Because I miss you

Miss this.  Really needed you on Sunday.  And this is nearly all the record I have of you in living motion.

recorded 7/6/09

Making the Dream

A(n actual, in person) friend of mine, Jamie Wyman, realized The Dream late last year: she published her first novel.

I love it when things like this happen to people I know.  Not that everything is all about me, but it makes the possibility of realizing The Dream myself feel about 1000% more real.  Of course, I just love good things happening to people who deserve them.  And she deserves it.  Jamie is smart, kind, hilarious, and dedicated.

Because she loves what she does, Jamie has already finished the primary writing on the sequel to Wild Card.  And because she is taking control of her career and her future and shaping them into the reality she chooses, she will be publishing Unveiled her own damn self.  Get it, Jamie!

The reason I’m talking about it here, other than the fact that she is awesome and I like talking about my friends’ accomplishments, is because her Kickstarter campaign had a stellar launch but has since hit a plateau. Anything I can do to help get the word out, well.  Here’s me doing it.  If you love urban fantasy, trickster gods, technomancy, dry humor, a-hole satyrs, sharp-witted redheads, stories set in Vegas, or any combination thereof, you’ll be doing yourself a favor if you check out Wild Card.  And if you love it, or if you just love the idea of supporting art and new authors, please consider supporting the Kickstarter campaign to get the sequel into the hands of readers.

We can do this!

and it’s April again

Because I don’t have the level of fight in me right now necessary to compose an entirely new post on a subject I’ve already addressed, and because why waste words when I’ve already spent them, I’m going to simply link to last year’s post on this date regarding April as Autism Awareness Month.

I will add, for those with genuine interest in making a charitable donation, a couple of links to organizations run by autistics for autistics. The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, which advocates not for a cure but for services, education, better diagnostics, and acceptance; and the Autism Women’s Network, which is super important because until recently (and still in some outdated pockets of academia,) it was believed that autism was only even possible in concurrence the XY chromosome, and it is only slowly becoming understood that female autistics have needs and challenges different from those faced by their male-presenting peers. There are other organizations as well, many of them locally-run programs specifically aimed at providing employment services and executive function education. Never again say that while Autism Speaks may not be ideal, they’re the only game out there and it’s better to give your money to them than to do nothing. Giving money to them is definitely worse than doing nothing, and there are other options.