Lincoln Michel’s essay on interiority has great ideas I could use to improve my writing. In fact, I’ve re-read it several times before beginning chapter revisions to keep the ideas fresh. #Writing #Fiction 1/2 countercraft.substack.com/p/the-view-f...

#NoKimgs Bellingham WA

I second the value of reading one's work aloud, but hadn't thought of recording it. #Writing

A friend's dark fantasy novel on sale today. Some great storytelling here. www.amazon.com/Primal-Desir...

Just finished this by @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social and loved it. Captured so many elements of my life. Lyrical writing. Great characters. And a lovely cover!

Im submitting the first 4.5k words of my book for the novel beginning contest hosted by PWA. Below is the link with comments enabled if you're interested: docs.google.com/document/d/1... #booksky #amwriting #author #writingcommunity #writer

Don't have the tassles on yet. It's my first attempt, and I misread the pattern and fought the crown (as I always do when knitting hats). I'd rather have solid red rather than variegated, but that's all the shop had.

The First Seal by Daniel Walker: A historical fantasy mixing folklore, magic, religion. A tale of a knight charged by the Pope to stop the source of the plague: the First Horseman of the Apocalypse. A worthwhile read! #Books #HistoricalFiction #Fantasy www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-first-...

Firefox just updated with new AI features. Couldn't opt out fast enough. And good on FF for making it really easy to opt out and making it obvious. "Block generative AI features with Firefox AI controls" support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fir...

Don’t let people whose job it is to think about the numbers that books sell influence your artistic decisions. If making artistic decisions was their strong point they’d probably not have a job centered around sales figures. #Writing www.tom-cox.com/ten-basic-bu... @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social

Amazing view of the Canadian range east of Vancouver BC. The photo doesn't do justice to the subtle pastels.

Yesterday, I reposted something when I realized I hadn't included alt text, and I was a little confused because I had the "Require alt text" option on. But I just checked, and it had been turned off. Spread the word: use alt text and check your settings!

I was recently criticized for my esoteric vocabulary. But I love the way SF creates uses words a reader has to figure out from context. The article convinced me of the value of less common words. Today I chose pedagogue instead of professor. #Writing #SciFi www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/s...

I took this course last year, and I highly recommend it. Also, Mary Robinette is one of the best instructors I've ever had. Great ideas, well organized, energizing! (And good chance you'll get to see her talking cat, Elsie!) #Writing #Workshops

Another example of Bsky driving an author's sales. Never heard of Tom Cox, but now have his books in my TBR pile. #Writing

Never been a fan of Google Docs, but have discovered that it can catch problems Word misses. It finds properly spelled words that are typos and suggest the correct word based on context. Handy tool for proofreading one's own work. #Writing #Editing

Never found the book coverage in the major dailies particularly interesting, rarely saw a title I wanted to buy. Bsky, on the other hand, has become the major source for my TBR pile, and I'm preordering more than ever. I promote those books here, and need to do that more!

Thirty-five years ago yesterday, my husband and I had coffee at Denny's in Phoenix. Look at us now!

Couldn't pre-order this quickly enough!

Got over the hump to resume editing the novel by setting a short term goal (500+ words today), as opposed to 'finish the remaining 40K words.' Secondary goal: just start and see what happens, no guilt if it's not perfect. #Writing #RefuseToBeDone

... where Anna Esteman had presented her paper 250 years earlier. An appropriate locale for the bicenquinquagenary. Or bisesquicentennial, or sestercentennial, depending on who one asked. Personally, he preferred quarter-millennial, but the chair felt the celebration needed a bit of pomp. #Writing

These look interesting! And I've always wished for a better understanding of Greek philosophers.

Four generations of my family have served our country. Service is in my blood. The President wouldn’t know anything about that.

This year on Bluesky I wrote 84 posts and 375 replies. I received 883 likes, whereas 75 was from my most popular post, and apparently I love saying "read" and 😁! (No surprise, most of my chats were with @jpspalding.com.) www.madebyolof.com/bluesky-wrap...

Read 78 books this year (not counting several DNFs). A few I really liked: ❧ Lavanya Lakshminarayan, The Ten Percent Thief ❧ @maryrobinettekowal.com, The Martian Contingency ❧ Cherie Dimaline, VenCo www.pearcemoses.info/books/annual...

I have written a dozen endings for my short story. The most recent is about a hundred words. As opposed to the others, which kept turning into a novel. #Writing #Sci-Fi #ShortStories

@sachacoward.bsky.social's Queer as Folklore was the perfect Christmas gift for my husband! We both look forward to diving in. (Now need to figure a way to get Sacha to the Pacific Northwest so he can sign the book!)

A beautiful day, and thanks to the elf who snuck in and got my computer unstuck this morning. Mountains just north of the Canadian border, east of Vancouver BC. Happy holidays to all the nice people here on Bsky.

It's a fun book! Recommended!

it’s the latest point in the year you can still order a Christmas gift. Know someone who loves birds? 🪶 Loves books? 📚 Loves SHORT books? Check out Black Throated Blue Warbler, a #cozy #nature #fiction I recommend the audiobook, narrated by @jessmorannarration.bsky.social #booktok #BookSky 💙📚

For anyone curious why the Pacific Northwest is getting so much rain, a graphic of the "Pineapple Express" blowing from Hawai'i towards Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula. #Weather #Rain #AtmosphericRiver #PacificNorthwest

All hands on deck! www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/u...

Cherie Dimaline's VenCo is one of the best books I've read in recent memory (and not what I normally read). A filled with great characters and wonderful descriptions. Brilliantly crafted. Highly recommended. #Reading #Novels #Fantasy #Magic #Witches www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/600424...

I just wrote the year 2026 for the first time, and not quite sure what that portends.

Anxiety makes everything feel very big or very small, depending on which is more hurtful in the moment. Being suddenly relieved of anxiety in this moment gave her a clear understanding that this was the life she had been running towards. — Cherie Dimaline, VenCo. #Writing #Sentences

It's Superman! by Tom De Haven is a brilliant book, a great backstory of Superman's early life. As much as anything, the writing—so clear and crisp—make the book a delight. Love how De Haven incorporates real world people from the time period into the novel. #Sci-Fi #Reading

One editing trick I learned was to search for 'that' in my draft: it can often be deleted, and rewriting the other places makes my sentences stronger. (Amazing how many times the word shows up.) Today, I learned 'look' is another of my weasel words that I over use. #Editing #Writing

Just finished @maryrobinettekowal.com's The Martian Contingency, last in the Lady Astronaut series. I really admire MRK's use of the language to evoke a classic SF tone, but more I love how she shows the cultural complications of US history. maryrobinettekowal.com/writing/the-... #Reading #Sci-Fi

Money well spent! Highly recommended.

my current "grab a book to read on the train" re-read is It's Superman by Tom DeHaven and I love this book so much. A retelling of Superman's origin story set in the Great Depression, by the poet laureate of comics-adjacent novels.

Got to have dinner with @mdbell79.bsky.social. What a great time!

I've described my WIP as "Moby Dick goes to space." And I've gotten feedback that it's slow paced and filled with digressions. So imagine my joy when I discovered @thelincoln.bsky.social's countercraft.substack.com/p/your-novel...

This work should really have more recognition than it does; inquiries should go to: LEAD GRAFFITI | NEWARK, DELAWARE| LEADGRAFFITI.COM|[email protected] @leadgraffiti.bsky.social

Finished Sam J Miller's Red Star Hustle and loved it! A fun adventure! #Sci-Fi #Novels @sentencebender.bsky.social

Some good news today. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...

Such a great expression, I used it when I contacted my senators.

25 people who signed up for a writing workshop Saturday will miss it because the instructor's flight was canceled. It'll be rescheduled for the spring, and the instructor is going to give a shorter workshop via Zoom. Incredibly gracious and generous of him. Nice reminder good people are out there.

Next Saturday, I'm in a day-long, F2F workshop with @mdbell79.bsky.social. His Refuse to be Done is the best craft book I've read, and having taken several short, online lectures, he's a brilliant teacher. I AM SO PSYCHED!

Just finished Apprehension, the new book by @maryrobinettekowal.com. Great story! And I love how I can hear her style in a work that's so very different from her other works. #Sci-Fi #Reading

"Don't do it with publication in mind, don't do it for posterity, don't do it for the likes…Just write for the sake of it. Write to see what your own thoughts look like when you force them into sentences." (h/t @stancarey.bsky.social) www.joanwestenberg.com/p/why-you-sh...