Thursday, June 26, 2025
If time is not linear and loops around, maybe we are everything. Every blade of grass, every drop of water, every molecule is one. Everything is not only a facet of a greater being, but is that greater being. WE, the self of the greater we, are the smallest to the largest. Every competition is with the WE. Any being in distress, suffering ignored, call for help unanswered is the WE. Each person met, shown kind to, make love with, is part of the greater WE. All neglect, abuse, murder is done by and to WE.
Each iteration of the WE is a choice to forget the WE and live as I. WE are gods and air and dirt and demons. WE are the wind in a hurricane and the calm of a pond. We are the flame of a candle and the rage of a forest fire. WE are all, but for each lifetime, the I and you do not know that we are WE. The glimpses to the infinite happen when the singular of me or you remember something from when we were WE. Soothsayers and visionaries are those who have lived other lives along their timeline.
There is no true concept of before or after, of time or following a preconceived path. WE, as you and me, use those ideas to make sense of the world. Is it necessary to think in a linear fashion in order to live the lives we live? Or is that all a human construct?
WE are the universe and WE are nothing. WE are thought and action and harm and care. Everything happens. Every life lived is a lesson for the WE. WE are chaos and order. Nothing is preordained as each happening is new, but it has all happened before.
This is where this philosophy breaks down for me. If the WE is everything, then every genocide, every form of distruction, every accident was/is, in some way, a choice. Maybe this is the limit of my human mind that makes this so utterly devastating. If the human is the most mentally evolved creature, yet WE
allowmake this to happen, then there is no kindness, good deed, nor repenting can erase the harm that WE caused to WE.But maybe that’s part of it?
If it is all lessons that WE are teaching to WE, maybe WE want to see the worst of WE as well as the best. In the infinite, does worst and best even mean anything? WE are WE and WE are broken and whole at the same time. Pleasure is pain; joy is sorrow; humor is grave; nothing is everything to the WE.
My head hurts… I’ll think more on this later.
Author: j9
I’m an animal loving witchy librarian who is neurodivergent, queer, vegetarian, with invisibly & visibly disabilities. I’m a storyteller who loves to write. I am a member of the HWA (Horror Writers of America). I have a published memoir & several short stories in a variety of genres. I advocate for social justice in its myriad of forms. I love camping, swimming, and exploring. I wish I was a polyglot, but I'm merely polyamorous.
Rethinking My Website
My friend Sheila gave me the title “Incomprable J9”. I love it! But it has confused people since it is a misspelling of incomparable, though it is the phonetic pronunciation. (Isn’t it odd that phonetic is not spelled fonetically?) Spelling… I’ve always struggled with it. Due to having dyslexia, most of my spelling acumen is due to memorization and paying attention to corrections when they are given. (Spell check has been my salvation on more than one occasion. Even when it gives me an incorrect suggestion, when I see it, I slow down and double check my spellings and meanings.) I am often a victim of homonyms, both homophones and homographs.
I have been dubbed chaotic on more than one occasion and by several different people. I embrace it. But is the state of confusion where I want to drive the visitors of this website? I must think on it some more.
Update
Fuck it, I just changed it to the "common" spelling.
An Update on my 2024 Goals:
My Swan Song for Joy: a Sister Memoir [COVER]
- ARCs have been received and are being distributed to reviewers!
- Create book website
- Presale boooks
- Create presale bookmarks by Thursday, August 15, 2024
- Stickers
- Banner
- pens?
- Memorial Tattoo gift cards (get from Bek)
- Release date: November 3, 2024 – Joy’s birthday
- Release parties / programs / readings:
- GEPL: August 29, 2024 – No Shush Salon
- reading at the open mic
- distribute presale bookmarks & stickers
- Heathen Ink: Saturday, November 2, 2024 – 1 pm
- Memorial Tattoos – I will purchase a certain # of gift certificates and do a “drawing”
- Small Swan Tattoos – the day of the event
- Oak Park Public Library: Thursday, November 7, 2024
- Contact Julie & Kelly for the Veteran’s Room
- GEPL: August 29, 2024 – No Shush Salon
Memoir Podcast – Fuzzy Geography
- August – Research and write a “business” plan & Work on scripts
- September – Begin recording weekly; continue writing scripts
- December – Analyze how things are going, what can be done better, etc.
Fantasy/SciFi Videos (TikTok / Youtube) – Greetings from the Liminal Opulent Library
- August – Research and write a “business” plan; set up schedule; write more scripts
- September – Begin recording weekly; continue writing scripts
- December – Analyze how things are going, what can be done better, etc.
TikTok for the HWA Chicagoland Chapter
- First week of August – email HWA with schedule, plan, and call for suggestions
- Week of August 11 – Begin recording
- Sunday, September 2 – begin post, post every Sunday
- Tuesday, October 1 – begin random additional posts for Halloween season
Short Stories & Novels: time got consumed by Memoir. After memoir release, go back to editing stories & researching publications
Goals for 2024
Memoir – My Swan Song for Joy:
- By end of January: finish putting my Publication packet together & send memoir out to Publishers who accept direct submissions
- If no takers, send out to Agents
- If no takers, begin preparing to self-publish by the end of October
Short Stories:
- Jan.-Feb. – go thru old stories and polish & work on new story for an anthology that’s due Feb. 29
- March-Dec. – send out ALL THE STORIES (or what I can)
- June-Oct. – begin new stories while researching different anthologies and short story publishers
- Nov.-Dec. – break
Novels:
- Jan.-Feb. – Go through what I’ve got and see what needs work, set aside, or trashed
- March-May – Work on the “needs work”
- June-Aug. – Polish novel(s) & research publications / agents
- Sept.-Oct. – Send out novel(s)
- Nov. – Nanowrimo
- Dec. – Break
Fantasy/SciFi Videos (TikTok / Youtube) – Greetings from the Liminal Opulent Library:
- Jan. – Research and write a “business” plan; set up schedule; write more scripts
- Feb.-March – Begin recording weekly; continue writing scripts
- June – Analyse how things are going, what can be done better, etc.
- June-Oct. – continue writing and recording
- Nov.-Dec. – Break
Memoir Podcast – Fuzzy Geography:
- Jan. – Research and write a “business” plan
- Feb. – Write scripts
- March-May – Begin recording weekly using the recording studio at the library; continue writing scripts
- June – Analyse how things are going, what can be done better, etc.
- June-Oct. – continue writing and recording
- Nov.-Dec. – Break
Update: Memoir editor
I am so excited to announce that my memoir, “The Life and Deaths of Joy: a memoir for my Swan Sister”, is being edited by @tiffanytrent !
Check her out at https://tiffanytrent.com
Also, a big THANK YOU to @csecooney for connecting us!
Memoir: My Swan Sister
It’s been a busy week and next week will be even busier, but I’m going to carve out time (with a butcher knife, if needed) and work on all the edits for My Swan Sister: the Life and Deaths of Joy. I have had some great feedback from my beta readers. Now I just need to finish the rewrites, including deep edits on the new epilogue. Then I must find a copy editor I can afford but is also good, send my manuscript to them, rewrite again, then begin the hunt for an agent or publisher or contest.
Will it be possible to do all of this in less than six months and get it published as a birthday present for Joy? Don’t know… gonna try!
So yeah, just a few things.
#JusticeForJoy #Memoir #Writing #Family #Sister #Editing
New Story: A Feral Curse
Where inspiration comes from is never the same for any of my stories. This one was from a picture and a challenge to write a story about that image. The image I picked is a Pit Bullish looking dog in a suit. The pup looks quite dapper. I named him Bernard in my story. The story started as a drabble*. But the ever so wise and lovely editor of the anthology I’m writing this story for, thought it needed more words; that the story was not complete. I agreed and took it up again. It is now over 2,000 words and STILL NOT DONE! I love this growing feral story and I hope to finish it soon. I also love that is already has a home! I will, of course, let everyone know when it is published and how you can get your copy of the anthology.
*a drabble is a complete story in exactly 100 words
The Incomparable J9 