The shift to evidence-based medicine is the SINGLE BIGGEST SHIFT IN 20TH CENTURY MEDICINE WE HAVE HAD. Medicine is a science, and that science requires evidence base.

But if you can't have the evidence, then how can you have proof?

Now look at what this is dealing with: budgets. You cannot budget for evidence based medicine. You cannot budget for research into caring for transgender patients. For vulnerable patients. And when suggestions are made, we get a glimpse at what, exactly, these shitstorms want.

They want to bring "community standards" into a space that science should dominate. That's code for "stuffing religion into my science."

First of all: fuck this completely. As a healthcare provider and LGBT human -- as someone with an ounce of sense and compassion -- I call bullshit on this Orwellian, fascist approach to censorship at the highest level.

Call your reps. Call for immediate investigations. Call for justice and a voice for the vulnerable.

*cracks knuckles* DO I EVER

In no particular order, might I suggest:

@theinkstainsblog

@brynwrites

@chantingwrites

@thewritersworkout

@open-notebook

@thehonestauthor

@ava-burton-writing

@incandescent-creativity

@banditywrites

@kemeadows

@writers-all-around

@writingdella

@justawritingaid

@claustro-phobic-turtle

@authorrjcity

@writebruh

@knightedwriter

@gingerly-writing

@thewritehag

@prideandpen

@gloriawriting

@boy-king-stories

@c-foley

@itstheenglishkid

@boothewriter

@roselinproductions

@sapphicauthor

@kbcypher

And literally any of the script blogs (particularly @scriptmedic)

I made these as a way to compile all the geographical vocabulary that I thought was useful and interesting for writers. Some descriptors share categories, and some are simplified, but for the most part everything is in its proper place. Not all the words are as useable as others, and some might take tricky wording to pull off, but I hope these prove useful to all you writers out there!

Enchanting Bookworm Inspired Digital Illustrations by Simini Blocker

NYC based illustrator Simini Blocker understands the enchanting world bookworms revel in. From Hogwarts to Neverland or King’s Landing, Blocker captures the spellbinding imaginative realms literature has introduced to us with vibrant colours, gorgeous brushstrokes and fitting quotes from our favourite authors. You can find her gorgeous illustrations on Society6 and Etsy.

View similar posts here!

Rescues and the Rhyssa

Cadan is cousin to the King of Nidum star system, and his favorite weapon to needle the Imperial forces encroaching on their territory. With her combat implants and a reckless streak the size of a planet, Cadan has never failed him. Pan Sophi, Captain of the Rhyssa, is a smuggler who makes her living off the tensions. With her crew behind her, Sophi’s always on the lookout for the next deal. Anything to keep flying. They only get along when they’re falling into bed together. Otherwise the clash between Cadan’s idealism and Sophi’s harsher worldview always results in a fight. But when the King’s children are kidnapped, only Sophi has the skills to help Cadan get them back

My darlings this is not a drill! Rescues and the Rhyssa, aka my first novel, is officially available for preorder.

Do you want to read about badass sapphic ladies kicking ass and learning how to love each other with a backdrop of space and aliens? Do you want to read a story in which queer and diverse people exist without apology? This book is for you, and since it’s a preorder, it’s currently on sale for 15% off.

Go forth, and I hope you love these characters as much as I do.

<3

TS

Please. If you’ve ever enjoyed a fic of mine, spread this like wildfire.

<3

It will look like this when activated, and is auto-defaulted to being on.

Make it look like this to turn it off.

CONGRATULATIONS.

Every book in a public library has to earn its spot on the shelf. If no one checks it out, then it will be weeded from the collection to make way for a book that will circulate. So, if you check out a book, you’ve just given it a much a better chance at being there for someone else to discover!

A recently returned book is more likely to be propped up as a display in the tiny nooks around the library. Every shelver loves an empty display space because it means they can quickly get rid of several books. A book on display is more likely to catch someone’s eye and on and on!

You might not be able to tell this just by looking at the shelves, but when a book first comes out from an author, the library often buys several copies and based on how many people have reserved the title and how heavily it circulates, they might buy even more copies! Also, when purchasing a new title from an established author, many librarians will look at the circ stats of the author’s other books and will use that as a guide for how many copies to buy of the new book. In case you didn’t know, libraries buy a lot of books - we make up a huge portion of the book sales market.

Many people use the library as a way to discover new authors. It’s a risk-free investment and helps them experiment with a lot of different titles that they wouldn’t be able to if they had to buy all of them. And if they really love an author, they might become a life-long fan who will buy their books for years to come, all because of kismet at the library.

If you check out the book at the library, your librarian can make a better case for inviting the author to come to the library for an event for which they can get paid! This is especially true for lesser-known authors.

In conclusion, borrowing a book from the library is a wonderful thing to do. It helps make sure other people have access to that book in the future, creating an ever-wider audience for the author.

Also, I don’t know about you, but the authors I fell in love with in the library? Their books are on my shelves now.

But also: there are SO MANY FREE BOOKS ONLINE. SO MANY indie authors give away the first books in their series for everyone's benefit! They're on Kindle and iBooks and Kobo and *whatever* service, and they want you to read them. Really-truly.

And while traditional publishers have decided that ebooks should cost the same OR MORE than ebooks, indie authors typically charge less than $5 for GREAT ebooks, because they're the ones who actually get most of the money.

If you want free books, or 99¢ books, sign up for services like:

--BookBub

--Book Barbarian

--The Fussy Librarian

--EReader News Today

--FreeBooksy

--BargainBooksy

You can get genre-specific books, usually by authors you can discover for the first time, in your inbox Every. Day. And the best part is, almost NEVER will you see a book that costs more than $1, and many are free. Sometimes there will be box sets with a dozen books or more in there for free, or for $1.

Moral of the story: you don't have to go bankrupt (or morally bankrupt!) to read good books. But rather than putting on a digital eyepatch and hoisting the Jolly Kindle, you can discover authors who want you to have the kinds of books you want to read, and you can get them for free or almost-free.

Every book in a public library has to earn its spot on the shelf. If no one checks it out, then it will be weeded from the collection to make way for a book that will circulate. So, if you check out a book, you’ve just given it a much a better chance at being there for someone else to discover!

A recently returned book is more likely to be propped up as a display in the tiny nooks around the library. Every shelver loves an empty display space because it means they can quickly get rid of several books. A book on display is more likely to catch someone’s eye and on and on!

You might not be able to tell this just by looking at the shelves, but when a book first comes out from an author, the library often buys several copies and based on how many people have reserved the title and how heavily it circulates, they might buy even more copies! Also, when purchasing a new title from an established author, many librarians will look at the circ stats of the author’s other books and will use that as a guide for how many copies to buy of the new book. In case you didn’t know, libraries buy a lot of books - we make up a huge portion of the book sales market.

Many people use the library as a way to discover new authors. It’s a risk-free investment and helps them experiment with a lot of different titles that they wouldn’t be able to if they had to buy all of them. And if they really love an author, they might become a life-long fan who will buy their books for years to come, all because of kismet at the library.

If you check out the book at the library, your librarian can make a better case for inviting the author to come to the library for an event for which they can get paid! This is especially true for lesser-known authors.

In conclusion, borrowing a book from the library is a wonderful thing to do. It helps make sure other people have access to that book in the future, creating an ever-wider audience for the author.

Also, I don't know about you, but the authors I fell in love with in the library? Their books are on my shelves now.

Today I’m excited to spotlight K.F. Bradshaw, the author of Enchanters (which was also Sapphic Book Club’s October book of the month). Check out  her post to learn a bit more about her writing process as well as some fun tidbits on how the Enchanters came to be!

Guest Post by K.F. Bradshaw

If you told me three years ago that Enchanters would be A Thing™, I’m not sure I would have believed you. In fact, Damea as a setting was something I began working on wayyyyy back in 2001 (okay, to me, this wasn’t that long ago!). There were dragons, elves, way too many prophecies - and magic was anything but scarce. I figured it would be a fun homebrew setting for a tabletop game or maybe even a video game and wrote a few (terrible) stories around it.

I have a lot of projects going on concurrently to help diversify the book publishing industry, so I wanted to put them in once place where they’re easily accessible. So, to begin: 

FOR AUTHORS WHO IDENTIFY AS BEING FROM A MARGINALIZED COMMUNITY WITH BOOKS COMING OUT: 

I’ve created a few forms for you to fill out if you have a book coming out in the next year. I then take these lists and I send them out to a list of about 100-120 book media professionals, librarians, book sellers, and book bloggers. Click the following links to add your book, depending on its release. 

SUMMER/FALL 2017

WINTER/SPRING 2018

If your book is releasing after Spring 2018, keep an eye out either here or on my twitter (@runwithskizzers) because I’ll be posting a link to that form in the next few months. 

LIBRARIANS/BOOK SELLERS/PUBLISHERS/BOOK BLOGGERS:

If you want to receive the above lists in order to plan book orders, blogs, or see what the landscape looks like, click here. 

BOOK MEDIA (print & digital): 

If you want to get the above lists in order to help diversify your book coverage, click here. 

EDITORS/AGENTS LOOKING FOR DIVERSE AUTHORS: 

no, your friend probably has not noticed they cut you off four times in this conversation. 

no, your brother didn’t realize his music was that loud while you were studying. 

no, your bff or S.O. doesn’t remember that you’re on a tight deadline right now.

no, no one else is paying attention to the four power dynamics at play in your friend group right now.  

a habit of abused kids, especially kids with unstable parents, is the tendency to notice every little detail. We magnify small nuances into major things, largely because small nuances quickly became breaking points for parents. Managing moods, reading the room, perceiving danger in the order of words, the shift of body weight….it’s all a natural outgrowth of trying to manage unstable parents from a young age. 

Here’s the thing: most people don’t do that. I’m not saying everyone else is oblivious, I’m saying the over analysis of minor nuances is a habit of abuse. 

I have a rule: I do not respond to subtext. This includes guilt tripping, silent treatments, passive aggressive behavior, etc. I see it. I notice it. I even sometimes have to analyze it and take a deep breath and CHOOSE not to respond. Because whether it’s really there or just me over-reading things that actually don’t mean anything, the habit of lending credence to the part of me that sees danger in the wrong shift of body weight…that’s toxic for me. And dangerous to my relationships.