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Happy 16th to Me

Today marks the 16th anniversary of my very first book release. If you’re doing the math, that’s about a decade before AI became a thing, right as eBooks and self-publishing started to have a moment, and couple of years before individual author sales started trending down while the book market as a whole boomed. I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on all that I learned throughout my journey, because it’s been a hell of a ride so far.   When I was your age… Back in 2010 and earlier, the Internet was a very different place. It was actually useful and had a lot of good, reliable information that still showed up at the top of search results.… Read More »Happy 16th to Me

typing hands

Don’t Assume Malice: Giving a Bit of Grace

Let’s talk about books and copyrights for a second. I recently came across a reel where a fellow author calls out a very specific section of licensing notes in a printed edition of an Indie book, and I have thoughts.  Before I get into that, though, I want to make clear that this is in no way intended to criticize this particular content creator, or what they said, which is why I’m not sharing the reel, or naming the creator. They were partly correct, and I’m not disputing that. But the first thing I thought when I saw it was, “What was the purpose behind sharing this information?” And maybe this is my own experience as an Indie coloring my… Read More »Don’t Assume Malice: Giving a Bit of Grace

puppet on strings

The Puppet Theater: Act III

I feel like this blog has become a political statement in the last few months. I know my opinions aren’t why people come here. But, like so many others out there, I find that I can’t shut up about it. History will look back on this time period as the second Dark Age of the human race. When empires fall, kids end up learning about it in school. This time, the empire is globalized. The whole world is falling. I’m not writing out my opinions to make a statement. I’m doing it to process the fuck-ton of toxic, soul-devouring shit I see happening all around the world every goddamn day. Maybe if we all started talking about our feelings more… Read More »The Puppet Theater: Act III

What’s in a Name? Everything: A Cover Reveal with its Own Back Story

If you’ve been following me foor a while you’ve probably heard (or saw, as the case may be) me talking about names and how vital they are in my writing process. If I don’t know a character’s name or their name doesn’t fit, I stall. If I can’t come up with a good name for a place or a realm, I get stuck. The same usually goes for book titles.  That’s where this whole insanity began.  I had a story. I had the characters. I had all the names. But the book documents were all saved in a folder called “Wish Demon.” Which is why, when I started working on the cover (in freaking 2024!!) it didn’t quite fit the… Read More »What’s in a Name? Everything: A Cover Reveal with its Own Back Story

The Beauty of Knowing Your Mind

This is going to be a deeply personal post so, if you’d rather not know, now is your chance to click away.  Hi, I’m Alianne, and I’m neurodivergent. I’m what they like to call “high-functioning.” Which is another way to say, “We can get what we need out of you with minimal fuss.” It is what it is. As someone who’s only recently  gotten this confirmed (without an official diagnosis on the books – see reasons below), I’m not bitter about it. I’m just looking back at my life so far and connecting dots that, in hind sight, should have been really freaking obvious.  A lot of things about me and my life make a lot more sense now, and… Read More »The Beauty of Knowing Your Mind

How to Build a Better Society: Culture and Globalization

This is it, the last post in this series. I know you’re all disappointed, but I do have other stuff to write, you know. I may even have a new book release announcement in my back pocket. I thought I’d cap this thesis off with “Okay, well nothing exists in a vacuum, so what happens when you add global relations and trade into the equation? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out the rest of the series of posts. They might give you a few ideas on small things we can all do today to start fixing our world. How to Build a Better Society: Intro to An Essay In Multiple Parts How to Build a Better… Read More »How to Build a Better Society: Culture and Globalization

How to Build a Better Society: Science, Exploration, and Conservation

Here we go again… (yes, I sang that) I am running out of topics for this thesis so there will probably only be one more after this one and then we’re done. Today, I want to talk about science, exploration, and conservation—another area where capitalism has convinced us that we don’t really need all that nature because most people live in cities, anyway! But expanded to the whole universe, too. I shouldn’t need to explain that this is a bad mindset to have, but here we are. Once again, if you haven’t read the entire series, you might want to check out at least the topic titles of previous posts so you have an idea of what I’m getting at.… Read More »How to Build a Better Society: Science, Exploration, and Conservation

How to Build a Better Society: Technology and Innovation

Yep, we’re still not done. I told you, I have a lot to say in this essay (to be fair, I acknowledge it’s turning into more of a thesis project… you think Harvard will give me an honorary PhD?) As always, if you haven’t been following along, below is the full series of posts from the beginning. If at any point during this post you have questions like “How would you even fund this?” I suggest you go back to read through the previous posts because the answer is probably in there. How to Build a Better Society: Intro to An Essay In Multiple Parts How to Build a Better Society: Employment and Universal Basic Income How to Build a… Read More »How to Build a Better Society: Technology and Innovation

How to Build a Better Society: City Planning

And we’re back again, talking about how our cities and communities aren’t built to properly support modern life. I mentioned in my first post that “accessibility” is now everyone’s favorite word. That will play one of the most important roles in reimagining the modern city. As always, if you’re just tuning in, I have a whole series of posts on how to un-fuck our messed up end-stage capitalist hellscape, so please go back and read through the previous posts to catch up because I already covered the biggest issues, and now we’re getting more into the nitty-gritty day to day life. Here’s where you can find them all: How to Build a Better Society: Intro to An Essay In Multiple… Read More »How to Build a Better Society: City Planning

How to Build a Better Society: Government and Religion

This is probably the post you have all been waiting for. It’s the one that matters most to people in the current state of WTAF?!! I get it, the world is a mess, and it feels like no matter what we do, it will just keep getting worse. And I know we’re all pointing fingers at our representatives (do they really still represent us?) to do something. So now is the time to address it. And in order to do so, we need to do it in 3 parts that need to all work together for society to function properly: constitution, representation, and civic duty. Also, if you’re just tuning in, I recommend you start from the beginning. Here is… Read More »How to Build a Better Society: Government and Religion