#contrespeaks

I'll (attempt to) read a book of poetry each day of August. I'll document progress here and on storygraph.

January the best: Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix - 4.5 So much fun, so well-written, so creative. The whole thing was thought out and planned in so much detail, including the design of the book itself, and it all added to the experience.

the worst: The Tangle by Justin Robertson - 1.5 I had really high hopes and this fell very flat. Confusing, not well-planned, and a very unpolished product (i.e., frequent typos and incorrectly used words).

the rest:

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig - 3.5

Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto by Legacy Russell - 2.5

The Screwtape Letters and Screwtape Proposes a Toast by C.S. Lewis - 3.0

Tales from Ovid by Ted Hughes - 3.0

Cymbeline by William Shakespeare - 3.0

Dr Faustus by Christopher Marlowe - 2.5

February the best: Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky - 4.5 I enjoyed this so profoundly. What a great example of what sci fi can be. The ending was inspiring without being empty.

the worst: When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut, trans. by Adrian Nathan West I kept waiting for it to come to some sort of point and it just never did.

the rest:

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak - 2.5

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood - 3.5

I updated a little right when I first moved, and then actually started my degree at my new uni and shit got wild real fast

I was very hesitant to post about my coursework because the reading lists for the first year mandatory classes are/were pretty publicly available, and I didn't want to accidentally reveal my uni if someone was dedicated enough to look into it

Basically I was just insanely busy and stopped using tumblr entirely for over a year, besides randomly popping in for tarot content

When I came back I was barely using it, wasn't posting anything

There wasn't anything cute to post either, it was all just me reading for class and writing a million essays. I was also working part time for the majority of my degree

I also couldn't post any writeblr content or show my laptop with an essay draft out of concerns it would be flagged in a plagiarism checker, and because many journals/mags won't accept writing that's been published anywhere else, even on social media

BUT I have officially finished a BA in English/creative writing

I'm now a receptionist looking for something a little more long-term and trying to secure a job that could provide me a work visa, since I've decided to stay in the country

I've been writing, and I've officially had one lit mag publication with another coming soon

I'm working on a novel ! (this will take many years)

All this being said, I will not be sharing my writing here, even what's already been published, because I'm choosing to write under a pseudonym, and even though I've also never revealed my real name here, I'd just like to maintain my anonymity on both fronts. When I made this blog back in high school, I had no plans to be publishing writing like this, and no idea I would be writing under a pen name, so obviously I wasn't planning ahead for that kind of thing.

If the old gang is still around, hi hello I've missed you! I can't imagine myself being super active in the way of original posts for the foreseeable future, for a lot of the aforementioned reasons, but rest assured I will likely be lurking around much more often and I'd love to say hi 💜

12 April 2022 - some photos from my recent work

I'm visiting family (including this sweet boy) and trying to revise for my exams at the same time. A little stressful, but it's been nice!

01 June 2022

I saw these cute little skull snails online by artist Nick Maskell and loved them so much I replicated them in my journal. I also went rock climbing again today, which is definitely my new favorite form of exercise. I'm really excited to have finished up the academic year, and now it's flat-hunting time.

Hey y'all! Just reached a decent follower milestone so I thought I'd do a quick reintroduction for those new and old to my blog.

I primarily post study and book content - including book reviews - as well as some witchcraft and tarot, life/adulting stuff, my general thoughts and ravings, and some writing content.

Mari, she/they, young adult

Uni student, studying undergrad English and creative writing

Recently discovered autistic

I speak English and I'm self-studying Spanish

Queer

Secular witch and tarot reader

Other interests include embroidery, sewing, and crochet; baking; biology and human anatomy/physiology (including my experience in cadaver dissection); reading and creative writing (esp. sci fi, fantasy, poetry, horror, and queer lit)

I'm pretty much always happy to chat about any of the above and any other questions or interests you have!

Just a few of my fav blogs and friends I've made in the community - y'all are the best 💜