This thread is a heartfelt plea. I have my own thoughts and feelings about the 21st century Democratic Party. My politics are progressive; I'm a daughter of the working class... but.. an important but... I'm also a Black woman descended from the Four Million on the 1860 Slave Schedule. Both/and.

We could use the "declining fertility rate" to rethink our relationship to capitalism and our human footprint on the planet. I keep seeing alarms about societies breaking down because of aging populations. "Five retirees for every worker!" That's not a fertility problem. It's a capitalism problem.

Read Indigo by our Ms. Beverly Jenkins! 💖

Yes. This.

CAN you mix science fiction with westerns, especially contemporary westerns? Well...I think so. And a touch of family saga in some of this. 11 books for $20. Only on Itch. Note: Generic, Kindle, and Nook epub versions available. itch.io/s/185324/sci...

How to get your block. If you choose not to differentiate between horses that are given multimillion dollar pastures and luxurious living and a dog track to make a point then I have no interest in discussing the matter with you because you're just a dick.

Read a lot. Read widely. Read challenging books and fluffy books and nonfiction books and literary theory. As an author, your books are you craft, and constantly training those skills is the best think you can do for your art.

I think the real lesson Platner has to teach us is there's so much hunger for people, especially white men, who will enunciate progressive values, critiques, and policies that folks will ignore a literal nazi tattoo when someone does it.

Can science fiction and westerns mix without being steampunk or gaslight or whatever? Even contemporary? YOU BET! Such a deal--11 books for $20. itch.io/s/185324/sci...

Behaving like a gamergater is behaving like a gamergater no matter what excuses you have for it.

But a manuscript generated by AI feels like porridge. Impossible to separate out the elements, impossible to untangle.

When a work has been generated by AI, there *is* no unifying intelligence.

Important thread!

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS

🎯. Precisely. Black Democratic politicians are seen as either accommodationist ("complicit" "suspect")... or unqualified for their roles ("ghetto"). Since 2024, I've seen the phrases "Black misleadership class" and "Black fatigue," as if Black people are the main problem in US politics. Telling.

And yet… look at what some of our so-called “allies” are focused on. Wrong moment. Wrong fight. Wrong priorities. There’s a reason the Right has been so determined to erase history. Because this ain’t new. We’ve seen this movie before.

You want to know why some of y’all get side-eyed?! We are standing at the edge of the greatest rollback of Black voting and political power in over 150 years. Not abstract. Not theoretical. Real. Black representation across the South is on the chopping block.

And last time? It took over 100 years for Black communities to claw their way back to representation. 100 years. WE are not about to relive that. This is our fight.

"We're not going back."

More visibility. Lots more visibility. It's a vicious circle because I need more $$$ to do more promo to make more sales. #WeeknightWriters

Promotion and sales are my biggest nightmare. I know I write well--feedback from reviewers and others--but selling it is a challenge. #WeeknightWriters

I enjoy the ability to control my writing business, and pivot quickly if necessary. Like...I've been doing over this past week. #WeeknightWriters

I have 32 self-published books. Too niche for tradpub, too old, and not personally quirky enough for tradpub, apparently. #WeeknightWriters

My writing week has been...all about getting the heck off of Draft@Digital. I'm not paying an account maintenance fee when half the universal links don't work worth a hoot and cost me new release sales. #WeeknightWriters

Truth. Too many movements exist on the backs of a handful of people, and there's never enough time to build up/train/recruit successors.

Well, it's done. I am completely off of Draft2Digital. My works can be found right now in ebook on Google Play, Amazon, and Itch. I will be expanding these options to Kobo, Apple, and Barnes and Noble. Alternately, my paperbacks/hardbacks can be found on Ingram and Barnes and Noble.

A lot of people forget this.

Well. The slog continues, but I'm making progress on getting stuff ready to pull off of Draft2Digital. The biggest piece is...waiting for Bowker to move ISBN status from pending to active (ISBNs are the specific book identifiers). In the past I've said "don't bother with ebook ISBNs." I was wrong.

Oh, shut the fuck up, lady. I taught in public school for ten years, DURING Sandy Hook. I was expected to step out of my room and lock outside doors during a lockdown. I rehearsed strategies about what I would do in case of an active shooter, and discussed them with my students AFTER Sandy Hook.

The Migration Continues. All of the Martiniere books are off of Draft2Digital. Paperbacks are still available direct from Ingram, and hardcover will be available shortly. The ebooks are available on Kindle, Itch, and Google Play. Kobo, Apple, and Barnes and Noble will follow soon.

cannot imagine why he's supposed to be experimental and avant-garde, though, seen more daring prose in weird tales. in the slush pile! i don't have much patience for defensive dismissal of litfic, but, a remarkable number of people mistake writing contemporary realism for writing literature huh?

Oh for FUCK’s sake, stop writing about cosy sff if you know fuck-all about it.

This is a slog. But nonetheless, I've pretty much taken care of nine books. ISBNs for ebook, hardcover, and paperback. Listed on Google Play. Kindle versions on Itch along with the generic versions. D2D versions go down tomorrow and I tackle the next batch. Arrgh. 23 books to go.

I have found a psychiatrist that takes my insurance. And a pain clinic that's accepting patients AND accepts my insurance. And a new gynecologist who works with perimenopause/menopause, is accepting new patients and accepts my insurance. I need to go buy a lottery ticket now.

Whew. The migration process is beginning. Apple account is in progress. Patreon Creator Page and sales shop in progress. ISBNs bought. First batch (pretty simple, just stuff that needs ebook ISBNs) uploaded into Bowker. Tomorrow--update the copyright pages for those books, then delete them from D2D.

Almost sad I’m traveling so I won’t be able to fully bask in the shrieks and mewls of the GOP over having their own gerrymandering bullshit turned back on them

This. Absolutely this.

The flip side is that I want young Black progressives to continue to run. We have Rep. Summer Lee, Rep. Maxwell Frost, and Rep. LaMonica McIver. Talk to Black voters. Mamdani followed this advice between the primary and the general. Our elders mainly vote for who they know. Campaign to them.

Catholic theology legitimately does require expertise to understand. These days, not everyone who has that expertise is in the church, but for hundreds of years they almost exclusively were. So.

Any terminally online subculture with an emphasis on aesthetics has a high likelihood of going fash, even if it didn't start that way. Like cottagecore.

All of us at Can*Con are saddened to hear that Renaissance Press have taken the difficult decision to cease operations. Renaissance Press and the writers they publish have been a big part of our convention for many years. We will miss them, and the loss will be felt by the SFFH community.

Could the woman he’s fallen for be in cahoots with a powerful, vindictive enemy operating behind the political scene? Gene Donor: Found Fatherhood Romantic Suspense by Claudia J. Severin is a Spring Into Books Festival pick bit.ly/42eHkCa #nnlbh #giveaway #romanticsuspense

So this happened . . . www.kolumnmagazine.com/2026/04/19/m...

Whew. Errands run in the big city; updated writing business plan complete with checklist for moving stuff off of Draft2Digital. It's been a busy day but--I now have a roadmap for where I'm going.

Some thoughts about the Draft2Digital fee announcement--pick your favorite link to read them! Website: joycereynolds-ward.com/blog/pivotin... Dreamwidth jreynoldsward.dreamwidth.org/511464.html Ko-fi ko-fi.com/post/Pivotin... Substack joycereynoldsward.substack.com/p/pivoting-i...

Anything that requires age verification will end up with a list of minors that can be sold to whoever wants it. Talk about some serious stranger danger. Eesh.

Once more here are the things I need to know to complete a writing assignment/commission: topic, audience, desired wordcount, deadline, pay rate. Give me at least four of five.

30 short stories and short story collections for $20--such a deal! My Fabulist and Fantastical Worlds collection is part of this bundle. Lots of good stuff here! itch.io/b/3623/the-a...