Hi Boundlings, the International Booker short list was announced yesterday:

The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran byShida Bazyar Translated from German by Ruth Martin

She Who Remains byRene Karabash Translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel

The Director byDaniel Kehlmann Translated from German by Ross Benjamin

On Earth As It Is Beneath byAna Paula Maia Translated from Portuguese by Padma Viswanathan

The Witch byMarie NDiaye Translated from French by Jordan Stump

Taiwan Travelogue byYáng Shuāng-zǐ Translated from Mandarin by Lin King

So...

1. Have you read any already?
2. Which are you interested in reading?
3. Anything you are surprised or disappointed not to see from the longlist?
4. Winner prediction or hopeful?

For me....

1. I have read On Earth as it is beneath, it was short and impactful, I rated it 4 stars.

2. I want to read all of them! Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to get a copy of Taiwan Travelogue unless I buy it from overseas. I'm particularly interested in She who remains because I don't think I've ever read something from Bulgaria.

3. I have only read The Wax Child, but it was very good, hopefully the others are worthy of knocking it out.

4. The Director has definitely had the most attention, so maybe that. But I will give a more informed opinion when I have read some more from the list.

I haven’t read more in this book yet because I wanted to adjust my routine to morning pages without having too much else to worry about yet. I am very well versed in free writing and I still found it quite hard! It was the sort of challenge I wanted to lean into and I was very easy on myself when I needed an accommodation! I wanted to share some things I did to make morning pages work for me. I am neurodivergent and have chronic pain and some disabilities. I seem to be in good company on this app so I wanted to share in case it helps anyone else.

1. Morning pages becomes any time of day or night pages: I can already hear the Julia Cameron loyalists telling me this defeats the purpose of morning pages. To that I say, hush! The alternative to my accommodations was this not getting it done at all. I definitely shoot to get these done in the morning, I have alarms and calendar reminders set. If I get it done in the morning, great! I try to push through “I just don’t wanna!” But I am making space for times when I really can’t. If I don’t do morning pages in the morning I set the alarm for later in the day, sometimes even at night. I actually think Night Pages are very cool and I’m usually in less pain with a very open mind as my day winds down.

2. Morning pages can be multi media! I use my voice recorder for mornings when hand writing or typing is not working for me. I have a voice recorder on my phone but I also have a separate one because I am a nerd and a writing tutor and I recommend voice recorders as an accommodation all the time! Julia Cameron asks for 3 pages? Why not record 3 minutes on a voice recorder? More of a visual person? Try the camera on your phone! 3 minutes of video. I love recording diary entries of myself just for me and I found that to be another great resource!

3. If you need to skip a day (I’m calling this veto in my journal), or if you need to do less than the three pages or three minutes of recording, SO BE IT! I am refusing to be hard on myself just cuz I’m not an able bodied neurotypical!

I will say, with my accommodations, I feel very productive getting these pages done. I find it helps with more than just my creative output. It helps me get my thoughts together about the shit I need to do in my life.

I am happy to say the pages also help me write. I am getting a lot of work done but that is not just cuz of this book. The reason I picked up this book is because I want to lock in and finish my novel this year. I have been co working with friends to get it done and co working helps a lot! If you don’t have anyone to cowork with, hit me up! I have friends I cowork with but not enough! We don’t have to exchange numbers if you have Discord (I also have What’s app and Signal).

I hope this helps someone!

And remember, if you are having a hard time with The Artists Way, that is not on you! Accessibility matters and this book has very little of that!