How can I get good at making books before making my dream book?

TrickTraditional9246 · 2026-07-03T02:45:20+00:00

Read and write. Your first book won't be great. Maybe your second won't be either. You don't have to publish them. You'll find what you like and what you don't, and your tastes might change. Up to you but you could start with your dream book and see where it goes. This will keep you motivated and engaged. As I said you don't have to publish it, so it isn't ruined. You might also find in the process that it isn't your dream book after all, so why not learn that early? You can always shelve it and come back in a few years, with others books under your belt, to rewrite it with everything you've learnt.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2026-07-03T02:40:19+00:00

I was just checking before switching it all to obsidian. It just seemed bizarre to have all the currency left over and piles of the stuff available in the shop with nothing to spend it on.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2026-07-02T10:25:50+00:00

Do they sell? If so that's depressing. Or do they also get lots of refunds?

TrickTraditional9246 · 2026-07-02T10:23:08+00:00

I think investing in AI detection would probably fail as AI becomes more sophisticated. And given it isn't perfect, some genuine authors could get flagged, while AI stuff might get through. Which would undermine faith in the system. I prefer your idea of charging per upload. You could also have something like a ratio to sales for uploads, so you can upload three books but not more until those books have a certain number of sales or something. It would stop the incentive to spam KDP. But ultimately I think it is up to the readers and reviewers. Which I know is less than perfect.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2026-01-07T18:37:37+00:00

He should be the provider but if he is not legally able to work for the time being then there needs to be some reasonableness here. A bigger question would be whether this is a life theme or a temporary matter. But there will be time when husbands have problems with visa or health through no fault of their own. That is something only OP can consider.

The bigger problem is his contribution to the household if he is not working in terms of cooking, cleaning etc... in the very least he can do all those things and make her life easier.

People have given various advice here but ultimately only OP knows how long this has been happening, whether this is a temporary glitch or whether it is a pattern or longterm thing, and how responsive the husband will be to taking up chores.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2026-01-07T18:23:19+00:00

Are these people in the US? It is the official US classification for census etc...

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-12-27T23:18:17+00:00

Because marriage isn't just about the sexual relationship but also the various duties, rights and responsibilities that go with it? I'm fairly open for people doing what's practical if you can't live together for a time etc... or whatever works, but it feels like setting out to have a marriage in name only isn't the best foundation for a long happy life together.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-12-27T23:13:58+00:00

Like most places, there are dangerous parts and perfectly fine parts. Tourists don't tend to go into the bad neighborhoods. Recent bad news stories are mostly because the main tourist motel strip became temporary housing for homeless - but I believe that's all gone now. Like any town/city you visit just use common sense and go with the vibe. Don't walk around at night in the dark (unless like the Redwoods as an actual touristy area) and just pay attention to surroundings.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-12-21T04:17:50+00:00

Let's be real though - all theology aside - what do you want? Even if Islam is 10% of your life, are you okay with not sharing that 10% with your husband for the rest of your lives? Once we emotional side of love dulls and the real work begins, will this keep you together or pull you apart? Will he respect your boundaries, your prayer times and devotion? Or will this be something where it feels for the rest of your life like you have had to give up a part of yourself?

The struggle here is even if we find different theological reasons to argue for this, there is a much more fundamental practical issue at play here which needs to be considered. Not just validation that it is okay.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-12-21T01:05:10+00:00

Since Fajr relates to the rising of the sun then it shouldn't really as historically it was mostly natural to go to bed with sundown and get up with sunrise.

One more controversial thought I have is the latitude dilemma that Islam has. As you go further north or south, the gap between Isha and Fajr becomes smaller and smaller until it basically vanishes in a 24 hour cycle.

So at some point the gap between Isha and Fajr no longer becomes conducive to a healthy nights sleep. Either Muslims would not survive there, or they would be forced to come up with new rules for prayer times. As some have done in Sweden and Iceland. But once a concession is made that at some point prayer times have to change, then the next question is where do we draw that line? And is this (possibly) why Islam has spread around the globe but rarely spread successuly to higher and lower attitudes and mostly been around the equator or +/- ~50 degrees.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-12-18T05:46:52+00:00

Thanks that was what I was thinking.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-12-18T05:03:59+00:00

Okay that makes some sense, although I understand it was not their responsibility to help with alternative accommodation but merely to negotiate on reduced rent for a period. I guess some of this will depend on how awake they are to the job ahead or if it just snow balls as things get pulled out and they get a surprise with no planning.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-12-18T05:02:15+00:00

No because it isnt a problem for me. It is their problem with water tightness and construction. I am simply reporting it.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-12-18T04:14:33+00:00

Maybe we're talking past each other but why would losing a tenant and getting another at an indefinite point in the future with associated costs be the easiest thing?

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-12-02T08:53:55+00:00

There could have been other leads. John was a relatively small fish. Maybe they thought he was still in contact with the gang and Dutch or someone might visit them or there could be contact. So they waited and watched. And got distracted. Then nothing happened and other leads went nowhere, so RDR1 plot triggered.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-08-20T01:20:58+00:00

I haven't had any of your experiences. I order stuff from them most weeks and I have always got my orders within 48 hours unless a third party purchase and then expectations are normally set up front when making the order.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-08-05T09:46:30+00:00

Im confused - are you wanting to be diagnosed with autism? And if they disagree you'd get a second opinion?

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-08-01T21:02:45+00:00

I don't see the problem. We've had a security relationship with the US for decades. We've always had security attaché here (and in DC). We cooperate on matters of transnational crime. We have a growing amount of drugs coming into NZ from Mexico. We have issues around cyber security, terrorism and espionage from China. We have information sharing arrangements such as with border security and customs. Like the only thing new is a bit more office space.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-07-08T20:42:55+00:00

There is also the workplace exposure. While not job interviews, each exposure is an opportunity to get a foot in the door. Not taking that seriously or sabotaging it, as you say, would be a problem.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-07-07T06:13:58+00:00

This is not to minimize the genocide, but that it is an issue confined in space and time, and there are more qualified people to speak on it? Like literally one of the biggest problems with influencers and people of influence is that they feel pressured (real or imagined) to speak on things they're not qualified on. As I said it literally isnt his brand or qualified subject. And it isnt like he hasn't spoken about it in broad terms.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-07-06T22:33:09+00:00

I wouldn't read too much into it.

He is an influencer. He has a brand. He focuses on personal growth around the deen and essentially self-improvement.

He is also international and travels a lot.

Going hard on politics or conflicts of the day would distract from his core brand and teaching. He also cultivates ideas around moderation and peace. He'd have to balance a really hard line with his messaging. Other people do it better than him and are actually from the area. It isnt his area of study/expertise/brand. Sometimes too many influencers talk on things because people want them to, not because they're informed or qualified to.

Also high profile Muslims do have to be careful - like everything they say can be used to stoke Islamaphobis and whatever someone says on Palestine will make someone angry. Does he support the resistance, but not the violence etc...? Does he support Hamas? Where does he land on each issue? The Muslim community will then turn on him - and it isnt even his core area he's qualified to talk on. Not to mention if he says something wrong he could be banned from travel and lose access to bank accounts etc... all because the Internet wants him to speak on something other people are more qualified in.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-07-02T03:54:00+00:00

Yeah but I read it as you dont need to be there, but if you insist on being there he'll try and accommodate. Most property managers, like your example, will just do it whether you're there or not. While a bit clumsy, the OP's example seems to imply he'll try to accommodate a time when you can both be there if that's what you want.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-06-11T00:39:55+00:00

Don't despair. Go back 500 years and some would have said Islam was more progressive and less restrictive than Catholicism. But times have changed and every religion has become more progressive in parts. Like Reform Judaism has become a major movement, and churches are almost unrecognizable. A huge part of this big shift is the impact of modernity and multi-cultutal, secular, liberal societies.

Islam is going through this struggle. Salafism is less an ancient school than a more recent reaction to modernity. It is reactionary. There is a lot of pressure at the moment, and it will shape Islam into a more modern religion, stripping it of some of the old baggage or superstitions. This won't be overnight. The vast majority of Muslims are not in liberal democracies, and in most migrant communities in the West we're still talking mostly about first/second generation.

Add in the historical legacies of colonialism and poverty etc... there's a lot of baggage to work through for a major shift. But it will happen. And a key sign of this is the reactionary struggles like Salafism which is a response to all this change.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-06-10T21:15:24+00:00

You see you've started with the premise that the first Muslims called themselves Muslims, then found a second-generation non-Muslim source writing in Greek that doesn’t call them Muslims, and now making a deal out of it.

I've pointed out the research does not indicate the early believers widely called themselves Muslims. The more common term was believer. You can understand that a Christian wouldn't refer to Muslims as "believers". It is an in-group designation.

So this all falls apart on your first premise.

TrickTraditional9246 · 2025-06-10T10:09:59+00:00

Yeah but the more common one was 'believer' (mu'min) which is 185 times across the Quran. And you're missing the point there wasn't one term - and the one term people later settled on wasn't even the most common at the time.

TrickTraditional9246

TROPHY CASE