The Tatami Galaxy was amazing. The poetry and mythology behind some of the scenes, the essence of Japanese college life, all captured beautifully. I got the pleasure of seeing one of the areas mentioned in the book too, with all the life involved as described ♥️

Since you like drawing boys in love I would highly recommend checking out Heaven's Official Blessing if you haven't already! I'm a straight male and these boys make me swoon! The writing is for the novel is fantastic and what I wish I saw more with romance in general.

Congratulations both on the sale and visiting Japan :D

This reminds me of a pedestrian street we have in Old Montréal

Must be busy fixing up that house still! ;)

Was this in school or is this something that I could find online?

Another option if you are familiar with markdown is Obsidian

Never thought of it that way (like hearing your own recorded voice). I have definitely cringed in the exact same way reading some of my old stuff. Thank you for having passed along the advice ♥

You need an outline. Something simple. A few lines of summary for each chapter. With this, you'll have a road map. Don't worry, you can take detours, or new paths, just re-outline when things come up. If you do this, it will be easier IMHO--5 novels, 3 poetry collections & 2 children's books later.

This is exactly what I did. Been brainstorming something for YEARS. And the only thing that got me to keep coming back and make SOME progress over time has been to make an outline.

Started by outlining more generally, then nailed down each chapter. Now in the process of fleshing each chapter out. ♥️

Thank for this list! I've added Snap and Elsewhere to my to-read list! These both sound like fascinating stories :D

Congratulations! How do you feel about this draft? Did you fix most of what you meant to between this draft and the first one?

For those who are talking about reaching a goal and improving their reading habits, good for them!

I just hope that people don't use that goal to beat themselves over the head if they don't meet it. Just that you put your effort towards self-improvement should count. The more readers the merrier!

Here's hoping my effort to push more of my guy friends to read will pan out this year! Got all my friends, especially the male ones, books :)

Not precisely the same wavelength but maybe in the right ballpark? Origins by Lewis Dartnell and The Accidental Superpower by Peter Zeihan.

They explore concepts of geological determinism but I fear they might not touch exactly what you're poking at here

Not trying to be dense here but this sounds more like a textbook than a nonfiction book. Or is it the specific packaging of a nonfiction with this topic that you're looking for?

Might be time for an adventure novel or something more generally fast paced. I find that when I get to a novel that's particularly long-winded, I need something faster to be able to sustain the long-winded novel.