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H.M. Friendly

Goodreads Author

Born

Victoria, Canada

Website

https://hmfriendly.wordpress.com/

Twitter

HMFriendly

Genre

Science Fiction, Horror, Contemporary

Influences

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... ...more

Member Since

July 2020

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Hello, and welcome! I'm H.M. Friendly. :)
Let me tell you a bit about myself:

After seven and a half consecutive years in university, my exhaustion and disillusionment culminated in total burnout during which I missed class for two weeks, because I was too depressed to get out of bed.

With the guidance of my former English instructor, who is now my unofficial editor and writing mentor, I had an epiphany: I was chasing a prestigious degree in neuroscience because of a fundamental insecurity in my position in the world, in both a societal and monetary sense. I often joked that I was working towards a “Social Validation Certificate”. I strove to maintain straight A+ grades, and it was slowly killing me.

“What I find interesting about this situatio Hello, and welcome! I'm H.M. Friendly. :)
Let me tell you a bit about myself:

After seven and a half consecutive years in university, my exhaustion and disillusionment culminated in total burnout during which I missed class for two weeks, because I was too depressed to get out of bed.

With the guidance of my former English instructor, who is now my unofficial editor and writing mentor, I had an epiphany: I was chasing a prestigious degree in neuroscience because of a fundamental insecurity in my position in the world, in both a societal and monetary sense. I often joked that I was working towards a “Social Validation Certificate”. I strove to maintain straight A+ grades, and it was slowly killing me.

“What I find interesting about this situation,” said Ann, as I slouched lugubriously in her office, “is that most people never discover what they really want to devote their lives to, and still more lack the freedom, opportunity, or ability to pursue it. You have all of this, and yet you have spent nearly the last decade not doing it, because you’re too busy being miserable doing something you hate.”

I could not argue this. How much more of my life can I afford to squander on self-imposed misery and disillusionment?

It is not an easy position to find oneself. I was beset with convictions of failure and inadequacy. I felt like a quitter. Yet, suppose I decided to take up basketball and gave everything I had for three quarters of a decade; if I ultimately found that I really didn’t enjoy it and didn’t see a future in it, after such a diligent effort, would I be considered a quitter? Of course not. Yet our career-focused culture would have us believe that if we start a degree and don’t finish it, we are filthy dropouts and unfit for society. This is evident in the fact that it is, by design, an all-or-nothing achievement. You cannot have ¾ of a degree. You either have the degree, or you are unqualified for life. But the unassailable truth is that the many benefits to education are gained as a constant data flow, not an instantaneous download.

I decided to take the plunge. With less than five courses remaining, I made the decision to walk away from the degree for which I had slaved so long, in order to pursue writing science fiction full time. It is my desire to continuously improve my skill at crafting stories which sweep users into another world and encourage them to question pervasive aspects of life and the human condition.

This blog aims to be a continuation of that endeavour. I will be sharing new writing as it happens, discussing my thoughts and experiences with writing, and talking about my own personal writing strategies and principles.

I hope you enjoy it. 🙂

Sincerely,
~H.M. Friendly~ ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

How do you deal with writer’s block?

H.M. Friendly My longest period of writer's block was rooted in a deep fear of receiving objective confirmation that I sucked. I could see the distance between my s…moreMy longest period of writer's block was rooted in a deep fear of receiving objective confirmation that I sucked. I could see the distance between my skill level currently, and where I wanted to be, and it seemed insurmountable. So I couldn't write. I couldn't even read. I couldn't even read about writing. My anxiety was wasting my life away.

I eventually worked out that I needed to focus less on my career, and more on just writing what I thought was fun. A consistent quality of successful creative people is the fact that, for the most part, they do what they love and opportunities arise because of their passion.

I had to be unafraid of writing shitty stuff, because in the end, having fun writing drivel is more productive than writing nothing because you're paralyzed with anxiety at your lack of absolute perfection.

So I went on a road trip where my plan was to roam around Vancouver Island reading and writing somewhere away from myself. Turns out my awesome vacation turned hellish when my car experienced catastrophic engine failure on a highway with no cell service, and I spent the next week stranded in two different cities with only the clothes on my back and my laptop, only to eventually learn my car was irrepairable. Had to take the bus back. It was a shitty time, but it was a strange exercise in letting go of the tight control over my life.

In the long periods of waiting, I wrote a pretty good story... but not a perfect one, and that's okay. ;)

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What’s the best thing about being a writer?

H.M. Friendly Watching my craftmanship gradually improve. I look back at older stories I've written and I think, "Ugh, that's such bad writing!" This is good, becau…moreWatching my craftmanship gradually improve. I look back at older stories I've written and I think, "Ugh, that's such bad writing!" This is good, because it means I've transcended myself. I hope to always be able to look back at old stories and see ways in which they're worse than I used to think they were.(less)

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H.M. Friendly’s books

Average rating: 4.5 · 2 ratings · 1 review · 2 distinct works

	"Quality, Protein-Rich Meat Products": and other stories by H.M. Friendly (Goodreads Author), Seven Carpenter (Illustrator) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	RePurposables (and other stories): [The New Genesis Series] by H.M. Friendly (Goodreads Author), Alex Laughlin (Illustrator) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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H.M. Friendly's Blog

Visit my real blog for more stories and thoughts!

Hello and welcome!
I just wanted to post this to say that my real, official blog is here:

https://hmfriendly.wordpress.com/

And you should go subscribe there to be notified of new stories and other posts.

Thanks!

:D

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