Hi I'm Crow, a 20-something hobbyist writer with a renewed love of reading. I post writing snippets, poetry & quotes from books that I like, as well as useful resources I find around the net. Accessibility and accurate sourcing are a priority. If you see me online, do me a favor and tell me to log off and go work on my novel. Icon by Ghostssmoke.
115 posts
Latest Posts by catalystcorvid - Page 2
Hey! Last night this blogged ticked over the 100 follower count without me noticing. Das so cool.
Frankly some of you should be hornier over weirder shit. The fear of being too genuine is the enemy of art. Be a bit of a pervert. It's good for the health. Doesn't have to be a sexual thing just own up to being a bit obsessed in some cringe shit it's fine.
send a heart and a ship for a brief snippet!
â€ïž first kiss / realization
𧥠kissing in bed / lazy kiss / cuddling
đ reunion kiss / relief
đ true love's kiss / magic kiss / healed
đ drunken kiss / tipsy
đ surprise kiss / impulsive kiss
đ slow kiss / gentle kiss / inevitable / soft
đ rough kiss / hot and heavy / making out
đ kissing somewhere other than lips
đ fake relationship / mutual pining / dared to kiss
đ€ multiple kisses / kisses all over / kiss after kiss
đ€ kiss at the wedding / milestone
đ€ kissing while crying / goodbye kiss / desperation
i may not have the magic words to fully express how i feel, but the world is better with trans women in it. my life is better with trans women in it. you are a warm light in the dark and your existence brings me and many others joy. you are my sisters and my dear friends. i love you and i'm glad you're here.
i want to coin a phrase that's the opposite of writer's block. call it the muse's fire hydrant. thirty thousand story ideas are being beamed directly into your brain and if you don't write them all at once you will die.
One of those goofy maid animes, except the viewpoint character isn't the hapless master or mistress of the house, but a regular-ass janitor who ended up on this crew due to a paperwork mixup at the temp agency and can't figure out what the fuck is wrong with her co-workers.
oh, thatâs fluff. thatâs fluff of my character that I think should get run over by a bus.
Where to Find Free, Legal Books
If you have access to a public library and/or have college credentials;
Libby - Ebooks, digital audiobooks, and magazines from your public library. Free, but requires a library card. Materials aren't infinite, so popular titles will often have a several week long waitlist. If you're in the US (or sufficiently crafty) you can sign up for a free card from the Queer Liberation Library.
Hoopla - Another service often bundled with a library card. The selection is smaller than Libby, but you have a limited number of instant borrows per month to cash in.
EBSCOhost Research - Ebooks and research materials, usually offered through a college. Where I do most of my reading lately, TBH.
Worldcat - Browse the worldâs libraries from one search box. Easiest way to find out where to go to check out a book if you can't find it at your usual spot.
US residents will likely have a public library near them, but if you cannot go in person and sign up, there are a number of public libraries that don't require anything but a local address to get an Ecard. The libraries that offer this change frequently, so ask around.
Also keep in mind that US public libraries don't typically purchase self published material. If you're looking for your favorite tumblr author's book, you might want to try the links below instead.
If you can't get a library card (or couldn't find what you're looking for)
Open Library - Large collection of ebooks. Some materials may not be available currently due to ongoing legal issues.
Project Gutenburg - Another huge collection of ebooks, probably the most well-known option on this list.
Standard Ebooks - Professionally formatted public domain ebooks (sourced from places like Project Gutenburg but then turned into dynamic epubs)
LibriVox - Public Domain Audiobooks. Extremely limited library, but provides a rare service.
Audible Free Trial - Amazon offers a free trial of their service, with one free title on signup. You need a viable payment method to get access, but you keep the book even after you cancel. Don't give Amazon your money, folks.
I'd also recommend trawling youtube and soundcloud for user-made audiobooks. The quality varies, but I've been surprised at the results.
Other cool resources
StoryGraph - A non-Amazon GoodReads alternative, for those who like to challenge themselves to read more or enjoy writing book reviews.
Banned books list - Around since 1994 and currently still updated weekly, this site showcases books that are either banned or have been attempted to have been banned somewhere in the US. Some are available to read for free on site.
Do you have the Libby library app?
If not, download it to your phone, and under "Add library card" select the button to search for a library and start typing in "queer"...
Sign up with an email, no actual address required, and you are good to go đłïžâđ
love each other always v2
idk thinking about how sometimes you have to show up for people you aren't that close to, because sometimes you're just the person who's there. sometimes you invite a new friend to a party and end up having to sit with them through a panic attack. sometimes you run into an acquaintance on their worst day and they need to talk about what happened. sometimes someone is crying in a stairwell and you're the only one around to ask if they're okay. and none of this is "trauma dumping" or whatever the fuck it's just being there for people because you're the one in the room with them.
nobody is thinking about princess dick enough these days. have you noticed this
kind of obsessed with the idea of the rest of the gaang leaving Toph and Zuko to watch over some cooking food and when they come back its burned and Katara starts fuming but Toph and Zuko are like âweâve never stepped inside a kitchen in our lives and only have one eye between us, if anything itâs your faultâ
Where to Find Free, Legal Books
If you have access to a public library and/or have college credentials;
Libby - Ebooks, digital audiobooks, and magazines from your public library. Free, but requires a library card. Materials aren't infinite, so popular titles will often have a several week long waitlist.
Hoopla - Another service often bundled with a library card. The selection is smaller than Libby, but you have a limited number of instant borrows per month to cash in.
EBSCOhost Research - Ebooks and research materials, usually offered through a college. Where I do most of my reading lately, TBH.
Worldcat - Browse the worldâs libraries from one search box. Easiest way to find out where to go to check out a book if you can't find it at your usual spot.
US residents will likely have a public library near them, but if you cannot go in person and sign up, there are a number of public libraries that don't require anything but a local address to get an Ecard. The libraries that offer this change frequently, so ask around.
Also keep in mind that US public libraries don't typically purchase self published material. If you're looking for your favorite tumblr author's book, you might want to try the links below instead.
If you can't get a library card (or couldn't find what you're looking for)
Open Library - Large collection of ebooks. Some materials may not be available currently due to ongoing legal issues.
Project Gutenburg - Another huge collection of ebooks, probably the most well-known option on this list.
Standard Ebooks - Professionally formatted public domain ebooks (sourced from places like Project Gutenburg but then turned into dynamic epubs)
LibriVox - Public Domain Audiobooks. Extremely limited library, but provides a rare service.
Audible Free Trial - Amazon offers a free trial of their service, with one free title on signup. You need a viable payment method to get access, but you keep the book even after you cancel. Don't give Amazon your money, folks.
I'd also recommend trawling youtube and soundcloud for user-made audiobooks. The quality varies, but I've been surprised at the results.
Other cool resources
StoryGraph - A non-Amazon GoodReads alternative, for those who like to challenge themselves to read more or enjoy writing book reviews.
Banned books list - Around since 1994 and currently still updated weekly, this site showcases books that are either banned or have been attempted to have been banned somewhere in the US. Some are available to read for free on site.
Rites of Winter
Weâd been feasting on the famous foods of winter: squash, potatoes, a steamed pot of dark greens. And after, we danced in Glennâs living room above Crystal Creek, barefoot on the Persian rug, eating chocolate cake, and almost knocking over the candles. So when the frogs in the pond out front began to singâa bass note followed by a high-pitched exclamationâwe slid out the door and past the tall clusters of bamboo, over the wooden bridge, moving to the frenzied rhythm of the frogs, whoâit seemedâ grew louder and more intent the more we rocked to their cacophony. So it was frogs and moonlight and dancing under the bare bones of the trees, the creek suddenly swollen after six years of drought. And Glennâone year older and nearing (though he didnât yet know it) the end of his greatest love. And we were calling out to the frogs, who called back to us as we stumbled, nearly into the bracken water, and leapt up onto the pond-side boulders, hands in the air, a light mist falling on our arms, our upturned faces. And I couldnât decide: was the world enamored with itself?â all this riotous back and forth? Or had we only invoked alarm, amphibian for get-back! get-back! I didnât know. But how happy we were, for that hour, to believe we were one marvelous body, in our smooth and slippery skin. Even if the frogs did not want us. Even if our joint fates are written, already, in the tainted water, the dark and opulent mud.
Bonfire OperaâŻ: Poems. -- Danusha LamĂ©ris.
The Goose Explains
By Amos Russel Wells
It was a goose who sadly cried, "Alas! Alas! The farm is wide, And large the barnyard company, But no one ever looks at me; There really seems to be no use, Or praise, or glory, for a goose.
They pet the dog whose bark and bite Scare tramps by day and thieves by night; But when I bravely stand on guard, And drive intruders from the yard, They laugh at me. The kitten plays, And all admire her cunning ways; But when I venture in the room, To play, in turn, some stick or broom Soon drives me out. Those birds they call Canaries cannot sing at all In my sweet fashion; yet their lay Is praisedâfrom mine folks turn away. They prize the horse who pulls the cart; But when I try to do my part, And mount the shafts to help him draw,
They whip me off. Last week I saw Two stupid horses pull a plow, I watched the work, I learned just how; Then, with my bill, I did the same In flower-beds, and got only blame. It really seems of little use To try to helpâwhen one's a goose!"
"sometimes I want to win. And sometimes I want to lose so badly I can taste it."
Worlds in Worlds, Bonfire OperaâŻ: Poems. -- Danusha LamĂ©ris.
Service Station
Youâre beautiful, sister, eat more fruit, said the attendant every time my mother pulled into the 76 off Ashby Avenue. We never knew why. She didnât ask and he didnât explain. My brother and I would look at each other sideways in the back seat, eyebrows raisedâ though lord knows weâd lived in Berkeley long enough. He smiled when he said it, then wiped the windows and pumped the gas. I liked the little ritual. Always the same order of events. Same lack of discussion. Could he sense something? Attune to an absence of vitamin C? Or was it just a kind of flirtingâ a way of tossing her an apple, a peach? Itâs true my mother had a hidden ailment of which she seldom spoke, and true she never thought herself a beauty, since in those days you had to choose between smart and beautiful, and beauty was not the obvious choice for a skinny bookish girl, especially in Barbados. No wonder she became devout, forsaking nearly everything but God and science. And later she suffered at the hands of my father, whom she loved, and whoâd somehow lost control of his right fist and his conscience. Whose sister was she, then? Sister of the Early Rise, the Five-OâClock Commute, the Centrifuge? Sister of Burnt Dreams? But didnât her savior speak in parables? Isnât that the language of the holy? Why wouldnât he come to her like this, with a kind face and dark, grease-smeared arms, to lean over the windshield of her silver Ford sedan, and bring tidings of her unclaimed loveliness, as he filled the car with fuel, and told herâ as a brotherâto go ahead, partake of the garden, and eat of it.
Bonfire OperaâŻ: Poems. -- Danusha LamĂ©ris.
Trouble
Heâd wanted the persimmons and asked her for them, but when she gave him the brown paper bag, brimming over, he was taken aback. Did he really need that many ? Still, he brought them home to his wife, and soon there were persimmons ripening on the kitchen counters, lining the windowsills. Each day, growing more and more succulent until the air was thick and sweet with their scent. At breakfast, heâd break one open with his spoonâthe skin supple and ready to giveâstir it into his hot cereal. Indescribable, the taste. And a texture he might have described as sea creature meets manna from heaven. When he ate one, he thought of her. And when he saw her, he thought of the persimmons. When her arm brushed, just barely, against his, did he imagine they both felt the same quickening? In myth, fruit is usually the beginning of disaster. And the way they made themselves so obviousâ an almost audible orange against the white wallsâ made him wish heâd never asked her for them, didnât have to smell them sugaring the air with ruin, as he sat there, face lowered to the bowl, spooning the soft pulp into his mouth.
Bonfire OperaâŻ: Poems. -- Danusha LamĂ©ris.
Mosquitoes
Thin buzz of hunger, constant hum. At night I drape a net around my bed just to keep them away. They like the flesh above my ankles best, and then the sweetness of my face. The Buddhists say we mustnât want to kill another living thing. How often have I taken one, crushed it in my palm?
A saint said the lion is in love with the gazelle it hunts. I love salmon, so I sautĂ© their bodies with garlic and butter, slip the moist flesh in my mouth. And havenât I bitten my beloved until a pink stain colored the skin?
A tiny drop of blood is all they crave. Is that so much to ask? And they are so devoted, groupies at the backstage door, a band of Hare Krishnas, wailing in the street, cherubim, playing their small harps without cease, as they are said to do in heaven.
Only this is not heaven. I dream of a night without blemish, of love without the sting.
But here they are, a mini mariachi, hovering outside the net, singing their same old, high-pitched serenadeâ volver, volver , they cry, the song about the one that got away.
Bonfire OperaâŻ: Poems. -- Danusha LamĂ©ris.
When you can make it out in time to write them shower thoughts can actually be life changing
My mistress is a bumbling idiot. Sheâs been seeing a suitor who intends to buy her hand in marriage from her father, but sheâs told me quite clearly that she doesnât think this man is right. As her devoted maid, I cannot let her be wed off to some scoundrel like him. But all my efforts to save her from him have been foiled by her clumsiness. When I brought the tray to them with the poisoned teacup closer to him, in a breach of etiquette she reached for the far teacup and took the poison for herself. When I poisoned his wine, her ring got caught on the tablecloth and knocked over his glass. When I set up the armoire to fall and crush him, she tripped on the rug and made it go off too early. Once I even rigged one of the chandeliers to fall on his spot, and right before it did she violated table manners, got up, grabbed his wrist, and dragged him to the window because she âthought she saw a stag outside.â A stag?! There werenât even any woods visible from that window! And after all these foiled attempts she has the audacity to complain to me that marrying this man will ruin her life. As if seeing her with any man wouldnât ruin mine!
Also picking up new books youâve never heard of before because the premise sounds neat or the cover is pretty or itâs on a themed library display or youâre just trying to read your libraryâs entire catalogue of 90s cyberpunk is just fun. Sometimes itâs not your thing but you get to mull over new ideas or the diversity of people and opinions and thoughts in the world. Sometimes you discover your new favorite book of all time
You followed me. Means youâre online. Go work on your novel. Lol.
U_U OK, OK, You got me. I'll write a few lines...