What to Buy Your ND Friends

November 16, 2025November 16, 2025 Kara Jorgensen1 Comment

As we head into the holiday gift-giving season, I thought I would make a list of some cool things to buy the neurodivergent in your life. I posted about this last year on Bluesky, and a lot of people found it helpful, so I thought I might share it here.

Disclaimers: the links are affiliate links, so I get a little kickback if you buy anything. Also, every neurodivergent person in your life is different. These are base ideas, not something that will appeal to everyone. The idea is that you can take these and use them as a springboard for buying things for others or padding out the gifts you plan to get them.

Silicone plate dividers– These silicone plate dividers keep your wet food and dry food from touching. They’re dishwasher safe and come in multiple colors.
A divided cereal bowl– A divided cereal bowl keeps your cereal and your milk separate. It’s a great way to avoid soggy food. Also useful for yogurt and toppings or just having chips/dip that don’t touch.
A dip holder– I promise this is the last food related one, but keeping your wets from touching your dries is always a thing. This is a little container that clips to your plate and will hold your sauce.
A weighted blanket– This one comes in lots of cute colors and patterns. I do suggest getting a cover for your weighted blanket, so you don’t need to throw a 15 lb blanket in your washing machine (it is chaos)
A duvet cover for the weighted blanket– This is so you don’t need to throw a 15 lb blanket into the washing machine (it takes FOREVER for them to dry if you do and will make your washer and dryer shake/walk, trust me this is worth it).
A shark robe/snuggie thing– If you’re friend is trans and ND, this is a silly one but trust me on it, they’ll think it’s hilarious. Plus, being able to pull a giant hood over your head is just chef kiss
The Comfy– My partner swears by the Comfy when they’re overstimulated (and perpetually cold). It’s oversized, and you can basically crawl into it or pull the hood over your head. It’s soft, warm, no weird fabrics or irritating strings.
A moon lamp– Sometimes you just need to lay in the dark with some soft colorful lighting. This lamp has a clicker with different colors. It’s very peaceful and aesthetic, especially if they’re into space stuff.
A human-sized dog bed– Do you like floor time, but you have the back/neck of a 30+ year old? Try the human sized dog bed.
A Japanese futon/tatami mat– Same idea as the human dog bed for floor time, but it’s easier to roll up and put away. It’s also more expensive, though bigger.
Color, Taste, Texture by Matthew Broberg Moffitt– A cookbook to help with someone who has food aversions/sensitivities by helping them figure out what they can/can’t tolerate and building from there.
Loop earplugs– to lessen sound without making you completely unable to hear. They come in many colors and levels of blockage.
A hug blanket– If you aren’t a fan of weighted blankets but like compression that isn’t too hot, this is a good alternative as it’s much lighter and more like a sleeve.
A timer cube– I like them for getting past bad executive dysfunction or for telling myself, I just need to clean for 15 min, etc. Caveat: the noise is hideous, like an alarm clock.
A grocery list pad for the fridge– If you forget what you’re out of, I like to put this on the fridge with a magnetic pen, so I can mark off what we’re out of when I notice. It’s a good way to avoid a 5 soy sauce bottles situation.
Safe and Sound by Mercury Stardust- Not necessarily ND specific, but I like being able to do things on my own with clear, step-by-step written instructions and accompanying videos. The Trans Handy Ma’am’s book has been helpful with basic home repair.
Noise-cancelling headphones– because noise = overstimulation. Some are far more expensive, but these are a good basic pair. They can get SUPER pricey
Other ideas:
- Buy things relating to their special interest.
- Give them a gift card to a place they like if they don’t like surprises.
- Do not buy an experience with a date unless you’ve talked to them about it before.
- More of their [nonperishable] safe food.
- Ask them what they want. We appreciate it.

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August 2025 Wrap-Up Post

August 31, 2025August 31, 2025 Kara JorgensenLeave a comment

August has simultaneously been the longest month and still flown by very quickly. This is probably because the semester started again for me this past week, which always makes the month feel a bit chaotic. Before we get into it, let’s get into what my goals were for August:

Write 20,000 words of TRF
Get my book cover stuff in order for TRF
Attempt to work on the F&F rewrite
Make my syllabi for my classes
Set up my Blackboards for my classes
Read 8 books
Blog weekly
Send out newsletter

Books

My goal was to read 8 books, and I read 9 this month.

The Memory of the Ogisi (#3) by Moses Ose Utomi- 4 stars, this was the conclusion of the Forever Desert series. It was incredibly interesting to see the cycle fully completed and how it relates to the earlier books. Highly recommend if you want a series of novellas that talks about how history is written by the victor and how that affects the future.
The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black- 4 stars, an incredibly thorough yet short(ish) book on the history of the dinosaurs. I love a good overview, and Riley Black does a fantastic job of covering a lot in a way that feels like storytelling rather than info dumping. It makes nonfiction far more palatable.
All Systems Red (#1) by Martha Wells- 4 stars, I’m going to lump the whole series into this one review because I don’t want to give away spoilers, and I think most of the reviews will be similar. I often find robot autistics to be off-putting, but Murderbot being autistic and asexual just hits for me. The poor thing just wants to be left alone to watch their dramas and chill, yet humans continually need savings and feelings keep coming whether they want them or not.
Artificial Condition (#2) by Martha Wells- 4 stars, see book one.
Rapport (#2.5) by Martha Wells- 4 stars, see book one.
Rogue Protocol (#3) by Martha Wells- 4 stars, see book one.
Exit Strategy (#4) by Martha Wells- 4 stars, see book one.
Home (#4.5) by Martha Wells- 4 stars, see book one.
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher- 4 stars, a twist on the princess in a tower story involving a Muslim knight who keeps apologizing and a human-turned-faerie who just wants to protect humanity from the princess in the tower. T. Kingfisher is fabulous at turning fairytales on their head and humanizing characters you may have never thought about before.

Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff

Decided to push my release date of TRF to January 2026
Managed to keep my mental health out of the trash
Played a lot of Tiny Bookshop
Survived my first week back at work
Made/juggled a bunch of appointments for my partner
Set up my Blackboard accounts for my classes
Fixed my syllabi for my classes

Blogs

Writing

This month writing went really, really well. I always struggle during the first act of books, but now that I am squarely in the second act, things are getting going. I really like this draft so far, and I think you all will too. One thing that I was grappling with is not being able to finish The Reanimator’s Fate by the end of the year. December is a particularly hard month for sales, and due to that and because I want to give myself some cushion, I am going to release book 4 in January. Part of me was quite upset that I wouldn’t have a book release this year, but that is a goal I set myself, not anything required of me. And because this book is coming out so early, there’s a good chance that I will release another (probably Flowers and Flourishing’s rewrite) during 2026. I appreciate all of you and your patience as I’m working on this book.

Hopes for September

Write 20,000 words of TRF
Work more on F&F rewrite
Set up my goals for Q4
Cover reveal
Set up preorder for TRF
Stay on top of grading
Read 8 books
Blog weekly
Send out newsletter

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Acceptance, Not Awareness

April 13, 2025April 13, 2025 Kara Jorgensen2 Comments

Every year I look forward to April with equal parts anticipation and dread because it is Autism Acceptance Month. Note that I did not say Autism Awareness Month. As an autistic author who has written a series with an autistic protagonist, I love being able to promote my work and have people read a story from the perspective of an autistic character. Seeing other autistic authors promote their work and being able to connect with them means a lot to me. Within the community, it’s a great time to share resources, connect with others, celebrate our unique weirdness, but outside the community is another story.

In 2025, everyone should know what autism is. We are past the point of awareness, and with the awareness of neurotypical or allistic folks comes ableism and eugenics. If you don’t know Autism Speaks is an organization that calls for an end to autism, which most autistic people take issue with for obvious reasons. They promote ABA (conversion therapy for autistic people that most autistics oppose), they talk over autistic people in favor of promoting allistic caregivers/parents, and they discuss autism in terms of deficits or geniuses, which is problematic. The worst part is that they are one of the loudest voices during April. They are the ones promoting blue light bulbs and puzzle pieces.

The awareness that Autism Speaks and other parent-centric organizations bring is often riddled with eugenics and deficit-centered language. We are talked about only in how our existence is a burden to others or how our neurotype disturbs those around us. Bringing awareness to our neurotype in this way is like only talking about an amputee in terms of what they can’t do without their arm or leg. It is important to discuss the difficulties disabled people face in their daily lives, but we shouldn’t only discuss the far ends of the spectrum: how burdensome we are and inspiration porn.

This is where Autism Acceptance Month comes in. The idea of acceptance is that we accept all of that person, struggles, good days, bad days, things we’re good at, our humor, our communication styles, and the things that make us different from neurotypicals. Accepting autistic people pushes back against the narrative that organizations like Autism Speaks promotes that we are burdens or problems that need to be solved. If we are accepted as just a different neurotype, then we are equal with allistic people, and in turn, they should also be willing to bridge the gap to aid in meeting our needs rather than the onus falling on autistic people. Things like ABA therapy are basically obsolete because their whole premise is to make autistic people appear to be neurotypical while forcing autistics to disregard their needs in favor of what allistic people want them to do. If autistic people are on equal footing with allistics and are accepted, there is no reason to essentially dog train an autistic child into not stimming or ignoring that the lights of hurting their eyes. We can simply let them do their thing as long as they aren’t hurting themselves or dim the lights a little.

If we acknowledge that a lot of what allistic society dislikes about autistic people is that they are “weird” or doing something that they feel they cannot do in polite society, like be direct, wiggle, not disregard their sensory needs; society as a whole will be better for it.

Everyone deserves to have their needs met and to communicate in ways that get to the heart of the matter even if it makes others uncomfortable. Society as a whole needs to take a hard look and ask itself why does directness bother you? Why does stimming make you so uncomfortable? Why it is a bad thing that someone needs dimmer lights, headphones, or comfortable clothes in order to function? Why does having “childish” interests or a weird special interest have to be a bad thing? Overall, why do you even care?

So much of the pushback stems from people who are uncomfortable that someone else is saying, “No, I need this or want this, and I’m going to do it” rather than demurring and conforming. Our society is so obsessed with conforming that the reason autistics stick out so much is that we are terrible at it, but the better question is why are you all doing it in the first place? If something doesn’t jive with your in terms of fashion, food, office politics, etc., why do you force yourself to do it instead of questioning how we got here and what the point is?

Our society is riddled with systemic issues, and peeling away the notion that we have to conform to whatever is the norm is the first step in freeing ourselves from these systems. Stepping back can show you the cracks and the deep fissures that cause others so much pain, not just for autistics but anyone who isn’t the white male cis het majority. Acceptance of our differences instead of the awareness of our differences is far more freeing and can ultimately lead us down a much better road.

Uncategorized · Writing

Plot? Character? Both? Both. Pt. 1

February 9, 2025February 9, 2025 Kara Jorgensen5 Comments

One of the most common arguments I remember hearing in my MFA program that I still online is whether genre fiction is character or plot focused. The answer is often both, especially if you write romance or something with a heavy emphasis on character development. A question I hear a lot when I’m teaching creative writing or with friends who want feedback on their books is how do I construct a plot that is character-centric but still fun and tightly structured? This week and next week’s blog posts will be about how to do create character driven novel that is heightened by an external plot.

A caveat before we begin is that I am using my writing process as a scaffold for this. Everyone has a different writing process and there is no one way to write a novel. My hope is that you will adapt my advice to what works best for you by taking what works and leaving what doesn’t. Also, this post will have very minor spoilers for The Reanimator’s Heart as I use it to show how I construct the basis for my characters/plot.

How to build a character

I think the biggest piece of prework for writing a character-centric story with a plot that enhances the characters is knowing the characters really well. In order to create the plot of your story, you need to know where the characters are at the beginning and end of the story, aka how they change over time. The plot will help to move them toward that goal, but first, you need to figure out where your characters are before the story starts.

I’m a gardener (a loose-ish plotter), so I like to spend a lot of time before I start truly writing getting to know who my characters are. I do this by brainstorming, ruminating, making notes about what I think their backstory is, their personality, what they look like, etc. Let’s use Oliver from The Reanimator’s Heart as an example. I really wanted to write a character who is autistic, so I knew that was going to factor into his personality and overall design because your neurotype influences how you act and behave. I was inspired by the show Pushing Daisies, which had a main character who could raise the dead in order to solve murders, so it made sense that Oliver would then be a necromancer. Autistic + necromancer = Oliver, so what does that mean in terms of character traits? I decided that I wanted him to be an autistic who isn’t very good at masking or hiding his traits, so he’s quiet, a bit weird, not socially adept, and if necromancers are stigmatized in this magical world because it’s a rather morbid power that can cause very bad things, it would make sense that he either self-isolates or is isolated within the Paranormal Society (the setting of the story). I asked myself, does he have family? I decided that I didn’t want him to have living family members (upping the isolation), but he does have a really good friend that he’s close to, Gwen, who also works at the society. What job would make sense for a necromancer at the Paranormal Society? Being a coroner or medical examiner would meaning he can talk to the dead with little oversight as people typically avoid dead bodies. I researched medical examiners, and you need to be a doctor to be one, so now, Oliver has a medical degree.

Ultimately, I decided Oliver is an autistic necromancer who tends to self-isolate due to his social difficulties and his necromancy being stigmatized. His backstory is that he is without living family, has a medical degree but for some reason is no longer practicing medicine, and works as the medical examiner for the society’s investigative wing. This is where we find him right when the story starts. If you’ve read The Reanimator’s Heart, you know how all of this plays into the story line.

For me, physical attributes always come second as I use them to highlight or heighten the character traits rather than the other way around. I wanted Oliver to look dead, so I made him very pale (he’s white) and gave him dark hair to make the contrast even starker. He’s tall because autistic looming can make people uncomfortable. I also wanted him to be accidentally scary to people who don’t know him (his looks might also intimidate people who might try to mess with Gwen/his best friend). His grey eyes fit the monochromatic theme and gave him a little enigmatic flare because why not. This is a romance after all.

PS- make sure to write all of this sort of brainstorming somewhere you can find it again. Do not trust yourself to remember because you won’t.

Now, if you’re writing a romance or a multi-POV book with more than one protagonist, you will need to do this for two characters, and for romance, you will need to figure out a way to make them highlight or contrast with each other. The Reanimator’s Heart is a romance, so Oliver needs a love interest/romantic partner. That’s where Felipe comes in. If Oliver is a necromancer who works as the medical examiner and isn’t very social, who might he run into often at the society? An investigator. That’s how Felipe ended up with his job. From there, I decided he is going to be one of the best investigators, the kind who go on the longest, toughest missions. I hadn’t initially decided what his power is, but I knew his background had to be in monster hunting and fighting. I had toyed the year before with the idea of a character being Zorro adjacent, but the story idea fizzled out for many reasons. Ultimately, Felipe ended up being born from that spark of inspiration, so he ended up being a heroic monster hunter known for his fighting prowess who also comes from a family of monster hunters in California. To make him a foil for Oliver, Felipe would have to be sort of his opposite, which would make him more outgoing, social, and well-liked by the people at the society. Felipe ended up becoming a charming, more extroverted, levelheaded monster hunter/investigator. His physical traits had to fit someone of Mexican-American descent since he is from California, and I decided it would make sense for him to be Latinx. Felipe became a short king because I wanted a little size difference with Oliver and because heroes are tall way too often.

Even if Felipe is a foil for Oliver, they have to have something in common, and since Oliver is isolated and lonely due to his autism and powers, it would make sense for Felipe to also be dealing with loneliness of a different flavor. In a romance, a good way to have the main characters interlock and play off each other is to have them struggling with the same internal problem in different ways and have them make up for what the other lacks.

Where did you come from? Where did you go?

Something I want you to pay attention to in regards to the construction of characters mentioned above is that they were not constructed by squishing together a bunch of character traits. I’ve seen a lot of blog posts or videos that suggest focusing on traits, but I think it makes more sense to take a holistic approach and work backwards and forwards to figure out how a character acts and why they act this way. The why is the important part. If you want your characters to come off as real people, you have to think of the psychology and cause and effect behind their traits. Our personalities aren’t made in a vacuum, and neither should your characters be built in a vacuum.

Our pasts and upbringings inform our identities, so I think it’s important to figure out how you want your character to be at the beginning of the story. Once you have that, you have to ask why they behave this way? Some of it will boil down to things like neurotype, gender (and the societal expectations of that or the subversions), sexuality, class, trauma, religion, disabilities, the culture they were raised in, etc. All of these things have an effect on how we behave or interact with our world, so your character’s personality also will be affected by the world building in your story. By starting with the current person and working backwards, you are more likely to have a cohesive character who is more than a hodgepodge of traits, and when you need to figure out how they’ll react in your story, you can look back at that history for the answer. I suggest being flexible or loose with this past history in case you need to tweak or change something as you write the story, but knowing the basics and overall journey of how the character got to this point is helpful.

Next week we’re going to talk about making the plot work with the character development in more detail, but before we get into that, we need to figure out how the characters need to grow from the beginning to the end of the story. Keep in mind that if this is going to be a series with the same characters in multiple books, you should only fix one trait or problem at a time. I tend to see most writing “rules” as guidelines, but if you want to have a character-centered story, the character has to change or grow throughout the story. Before you start working on the overall plot, you need to figure out how you want them to change. That journey will be the scaffold upon which the rest of the plot is built.

A good way to figure this out is to think about what your character needs most to be a happier or better person. For Oliver and Felipe, they both need to work on their issues with isolation in order to be happy. Oliver needs to step out of his bubble while Felipe needs to let Oliver into his. How they deal with their isolation and interact with each other will be informed by the past and personality we crafted earlier.

Stop by next week to see how we integrate their internal growth with the external plot!

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I Won’t Go Quietly

November 10, 2024November 10, 2024 Kara Jorgensen1 Comment

For the past week, I’ve been debating if I wanted to write anything about *gestures to the world*, but after giving my creative writing students a pep talk on Thursday, I thought I might do the same thing here.

First and foremost, I’m not going anywhere. If 2016 taught me anything, it was that I am proud of who I am. I am a queer, nonbinary author of queer books, and absolutely no one can stop me from making queer art. I’ve watched so many of my friends be devastated by the news, and all I can be is angry. I’m pissed that we let it get this far. I’m pissed that we spent four years resting on the laurels of the status quo instead of improving people’s lives. I’m pissed that we ripped away the safety net created at the beginning of the pandemic that helped so many. I’m pissed that democratic leadership set the country up for failure by pandering to the middle of the road, which is where approximately no one sits when a basic focus group could have cleared up that misconception. I’m pissed that all of my friends need to live in a constant state of anxiety for four years. I’m pissed that this will further ruin the health of so many people, people who are already at a heightened risk for health problems just because they are part of marginalized groups. Most of all, I’m pissed that I have to justify my existence and the existence of my partner and friends to people who idolize conformity and control.

You can do many things, but you cannot take away my queerness. It will always be there. Our community has survived centuries of criminalization. We have flown under the radar and kept to our corners, but no more. No one is stuffing us back into the closet. We have seen a better world is possible, and we are not letting the country go back. We are not subjecting children to the same rough childhoods we had. We are not letting them hate themselves or become stereotypes to be mocked on TV. Queer is not a dirty word.

Fascism is.

For the next four years, my goal is to make fascists as uncomfortable as possible. I’m privileged enough to live in a state where my rights are fairly well protected, and as a white queer, I plan on using that to be as obnoxious in the face of fascism as possible. I will be writing queer shit, being queer, supporting other queer artists, and supporting my queer students. I will not cower. I will not obey in advance. I will wear a mask and call my representatives to hammer home how important it is to maintain my rights and the rights of my marginalized friends. If they want to make the world a hostile place for people like us, then I vow to be equally kind and soft because in the face of fascism, love and caring for your fellow person is dangerous. No matter what, I will see the humanity in others and protect their rights in any way I can. I hope you will do it with me.

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On Being an Audiobook Convert

September 22, 2024September 14, 2024 Kara Jorgensen1 Comment

I was never an audiobook hater from a reading perspective. Reading is reading, no matter how you do it, but I didn’t like them per se.

Due to audio processing issues, I struggle to listen to things like podcasts and audiobooks for several reasons. The main one is that sometimes I think too loudly and stop hearing the audio I have playing. That means I end up missing chunks of a story if I’m multitasking too much. The other issue is that some voices REALLY grate on my brain. I tend to be a bit fussy about the narrators I listen to because if someone’s voice makes me anxious, I won’t listen to the audiobook. For a long time, I thought I couldn’t be an audiobook lover because of this, but I found some things that helped me become an audiobook appreciator.

Turn up the speed

Part of what irritated me while listening to audiobooks initially was how slowly the narrators spoke sometimes. As someone from a state where people talk fast, the slowness grated on my brain horrifically. I was losing track of sentences because they took so long. Helpfully, most audiobook apps have controls where you can turn the speed up or down. If you struggle to get through audiobooks because the narrator is too slow or too fast, you can easily adjust it.

Check the samples before buying it

If you’re like me and struggle with certain voices or narration styles, listen to the audiobook sample before you buy it. While I wouldn’t use the sample to judge if I want to read that particular book, I do use them to judge if I can stand the voice. If someone’s cadence annoys me or the voice itself grates on my soul, I don’t buy it. I’ve also figured out that there are some kinds of books that just don’t work for audiobooks (graphic novels, obviously, or books with footnotes).

For accessibility

I tend to buy audiobooks for authors whose works I struggle to get through in ebook or paperback form. I have a few authors who have dense writing or writing that just bounces off my brain (aka I take a very long time to get through a book I enjoy), and in audiobook form, they are far more palatable. I struggled to get through any/all of Tolkein’s books. Being able to have them read to me made them far more accessible and enjoyable. At this point, I recommend my students try audiobooks if they are struggling to get through a physical or digital book, especially people with dyslexia or ADHD who might have a hard time focusing long enough to get through a book even if they’re enjoying it.

Find bargains

If you aren’t sure if audiobooks are for you, I highly recommend checking out audiobooks from your local library or using sale sites like Chirp. In the US, many library systems have ebooks and audiobooks you can check out through their apps or website. This is a great way to sample audiobooks and figure out in a low stakes way if you can enjoy them. Chirp and other sites that sell audiobooks often run sales where you can buy audiobooks for less than $5 if you don’t have access to a library.

You won’t catch everything

Something I quickly made peace with was that I will miss some words or sentences, and I need to be okay with that. Occasionally, I zone out or the dogs bark, and I don’t catch a line. At first, this really bothered me, but I realized I miss lines while reading as well. The worst part is not knowing how names are spelled, but most of the time, taking a look at the blurb on Goodreads is enough to clear that up for me.

If you haven’t tried listening to audiobooks, I highly recommend you give them a chance! They are especially great for long car rides, daily commutes, or while cleaning the house.

Personal Life · Uncategorized

A Vent: the Freydis Fiasco

April 21, 2024April 22, 2024 Kara Jorgensen11 Comments

**What is written below is my experience with Freydis Moon and what has gone down since last February. Obviously, all of this is from my perspective, and I have not used other people’s names for privacy reasons. I want to use this post to vent everything that has happened this past year**

If you follow me on social media, over the past year or so, you may have seen me posting about how I was getting weird messages/replies on Twitter along with ghost quote rts (where someone who has seemingly privated or blocked you shares you work) on posts that wouldn’t normally get quoted/shared. This freaked me out so badly that my hair fell out over the summer/early fall of 2023 due to the stress of what was going on and the fact that I couldn’t say anything because the person who was behind it was another author within my orbit: Freydis Moon.

Freydis Moon has been unmasked Scooby Doo style as another terrible author named Taylor Barton or Brooklyn Ray. You can take a look at the evidence here if you want more background. The main m.o. with this person was that they would bully people, and when they would say something or try to, Freydis would rile up their readers/followers/friends to take them down. This was often done publicly, but it was often done on Discords and back channels only.

My issues with Freydis go back to February of 2023. I made a post on Twitter complaining about trope marketing since I don’t write or read fanfic, basically riffing off what a friend said. Freydis came into both of our posts and stirred up shit. I got off lighter with insinuations that I was being classist for saying if you have a BA in English, you look at book structure/writing differently (not better, differently). But they went after my friend, even though they backed down and unnecessarily apologized for their marketing opinion. Freydis and another queer author made a whole thread making fun of them and then seemingly booted my friend off a queer author Discord we were part of with the words “bad vibes be gone.” I was pissed. I left the Discord nearly immediately and muted Freydis everywhere. Part of me hoped they might apologize, but that never came.

After that happened, I started comparing notes with another neurodivergent author who had also had run-ins with Freydis and realized there were more and more of us who had this experience of “misunderstandings” that felt ableist. What I mean by that is tone policing, reading into things that aren’t there and then attacking you for it, and ganging up on them with another author/supporter among other things. Between February and summer, I watched another neurodivergent author get into a spat with them after calling them out for bullying. It’s also key to note here that Freydis also masqueraded as another author, Saint Harlow, who often acted as their attack dog. Saint Harlow went after this author, then Freydis got them into emails/DMs and then twisted around what they said. Once again, shitty behavior, but when you throw in that this author was autistic, it takes on a far more obvious ableist edge in that we are often not as socially adept and it’s far easier to trip us up, especially since clarifying leads to over-explaining, which gives the bully more to work with.

By this point, the pattern of ableist behavior was solidifying, especially after going through older spats between them and traditionally published authors, several of whom were known to be neurodivergent. Another autistic author became more vocal about Freydis’s behavior toward autistic and neurodivergent author, and so did I. Neither of us ever named names, and I don’t think I even mentioned that I was talking about a specific person when I talked about ableism being a pattern of behavior rather than a discreet action. That was seemingly enough. When a friend was called out by them, I told them to ignore Freydis (basically doing the opposite of what happened with the other author and because grey rocking is a common tactic against abusive behavior). Someone leaked those chats to Freydis, who then leaked them to their friends. I lost like 10-15 mutuals in like two days and couldn’t figure out why. I later found out it was because they told people I had been “racially harassing” them despite the fact that I hadn’t spoken to/about them in months and never had been racist toward/about them.

By that point, I had had them blocked everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, Tiktok, in my email, even Etsy. Their presence was triggering to me by that point. I went out of my way to avoid them, so there was no way in hell I was going to harass them. On top of that, I hadn’t said anything about any of this on any of my public social media accounts, only within close friend groups. Around this time in the summer is when what I can only describe as cyberstalking started. I would post something and a friend who come tell me Freydis is subtweeting me, even though I had them and their other alias’s account (whom I thought was a separate person) both blocked. I started getting ghost quote retweets on posts about my health or neurodivergence, which was strange since those aren’t topics people would comment on. I would have replies/qrts pop up, then disappear, and I started to think I was losing my mind. More people I thought were my friends unfollowed me, and I stayed silent publicly. I didn’t know how to possibly prove something I hadn’t done, but what saddened me most was that people who I thought knew me, knew my character and behavior over the months/years we had been acquaintances believed I was harassing someone and being racist. I’m not perfect, but I do my best to be anti-racist and continue to unlearn damaging behaviors and thought patterns. If I had done something, I would have apologized and taken responsibility for my behavior, but I hadn’t, especially since I hadn’t spoken to/about them since February.

When Bluesky appeared, I was relieved as they hadn’t arrived and the weird ghosts posts stopped for a time. The moment Freydis got an account there, I blocked them. I literally searched their name every day just to block them. Then, one day I made a post that was meant to be a joke about asexuality and spice (I’m asexual). Suddenly, my post was circulating among Freydis’s people, despite having most of them blocked, and I only knew because a friend came to tell me people were upset with me. I realized they were creeping on my posts again and cyberstalking me with a sock puppet/alt account or by using a friend to evade the block.

During the Trans Rights Readathon this year, I was tagged in a trans author list and one of their followers popped on to call me a serial harasser. Their “evidence” was me complaining about Frey’s clique to the friend from February and the ace-spice joke post (that I later deleted and apologized for). Luckily, the person who saw it didn’t believe the “evidence,” but this confirmed to me that they were doing this somewhere privately and that I wasn’t wrong in believing that they were sowing discord on Discord. During the Trans Rights Readathon, this happened more than once, and someone left a one star review on one of my books calling me a racist harasser, which my friends reported and got taken down. Once again, I still hadn’t said a peep about them.

Two weeks or so before today, I cracked and made a thread on Bluesky about being cyberstalking and how if someone asks you to keep tabs on someone who blocked them, you are contributing to stalking and harassment. I was tired and overwrought emotionally by what was going on but still didn’t name names or use specifics. My friends were being supportive and agreeing when a sock puppet account came out of the woodwork to call me racist [again]. They told a person who was supporting me that doing so was not a “good look” for them. Fortunately, that person saw through the manipulation and told them off. The sock puppet deleted their account and disappeared.

That episode rattled me because of how overt it was. I spent the rest of the week freaked out, and as recently as Friday, I had been pouring out my feelings to my partner about how this bullying felt like it was never ending to the point that I had gone back through interactions to make sure I hadn’t actually done something. It made me question my sanity and memory. I struggle with OCD and have chronic inflammatory problems, and the prolonged nature of Freydis’s bullying took its toll on me. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, my hair fell out from stress.

When the news came out that there was hard evidence that Freydis Moon was Taylor Barton/Brooklyn Ray, I was relieved. Several friends who knew about the situation reached out to me, and I decided to finally post about what went on. Everyone who has interacted with my posts has been very supportive, which I greatly appreciate. At the same time, I have mixed feelings about everything. The non-anonymous whistleblower was part of the crowd that spread/believed lies about me and shut me and several others out of parts of the queer indie romance community. People who I saw joining in on Freydis’s bad behavior are claiming they had no idea, and suddenly, people who have had me blocked for months on Freydis’s orders or word are now unblocking and re-friending me.

While I’m relieved this person’s behavior and real identity have come to light, I have been embittered by what has happened. My character and conduct meant nothing in the face of Freydis’s word because if they said it with enough authority, it had to be true even if there was no evidence. Freydis also weaseled their way into authority positions on projects that centered autism after being ableist and awful to autistic authors. They were actively ableist on their Discords and even made fun of me specifically for being autistic, yet no one pushed back. I’m not ready to forgive anyone who moved in that circle because I think if a new leader for the cult of personality stepped up, they would follow them. I hope they examine their actions and strive to do better in the future.

My sympathy goes out to all the readers who saw themselves in Freydis’s work and the queer, Latinx indie authors who may be harmed in the future due to their careless actions. They all deserved better.

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10 Books on my Wishlist in 2024

December 10, 2023November 22, 2023 Kara Jorgensen1 Comment

As we head ever closer to the end of the year, I thought I might make a very non-exhaustive list of books that I am dying to get my hands on when they come out next year. To be clear, this is definitely not every book I have been eyeing, and if it was, you probably wouldn’t want to sit through that lengthy blog post. I’m also confining this list to the first half of 2024 for simplicity’s sake and because you never know if things will get pushed back or cancelled. Without further ado, here are 10 of the books I am looking forward to in early 2024 in the order of their release date:

The Absinthe Underground by Jamie Pacton (2/6)- Sapphic, fae, and with the decadence of late 1800s Paris, what more could you ask for? The cover is also gorgeously art noveau, and I am sucker for the beauty of the book as I am for Jamie’s work.
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden (2/13)- If you haven’t read The Bear and the Nightingale yet, you need to. Arden’s books are so atmospheric and dreamy while still being grounded in the horrors of reality. While this book is set during WWI, I know she’ll do the horrors and tragedy of war justice.
Sun of Blood and Ruin by Mariely Lares (2/20)- As soon as I saw genderbent Zorro with magic, I was sold. It sounds amazing, and I will take any and all Zorro reimaginings.
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal (2/20)- A secret tearoom catering to vampires, a dangerous heist, and a ragtag group of outcasts who may or not be on the heroine’s side sounds like the perfect book for someone who loves Gail Carriger’s works and We Hunt the Flame.
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark (3/24)- I adore P. Djèlí Clark’s books. He creates so much texture and characterization in few words, and whether it’s djinn or assassins, I’m here for it.
Wake Me Most Wickedly by Felicia Grossman (4/9)- A historical romance set in mid-1800s London, featuring Jewish characters is good enough on its own, but once you add in nods to Snow White, I am thoroughly sold, especially knowing we get to see characters introduced in Marry Me By Midnight.
The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo (5/7)- If Nghi Vo writes it, I will buy it. This story follows Cleric Chih as they escort a bride to her new home, which is haunted by the ghosts of past wives, a mad son, and far more dangerous monsters. East Asian Gothic is a genre I need more of in my life.
You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian (5/7)- A baseball player and a reporter come together for an article but find there might be more between them than just an article. From the description, it sounds like they will deal with grief, secrets, being out, and knowing Cat’s work, it’ll be like a warm hug.
Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse (6/4)- This is the final book in the Between Earth & Sky series, where we return to an alternate version of Indigenous Central America, complete with magic, gods, and creatures. This series has me in a death grip, and while I’m not one for morally grey/bad characters, Serapio has me in a death grip.
The Sitcom Star by Jackie Lau (???)- I backed Jackie’s Kickstarter last month, so I’ll be getting this book and the sequel in January, but I’m not sure when it’s coming to other retailers. It’s about a star looking to get away for a while who accidentally runs into her childhood friend, literally, he spills boba tea on her. Jackie’s romances are always so carefully and lovingly written and jive with my ND brain that she is on my autobuy list.

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On Forgetting to Read Sequels

September 17, 2023August 26, 2023 Kara Jorgensen2 Comments

I recently discovered a less than desirable reading habit I now possess, and I’m hoping that, in pointing it out to myself, this will somehow hold me accountable. In turn, I’m holding you all accountable for this bad habit as well.

I read book 1, really enjoy it, buy book 2, then forget book two exists or put it off in favor of another stand alone or book 1, lather-rinse-repeat. I also do this with later sequels/subsequent books in a series, so no, it doesn’t get better if I’ve read book 2.

I was making the slips for my TBR coffin the other day when I realized how many of the papers in it are actually sequels/not book one in a series that I enjoyed. If you have not seen the TBR coffin, I will link to the Tiktok here. You might be wondering why I buy book 2 if I don’t plan to read it.

Well, I do plan to read it, and sometimes I buy book 2 ahead of time, even if I haven’t read book 1 yet because I want to support the author or I already like this author, so I’m fairly certain I will get to the series and enjoy it.

After thinking about why I tend not to read book 2+ in a timely manner, here are some fairly obvious reasons why this happens:

there’s a big gap between books 1 and 2, which causes me to forget everything in book, so I tell myself I need to look up a synopsis/summary of book 1 before reading book 2. I put that off and forget.
my to-be-read pile is just really big and new things tend to get preference, unless that new thing is a sequel (see previous bullet)
they are heavy books (in terms of message or world-building), and I need to be in a specific mood or headspace to read them
sometimes I get nervous book 2 won’t be as good as book 1 and put it off.
other times, I enjoyed the series so much that I don’t want it to be over, and I put off reading the last book
but mostly, I just forget they exist because out of sight, out of mind

No matter the reason, it’s a bad habit that I’m shaming myself for. What is especially funny to me is how I have tried to work around this by waiting to read a series until I have all of the books (or wait until close to the last book’s release day), and the outcome is still the same. From now until the end of the year, my goal is to read as many of those sequels and subsequent books as I can. One way or another, I am determined to break this awful habit and actually read what I have.

What sequels or subsequent books do you need to move up your TBR?

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Spiting the AI

January 8, 2023January 6, 2023 Kara Jorgensen1 Comment

If you aren’t chronically online [like me], you may not have heard about all the issues with AI art. If you aren’t sure why it’s a bad thing, a quick synopsis is that for AI art to work, they have to steal artwork from human artists in order to mush things together to create what people are generating. It isn’t like they are taking from public domain works, and that is obscenely shitty, especially since of course corporations are cutting ties with human artists to use a machine that makes wonky ass hands and regurgitates soulless garbage made of art that was actually nice and had thought and composition behind it. It’s the art of equivalent of me writing a book by stealing good sentences from bestsellers. I mean, it’s a new book. Who cares where all the good sentences came from, especially if I changed the names, right? See how stupid it sounds when you change art to writing. We call that plagiarism. My advice for this is DO NOT FEED THE MACHINE. Don’t play with AI generators, don’t use those photo changer apps because they are AI also, and if you have Adobe or other art programs, double check that your settings are such that it isn’t stealing your data/files to feed to their AI machines.

As someone who values equity and the arts/humanities, supporting AI goes against everything I stand for, and using it, even casually, spits in the face of every artist who works hard on their craft and is trying to make a living and those who spend hours on their art as a hobbiest. Yes, I will fight people over this. Go use AI to make a machine that will do my taxes and leave the creative stuff to human beings.

Anyway, this is not meant to be a rant about how gross AI art is, though I could spend a lot of time doing so. The reason why I bring this up is because one of my goals for this year is to get back into art, drawing, and crafting. I crocheted like a machine in 2020 (though, ironically machines cannot crochet as it’s too difficult), but I sort of burnt myself out on it. Last year, I had intended to do more art, but I ended up focusing on getting back into writing and really didn’t do anything besides my bullet journal spreads/doodles. That isn’t to say that isn’t art, but it wasn’t what I had intended to do.

All through middle and high school, I took art classes, to the point that in my senior year, I was in Portfolio Art (senior year, you took all of the art classes class) and Arts and Crafts (which was like ceramics, plastic canvas, basket weaving, etc). Art has played a pivotal part in my life, and during college, I wasn’t able to take any art classes because the vast majority conflicted with my science labs. In the fourteen years since I graduated high school, I have lost that muscle memory for art that isn’t craft-focused. My hope is that I can do more little pieces, play with the supplies I have, and just enjoy art as a process. Aka, not cry over my lost muscle memory and rage quit when it doesn’t go well. At first, I know my art will look terrible, and that’s fine. The whole point of doing this is to reawaken that side of me, enjoy the process, and work toward improving in a very loose, fun way.

Something I want to put out into the universe is that I would love to sell planner stickers one day. I absolutely adore sticker sheets of cute but mundane things, and there are more niche stickers I would love to have that don’t exist in shops in the US. Maybe one day I can make some fossil stickers or ones of amphoras and Grecian urns. We’ll see.

At this point, I have Posca acrylic paint markers, needle felting kits, plastic canvas kits, and Himi gouache sitting in my basement waiting for me to use them. I don’t know how much I’ll post about my art journey this year or how far I’ll get, but I hope you will join me in recapturing the childlike glee of making art.