It's my birthday! Since I'm mostly a short story writer, please tell me your fave short story. #PretendPanel #WriterSky

I am going to finish writing this novel. (I'm essentially fully rewriting it and getting very demotivated.) #PretendPanel #WriterSky

I wrote a thing about short stories, why they get rejected, and what you can apply to your own work. clhellisen.beehiiv.com/p/a-view-fro...

My cat Tali has kidney disease and had to be hospitalized last week. As a freelance writer I am struggling to keep up with her vet bills. Any help you can give is appreciated! www.gofundme.com/f/care-for-t...

The biggest by far was the one that motivated me to get into the biz, that without an audience I was a daydreamer not a storyteller. Then later at a workshop we examined contrast rather than conflict and that's really helped me build strong characters. #PretendPanel #WriterSky

Tell me your pet's name with a gif

Tell me your pet's name with a gif

I tend not to have many regrets but for a while I was very dedicated to daily wordcount goals and it was extremely demotivating. I lost a fair bit of progress feeling bad about performing poorly. I don't hold myself to those standards anymore. #PretendPanel #WriterSky

Last term I tried an experiment: I walked into my Tech and Design Ethics class, admitted that I had *no idea* what to do about ChatGPT - so I would let them figure it out. As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class. Here's what happened:

He’s our own Puxsutawney Ted, predicting ice and a possible grid collapse.

HE'S FUCKING DOING IT AGAIN

Must Read Magazine's statement on changes to its contract (Writer Beware has not yet seen a copy of the new boilerplate) file770.com/must-reads-m...

im so sorry.. that anchor is fighting for his liiiifeeeee

Strange Horizons fiction submissions open next Monday! The window will be open for 48 hours from 3 p.m. UTC on January 19th 2026 to 3 p.m. UTC on January 21st 2026. There will be no cap. More information on submitting, including the link to our Moksha portal ⬇️ strangehorizons.com/submit/ficti...

Well I've never actually written an entire novel draft. Most of my career I've been a short story writer. And as I mentioned yesterday the novel I'm now working on wasn't coming together in its initial draft so I stopped writing the draft and began revisions instead. #PretendPanel #WriterSky

I recently updated my masterlist of printers and manufacturers on the Screen Tones website, and there's a fairly sizeable section for sticker printers* if anyone is looking for additional recs! *non crummy screentonescast.com/view/66

🌳Texas Everbearing Fig 🌳Elderberry 🌳Mexican Buckeye 🌳Pecans 🌳Bur Oak 🌳Chinquapin Oak Event details: 📅 Saturday, January 17 ⏲️ 11am-1pm 📍Toney Burger Center, 3200 Jones Rd, Austin, TX 78745 The NeighborWoods program is a partnership between the City of Austin Government and Austin Energy 🌱

Minneapolis residents are painting tunnels onto brick walls and ICE agents are running into them. This is not funny.

If you're a writer, wondering why you should bother writing with the world on fire. It feels like it's not important, I need you to understand that it is. Even if it is just because it keeps you moving forward? Even if it only brings YOU joy, that gives you energy to fight & survive.

The process is ever-evolving. I am currently working on letting my process be its own thing rather than following what everyone else is doing, e.g. I got stuck at 95% of a draft and rather than force the last 5% I started revising to make the last pieces fall into place. #PretendPanel #WriterSky

Oh this is very exciting!

This is a watershed moment for Texas - for the first time ever, solar supplied more electricity than coal in 2025. I will say it again: At this rate, TX will likely decarbonize its electricity sector faster than CA. TX clean electricity is growing at 13%,m more than twice that of CA's at 6%.

wikipedia turns 25 today! the last unenshittified major website! backbone of online info! triumph of humanity! powered by urge of unpaid randos to correct each other! somehow mostly reliable! "good thing wikipedia works in practice, because it sure doesn't work in theory" - old wiki adage

Rest in power, Claudette Colvin. American pioneer of the 50s civil rights movement. In 1955, she was arrested at the age of 15 in Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded, segregated bus, 9 months before Rosa Parks. (WIKI) ✊🏾

Friends, Claudette Colvin—the 15-year-old who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus in March 1955 & joined the federal case against bus segregation that went to the Supreme Court — died today at age 86. But there are lots of myths and mis-impressions about her. A short corrective thread:

Telling the government my new home is going to be a data centre so they'll build it for me

I'm not sure that the way I develop main characters has changed all that much except that now that I'm writing a novel I spend so much time with them that I know them much better. #PretendPanel #WriterSky

EVERYONE DO THIS SURVEY MAKE DISCORD PANIC AND REGRET AND REVERSE COURSE DROWN THEM IN YOUR HATRED FOR GENAI

Want something kinky and still filled with the holiday spirit? You can check out this series! All tentacles and plenty of twists. You'll be able to find it in KU for a little while longer! Go to mleaden-dot-com and click the clicky! :)

The past few months I've been working a lot on a novel. I've always stuck with shorter fiction so it's been a big adjustment but I hope I'm getting there! #PretendPanel #WriterSky

Some indie presses do some of this maliciously, others are making innocent mistakes, but either way, it's bad for authors.

Oof. This is excellent and so disturbing.

Bigots when a trans person exists: We must protect children from this evil! Bigots when the environment-killing theft machine churns out CSAM on demand: *crickets*

If Stones Were To Roll

The reason you hear so much about bats and rabies is that bats can carry rabies without having symptoms or getting sick. Assume every bat you ever see has rabies. They probably do.

God I know this is so basic but Spirited Away. It's just so well made.

magical

#Booksky Now we are 9! We’re celebrating our 9th birthday as a small press this week! Shop direct from us and use code BIRTHDAY at checkout to get a discount and we’ll enter you in the prize drawing! Help us kickoff a great birthday year! Details here: queenofswordspress.com/happy-birthd...

smoldering coals 🌑

My early stories were pretty general SFF but lately I've been more focused on romantasy (although I haven't fully left SFF behind). #PretendPanel #WriterSky

In 2015 I was hospitalized with some scary symptoms and truly thought I was at the end of my life. I had always written stories but never shared them. I realized I wasn't a storyteller without an audience, I was a daydreamer. Three years later my first story was published in Analog. #PretendPanel

No one looks nonbinary. Androgynous, maybe, but those are not synonyms. Nonbinary folks slant masc, femme, androgynous, or are fluid. You do not know looking at someone. Asking for preferred pronouns is a kindness this nonbinary femme appreciates. Thank you!

Hi, I'm lung cancer. And then a different kind of cancer resulting from that cancer.

manifesting: 🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯 ai bubble 🕯 🕯 to pop disastrously 🕯 🕯 for all involved 🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯

I thought I couldn't name my fave book of 2025 bc I don't use Goodreads or anything BUT I discovered that Libby keeps a list so I can confidently say that THE SECRET LIVES OF COUNTRY GENTLEMEN by @kjcharleswriter.com was my top book of the year.

Pretty much anything by OK Go. Here's the one that started it all youtu.be/dTAAsCNK7RA?...

Thanks to both of you for hosting! I had a blast and learned there is beautiful variety among smut slingers. #Smutcember #WriterSky

The year is 2035. I meet President AOC in the Oval Office. "Well done," she says. "By pointing out the small ways certain outfits don't follow outdated rules, you've lowered the population rate by 90%, thereby reducing carbon emissions." She slides me a manilla envelope. I can now afford a home.

This is true and I was the only one on set excited about it (and playing the song on my phone to blank stares)