System Andromeda

- passed on

- no more

- ceased to be

- expired

- gone to meet his maker

- stiff

- bereft of life

- rests in peace

- pushing up daisies

- his metabolic processes are now history

- off the twig

- kicked the bucket

- shuffled off ‘is mortal coil

- run down the curtain

- joined the bleedin’ choir invisible

Moved on

Passed to the next life

Departed

Joined the Ancestors

Singing with the angels

but he found out it was actually that i listen to 2-5 audiobooks. he was dead set on the idea - that's not reading, it's just listening. that i was lying, somehow, by implying i'd "read" the book.

language has a beautiful ability to adapt over time, particularly in the face of technology. when i "connect to the internet" i'm referencing the oldschool method of literally plugging into the internet - which i very rarely physically do. i roll down my window, which is a reference to the circular mechanical action it used to take. hell - the floppy disc remains our resolute save file icon. when i say i "ran to the store," nobody expects me to actually run - and what my version of running to the store looks like and your version are probably pretty different.

i told the guy, baffled: i look at things through glasses, that's still seeing. nobody complains i'm filtering the image.

he says: that's not the same and you know it.

i use audiobooks because i have adhd, and it makes it so i can actually focus. i am using it to help a medically diagnosed condition.

language also has a really cool ability: when we read something, our brains look at a word and make an image. when we hear a story, our brains hear a word and make an image. whether we hear it or read it - the word means the same thing, written or spoken. there is no quantifiable difference in the knowledge-encoding experience - i still happily hallucinate while i'm listening.

and i just kind of stared at him while he was telling me that "claiming" i had "actually read" a book that i had actually-listened-to was lying

nobody gives a crap if something is overdone in fiction. what they really care about is the execution

having a bad day of writing does not make you a bad writer

tropes ≠ clichés. if someone tells you it's wrong to use tropes, disregard the advice

writing in your second or third language isn’t always easy. you’re doing great

writing advice = tools. not rules. you’re not meant to follow every advice you read about on the internet. learn the rules so you know which ones to break

every writer is capable of writing a captivating story, but your story might not be everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s ok. there will still be people out there who’ll adore it