Hey, #FreelanceFriends! Can you believe it's almost October? Since it's the first Thursday of a new month, we will host our Open Mic Hour on October 2 at 11 am CST on Bluesky. Bring your small biz questions!

4 hours before short story submission: maybe I'll tweak these sentences to foreshadow the ending 2 hours before: add a bit of worldbuilding to avoid confusion 1 hour: what is this character even doing?! 10 minutes: WHAT AM I EVEN DOING

Thinking about joining this #FirstDraftFall challenge, as I have a magical heist novel that hasn't written itself yet 🤔

Tomorrow I'm hosting a modified version of the #FreelanceFriends chat here on Bluesky at 11am CST. One question. One hour. I felt this would be more fun than canceling the chat due to a client meeting. AH, freelance life! Always agile!

If you could make a living writing punny chalkboard signs, I'd be knead-deep in it

Me: *tells clients that I'll be on PTO (paid time off) next month* Also me, a freelancer: doesn't get paid for time off

Finalizing a first draft at my favourite coffee shop this morning

Tomorrow I'm hosting the #FreelanceFriends chat here on Bluesky at 11am CST. We will chat about managing our MANY incoming online pings, dings and other notifications! Join us! Simply follow the hashtag. ~ Angela 😃

Despite having like a hundred bookmarks purchased, gifted, and picked up randomly, I still use grocery receipts and bus tickets 🤷🏽

Favourite coffee shop this morning

Happy #StarTrekDay from my two writing companions! 🖖🏽

This poor hydrangea is withering away, and no amount of watering or pruning seems to fix it. Might be time to move to a spot with less root competition and more sun. 🤔

OpenAI: "It's like chatting with a helpful friend with PhD‑level intelligence!" Also OpenAI: "We're hiring a content strategist!" Proof that AI isn't replacing writers anytime soon. (also a US $310K – $393K salary is wild)

Sometimes, when the client asks for a banana, you give them a banana, and they come back saying, "Where is my apple?" Today is revision day.

Do Americans use the word "bespoke"? Asking for a Canadian writer submitting to a U.S. client. And it's the perfect word for the sentence.

Freelancers: How are you tackling the "We'd rather do it with AI" problem? Context: A prospective client wants to hire me but their manager believes AI is cheaper & good enough. My person wants to push back but doesn't know how. How do you enable this champion? #FreelanceFriends #Freelance 1/3

"A.i." doesn't empower anyone. It strips them of belief in themselves and the power of their own minds and hands and abilities and stories. EVERY KID CAN DRAW. EVERY KID CAN TELL STORIES AND MAKE COMICS. Fuck "A.i." for telling kids lies and making them less-than.

If you could get a crib in any five cities (five cribs) of your choice in the world, which would you choose? Me: Vancouver, Tokyo, London, Khao Lak (Thailand), Kolkata

All Oxford Comma enthusiasts, time to update our presentations.

Today's writing break priorities: Walk >> scroll Carrots >> cheese Cat >> no cat

Them: How many cat videos can you watch? Me: Yes.

Furthest I've been from my hometown. (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan): N: Edmonton, Alberta E: Rome, Italy S: Sydney, Australia W: Kolkata, India

My 1980s bookshelf would've loved this before returning it to the library My 2025 bookshelf can't wait!

Some good background on the setup behind this movie's climax (It was a great movie, too!)

Kudos for not following LinkedIn's anti-linking policy

Perfect analysis by @mcsweeneys.net — no notes. www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the...

Went to a Writers Collective of Canada workshop last night, and it was really good! Couple hours, couple writing prompts > feedback from peers And their rules of engagement are exactly what I needed to write more fiction this week:

The only movie I can think of that was nothing like the book and everything like the book. Brilliant!

I don't know about other writers, but I'm much less likely to push back on edits on a Thursday than on a Monday. I call it the Law of Diminishing Churns.

#FreelanceFriends is starting now!

Hey, #FreelanceFriends! The chat IS on for 7/24 at 11 AM CST. I will host. We are chatting about what we do in our sm businesses, and how we attract leads for more clients/projects/gigs/assignments. I know this varies for every type of business, so it will be interesting to learn from each other!

Seriously, what is the use case for this? At least, why pop this notification up every time I open a new document? Maybe useful for a video script, but I always send those to human creatives. Seems like this is solving a problem that doesn't exist (for me).

Saw someone on LinkedIn pushing back on the suggestion that ChatGPT is a viable alternative to hiring freelance writers: "But no, we're looking for humans (ideally)." More of this, please 🙌🏽 #FreelanceFriends

Really want to write fiction today, to pay off the voices in my head. But have to write B2B marketing copy, to pay off the bills. Hopefully, getting the copy done faster means the prose starts sooner.

Can't wait to INHALE this book by @amalelmohtar.com Thanks to local bookstore, Westboro Books, for bringing it in!

Glad you popped up today, Grammarly 🤗

There are two kinds of friends: Those who use your current email address and those who use your university address from 30 years ago, with the subject line "It's a party!" in a province you lived in 35 years ago.

Attended a Grammarly webinar today on agentic AI, where the speaker said, "Agents undo choke points with action..." — makes sense. Then he gave the example of an “expensive freelancer." 🫠 Why drag your audience like this?

Getting ready for #StarTrek Strange New Worlds S3 tonight with a TOS mug + Earl Grey tea 🖖🏽

Only 3 more days until season 3 of Strange New Worlds; my favourite #StarTrek show ever*! *they're all my favourite Star Trek show ever

The young woman killed at Elgin/Laurier was named Saloni Aitawadekar. Only 26, she came to Ottawa as a student and had just received her permanent residency. She was the only child of Rekha Aitawadekar, a single mom from India. Please give if you can, to help her mom through this horrible time.

There are two kinds of friends: Those who plan lunch dates & locations well in advance, and those who text "when tacoos" and are only available tomorrow or Feb. 2026.

duolingo /ˈduː.oʊ.lɪŋ.ɡoʊ/ intransitive verb : to put off intentionally the doing of something that constantly tells you to do with incessant notifications

Just learned that "businesspeople" is an actual word. So of course my mind immediately went to groupthink, newspeak, and doubletalk. Maybe leaving the office life was a good thing 😅

Incredible story — got hooked in by this wonderful line: "...and then you grew up more, until your shoulders dropped from all the burden of non-apologies." #BookSky

Murgir jhol. 100% improved if it was simply 100% jhol.

Looking for some new worlds to dive into this weekend? Check out this Itch bundle of Canadian science fiction and fantasy novels, including a book from yours truly! itch.io/b/3114/the-c...

Me, weeks ago: Kawartha Dairy opening in the neighbourhood? I'll go before the winter snow sets in. Me, today: 🤩

"AI"

The best part of working from home is seeing the tomatoes and chillies thrive