My mother had Alzheimer's. I've seen, up close and personal, the fear and distress that came from not being able to trust her own memories, the paranoia that came from knowing *something* was wrong, but not being able to remember what. Using "AI" to make up fake memories - well, it's abusive.

My dear sister has sent me woolly things, including one of those neck gaiter affairs, so I can cosplay as a cuddly ICE agent.

OK then. Merry Christmas! If you celebrate something else, then Merry That! If you don't celebrate anything, well, have a good day anyway!

Just let people go for a piss, for Christ’s sake. Do you have any idea how insane it looks to have a cadre of mean-as-fuck official toilet monitors as your national equalities regulator.

Well done that man.

It might look like her, but could it cook like her? bsky.app/profile/stev...

Me: The light from this head lamp thingy is dimming, time to recharge it... Ah. It has a USB connector... and this plastic tab thing has a seam on it, it must hinge open... Which way, though? *wiggles tab thing this way and that for a while* *gives up* *reads instructions*....

Hmph. Back in the good old days, we would call someone like this a "deluded ignoramus". Now we have to say "vaccine skeptic". It's political correctness gone mad I tell you.

Movie you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel.

Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and Corisk did the math Europe's politicians haven't. Arm Ukraine to win: €522-838 billion. Let Russia win and rearm Europe: €1.2-1.6 trillion—double the cost. Plus 6-11 million additional refugees.

Am watching "The Mummy", starring Tom Cruise as Lara Croft. Lots of shrivelled zombies collapse into dust if you give them a single punch. I think it's a metaphor for the script. Pros: Sofia Boutella is easier on the eyes than Boris Karloff. And the desert scenes brought back fond memories...

Slightly diminish a band: Motörnose

#Novelmber+ 50010. Made it. Still got plenty of story to go, obviously. But I have made my quota. (Oh, for my old glory days, when I would have hit this milestone two weeks ago.)

#Novelmber+ 47269. Can I make it? Or not? No shagging today, though one POV character ended up upside down and slowly revolving.

If you see this, I IMPLORE you to post a picture from whatever device you're using without explanation.

Signed and shared. I asked about a Covid booster when I got my flu shot, and was disturbed to hear that, not only was I ineligible, my GP was too. These people are on the front lines of the fight against this disease: they need protection.

"Are you sitting two-square comfortybold on your botty? Then I'll begin."

#Novelmber+ 45161. Still behind, but I can do this if I don't slack off. I may need to get my characters under control. A fairly minor one, introduced just for a POV character to chat to at dinner, has now transformed himself into a sort of Professor Summerlee from "The Lost World."

It's all part of the pervasive anti-intellectualism of the fascists, claiming that reasoning, learning, and imagining - things which LITERALLY EVERYONE CAN DO - are in some way "elitist" and need to be "democratized".

Duly signed and herewith shared.

#Novelmber+ 39040. Very nearly where I need to be. Waffly not-very-articulate characters can, like, you know, I mean, help a bit here. (Thankfully, he's not as bad as Elon Musk.)

Hey, "Institute for Family Studies"? FTFY.

#Novelmber+ 37559. Still playing catch-up, but it's looking doable. Plans have been laid (and so have a couple of characters), lectures have been given, balloons have been popped, and the plot is in motion. I can do this. Probably.

Don't think I can do a movie - how about an episode of "Hammer House of Horror", though? Specifically, the "Carpathian Eagle" one.

#Novelmber+ 34223. You may or may not have noticed the lack of progress updates for the past two days. This is because of a lack of progress on those two days. The name of the game now is "catch-up".

Your actors keep falling through that open trapdoor? Problematic stage gap.

#Novelmber+ 30004. Technically on schedule... but, well, it's been a day.

Baroness Jones, "The problem is that labour have not created enough safe managed routes" "If we had safe managed routes people could come here, justify their arrival, start to work, start to pay tax, start to create business" "And actually be a huge benefit to our society"

Pretty fair analysis from @aliettedebodard.com here. I'd just like to amplify a couple of points (because I like the sound of my own voice.) The UK, with its ageing population and many, many job vacancies, takes in one-fortieth of one percent of refugees globally. We're not pushed for space.

#Novelmber+ 29439. Must get out of this slump. POV character has been drinking, listening to jazz, and is now starting to dance. Shocking scenes of dissipation no doubt await.

Grabbing the wedding ring off a man’s finger or stealing a woman’s jewellery will not pay for immigration accommodation. Are we really going to let the UK government, the Labour Party, enshrine theft into law? Is that who we are? If you want refugees to pay for things, give them the right to work.

#Novelmber+ 28038. I'm putting the reduced productivity down to the awful effects of being summarized by ChatGPT. (Involuntarily, of course.) Current POV character was not privy to the talk about the fish soup. Current POV character is happier not knowing.

Dear Mahmood/Labour, Once the strutting fascist, Yaxley Lennon, is taking credit for your policies, you must know you’ve completely lost your way. You need to get your head out of your arse and your account off X. Yours The real silent (fair-minded and ignored) majority of the UK

Every time I hear a politician say that an issue is “dividing” this country they always then come down on the side of the right wing view of it. Just once I’d love to hear someone say “this issue is divisive, which is why I’m making the argument that kindness and compassion is important”

For the people who tell you Bluesky is an echo chamber full of left wing politics.

Human rights are universal - if we start stripping away basic human rights from any section of society then none of us has rights – just privileges that can be taken away by people in power whenever they want

#Novelmber+ 26551. Backsliding a bit there, I fear. Everyone is fully dressed and eating fish soup. Or, in one case, listening to stories about food preparation in unnecessary detail, and losing interest in the fish soup as a result.

#Novelmber+ 25003. Backsliding a bit in productivity, but there have been exigent circumstances today. Characters continue to be fully dressed. (In one case, amazingly dressed.)

#Novelmber+ 23555. Calling it a night. POV character is now fully clothed. (If you were wondering, last night she was stepping into a machine that makes clothes directly on your body. She knows about the technology, but it's outside her normal price range, so she's never used one before.)

#Novelmber+ 21667. POV character is about to have unexpected things done to her naked body. It's all done in the best possible taste. (No, it's not a sex scene. It's all entirely innocent.)

To all the doubters, AI is so close to being perfect Look my iphone helpfully transcribed a voice message left by my French mechanic

#Novelmber+ 19793. If I keep going for a bit, I'll make 20k, and then, in theory, I'll have a whole day in hand.

Convincing you to read my novel with the first sentence. Share yours if you want. (Start of "Felons in the Eyes of God".)

#Novelmber+ 18064. Less "um" and more "hmm" in this one. Characterization!!!

#Novelmber+ 16191. With the help of a rather nervous character who says "um" a lot.

Since it's Remembrance Sunday and performative poppy discourse is happening as usual, here's my take from a couple of years ago: stevejwright.com/2023/11/09/t...

#Novelmber+ 14370. The essence of drama is conflict. POV character is wandering round a museum and getting lots of conflict with her feet.

The rich don't want you to have more money, they want it all for themselves. That's why they're rich.

My self-published novel is 90,000 words. I have no budget for marketing, much less trsnslating, but I'd rather learn Old Church Slavonic by myself and pen all 90,000 words by hand in Glagolitic letters than ask an AI word blender to touch my book.