CAPTAIN’S QUILL: ANY PORT IN A STORM? -

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Hej, Messmate!

I know I’ve said this before, but last year really did a number on us. For me, it was my health that took another turn for the worse and, on top of that, I desperately needed to move out of London.

In case you didn’t know, the Resilience is my spiritual home, and our Quartermaster is the home where my heart lives. That ought to be more than enough for a simple captain, but tragically, as Sir Bear would say, it is not. I do need a space to call my own on this peculiar island as well. It was difficult to find one in 2013. It was a Herculean task in 2015. This time, it was nigh on impossible. I spent almost two years battling the rough seas of accessible housing before I found the right port.

In February this year, all the stars aligned and I could finally unlock the next chapter of my life. I spent about four weeks moving in and setting up my new battle station, then I spent another four flaring and adjusting. There’s still a lot to process and unpack, but I promise, I won’t bore you with an exposé of the outright Dickensian treatment the undesireable are subjected to in Cruel Britannia these days. Let me instead pick up a thread that begins with a seemingly harmless little phrase people like to throw at us and allow it to guide us all – yes, you too! – to the safest port I know.

The phrase?

Oh, it’s this one: “Why don’t you just…?”

Forgive if I’m a tad salty, but… No scratch that, I’m not looking for forgiveness. I’ve just lived through four of the worst years of my life to the tune of “Why don’t you just go home?” I’m salty as fuck, with good reason, and I’m done making apologies. At the time, I had to tell myself that the comments were kindly meant. Now I have to deal with the bitter aftertaste. It was never about kindness, and anyone who has weathered a real storm can tell you the old “any port” adage is a fallacy.

Not Very Helpful, Is It?

A captain needs to make decisions based on all the knowledge and information they have at hand. You can’t let fear make them for you. And you can’t hang your navigator’s hat on the opinions of people who earned theirs riding an inflatable flamingo in a swimming pool. Sure, any port may seem like a safe bet in a storm, but the phrase is a gross simplification of a situation that calls for a series of complex decisions.

As a former management consultant and long-time writing coach, I know how to spot patterns and tackle problems. But effective support requires a deeper understanding of a unique set of challenges – not presuming you know better from your cushy seat on the sidelines. Over the past couple of weeks, I have thought a lot about this principle and how it applies, equally, to navigating the storms of life and guiding (baby) writers through literary storms.

Writers are often treated with the same condescension and derision as a disabled person just minding their own business. Every social media platform is full of busybodies and self-styled experts dishing out “free” writing advice. Their methods differ, but the message is the same: “I know better. Anything you do, I can do better. Why don’t you just…?” It happens to readers too, but in a different way. In the bookish communities, they are often told that they read the wrong books, by the wrong authors, in the wrong formats, and at the wrong speed.

Every single week, pens and books and dreams are DNeffed as a direct result of people behaving badly in spaces where they have no bloody business to be. They’re out there dropping unhelpful comments, giving people advice about things they know sod all about, and stirring shit to cause drama. Meanwhile, people with actual talent can’t hear their own thoughts for all the noise. They end up double-guessing every single decision they have to make until the passion they once felt is gone. It makes me see red!

Reflecting on these experiences reaffirms my vision for the Resilience. I wanted her to become a public reading room and a creative haven where writers who were (working towards) self-publishing could come together and support each other. I had to retire for health reasons, but I wanted to keep helping people find the tools and skills they need to succeed. And the confidence to make it happen. A weird and wonderful pirate ship where anything was possible seemed like the perfect place for all these things.

Welcome Aboard

We’ve been sailing together for 15 years now, me ole ship and I, weathering storms and adjusting our course as needed. It’s been a wonderful voyage and it’s not over yet. Now that the biggest barrier to future adventures has been removed, we have a long list of announcements coming up. You can expect something new from us every month for the rest of this year, and that’s just the warm-up.

Are you a writer looking for a collaborative community? Are you a reader eager to talk books and bookish things? Well, then, what do you know? We may have a deck pass with your name on it! We’re back at sea and welcoming new crew members and passengers onboard from this month onwards. (If you’ve already been granted permission to board it’s time to pack your bags. We’re on our way to get you!)

We are a very small group, but we aim to grow. We have a zero-tolerance policy for bad behaviour and drama. Conspiracy theories and rage rants are allowed, but only in designated areas where people can choose whether they want to listen. You can read and write what you want (with a few exceptions listed in the code of conduct) and we expect you to allow others the freedom to do the same. Our authors write everything from children’s books to literary fiction, and you will find fantasy, sci-fi, horror, romance, smut and more on our shelves.

When you cross the gangplank to the Resilience, you step inside a literary multiverse connected to our home port, Libertalia. There are no limits to the adventures you can embark on, or the number of realms you can explore, from here. How much you get out of being a member of our merry band of revolutionaries depends entirely on how much you are prepared to put in. We’re like a proper bank account in that respect. The more you deposit, the more you have to withdraw.

Membership is free (for now) and you can join us on Discord or in one or both of our facebook groups. One is safe for work, the other is not. If you want more than just any port in a storm, we could very well be your Happy For Now. Or, better yet, your Happily Ever After.

Drop me a message and let’s find out.

Puss & Kram,

//Linnea 🖤

ABOUT LINNEA LUCIFER

Linnea Lucifer is the Captain of the imaginary, yet very real, pirate ship Resilience and her merry crew of indie authors and omnivorous readers. But that is not all – amateur liar, weaver of stories, peddler of merch, lifelong spoonie, ancient dragon lady and Maddox Rhinehart’s irreverent pet are a few more words often used to describe the bearer of many names.

The Captain was named after a delicate little flower that grows in mossy, Swedish pine forests, and a certain fiery fallen angel. She spends most of her days daydreaming and writing fantasy, smut and painfully crappy poems. A diva of delight, she takes great pleasure in everything that tickles the senses and adds a sprinkle of magic and spice to our world.

Linnea writes fantasy rooted in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore under the pen name Saga Linnea Söderberg. She also writes Sweet’n’Spicy Spoonie romance together with Leto Armitage under their joint pen name Linn Rhinehart.