You Sneaky McSneakerson! I was just about to start taking notes about the fact that we'd lost the flavor of the POV and maybe this chapter needed to actually be told from Rita or Nali's--when you hit us with the reminder bomb: nope. Totally still in Jack's head. Hahahah! Which drew me right back in. Because no amount of groovy spaceships or potential aliens will ever draw me in like a main character whose head I love to be in. And Jack just makes my day.
All I can picture now is you as Kaa singing to Mowgli. *trusssst in meeeeee...*
Thank you for adding 14 more reader questions to my plate...Hahahah!
I’m chomping at the bit to be able to jump back in once I get resettled. I’ve been out of state fishing with Dad--with patchy phone and often no internet. Soon... 😻🤓😻
PS Ooooh! I just saw the Previous and Next Buttons! Have I been blind this entire time?? I blame you--no. I blame Jack and all the imagery in my head distracting me from such functional tomfoolery. 😻🤪😻
When Rita showed Nali the spaceship, I thought for the first time in this story: Oh, now we're getting somewhere! I loved the prologue from Rita's POV. I don't know if the build-up in the protagonist's childhood was necessary exposition but it felt a little too slow to me. Now I'm excited again!
Your descriptions of learning & self-study really resonated with me. Like you mentioned in your comment to Sean, I've rediscovered how much I love learning over the last few years too--after I left university.
That's definitely a sentiment I've expected. I don't know if everything from the first 5-10 chapters will survive into the next draft, but then again, who knows. There are a lot of things I'd like to try -- like splicing all of it together in a nonlinear way, or having a bunch of the backstory exist separately somehow. It's a similar problem to the world-building essays. Is it a different book? Does it all just stay here on Substack for the people who care to look it up?
I mean what even IS a novel now? What will it be tomorrow?
And so on.
All that said, I think you'll like what's coming later a lot more.
Tbh, I've skipped the worldbuilding essays for now because I'm focusing on getting up to date with the story itself but I might go back & read some that look particularly interesting! Personally, I wouldn't force them on readers who just want a good story but if you were to put out a (physical or digital) book, they might work as appendix?
I'm a few chapters further now & you're right, what Esther gets up to has been super intriguing.
Love me some Rita, but also excited to met new main characters that we’ll be following.
"She knew that at 11 years old, my mind was an infinite sponge, and she also knew how to keep that potential from going to waste.” - I have been thinking about this a lot recently, the idea of “skill gaps” and the benefit of kids' lack of awareness when it comes to just how large those gaps are.
It seems that limiting beliefs become abundant the older and more aware we become of skill gaps, to the point of paralysis or giving up completely. But perhaps if we just buckled down and allowed ourselves to learn like we did when we were children, we may realize there aren’t just infinite possibilities but also that we are infinitely capable of conquering them. Anyway, Jackson’s great. Go him for learning. Go Rita for teaching. "increase the exhausting pace of study every day” - booyah
"Rita had showed me how, with a little guidance, a person could learn almost anything on the Internet.”
-ChatGPT enters the room
I AM SO EXCITED FOR ESTHER QUINN. If she is the main awesome gal, count me in. I want to know everything, and I want to know it ASAPossible
Yeah it's funny, I'm experiencing this renaissance of learning in my 30s, as I've reached down to try to access the youngest possible version of myself -- the one that was fearless, and joyfully ambitious, with ZFG as to what anyone else thought of me.
Speaking of ChatGPT... I'm planning to publish a little something about that today.
And don't worry, you'll meet Esther in the next chapter. She's probably my fave.
You Sneaky McSneakerson! I was just about to start taking notes about the fact that we'd lost the flavor of the POV and maybe this chapter needed to actually be told from Rita or Nali's--when you hit us with the reminder bomb: nope. Totally still in Jack's head. Hahahah! Which drew me right back in. Because no amount of groovy spaceships or potential aliens will ever draw me in like a main character whose head I love to be in. And Jack just makes my day.
All I can picture now is you as Kaa singing to Mowgli. *trusssst in meeeeee...*
Thank you for adding 14 more reader questions to my plate...Hahahah!
Well now I'm dying to hear what you think of Chapter Six, where (spoiler alert) you actually do get a POV switch.
I’m chomping at the bit to be able to jump back in once I get resettled. I’ve been out of state fishing with Dad--with patchy phone and often no internet. Soon... 😻🤓😻
PS Ooooh! I just saw the Previous and Next Buttons! Have I been blind this entire time?? I blame you--no. I blame Jack and all the imagery in my head distracting me from such functional tomfoolery. 😻🤪😻
When Rita showed Nali the spaceship, I thought for the first time in this story: Oh, now we're getting somewhere! I loved the prologue from Rita's POV. I don't know if the build-up in the protagonist's childhood was necessary exposition but it felt a little too slow to me. Now I'm excited again!
Your descriptions of learning & self-study really resonated with me. Like you mentioned in your comment to Sean, I've rediscovered how much I love learning over the last few years too--after I left university.
That's definitely a sentiment I've expected. I don't know if everything from the first 5-10 chapters will survive into the next draft, but then again, who knows. There are a lot of things I'd like to try -- like splicing all of it together in a nonlinear way, or having a bunch of the backstory exist separately somehow. It's a similar problem to the world-building essays. Is it a different book? Does it all just stay here on Substack for the people who care to look it up?
I mean what even IS a novel now? What will it be tomorrow?
And so on.
All that said, I think you'll like what's coming later a lot more.
Tbh, I've skipped the worldbuilding essays for now because I'm focusing on getting up to date with the story itself but I might go back & read some that look particularly interesting! Personally, I wouldn't force them on readers who just want a good story but if you were to put out a (physical or digital) book, they might work as appendix?
I'm a few chapters further now & you're right, what Esther gets up to has been super intriguing.
Love me some Rita, but also excited to met new main characters that we’ll be following.
"She knew that at 11 years old, my mind was an infinite sponge, and she also knew how to keep that potential from going to waste.” - I have been thinking about this a lot recently, the idea of “skill gaps” and the benefit of kids' lack of awareness when it comes to just how large those gaps are.
It seems that limiting beliefs become abundant the older and more aware we become of skill gaps, to the point of paralysis or giving up completely. But perhaps if we just buckled down and allowed ourselves to learn like we did when we were children, we may realize there aren’t just infinite possibilities but also that we are infinitely capable of conquering them. Anyway, Jackson’s great. Go him for learning. Go Rita for teaching. "increase the exhausting pace of study every day” - booyah
"Rita had showed me how, with a little guidance, a person could learn almost anything on the Internet.”
-ChatGPT enters the room
I AM SO EXCITED FOR ESTHER QUINN. If she is the main awesome gal, count me in. I want to know everything, and I want to know it ASAPossible
Yeah it's funny, I'm experiencing this renaissance of learning in my 30s, as I've reached down to try to access the youngest possible version of myself -- the one that was fearless, and joyfully ambitious, with ZFG as to what anyone else thought of me.
Speaking of ChatGPT... I'm planning to publish a little something about that today.
And don't worry, you'll meet Esther in the next chapter. She's probably my fave.
1. Just have ChatGPT write it for ya
2. Yay!!