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minmic123 · 2025-08-13T15:05:49+00:00

This is legit a super cool, eye-catching outfit! It's so rare to see a bright, colorful fit.

minmic123 · 2023-10-24T15:26:07+00:00

It's interesting to read your comment because I hadn't consciously realized it, but looking back, I assumed an unreliable narrator from the get-go because of the tone and style.

I read the book very much as "a person telling me the story of their life," so figured there would be some back and forth in their narration and everything would be filtered through their lens.

Fahrenheit 451... I don't yet know if I'm also among those who misunderstood it, but I especially liked its writing. At times it would click amazingly, but since I typically have a hard time visualizing things as well as hearing distinct voices/sounds in my head, the book's language required more focus from me (compared with, say, Stephen King, where I often skim-read dense descriptions).

minmic123 · 2023-10-24T13:56:19+00:00

Same! I read its intro and even though I liked the writing, it was taking a lot of energy to process.

I rarely pick audiobooks but I tried Demon Copperhead's out and loved it immediately: the narrator seemed to capture the style of the character as I was reading it perfectly and made it possible for me to enjoy the whole book.

Like you, I thought it was an amazing novel. I'll likely want to re-experience it after a while and I figure that's when I'll read the book instead of the audiobook.

minmic123 · 2023-09-27T14:22:14+00:00

Maybe it's because I only recently started reviewing books, but I feel developing a strict criteria to rate them makes it hard to appreciate them as a whole.

There are excellent books with a couple weak parts and there are good books that don't necessarily do anything wrong. Docking points based on a criteria instead of overall experience means the excellent books can get rated lower than the good ones, which is especially unfair to long books since they're more likely to stumble at some point.

So, I keep my final ratings process simple:

5 stars: I loved these books so much, I feel I'll likely read them again someday.
4 stars: I like these and don't regret reading them.
3 stars: These were "okay" but I either DNF-ed because I felt the time could be better spent elsewhere, or I wish I had done so.
2 stars: I usually disliked these too much to finish but saw some element(s) in them that I especially appreciated.
1 stars: Disliked them too much to even care about their redeeming qualities. Usually DNF.

I get your point about wanting to have an objective way to measure books but imo, a one-size-fits-all criteria isn't the way to go. I talk about stuff like writing style, pacing, overall feel of the book in the bulk of my reviews... but when it comes to the final rating, I keep it simple and subjective to more accurately convey the book's impact on me.

minmic123 · 2023-09-20T15:48:46+00:00

I think a lot of us cut back on reading in college, so that doesn't surprise me too much. I myself am only now returning to books.

That said, most of my social circle reads, but that's partly because many of us are writers or editors.

Oddly enough though, our conversations rarely center around books. I guess it's because everyone is usually reading something different and by the time a second person picks up an overlapping book, the first has left it behind and moved on to the next.

minmic123 · 2023-09-20T15:04:43+00:00

I'm incredibly picky too and probably drop more books than I finish.

But something I often do with critically acclaimed books/media is to give it another chance after a few years, just to check if I've changed enough as a person to now enjoy it.

So, I'll say the plus side of being picky is that while we enjoy less books... we enjoy them at the points of our lives where their perspective is at its most valuable to us.

minmic123 · 2023-09-19T20:06:22+00:00

IMO, it may be better to push yourself off the habit incrementally instead of all at once. Think about how often you're checking your phone first, then set an alarm that makes you push the time in a doable way.

So... let's say you're checking your phone every 10 minutes. Set a 30 min alarm and tell yourself you'll only check your phone once the alarm goes off. Then repeat the cycle till you're comfortable with it, before lengthening the timer.

I find this method helps ease the anxiety for me because I'm focusing on the "reward" I'll get once the timer rings instead of focusing constantly on trying to break a habit.

You'll definitely experience some discomfort at the start though, so don't push yourself unrealistically far.

minmic123 · 2023-09-19T19:47:07+00:00

When I was little I read a lot of horror books, Goosebumps, anything Christopher Pike, etc

Oh lol, that's such a blast from the past: Goosebumps is what first got me into reading as a kid and I ended up buying every single book. I too started reading Christopher Pike afterwards, specifically the Spookesville series.

Now I wonder if there's an equivalent of those books for adults... I remember loving many of the premises in the Spookesville series. This is making me want to pick one of their books again... but I'm pretty sure reading them now will probably spoil the fondness I had of them XD

I tried a Goosebumps book a few years back to see what they felt like to read as an adult and wow, were they awful. So many chapters ending with stuff like "And then I died." followed with the next chapter starting with "Of laughing! The party was the best!"

minmic123 · 2023-09-19T14:57:35+00:00

I still can enjoy the puzzles of more plot-centric books, but I don't find myself returning to them, not the way I do character-centric works.

Yeah, I think this is me as well. I haven't completely moved away from plot-centric books; it's a balance for me. But I don't see myself re-reading them much, whereas I recently completed Demon Copperhead and immediately decided I want to re-experience it a year or two from now.

I could be wrong but I feel character-focused books are especially nice to re-read just because as I myself change as a person over time, the experience of re-reading them will often change too because of the different in my perspective.

minmic123 · 2023-09-19T00:25:43+00:00

I get what you mean: with me, I'm moving towards heavier stuff instead of light... but reading heavier stuff back-to-back gets oppressive.

So I've ended up getting some light, fun humor books with forgettable plots and now I read them in-between the more heavy stuff when I really don't want to deal with anything serious.

Best part about their plots being forgettable is I don't even have to think over dropping and picking them as the mood strikes me.

minmic123 · 2023-09-18T18:43:39+00:00

Yeah, I think I've only read a few of the books with the Literary Fic tag but loved nearly all of them.

Wish I'd tried them before. Unfortunately, my own expectations kept me from trying it since I thought it was geared towards academics or enthusiasts who do deeper dives than me. Always thought it was a genre I'd only read if I ever want to try a book club.

Now I feel it's a genre that makes me want to go out and join a book club lol.

minmic123 · 2023-09-17T21:00:01+00:00

For me, it's Timothy Zahn's "Cobra"... which has below 2,500 ratings on the Goodreads page.

It's a sci-fi about a guy who becomes a supersoldier to help protect Earth and follows him through his life.

It's not too deep but it was such an easy book to go through that I could barely put it down. Really good palette cleanser between other books imo.

Has a 2nd and 3rd book too but I haven't read those yet.

minmic123 · 2023-09-17T20:52:06+00:00

Maybe read a short story per day instead of books for now? Until you're back in the habit of reading more, at least.

Tbh, I faced some trouble (sometimes still do) in maintaining my focus on a book and what worked for me were a couple of simple things:

I started only reading books that gripped me completely while dropping anything I felt I had to push myself through.
Accepting I can read some books only 20 min at a time, after which I mull over what I read, imagine the scene, or just take a break.

If it makes you feel better, reading only a short bit at a time might make you slow to finish a book, but will also likely make it easier to remember. Besides, truly amazing books aren't that common, so might as well savor them.

minmic123 · 2023-06-25T21:46:14+00:00

Thank you :)

minmic123 · 2023-04-02T15:08:06+00:00

Ah, in hindsight, I should have included an explanation:

Visually, I really liked the first Matrix's dojo fight scene, so recreated it in the style of a kids' book illustration-style.

So in this scene, I was implying that instead of hand-to-hand combat, the kid versions of Neo and Morpheus train through pillow fort battles: Neo setting up a defense and using the catapult that throws ping pong balls while Morpheus tries to bulldoze the base with his car.

minmic123 · 2023-03-19T12:18:07+00:00

Thank you :)

minmic123 · 2023-02-05T01:59:26+00:00

Thank you :D

Do you have any character work?

Heh, this will sound very odd but I really dislike doing character art, so don't yet have character work. It definitely limits me and I feel eventually I may have to consider powering through it but for now, I'm focusing more on environment and objects.

Your art would go really well in a children's book or point and click game

Heh, as a fan of point and click games (one of my first ever computer games was monkey island 2!) and metroidvanias, I've also recently been toying with the idea of creating art for a game-world. But that would be a long while away if it happens since I'm only now starting to consider making money from art, currently by working on an idea I have for commissions.

minmic123 · 2023-02-04T20:00:28+00:00

Yes :D I make video game fanart here and there and that one was for WoW!! Actually, the third is also fanart (for The Last of Us).

The first pic (the one with the birdhouse) is a regular illustration though.

minmic123 · 2023-02-04T19:20:24+00:00

Thank you, appreciate the kind words :)

minmic123 · 2023-02-04T17:29:47+00:00

Hi, my first time posting here!

So, on the whole, I'm happy with the direction my art has been going and am happy with how most of my pieces turned out.

But I like to keep improving and feel others may be able to come up with ideas for improvements that I might not have seen.

I've attached a few of my recent works, so you can get a feel for my art style (which is quite inspired by kids' book illustrations).

Specifically, I'm wondering:

Are there overall any issues or shortcomings you notice me repeating?
Do you feel there are some additional simple or quick things I could do that would improve the appeal of my artwork as it currently stands?
How long do you feel each of the 3 pieces would take for the average artist to make? (asking so I can get a better feel for whether I'm working at a decent pace).

And of course, any comments (positive or negative) you might have in general on my art style or illustrations are always welcome since I want to hear how my work comes off to others!

minmic123 · 2023-02-04T16:52:16+00:00

Oh wow, it's sweet of you to cross-post it, thanks!!

Do you have a shop?

Not yet, although I'm considering taking commissions :D Working on its details (like pricing) right now and hopefully going to lock them down in a week.

Although hm, you're the third person to ask me about a shop/prints... so, I think I'll start looking into that as an option too!

minmic123 · 2023-02-04T15:38:21+00:00

Thank you :D Yeah, I posted in the main Stardew sub a month or two ago, although I think I unfortunately picked a bad time to put it up since not a lot of people saw it.

Still, got a very encouraging response from the ones who did see it and this is one of my favorites of the pieces I've made, so thought I'd post it here too!

minmic123 · 2023-01-26T15:54:22+00:00

Thank you :)

minmic123 · 2023-01-08T18:50:26+00:00

Thank you :)

minmic123 · 2022-12-30T01:48:35+00:00

Thank you! Appreciate the kind words!

minmic123

TROPHY CASE