Notices by Shantell Powell (shanmonster@c.im)

I have at least one doctor's appointment per week for the next month. I wish I could do most of this over the phone. I'm missing classes and work. Blargh.

Medical treatment and professionalism has drastically gone downhill in the past few years. I've been waiting for a referral regarding a spot on my leg for about two years. I just heard back from a clinic about a spot on my back. I have an appointment with them next month. When I asked if they will look at my leg, too, they said they can't because they didn't receive a referral regarding that.

So now I have to go to my family doctor again about it, even though I reminded him about my leg the same day that I had my back looked at. I'll be walking there today. Again.

And I still haven't heard back from the shoulder clinic regarding my frozen shoulder. I was told the quicker they could see me, the better, and my initial referral was about a month ago. #HealthcareOrLackThereof

@FlashMobOfOne I lived out in the woods, so I was building fires, building forts, playing full-contact tag on horseback, trying to sneak up on deer, streaking through the neighbour's Christmas tree farm, and howling until the coyotes howled too. I was feral AF.

I just finished reading Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix. It's a harrowing read, and I feel much more educated on pregnancy and how unwed mothers were treated in the days before legal abortion. But one thing about the story kept niggling at me. It's set in Florida in 1969, and measurements were referred to in metric. As in, how many litres of blood in a human body, and how many centimeters a cervix is dilated.

Now, maybe it's different in the medical profession, but metric wasn't introduced in Canada until the 70s when I was a little kid. And as far as I know, Americans still haven't adopted the metric system for whatever reason.

Sooo... was this something the editors didn't catch, or am I wrong about metric not being used in 1969 Florida?
#metric #medicine #Books #obstetrics #MedicalHistory

I learned something in my novel immersive course at GrubStreet. I need to keep an up-to-date acknowledgment file for my writing projects. It's not something I'd considered before but which makes perfect sense. So this morning I've been building those lists. It's amazing how many people and organizations have helped along the way. #WritingCommunity #acknowledged #AmWriting

Tomorrow I'll be reading from my body of work at Willow Park (aka Victoria Park). Tickets are free. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mihko-kiskisiwin-blood-memory-book-launch-tickets-1141114106009 #PublicReading #WritingCommunity @WaterlooEvents #BookLaunch

I think I've finally come up with my fitness goal for the year. I want to have pain-free gym sessions. Today would've counted except I tweaked my arm doing mobility work. I wish I knew what was wrong with my arm/shoulder/neck. I hurt it several times a day doing perfectly normal things like propping myself up on my elbow or putting on a sports bra.

I've had this little cactus for a few years. It recently developed a flowerbud for the first time. #cactus #BloomScrolling

I saw somewhere that people were mocking variations of "she let go of the breath she didn't know she'd been holding" appearing in books. The people rolling their eyes at this concept claim that's not a thing people do. But it is something I do. When I'm out in the woods at night and hear a noise, I subconsciously hold my breath to listen. When I'm very anxious, I forget to breath. And then comes the whoosh when I finally exhale.

What about you?
#Writing #WritingCommunity #breath #tropes #breathing #Reading

I was a dance instructor for years, and I frequently had to remind my students to breathe while they were doing chest isolation work.

I have a difficult time reading ebooks and, whenever possible, will choose a paperback, hardcover, or audiobook instead. How about you? #books #reading #ebook #audiobooks #paperback #hardcover

I stopped listening to audiobooks when I started university and don't get back into them until about ten years later when I went to school to be a metal smith. Polishing metal is a long and boring process. I remembered audiobooks, and they made the process much more enjoyable.

A lot of folks don't seem to enjoy audiobooks. I'm curious. If you don't enjoy audiobooks, do you also avoid author readings? Podcasts? Radio? #audiobooks #podcasts #radio #reading #performance

@cstross @lilithsaintcrow I can't find it on my desktop and laptop. Argh.

@lilithsaintcrow seen anything on how to disable it?

@lilithsaintcrow thank you!

@Paulatics I'm glad you're still masking, but current strains aren't any less dangerous. They may not be as violent during their acute phase, but they are remaining in every system of our bodies and negatively affecting immune systems in a way comparable to HIV. I had a "mild" case of COVID in 2023 and despite having Paxlovid and ten vaccinations, I have long COVID. This disease continues to disable millions of people and prematurely shorten their lives, enormously increasing their chances of getting diabetes, cancer, strokes, and heart attacks.

Free session next Thursday on how to assemble a query packet for literary agents. Synopsis, query letters, first pages, formatting, etc. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/writers-lunch-assembling-your-query-packet-tickets-1131093153069 #WritingCommunity #BookAgent #query #AuthorsOfMastodon

Last year, I was the featured author on the Write, Publish, and Shine podcast. Host Rachel Thompson says,

Welcome to the first interview in my series of episodes on writing with disabilities and limitations.
I sit down with a wonderful Writerly Love membership community member, Shantell Powell, a two-spirit author, artist, and self-described swamp hag who grew up on the land and off the grid. Her publication credits include Augur, Solarpunk Magazine, MetaStellar, The Deadlands, and honestly keep racking up—we talk about how she does this in the episode, and she has an excellent hack for writers with ADHD to track submissions that I think is brilliant and would be helpful to many writers, myself included.
We get into her often very visceral writing; she reads a piece that I would describe that way, visceral, and speculates a little about why that flavour comes out in her work. For this series and focus, we talk about how she works with her various limitations and disabilities, which include neurodivergence and now long COVID-19, among other conditions and limitations.
Listen in to hear from a singular writer whose writing practice shows that there is not one way to be a writer.
https://shows.acast.com/writepublishshine/episodes/91-shantell-powell-on-visceral-writing-and-writing-with-adhd

#podcast #WritingCommunity #ActuallyAutistic #AuDHD #disability #neurodivergent #AuthorsOfMastodon

Just squeaking in under the wire, my poem Angakkuq was published today by On Spec Magazine. https://onspec.ca/2024/12/30/issue-130-now-available/

I had an excellent year for publications. Twenty-one separate publishers shared twenty-five of my poems, essays, short stories, and plays. I was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Aurora Award. I placed in a flash fiction contest, and was longlisted and shortlisted for a few more. I received a scholarship I received two grants for my writing. I wonder how next year will go? I can't imagine beating that! My hope is to polish up my novel and send it out for publication.

“Angakkuq.” Poetry in On Spec Issue 130. December 2024.
“Sirens Don’t Sing Underwater.” Fiction in Moonlit Getaway. December 16, 2024.
“Wolf Mother.” Fiction in Inner Worlds. December 13, 2024
“The Anxious Writer.” CNF in Breath and Shadow. December 2024.
“Daisy Chain.” Fiction in Against the Wall, Under the Armor anthology. November 30, 2024.
“Monsters.” CNF in Ex-Puritan. November 2024.
“The Yolk of the Moon.” Fiction in LSUA Flash Fiction Booklet and website.
“The T-Bone.” Flash memoir in The Masters Review. November 2024.
“Scarred.” Fiction in Meetinghouse Magazine. October 2024.
“The Snow Hath No Queen.” Fiction in MetaStellar. September 2024.
Excerpt from “The Tupilaq.” Fiction in Kinsman Quarterly. September 2024
“A Time For Dolls.” Play in Native Voices: A Literary Collection of Emerging Indigenous Writers.  
“The Last Trench.” Fiction in Bitter Become the Fields. Horns and Rattles Press. July 2024.
“Exile of Nuliajuk.” Poetry in NonBinary Review: Heredity Issue,  June 2024
“Keswick Valley Memorial, 1984,” “This is How to Not Give Up,” and “Salt Water Strider.” Poems in Event Poetry and Prose. Issue 53-1.
“Tom Thumb of the North'' & “Blubber Boy: A Traditional Inuit Tale Then and Now.” Fiction in Mihko Kiskisiwin/Blood Memory: An Anthology.
“Saddles in the Kitchen.” Memoir in Redivider. Nominated for Pushcart Prize.
“Hiding in Plain Sight: Life With and Without Masks.” Personal essay in Knee Brace Press.
“Saved” and “Wrassling’s Object Lesson.” Poetry in Eavesdrop Magazine.
“Thumbing to Sugar Daddy Oberon.” Short fiction in MetaStellar.
“This is the Time Just Before Spider Woman Meets Kiviuq.” Poetry in West Trestle Review

#PoetsOfMastodon #Author #AuthorsOfMastodon #WritingCommunity #publishing #Writer #IndigenousCreatives #poetry #essay #ShortStory #playwright @indigenousauthors