val - V.M. Ayala 🏳️‍🌈

@spacevalkyries.bsky.social

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📝SFF writer V.M. Ayala 🎮 streamer ✨ anxiety/ADHD + chronic pain/fatigue 🏳️‍🌈 queer biracial Mexican American (she/they)

🌈Website: https://www.spacevalkyries.com/
📰Newsletter: https://buttondown.email/spacevalkyries

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val - V.M. Ayala 🏳️‍🌈

"The pandemic is over" You know, it's really weird then that people are still getting COVID infections on a regular basis and are still dying from COVID infections and disabled people still can't go outside safely and that the World Health Organization says we're still in a pandemic and- (1/208)

ALSO I keep calling the Collector in Dredge my boyfriend and IF YOU KNOW THE ENDING you'll know how hilarious that is in hindsight. ... aaand I still want to write a haunted fisherperson and haunted Collector of Strange Objects story based on my initial assumptions though 👀

I struggle to upload videos to Instagram and TikTok or VODs to YouTube due to chronic pain/fatigue. but editing Dredge VODs from November and hearing my hopes for TTRPG actual plays and writing and college and knowing all that turned out so well this year (so far) is nice 🥺💜

Sorry for not having a Mini-Space update for a few weeks—I went to a fun book signing in DC and then to Lavender Con. Took a lot of energy but I'm back! Here's what I've been up to, how my revisions are going, and a complimentary photo of my cat ✨ 📚 www.patreon.com/posts/mini-s... 📚

Mini-Space #12 July 11: Beginning Revisions, Lavender Con Thoughts, and Rest | spacevalkyries - V.M. Ayalawww.patreon.com Get more from spacevalkyries - V.M. Ayala on Patreon

for WHATEVER reason my brain has been more interested in reading manga than watching anime lately. the last time I read this much manga, I was 15 and Borders still existed 😂 I would read Inuyasha and Fullmetal Alchemist in the manga section after school until I could get a ride home. SO LONG AGO.

I am trying to do a reverse outline and leave myself notes for continuity shifts, note descriptions of characters and whatnot—and I realized I never, not once, describe my protagonist's appearance. In a like 82k draft. Oops 😂

Want to come write or work with me? I'll be coworking for around 2-3 hours and planning out novel revisions 📖 Come hang out! ✨ www.twitch.tv/spacevalkyries ✨

spacevalkyries - Twitchwww.twitch.tv 📝Coworking stream time | I'm organizing my plan for novel revisions📝

pro tip from me to anyone writing a novel for the first time: write all character descriptions someplace searchable and skimmable. I did not do this and I know pain. worst part? I have a whole novel wiki and STILL forgot to put info in because it was shifting a lot! I'm a fool!

starting revisions by making a doc of revision plans and as silly as that sounds, it's helping me not feel super overwhelmed by everything I have to change. it's happening! I'm starting 💜

been a bit quiet lately because I was hyperfocusing on FFXIV (got through Dawntrail) and trying to rest/stay off socials, which helped energy levels a lot! but starting Monday it's time to get back to it—and to officially begin my novel revisions 👀

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val - V.M. Ayala 🏳️‍🌈

Our FIYAH authors spit in the face of these stereotypes. In this issue, you will find stories and poetry featuring disabled characters from all walks of life. Along with their differences, every single one of them has agency. - @emmaliawrites.bsky.social for $3.99: fiyahlitmag.com/shop/issues/...

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val - V.M. Ayala 🏳️‍🌈

Sudan is going through a humanitarian crisis. Millions of people have been displaced and thousands of people are going hungry. We put together 41 TTRPGs, Supplements, Zines and adventures from incredible game designers and writers raising money for Sudan Emergency Appeal.

voice is coming back after giving out, still not sick. masking works! wish more people would mask, especially at conventions (though Lavender Con had a good amount of folks that masked, which was nice). still going to rest this week—then next week the novel revisions begin 💜

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val - V.M. Ayala 🏳️‍🌈

For Disability Pride Month, one thing I'd love abled bodied people to figure out is how to speak to someone with chronic health issues without implying that if they themselves had the disabled person's health conditions, they would end it all. I promise you life goes on- even with health issues.

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val - V.M. Ayala 🏳️‍🌈

13 days to go—let's get 3 queer anthos from @neonhemlock.bsky.social funded! www.kickstarter.com/projects/dav...

Three Queer Speculative Anthologies from Neon Hemlockwww.kickstarter.com We're Here 2023, Baffling Year Three & Embodied Exegesis

I have reached the stage of the writing break where I begin to wonder if my writing is, in fact, any good. this happens during writing too, but the writing-break-time version is a unique vibe from the during-novel-drafting version 😂

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val - V.M. Ayala 🏳️‍🌈

My new novella is out now on Patreon! A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience is a spooky-cozy gothic fantasy rom-com. Subscribe to my Patreon at any level from $5/month to scoop it up now: patreon.com/stephanieburgis Or preorder it from any online store: books2read.com/UndeadInconvenience

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val - V.M. Ayala 🏳️‍🌈

New story day! "This Mentor Lives" is about a wizard working himself to death raising chosen ones--but his kids are worried for him. It's time for an intervention. You can read it free at @havenspec.bsky.social right here: www.havenspec.com/this-mentor-...

This Mentor Lives by J.R. Dawson & John Wiswell, Haven Spec Magazinewww.havenspec.com a magazine of science fiction and fantasy

me yesterday: oh hey I managed to do two days of convention stuffs, I feel alright. maybe I'm just making a big deal out of my pain levels and it's actually not as bad as— me today: standing hurts, brain fog is bad, and my spine is UPSETTI SPAGHETTI. the chronic pain cycle 😅

so sleepy after Lavender Con, but it was a really nice weekend. the next con for me is all the way in December right after my birthday—Pax Unplugged 💜 (Next year though, probably Seattle Worldcon and maybe Readercon).

And that’s it for Lavender Con! Did I buy many books? And see a surprising number of folks? And have a lot of fun? Yes, yes I did 💜 (Shh yes that’s my bed I’m but a simple, sleepy introvert and didn’t have the energy to find a better background 😂)

I am at Lavender Con today and a bit tomorrow later in the afternoon/evening so if anyone is in the DC area come say hi 👀

We are fundraising for Rainbow Railroad and getting up to shenanigans if you want to come hang out 💜

📣 TODAY 📣 Join us at 4:30pm Pacific for DREAD RPG with an amazing group of humans! GM: @intersectionscch.bsky.social Players: @spacevalkyries.bsky.social @j2ruto.bsky.social @nuffofabby.bsky.social and @pherbear.bsky.social 🔴 Twitch.tv/ttrpgifs 💚 Bit.ly/AceAndAroPride

hi yes if you need me today, I'll be playing Dawntrail.

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val - V.M. Ayala 🏳️‍🌈

It’s here! 🥹 The cover of my debut novel A SONG OF LEGENDS LOST, the first in an epic fantasy trilogy coming next April from Orbit Books UK! Gorgeous cover art by Richard Anderson!

I hate getting pre-nervous for things! I'm going to a convention on Saturday in DC (if you're at Lavender Con this weekend, say hi!) and my brain is anxious because I haven't been around many people in a while so it's just dissociating all of today and tomorrow 😅

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val - V.M. Ayala 🏳️‍🌈

we usually do our cover reveals in the morning but why? we're Psychopomp--we are creatures of the NIGHT so here it is: the cover reveal for Afterlives: The Year's Best Death Stories 2023 curated by @vajra.me also available for PREORDER (do it. preorder it) +click through for the full cover+

Afterlives 2023 by Vajra Chandrasekera - PSYCHOPOMP.COMpsychopomp.com Afterlives: The Year's Best Death Stories 2023, curated by Vajra Chandrasekera, series editor E. Catherine Tobler: the best death fiction from 2023 collected.

until Monday, I have no writing projects to work on—on purpose, by design. I allocated half a week of rest and recharge. my brain is like ??? where writing? and is just coming up with novel ideas. I've brainstormed two fantasy book ideas and unearthed an older cyberpunk idea, oh no.

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val - V.M. Ayala 🏳️‍🌈

Oh yay I just saw that Tessa Fisher's novelette from Rosalind's Siblings (which I had the wonderful chance of editing) is going to be reprinted in We're Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2023! www.neonhemlock.com/news/cover-r...

Cover Reveal & ToC: We're Here 2023 — neon hemlockwww.neonhemlock.com

I think I know what my next book will be 👀