Re-upping for the evening crowd.

And I've got a #blog post up! This time about some weird #aliens who do the hive mind thing (without being the Borg): rznicolet.com/2026/04/19/b... #scifi #worldbuilding

#WordWeavers Apr 19: If your SC was going on a trip, would they pack light or take too much? Pack light. She knows how much fun it is to be carrying a heavy load, and her family doesn't own any horses. #amwriting

<eyes skiff of snow on the ground outside> Well, this is why the snapdragons are still indoors. Here's hoping that the pea and carrot seeds can handle a little cold weather...

This. And even now, I've taken a book I loved as a kid, and then decided to revisit as an adult, and... whoo boy, was there ever some creepy stuff in there that (fortunately) went completely over my head a couple decades back. And there's so much good new stuff!

#WordWeavers Apr 18: If your antagonist had to learn a musical instrument, what would they pick and why? There's six of them! They could form a sextet, but... they're mostly not that musical. Maybe the Goddess of Evening would play a harp. #amwriting

I think the #snapdragons look almost as ready for #spring weather as I am. (Just a couple more weeks, got to get past that last frost...) #gardening #minnesota

This is a great article (as is the whole set about #ai): aphyr.com/posts/420-th... Clear explanation of how LLM-based "AI" works, potential impacts on many things, and... well, what should we do about it?

#WordWeavers Apr 17: How far beyond the local home of your MC does your story extend? As far as she knows anything about -- the edges of the island she lives on. There are other landmasses; they're just not relevant. #amwriting

STOP PUTTING AI IN ALL MY STUFF www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

#WordWeavers Apr 16: If your MC lived in our world, would they have good financial credit? No, but largely not through any fault of her own. She's accustomed to subsistence farming, so she'd manage what she has well, but our economics are very different. (And farming is hard.) #amwriting

#WordWeavers Apr 15: Is your antagonist more optimistic or pessimistic? Why? Even in just this WIP, they run the gamut from the arrogant god who thinks nothing can touch him, to the goddess who has contingency plans for revenge after her death, to [spoilers]. #amwriting

In case anybody else is wondering why the Minneapolis+Saint Paul feed is down right now...

#WordWeavers Apr 14: Do your MCs tend to run more optimistic or pessimistic about life? Why? Probably optimistic, since I strongly prefer to tell more optimistic stories generally, but it depends on the story and the variation is large. Gotta have a few cynics in there. #amwriting

Folks: If you're posting a screenshot of a screed from a particular horrific president, could you use the alt text? Or mention the name of That Guy in the text? I do read the news! I don't need my feed to be clogged with the worst that humanity can offer. Please make it easy to filter out.

#WordWeavers Apr 12: Your MC has 2 1/2 days of spare time, time to... Spare time isn't really a thing in her culture. But... Normally, this would be winter - time to repair tools, make clothing, make sure the seeds don't rot and supplies are good, chop firewood, etc... #amwriting

Another good #book I've read lately: Death by Silver, by Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold. It's basically gay Sherlock Holmes with magic, and it's a delight. Excellent murder mystery (the butler did not do it!) with lots of commentary on... #amreading #fantasy #historicalfantasy 💙📚🪐

THIS. As much as I enjoy Strange New Worlds, we don't need any more prequels.

For the Saint Paul folks -- Somebody ordered my book for the public library: sppl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S1... So, if you're interested in a book that involves a magic cloak picking out a new wizard who's from the Twin Cities and a superhero adding to the pothole problem, go get it!

#WordWeavers Apr 11: What would be the most unappreciated social event a character of yours could be invited to? Unappreciated by whom? The annual harvest festival may no longer be a popular thing for us, but it's a _big deal_ for all the farmers (most people) in my current WIP. #amwriting

#WordWeavers Apr 9: One of your characters is seeing something unbelievable. What is it & why are they seeing it? Somebody who's been dead for over a year -- and it's because she's in the nightmare woods, which were cursed by the Goddess of Evening... #amwriting

I think they should make Trek way cheaper per episode with more episodes per season and let the writing and performances carry it.

#WordWeavers Apr 8. Do your characters tell jokes? If so let them tell us a joke, please. Not really, for this WIP. There's a lot of humor and sarcasm, though. (Much is contextual, but there are running gags about, for example, Old Sal's goats.) #amwriting

You know, I'm suddenly really looking forward to getting back into that scifi series I'm writing set on the other side of the galaxy. It's all aliens, all the time. No humans necessary (except by implication, as the content is being translated for human readers).

The NASA #Artemis II tracking website: www.nasa.gov/missions/art... It includes a nice moveable visualization of the Moon, the spacecraft, the Sun, and the Earth, so you can get a feel for the relative positions of them all.

And that $15-18k is the _median_. Half of folks make less than that. I have my *first novel* out this year... I expect to make _way_ less than that. The drawback of the day job is limited writing time. The advantage is not having to worry (much) about money for all the important stuff.

#WordWeavers Apr 6: Can you create a character/place/storyhook/device on the spot, if you need to? If so, share an example. Absolutely. In no small part, this is because my daughter likes me to tell her a story over breakfast. #amwriting

I'm mostly busy at Minicon today, but I wrote ahead a #blog post about the excellent game Esoteric Ebb and free will that may have gotten away from me a little bit: rznicolet.com/2026/04/05/e... (Don't worry, next post I've got planned is back on the let's-talk-weird-aliens train.) #fantasy #game

<reads own post> Yeesh, where did that semicolon come from? I'm too tired to delete and repost; my kingdom for an edit button...

Another #book I've read lately: "Empire in Black and Gold," first book in the Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky. This was a fascinating read. The various insect-themed powers are clever, while; the split between apt and inapt mimics the science/mysticism divide in... #amreading #fantasy

The art of Esoteric Ebb: aftermath.site/esoteric-ebb-c...

See you at @minicon-mnstf.bsky.social today!

#WordWeavers Apr 3: For which characters do you come up with a backstory? All major characters, and minor ones may get a little bit as needed. It's a key part of understanding who the character is and why they are where they are... but you don't need much if they're only a bit part. #amwriting

#WordWeavers Apr 2: Do you use any special means to get to know your characters? Nope. I do nothing consistent here. I usually have a few notes about who they are/what they want/character development, but it's mixed in with the overall planning. #amwriting

Along with @astrokiwi.bsky.social and Laura Revell, we wrote "Cow-culation: Reentry Impact Risk to Livestock in the Satellite Megaconstellation Era" https://arxiv.org/pdf/2603.29324 This all started because the three of us were writing about pollution from satellites and bemoaning the fact that […]

If anybody wants to find me at Minicon over the upcoming weekend: I put all my events on here: rznicolet.com/2026/04/01/f... (Note: Not an April Fool's joke. Looking forward to the convention!)

#WordWeavers Mar 31: Share or tell us about a fun scene you recently wrote. Just finished a bit where the tavernkeeper in Eokar's home village came to the entirely reasonable conclusion that Eokar has become a bandit. She's only been committing deicide! This is now cleared up. #amwriting

Ooh, lots of good options here. Nonhuman characters, of course. Also people making friends with the monsters/weird aliens/mythical beasts/etc. And you can't go wrong with some cool spaceships and practical, well-thought-through applications of super technology/fancy magic.

#Spring in Minnesota is currently a lie, so I'm not putting these cuties outside anytime soon, but it's fun watching them grow in the windowsill. #gardening

#WordWeavers Mar 29: How big is your cast of characters? For this WIP: Big. There's a lot of village life happening (in between divine murders), so I've got a chart in my notes with family trees and relationships and old animosities. Covers two pages. #amwriting

Am I going to be at Minicon? Very much yes! I'm going to be on (or moderating!) panels from Friday through Sunday. Oh, and I'm going to be doing a reading for The Cloak and Its Wizard on Saturday, so look out for that! (I'm there under my real name, not the pen name.) #scifi #fantasy #minicon

Hey hey! For folks going to @minicon-mnstf.bsky.social (in the Twin Cities), looks like the program book is out: mnstf.org/minicon59/m5...

#WordWeavers 28: When was the last time your MC got excited? Why? In a positive way... hm... honestly, you might have to go all the way back to the last harvest festival. Unless you count being amused by giving a jar of slugs to the tavernkeeper. #amwriting

#WordWeavers Mar 27: Which character would be the most fun to be around? Hm... probably either Ralophel (who, if he weren't a farmer, would absolutely have been an eccentric inventor) or Surogale (the tavernkeeper; the beer is good and so are the stories). #amwriting

Should we all reintroduce our baseball allegiances for a quick refresher? No explanation. 1. Mariners 2. Twins 3. Diamondbacks 4. Close games driven by small ball instead of home runs 5. Damn Yankees 6. Cheatin' Astros

If somebody replies to my post about writing with "What's your genre?" I'm going to assume they're a bot and block accordingly. Seriously. If they took five seconds to look at my profile or other posts, they'd know. (It's SFF, by the way. I'm pretty dedicated to my wizards and spaceships.)

#WordWeavers Mar 26: SC POV: What’s your favorite smell? "When there's about to be a storm, and you can hear the thunder cracking in the distance and it smells like it's going to rain and it feels like anything could happen." #amwriting

I stayed up late several nights playing through this game. It's equal parts silly and philosophical and absolutely gorgeous throughout, and I need to do another play through to find all the secrets I didn't get the first time and try out the other choices...

#WordWeavers Mar 25. What do you feel thinking about the last scene you wrote? A certain amount of cackling. Eokar is glad to get out of an annoying situation with someone else's teenager; she doesn't realize she's about to have a similar, worse issue with her own offspring... #amwriting

I agree 100% with Steven Vickers that authors will be falsely accused of using AI in the coming years. In particular, authors like myself whose works were stolen to train AI systems are at risk. When we write in our own unique styles, AI trained on us will quite likely flag us as using AI.