Tattoos Bookish and Otherwise

Today is my birthday! So, in lieu of a full on book blog post I want to do something a little bookish adjacent. Today I am going to tell you about my tattoos, starting from first to most recent.

1. Purple and teal butterfly
   • I always wanted to get a butterfly tattoo. When I was younger I collected stuff with butterflies on it and the last present I got from my grandma before she passed was a butterfly mobile.
   • I got this one when I was in Daytona Beach for spring break. No, there was no alcohol involved.
   • There is a slightly funny slightly “Oh no, I should not have done that” type of story that is associated with this tattoo.
   • It’s honestly not a great tattoo. I didn’t know much back then and just went with a flash piece and didn’t ask for a black outline or anything.
   • I go back and forth on wanting to cover it up with something else and leaving it.
2. Quill pen
   • I like to write and the quill was the symbol of my college sorority so I thought it was fitting to get one on my wrist.
3. Ladybug
   • Grandma’s nickname was “ladybug” so mom and I got matching ankle tattoos in honor of her.
4. Fairy
   • Along with butterflies, I also collected fairy items so I felt like I needed a fairy as well.
5. Golden Snitch
   • Sigh…back before a certain someone was problematic I was all in for a book series about a young wizard. This was one of several tattoos I got to honor a fandom I’d been a part of for a very long time.
6. Owl
   • Grandma also collected owls!
7. Hummingbird
   • This one was for my grandpa who loved sitting on the porch swing next to his hummingbird feeder. Plus, hummingbirds are very pretty.
8. Book stack
   • How else would you show everyone how much you love to read but a tattoo of a stack of books on your thigh?
   • Since I’ve gotten this I have seen so many book stack tattoos that are even better and I kind of wish I had shopped around for artists but this one is still up there on my favorites list.
9. Deathly Hallows
   • Another one from the fandom who must not be named. Only personalized in several different ways!
   • I still really like it for what it meant once upon a time but I also question still having it on display given what’s been going on.
10. Star Wars Rebel symbol
    • Galaxy themed rebellion! A simple symbol turned a little intricate because of the layers of color to make it look like a true galaxy.
11. Kady Grant
    • I absolutely loved the Illuminae Files book trilogy for a whole myriad of reasons and I wanted something to honor the book.
    • I found a great portrait artist and he made a literal piece of art on my arm and I love it.
    • (I just really wish I wasn’t always cold and therefore covering it up.)
12. Ramiel Mountains
    • A tiny little piece to represent the mountains and stars that are so important to another favorite fandom, A Court of Thorns and Roses.
13. ACOTAR
    • I worked with an artist to create a bigger piece of the above tattoo with mountains, moons, stars, and flowers.
    • Simple black and shading and it’s so, so pretty!
14. 8 point star
    • I read Crescent City and needed a tattoo and it just so happened that there was an idea that was perfect for a tattoo.
    • In the book Bryce gets starborn powers which is reflected by the scar of an 8 point star in between her breasts. Bam! 8 point star tattoo on my chest!
15. Triple Goddess
    • Triple Goddess imagery is prevalent in fantasy and myth and what not and I worked with someone to create a pretty little piece full of moons and flowers.
16. Buffy Summers
    • The same person who gave me Kady Grant is currently working on a Buffy portrait for me and I’m so happy!

10 Favorite Bookish Quotes

October is my birth month! So, like in past Octobers, I’m going to celebrate with some various lists of ten favorite bookish things. This post will be about my current favorite bookish quotes while other posts may involve current favorite characters or books.

Let’s get started! And, in no particular order, these are my current favorite quotes.

1. “To the stars who listen – and the dreams that are answered.” – Written by Sarah J. Maas for A Court of Mist and Fury and spoken by Rhysand
   • Yes, I am absolutely Maas trash but this is absolutely a quote that speaks to me though I kind of feel like a basic bitch for saying that because I think most ACOTAR fans would say the same. But I like this quote and I kind of made it part of my current Dungeons and Dragons character because a Druid and follows the path of Circle of Stars so…seems logical.
2. “There are good days and hard days for me – even know. Don’t let the hard days win.” – Written by Sarah J. Maas for A Court of Mist and Fury and spoken by Mor
   • You may sense a theme here with the first two quotes being from, not only the same author, but from the same book. But for anyone who has struggled with mental health, I feel like this is a great quote to remember.
3. “Libraries were full of ideas – perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.” – Written by Sarah J. Maas for Throne of Glass and spoken by Celaena Sardothien
   • As a librarian in a world where book challenges have become the norm again, I think this is a very important and powerful quote.
4. “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies…the man who never reads lives only once.” – Written by George R.R. Martin for A Dance With Dragons and spoken by Jojen Reed
   • Absolutely one of my favorite quotes. I even used it as part of my wedding. (I put it on a page that went with a bookmark that I gave out as favors.)
5. “One must always be careful of books…and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.” – Written by Cassandra Clare for Clockwork Angel and spoken by Tessa Gray
   • As a reader and a writer, this quote has always spoken to me.
6. “Into every generation a Slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer.” – The opening narration of Seasons 1 and 2 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
   • Okay, okay, okay. I know I originally said this would just be about book quotes but I had to include this one just because Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been such a big part of my life. Literally the entire reason I started reading and writing fanfiction.
7. “You have me. Until every last star in the galaxy dies, you have me.” – Written by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman for Illuminae and spoken by Ezra Mason
   • This has gotta be one of the sweetest love quotes ever. Just think about it.
8. “Far over the misty mountains cold/To dungeons deep and caverns old/We must away, ere break of day/To seek our pale enchanted gold…” – Written by J.R.R. Tolkien for The Hobbit and sung by Thorin and the Company
   • I memorized all 44 lines of this poem in eighth grade and have always remembered (mostly correctly_ the first four lines ever since. Definitely one of the starts of my love of fantasy.
9. “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” – Written by Neil Gaiman for Coraline
   • I literally used this quote in my college senior seminar.
10. “Books are a uniquely portable magic.” – Written by Stephen King
    • A very sweet sentiment for any book lover

A Look Into My Mind

I posted several times in August that I was really getting wrapped up into ideas for Stranger Things fanfiction. And while I’m not entirely ready to start sharing excerpts from the stories I have planned, I do want to write a little bit about what I plan on doing with those two, very different story ideas.

However, I plan to be a little bit coy about the exact details of one of them because I think it’s an original idea (you know, as original as stories based on two very popular TV series could be) and I don’t want anyone else to swoop in and write it before I manage to start posting about it online. Once I started posting on fanfiction sites you are likely to see some excerpts over here so be forewarned.

Mild Season 4 Stranger Things spoilers ahead. You have been warned.

Idea One: The less inventive idea. Pretty sure this is one of the more popular and more written about ideas but I just want to write it in my own way. This is the “what if Chrissy Cunningham didn’t die and, instead, she teamed up with Eddie and the rest of the gang?” idea. I just think it’s amazing how likeable the Chrissy character was right off the bat, honestly she probably had like five minutes of screen time total? Also, the actress who plays her seems so likeable and like she also really enjoyed being on the show and being associated with the character which just adds to why I want to give her character new life.

Idea Two: What I think is one of the more original ideas based on Stranger Things and the Kas theory. The Kas theory meaning the thought that many fans have that Eddie Munson, who apparently died in the finale of Season 4, will be found to be a vampire due to a striking resemblance between him and Kas, a character from Dungeons and Dragons. (In the lore, Kas was someone who worked with Vecna but then turned against him. And given that the main enemy of Stranger Things is currently a bad guy they nicknamed Vecna…well you see where the fans are going with this.)

Well in my story, Eddie will “live” on as a vampire. But there’s more going on with that situation, turning my fanfiction into a crossover between Stranger Things and another popular TV series with a long history of its own. But like I said, I don’t want to give away the details because I think my idea is pretty unique.

Multiple Ideas

As per my last post, my writing Muses are in overdrive right now. I have ideas! I have no clue if I’m going to manage to complete an entire story and actually reach a point where I’ll start posting soon but I definitely have ideas. Unfortunately I have too many ideas.

Especially when it comes to fanfiction, I generally get ideas when I’ve recently read or reread a book that I want to write more about or when I’ve watched a show that I want to play around with the relationships and the characters. In this case, just like in other areas of my life, I am all about Stranger Things. I been watched the most recent season, I’ve watched reaction videos on all four seasons thus far, and I’ve watched a bunch of interviews with the cast and watched Tik Tok videos created by other fans. I’ve gone far down theory rabbit holes and I’ve seen posts about all different kinds of “ships” and head canons.

This, of course, means that my Muses are wanting me to write Stranger Things fanfiction. Which definitely isn’t an entirely new feeling. I absolutely have a few other stories/bits and pieces of stories written down from when I got obsessed with previous seasons. But now I have multiple ideas that I really want to run with.

The only issue is that I want to write about both of those ideas and I want to do it right now. But I’m honestly unsure if writing two, very different Stranger Things fanfictions at one time is even feasible. Honestly, I’m probably going to end up trying. And honestly, I have no idea if either one of them will see the light of day. Fingers crossed that I can write and post them both this fall!

Incomplete Muses

“Muses: Nine goddesses of classical mythology who presided over learning and the arts. They were especially associated with poetry. Ancient Greek or Roman writers would often begin their poems by asking for the aid of the Muses in their composition.” – Dictionary.com

My writing Muses have a tendency to strike when I’ve recently become obsessed with a new fandom, or when a prior interest has been sparked anew. For example: when the second season of Stranger Things was released I wrote out a fanfiction within a few days of binge watching the season and started another fanfiction soon after. Unfortunately I didn’t bother typing them up and posting them and now, with the release of the newest season, I’m not sure I should bother posting a story that fits in with an earlier season.

This leads me to now. Season four of Stranger Things was released this summer and of course my obsession has risen anew. It’s been spurred on because, this time around, all of my coworkers are obsessed as well. (That’s what happens when you add a new fan favorite character. We love you, Eddie Munson!) This means that I have so many fanfiction ideas rolling around in my head.

But I’m kind of afraid to get started writing them up because, what if the same thing happens again? What if my Muses don’t let me finish the story until after everyone is kind of over the season? What if I start posting before I finish the story, in hopes that doing so will force me to continue, and I just can’t? I hate leaving things unfinished.

So please, please Muses. Just let me finish an idea. And quickly. Pretty please?

Best of 2021: Books

The top ten books that I read in 2021, in no particular order. Also, these weren’t necessarily published in 2021, that’s just when I read them.

1. In Every Generation by Kendare Blake
   1. This one actually isn’t even coming out until this year, I just happened to get an advanced copy. It was the perfect return to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe and I am very excited for this series to continue.
2. A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
   1. I am trash for SJM. They honestly aren’t the best books but they are fun and I love the characters even when I want to bitch slap them in the face for not getting their shit together.
3. Aurora’s End by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman
   1. A brilliant end to a trilogy. There was time travel involved and it made everything make so much more sense! 
4. The Extraordinaires and Flash Fire by T.J. Klune
   1. Klune’s dialogue is downright hilarious. Love him!
5. Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall
   1. Feminist werewolves are one of my new favorite things.
6. King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
   1. I was kind of afraid for Bardugo to return to the Grishaverse, afraid it was too late and that she’d ruin it. There were some issues but overall I really enjoyed it.
7. The Curie Society by Heather Einhorn
   1. Graphic novel with strong, smart women and a rich history of girl power.
8. Inkblot, Volume 1 by Emma Kubert
   1. Trouble causing kitty was cute and funny!
9. Fangs by Sarah Andersen
   1. A vampire and a werewolf in some of the cutest little comics. Loved it!
10. The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins
    1. One of a bibliophiles favorite types of books. A book about books. 

NaNoWriMo 2019

You may have noticed that I didn’t post anything on my blog during the month of November. That would be because I was busy typing my little heart out for this year’s National Novel Writing Month. This year I decided to do something a little different. Not only did I actually type things instead of trying to hand write them but I also decided to do a collection of short stories which gave me a chance to bounce around from idea to idea. It was great and magical and I actually finished! (And by finished I mean I hit the goal of 50,000 words. The book itself is nowhere near complete.)

The following is a brief description of some of the short stories I ended up actually completing. All of them were based on fairy tales, usually stories in which I wrote from the perspective of the villain or in which I changed a portion of the known Disney/Grimm/Hans Christian Anderson tale. Titles withheld in case I ever get a chance to actually publish the thing because I think some of them were pretty clever.

• A Rumplestiltskin story in which Emilia befriends a little elfin-like creature who can only appear in the human realm when he’s making deals once he reaches the age of maturity. Emilia finds this out and uses it to keep her friend around and the two grow up together.
• A Little Red Riding Hood story in which Scarlet more or less haunts the woods, slaying wolves and trying to save the stupid humans who get caught.
• A Beauty and the Beast story about Gaston and why he is the way he is. This was a story of a lovely little boy who gets corrupted by an uncaring father.
• A Rapunzel story where the witch who raises Rapunzel has another daughter and the daughter ends up saving Rapunzel, not a prince.
• A Little Mermaid story where the mermaid tries to save herself from the sea witch’s curse by convincing the Prince to hunt down the sea witch. Only it doesn’t exactly turn out how she’d hoped it would.

I also partially wrote up little retellings or short stories set in the universes of Sleeping Beauty, another one from Beauty and the Beast, and yet another Little Mermaid tale. Many of them were changed to make them a bit more feminist. Sometimes the Princess can save herself, darn it!

Literary Dress up: Halloween

I don’t know if it’s my love for fantasy or what but I enjoy dressing up for events and parties. This means that I love Halloween and, since I don’t really have friends that do costume parties, I really like that I work in a library where we often have special events. Book and comic book characters are especially easy to find costumes for and lend themselves to dressing up.

Here is a list of some of the characters that I have dressed up as for events and some that I would love/plan to dress up as in the future.

Characters I have already been

• Effie Trinket from The Hunger Games: At my previous library I helped to throw a Hunger Games party around when the final movie in the series came out and, since I was kind of leading/tallying/explaining what the program would consist of I dressed up like Effie. Though I went with one of her more tame styles.
• Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter: For our Harry Potter library event I bought a long blonde wig, radish earrings and some Spectrespecs among other items. I’ve used this costume for multiple events.
• Daenerys Targaryen: For a library comic-con day I pulled out my long blonde wig once again and paired it with a blue dress, some boots, some leggings, and a stuffed dragon to play the Mother of Dragons.
• Black Widow from The Avengers: A few years ago the summer reading program theme at the library was superheroes. I just so happened to have a Black Widow zip up jacket and had dyed my hair red. Add some tight black pants and boots and I was all set!
• Sarah Sanderson: During the library’s first annual Halloween party myself and the other ladies dressed up as the Sanderson sisters and Binx the cat. I already had the wig and a long purple skirt so…
• Belle from Beauty and the Beast: For our Halloween party this year I purchased a yellow gown and spent the whole day as the Disney princess I have always wanted to be.

Characters I want to be or have wanted to be

• Sansa Stark from Game of Thrones: I would love to have and wear one of the gorgeous dresses of Sansa Stark though I’m guessing the Game of Thrones faze will probably be mostly over after this year.
• Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games: I had every intention of dressing up as Katniss at some point when the series was still popular. This one is probably over too.
• Scarlet Witch from the Avengers: Her hair and torn up clothing style calls to me. And you know, she’s kind of a bad ass.

10 Bookish Things

My birthday is almost upon us and as a way to celebrate I decided that since it’s October, the tenth month of the year, that I would do a post on my top ten favorite bookish things of 2019.

1. Books by Sarah J. Maas
   • Over the course of the last two years I have read the entirety of the Throne of Glass series (including the collection of short stories) as well as the first three books in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series and though there are some issues with both series, I over all really liked them.
   • They are kind of tropey and very similar to one another and SJM very clearly loves her happy endings but I found both series to be pretty intriguing and will likely pick up more of her books in the future.
2. The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer
   • I have always been a big fan of fantasy books and science fiction and I had been told countless of times over the years that I should dive into this series where all the books in the series are sci-fi retellings of fairy tales.
   • Now that I’ve read them all I totally get why so many people have recommended this series to me over the years. It was right up my alley and the perfect type of retelling. Close enough to the original iterations but very much original.
3. Booksleeves
   • Do you ever throw your books into a bag with a hundred other things and then regret it because the pages get bent or pens, etc. get stuck in between the pages? Then booksleeves are for you! They are kind of like padded fabric envelope things that fit different sized books based on what size you order and I love them!
4. Super cute graphic novels
   • In years past I gravitated towards superhero graphic novels and the like with bright colors that pop in the illustrations and more human looking characters but lately I’m really liking the cutesy trend like in The Tea Dragon Society and Moonstruck. In these two, the characters (often non-human) are more rounded and a bit cartoony and the colors are more subdued pastels.
5. Bookish mugs and water bottles
   • In my subscription boxes I keep getting mugs and water bottles with book quotes and scenes and patterns from books painted on the side. I have more than I need, and more than I have space for, but I love them all. Worse than that, I keep buying them from online even though I know there are likely to be more in future subscription boxes.
6. Reading challenges
   • There for awhile I was doing the Pop Sugar challenges which list like thirty to fifty different small prompts of books to try and read like “read a book written the same year you were born.” And I really liked that for awhile but the challenge lasts the whole year and I was losing track of stuff. Now I’ve been finding shorter challengers, two weeks to a month or so, and they are themed and I’m liking that so much better.
   • For example, myself and a few other librarians are in the midst of a Hocus Pocus themed reading challenge where we have six different prompts to complete from October 1st to the 13th and the prompts are all witchy/Halloween themed. Plus, the goal is to read the books and then celebrate by watching Hocus Pocus. Much easier to keep track of and fun!
7. 3D printed bookmarks
   • The library where I work recently obtained two 3D printers and one of the big things we are doing with them is offering to let people print free small items such as bookmarks. Now, I already love bookmarks and 3D printed ones are pretty neat.
8. Writing and reading planners
   • In years past I would use a regular calendar style planner to keep track of my writing and reading stats. For 2019 I got one specifically for reading and I love it so much! Definitely getting the 2020 edition for next year.
9. Seasonal Instagram posts
   • Now this is something I like looking at more than doing. My Instagram book posts are usually more subdued and minimalist compared to others but I absolutely love when other people do cute seasonal ones. Fresh flowers in the spring, pool and beach side in the summer, fall leaves and pumpkins in the fall, and snowflakes and Christmas lights in winter. Fabulous!
10. Feminist fairy tales
    • I’ve come across a couple of good feminist fairy tales and that idea makes perfect sense given the nature of a lot of fairy tales.

Why Write Fanfiction?

From my understanding of myself and others, there are a whole slew of reasons why a person writes. Some write nonfiction and want to make sure others know the facts about a certain event or person. Some write creative stories to entertain. Others follow the advice of author Toni Morrison who once said, “If there’s a book that you to want read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” I think that is often the case for most writers, the idea that they are seeking a story and want to share it with others because they haven’t come across that exact plot, character, or idea before.

But where does fanfiction come into the idea that one should write something that hasn’t been written before?

I know that, a lot of times, I find writing fanfiction to be a bit easier than coming up with my own ideas because instead of focusing on settings and creating a whole new world I get to focus on the characters. And fanfiction lets you go crazy with said characters, envisioning them in new ways and new relationships. Now, this can get a little weird and downright creepy if you fall down certain rabbit holes on the internet. (X-rated Harry Potter and Moaning Myrtle fanfiction? Oh yeah, that exists. And honestly, a lot of it is X-rated)

But I find it to be fun that you get to play around with and change things up for already established characters. And I don’t think it’s necessarily that the fanfiction writer disagrees with the original author of the work, it’s just fun to kind of write and imagine about what could have been if say Buffy the Vampire Slayer took a job at Hogwarts during the years Harry Potter was in attendance or what could have happened if one of the Weasley twins had taken an interest in their little brother’s best female friend.

But sometimes I think an influx of fanfiction written about a certain show can be in response to something that the fans disapprove of. Case in point: the hundreds of re-imaginings that I’ve seen centered around the last season of Game of Thrones. The show itself did not end on such a good note. I actually liked and understood where many of the characters ended up but I didn’t like how they reached certain conclusions. Fanfiction also gives the fans a chance to right the wrongs and fix the problems that they may have had with the show.

So, in conclusion, I think there are many reasons why people write fanfiction and that, to myself at least, that they can be great ways to work on your creativity and work out your frustration.