SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE #4: ME ME ME

[queenslayerbee]

 

IceBreaker Challenge! Tell us about yourself. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I'm gonna cheat just a little bit, because really, I find talking about myself extremely difficult. But! Lucky for me, I already had to do such titanic effort when I had to introduce myself on January 1st for my brand new author's newsletter (#selfpromo). So I'm just going to borrow from that section. If you want to read the rest (writing updates, an excerpt from an upcoming story, recommendations), you'll have to click the link :P

I was born in 1996 in Spain, where I’ve lived for the past 27 years, moving back and forth between my city and my hometown for my various temp jobs (paralegal in the city, farm work in the country, and camp counselor during some summers).

This 2023, after some really bumpy years, I finished my law & politics degree, and my long-term plan is to… keep studying (and working), this time with the goal of attaining a particular position as a public servant that will both give me a comfortable salary & means, and require me to travel a lot outside the country like I’ve always wanted. It’s not an easy position to attain (or an easy job to do once you attain it), and I anticipate it’ll take me a couple more years to get there, but right now it feels worth the extra effort, both for what it entails and for its perks.

For the first time in I don’t even know how long it feels like my life might finally be somewhat on track *knocks on wood*, and I think that’s going to mean good things for my more artistic side. I don’t think writing for a living is something I would want to do even if I could do it, but writing is certainly what I love doing most in the world, and I’m happy to say I’m moving forward with that too.

What do I write? Mainly fantasy, and speculative fiction in many forms; always directed at adult audiences, and always, always centered around women. The tone and specific subgenre varies, but it’s true I tend to work on the grim, melancholic side of things. If any of that sounds up your alley, you’ll find it here.

And just to tell you a few other things about myself… I do some amateur photography; I’m weirdly fascinated by owls; I want to re-learn how to play guitar; I love everything purple/lilac/maroon/etc.; I just started learning Arabic; and I am currently deep in the clutches of Detective Comics Comics.

As for an ice breaker... ask me a top 5 [insert anything here] in the comments, and I'll reply!

Comments

[sushiflop]

Boy can I relate to this; I too just finished my Big Kid Degree recently (this past spring) a bit later than many others in my cohort, and am looking forward to settling into a job with a more stable salary and more stable... lifestyle in general.

I've never been to Europe but I would really love to travel to Spain at some point. What are your top 5 places in Spain actually? 😂

Also what kind of farm work do you do? That sounds so lovely but I know it must be backbreaking hard work too!

[queenslayerbee]

The job I want comes with a lot of travel and thus certain built-in instability lol, but just the kind I'd like. It'd also come with a fixed position and a steady income, which ARE the kind of stability I need :P

In no particular order:

-Madrid. It can be a mess of a city (too big, too populated), but whatever you might want to do, 99% chances you'll find it there. There are countless museums with free offers, places practise any sports activity, escape rooms, great food... next time I'm there I'm planing to go to the Ice Palace to ice skate and to eat in my favourite Chinese restaurant.

-Los Picos de Europa. Mountain range in Asturias. That area has beautiful views all around, but those were my favourites.

-La Alhambra in Granada. Beautiful palaces and gardens from the times of muslim rule.

-If you like art nouveau, DO go to Barcelona and visit Gaudí's buildings, even if it's just from the outside (they are tourist traps, so the queues can go for a while lol; plus most of them, you'd need to pay to enter). My favourites were the Palau de la Música and Sant Pau (formerly a hospital, now a museum).

-I tend to prefer the beaches up north, where it doesn't get as hot in the summer, but I really liked Peñíscola (east) and Cádiz (south). I mean, more for the areas and the historical buildings than for the beaches, I'm not a beach girl xD, but still.

[sushiflop]

Predictable, built-in instability with a steady income... sounds pretty great tbh! I have lived and worked abroad and would love to do so again eventually, so we'll see how that goes in my new field I guess...

Thank you for your answer! I'm an outdoorsy type and like beaches and hiking but also beautiful buildings and city life, so this is a nice mix. :)

[queenslayerbee]

I meant to reply to the question about my work but I realised I forgot lol. It's mostly agriculture, really. Depending on the season, I help with planting/maintaining/watering/recollecting etc. In large terrains, mainly olive and pistachio plants.

[sushiflop]

Sounds satisfying. I've done greenhouse work before and it's nice in perhaps a similar way.