AI art is like playing a song on your phone and then tapping piano keys and pretending you're making the music. theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art

Book review: Children of Time. Sometimes books live up to the hype. youtu.be/w-tfBUNaEVg

This. Sometimes I'm pausing to read something small on the screen, but now I can't because there's a big fat ad taking up all the space.

I'm craving a new writing project, but is it because the current writing project needs cold, clinical, incremental improvements, or because new idea is actually any good?

Me checking the webs today (and most days)

'On Earth as it is on Television' is an antidote to the doom and gloom of modern life. It's going to be too saccharine for a lot of readers, but it's sincere, and I respect that. Note: the prologue's tone is out of sync with the rest of the book in that it's surprisingly dark. youtu.be/9s1vy0RPpTM

I want to know your personal #helldivers2 terminology? Here are some of mine: "The Devil's Resupply" = Dying "The Magic Eraser" = Orbital Laser "Christmas" = Gas + Incendiary Mine Builds "Fuck that guy in particular" = Orbital Railcannon

I made a vid of my thoughts on worldbuilding. The gist is: Worldbuilding != Realism. youtu.be/bKlAIz4Ldb8

she’s the sort of person who takes her shoes off when she walks into your heart is it respect—or is squidging her toes into your innermost achings her very favourite part? #poetry

The beauty of the Java virtual machine is that Java runs the same on any hardware. The beauty of book reading is that it runs differently on every wetware.

Dune, 1965

Writing Tip: As a writing exercise, take a fundamental pillar of your worldbuilding and change it. See what happens. What if money no longer existed? What if your entire fantasy world flooded? How would your world adapt? What would need to change to make it work? #writing #writingtips #Booksky

I've been making some material to display at upcoming conventions. I'm proud to advertise the lack of AI used in the creation of my novels. Here are some of the human faces involved.

Write what you want to see written, not what you think will sell, not what you think will be easy, nothing but what you want.

Writers, what do you think is essential to have in each scene? A) A decision B) A goal C) A change D) Other in the comments

Pro tip for authors: Don't give characters names that end in 'S' because the possessives will look weird.

So many real people out there! If you're a bot, reply to this post! Where are my bots at?

Authors, give me your favorite, or most recent, verb adverb pair. Myself, I enjoy a good "squinted blearily."

If you haven't yet been recommended "The Justice of Kings" by @richardswanauthor.bsky.social ... *ominous Yoda voice* you will be... you will be. youtu.be/10GB_-LwaFk

Before: Okay, okay! I'll read Children of Time, just shut up about it already. During:

Looked up my lastname etymology (germanic) and found "Holt" - a small forest or grove of trees, and "Schultz" - leader or protector. So, yes, I have decided that my people were Ents.

Orient and occident come from the latin for "to rise" and "to descend." Hence "orient" becomes the east where the sun rises and "occident" becomes the west where the sun sets. #etymology

He was pretty sure that itchiness had been maliciously designed into his body as part of his punishment, but maybe existence was inherently itchy… and gassy. Who knew? - an excerpt from Crew of Exiles that always gets a little chuckle out of me.

I've been listening to Martin Luther King speeches recently and I highly recommend it as a healthy alternative to the screaming fear and anger echo chambers that you may or may not be sucked into at this very moment.

Authors, there is no substitute for reading your own work out loud to improve sentence structure and flow.

"Change was the heart of transcendence, the heart they had lost in their eagerness to reach a finale." - From Crew of Exiles, written by me.

TELL the reader what you want them to know. SHOW the reader what you want them to believe. youtu.be/LUosf8mQEaY

For the adults: you are not as different from a pet or a toddler as you think. Your ability to suppress your tantrums is not always a strength. Consider how much a snack, some water, a dump, and a nap might improve your mood.

Titles are challenging. It's like "what would you like to tattoo onto the forehead of your child?"

That sweet sweet feeling of putting a library hold on a book you're looking forward to. (The Trials of Empire by Richard Swan)

Yeah I read classical literature

I graphed the file size of my first two novels over time (and over number of drafts). The results are not exactly what I had hoped. youtu.be/mxppiJhUxQA

Protip for authors planning to narrate their own audiobook: Have a character with a voice that's difficult to perform? That's who to kill off.

I think a lot about what Carl Sagan said in one of his final interviews.

@littletazalisha.bsky.social just posted a review of my novel Crew of Exiles. kittylishareviews.blogspot.com/2025/04/book... It's never a bad time to pick up a copy.

Recommending books to me is almost a sure-fire way to get me to dislike a book, but not this time. If you're a fantasy reader, you'll want to check out The Justice of Kings youtu.be/SGMAbKnAYGA

I've heard the writing advice "Above all else be interesting, after that be clear." Does anyone know the attribution? I have almost certainly paraphrased the advice. Anyway, this is relevant to my latest book review video: youtu.be/6zDQN10EMLw

An implicit premise of many time loop stories is that knowledge and practice are basically superpowers.

If you want a masterclass in delivering backstory & worldbuilding without exposition & info dumps, read The Justice of Kings by @richardswanauthor.bsky.social

An important difference: the precious unwatchable trash from your childhood was powered by cocaine, whereas the killer of minds unwatchable trash of today is powered by algorithms.

Spoiler-packed discussion of Babel by RF Kuang just dropped youtu.be/PcJHkan8F48

"Killing your darlings" means acknowledging that you are not ONLY writing for yourself but also for others, and those clever turns of phrase might be more distraction than delight for your reader. #writing #writesky

Having to go to the bathroom with an animal asleep on your lap will have you testing your absolute limits

I hate it when my ailing king is usurped by his scheming foreign vizier

Pretty sure 1 is an Atari and I started with an Intellivision, which I think came out between 1 and 2... I would have started with a 2, but my parents wouldn't buy me one and had a dusty Intellivision in a box in the garage!

- I'm here to patent a time machine. - Sorry, we just patented one yesterday. - What time did you close the day before yesterday?

Introducing the newest family member. Meet Cider.