You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)

"I've loved Felicia Day for years! So, when I saw she published a memoir, I had to read it! Written perfectly in her voice, after a while I started reading her words with her voice. With her quirkiness bleeding through the pages it's hard not to hear her voice while you're reading it. There are so many more layers to this onion than I had previously thought. Unfortunately, I do initially have the mindset that fame falls into people's laps (illogical I know except for some cases). I loved The Guild when I first watched it on Youtube and then I watched it three more times when Netflix picked it up, then I watched it again after I forced my friend to watch it. Being a creative person myself, I know that a lot of us (if not all of us) have those moments where we don't know how to start or where. It was awesome reading about how The Guild came about and her start. Having mental health struggles myself, learning about her own personal darkness and her struggles made her more than human, it made her relatable on a level that I truly appreciate. That paired with her experiences with both negativity and positivity concerning the nerd community and family, her "failures" and hesitations, and her regrets about her past and present really spoke to me because there are some things that my friends and family don't understand. Memoirs are great when they're well written and the author has a strong voice, but the really specials ones are those that speak to you on a deeper level than just letting you peek into aspects of their lives."

"An amazing autobiography!"

"As a rule, I generally don't care for non-fiction (unless it's Stephen King's <i>On Writing</i>, which have read 100 times and recommend and/or shove in the hands of anyone that indicates they even remotely likes the way Stephen King writes. #sorrynotsorry) I have a hard time with audiobooks, because I have so much going on in my brain at any given time that I realize I've been <s>thinking</s> worrying about who knows what for the past fifteen minutes and have no idea what's going on once remember I'm supposed to be paying attention to what the narrator is saying. Oops.<br/><br/>This book came recommended to me by a friend ("get it on audio if you can"), probably for the following reasons: a)I'm a <s>loud</s> introverted and proud nerd, b)I suffer from (sometimes crippling) anxiety, c)I harbor a deep-rooted desire to write books, but also have extreme self-doubt issues stemming from said anxiety. I was't super familiar with Day's work, but from what I had seen of her she seemed very authentic and smart. When my Kobo audiobook credit rolled around for last month, I thought "What the hell?!" and picked it up.<br/><br/>I decided to listen to it on my daily commute, because I was a captive audience and my mind couldn't wander <i>too</i> much while I was driving. <br/><br/>I was not prepared for the depth of love I would have for this book. Felicia Day is hilarious, smart, nerdy, socially awkward, and self-described as "weird". When I listened, I felt like I was hearing a story from an old friend. While I wasn't "the weird homeschooled kid", I was "the smart, quiet girl" during my school years, and popularity eluded me. As an adult, I wear the term nerd as a badge of honor. In high school, not so much. I went to a small school. (600 students K-12, people. I'm not kidding. My graduating class in '01 had 43 students, of which I graduated #6 - missing the top 5 by .1. Damn you, math-based sciences, for ruining my straight A's.) You squashed the "uncool" **** you were passionate about down so hopefully no one noticed and made fun of you. If you ****** up, everyone knew in short order, and it was highly likely anyone would forget it. (At least that's how it felt at the time.) <br/><br/>I felt an immediate kinship with Felicia Day. She was one of my people. I could tell. <br/><br/><br/>I understood all the gaming references in this book, as my husband is a hardcore gamer (I even made him listen to some of the parts referencing WoW) but I don't feel she explains anything in a way non-gamers can't understand...that part just probably makes a bit more sense if you do. <br/><br/>The last 1/3 or so of the book focused on her creative endeavors and her anxiety...and here, my respect and admiration for her blossomed tenfold. She understands what it's like to have a crippling panic attack. She understands what it's like to write half of a novel and throw it away because it's not good enough, by your own standards. She understands what it's like to try to explain your anxiety to those close to you and have them look at you like you've lost your ******* mind. <br/><br/> <blockquote>Imagine saying to someone, “I have a kidney problem, and I’m having a lot of bad days lately.” Nothing but sympathy, right? “What’s wrong?” “My mom had that!” “Text me a pic of the ultrasound!” Then pretend to say, “I have severe depression and anxiety, and I’m having a lot of bad days lately.” They just look at you like you’re broken, right? Unfixable. Inherently flawed. Maybe not someone they want to hang around as much? Yeah, society sucks.</blockquote><br/><br/>And how anxiety blocks the creative process:<br/><br/><blockquote> I expected perfection as soon as the pencil hit the paper, and since that’s impossible, I couldn’t get myself to start. Then I felt guilty about not starting, which made me want to start even less.</blockquote> <br/><br/>The latter quote prompted me to say "HOLY ****" aloud and then cry, because I had NO IDEA that anyone else's brain on the planet did this. <br/><br/>I laughed, cried, and then felt so very optimistic at the end of this book. I think this fell into my hands - and ears - exactly when I needed it to. <br/><br/>For the dreamers, the geeks, the gamers, the writers, the anxiety-prone, the artistic souls -or those of you that are any combination of these things - this book is for you. Go out and do ALL THE THINGS, and don't let your self doubt or anxiety keep you from pursuing the things that you love with all of your soul. <br/><br/><blockquote>There are enough negative forces in this world—don’t let the pessimistic voice that lives inside you get away with that stuff, too. That voice is NOT a good roommate.</blockquote><br/><br/><br/>Five big, gold, shiny, ultra-glittery stars on this book. This socially awkward, neurotic mess of a wanna-be author thinks the world of Felicia Day. <br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>"

"This book has been a great and inspirational read. I have battled with anxiety for 6 years now and Felicia frank and charming positive go get it attitude made me feel better than I have in years. She proves that even in successful lives not everything is "rose-colored" but that you can take your dreams and succeed even through the struggles. Keep rocking the awesome awkwardness Felicia Day cause we'll love you for it!"

"This was a great memoir!! I won't usually read memoirs because they are usually boring. Not the case here! Felicia Day's life was so funny at times, I laughed out loud. There were parts of her life that were fascinating, heartwarming and heartbreaking but the whole time she was honest and maybe slightly awkward but everything she said clearly came from her heart. She might not have been the popular girl or have many friends but her struggles to grow up, get good grades and get a job doing something she loved was inspiring. I highly recommend this quarky, lovable memoir about the queen of the geeks!"

"I needed something to listen to while cleaning and didn’t want to get distracted by another fantasy world while I have one going in print already. Looking through my audible account I stumbled onto this and realized I had never actually followed through on listening to it!<br/><br/>Pros:<br/><br/>Having watched Felicia in acting roles and joining her live streams of games it was so obvious that this was genuine and directly from her. It was high energy, a little funny, filled with real knowledge and understanding and really felt like sitting down and listening to an old friend explain to you what really happened when you weren’t there for a full event.<br/><br/>Cons:<br/><br/>If anything, I would have to say I would like to have heard more about being behind the scenes on real shows or the creative process of making shows/starring in them on Geek and Sundry. I know she was being respectful and trying not to name drop but those insights would have been amazing. Hearing what it was like to be there when Buffy was ending? Being one of the favorite side characters on Supernatural? I’m going to hope she writes another when she is a bit further out from it and gives us those tales too."

"Very brave memoir, dealing with some painful issues head on. However, it's still a very funny book, and quite a quick and enjoyable read."