Sonia Sulaiman @SoniaSulaiman@wandering.shop

Hello, fellow tooters! I'm a first reader at Strange Horizons, formerly of Augur, and Uncanny Magazine.

I write speculative fiction inspired by Palestinian folklore. Mostly short fic, but I'm working on a novella atm.

I'll be slowly rebuilding my archive of posts about Palestinian folklore here.

Come on by and say hi!

#introduction

On this Nakba Day, an offering: pick up copy of Palestine + 100 by Comma Press.

It's a collection of speculative fiction by Palestinians. The premise of the collection is simple: It's 100 years after the Nakba, the beginning of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

Believe it or not, Palestinians are having to sit here in the diaspora and listen to people say things like "no context as usual" and "we don't know what started it" about a video showing violence and desecration of Palestinian bodies- dead and alive.

This is how Twitter reported the police beating pallbearers with clubs.

A reading list I made of Palestinian speculative fiction and non-fiction (incl. essays, poetry, short and long form fiction) available in English:

https://soniasulaiman.com/readpalestinianspecfic-reading-list/

I have to fight the default brush to get the edges and shapes I want. The custom brush makes me think of oil painting- without all of the fancy textures, just the feeling of using a simple round brush.

I made my own Procreate brush! I think it's already making an improvement. What do you think?

mlm: the default brushes.
wlw: the new brush.

#creativetoots

I introduced a bunch of danmei readers to the baihe novella Night Flowers Shrinking from the Light of the Sun by Li Xing. They wanted something like MDZS but sapphic, and that's exactly what this is... It's a comedy, but its CP are Wangxian if they were lesbians.

A demoness saves the life of a stony-faced, upright young cultivator who insists on repaying the life debt. No one is happy about this arrangement. Billed as "idiots to lovers."

https://obstinaterixatrix.itch.io/nfsftlots

They're husbands! \o/

I guess I have a coping mechanism for panic attack days: I make tender Queer art.

In this case, fan art.

She just called me again-- and hung up on me a second time.

Amazing week.

A psw triggered a panic attack so I called the office and simply said what happened and that I didn't want her to come back again. I started changing mom tonight and the same psw calls-- the office did nothing about my report.

So I had to tell her myself, that she wasn't going to work with us anymore. She didn't take it well, and hung up on me.

Meanwhile mom is all confused and disturbed, not understanding what's happening. Urgh.

Another panic attack today. It really does seem like things go pear shaped around the same time. :/

Awful day, but I still made art out of pure spite (and mlm tenderness). I've been working on drawing, more than painting, since my lines need the practice.

Reference by Felix d'Eon.

The Arts Council emailed me today. They were checking up on the eligibility of my novella for a grant -- you can't get two grants for the same project.

So they just wanted me to tell them, definitively, that the novella has nothing to do with the collection of short stories I'm working on too.

I guess it's a good sign; the process is progressing. The wheels turning.

An update on the anhedonia thing. I did manage to just keep doing the thing. I'm quite pleased that I didn't give up on making art today, since it's a big part of my recovery/management. I know it's a matter of waiting out the aftershocks of the panic attack.

That can sometimes take a week, but I have meds I can take. Today's sketches: a figure study, and a style study.

So, I had a panic attack yesterday, and the fallout today is some anhedonia. I am discouraged artistically. It's all wrapped up with the post-panic attack feels, so I'm not sure what to *do* about it.

Like, normally, if something isn't enjoyable anymore, I'd just stop. But if it's anhedonia, IDK.

I made a whole bunch of sketches for Mermay, and now I regret it bc it feels like I have to use them... even though I'm wanting to try out different styles rn.

I'm getting closer to something that I like, though.

If you're wondering what I've been up to, this: