#WriterSky, now that #nanowrimo has finally choked on its own vomit, how are you filling the writing challenge-shaped hole in November? Some of the bells and whistles of the community challenge kinda helped me throw together at least one crappy draft a year. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #AuthorSky

#80sTop30 warm-up This one is post-spillage - more on that story shortly. Only The Lonely by T'Pau from 1989. #Musicsky #musicchallenge #VinylCommunity #VinylSky

Just when I think I've settled on a writing/editing schedule for the next few months, some orange baboon puts #autism back in the spotlight and I find myself drawn back to another WIP... ##WriteSky #BookSky #WritingCommunity #author

#80sTop30 warm-up Today's dip into the #7inchmysterybag is a Pet Shop Boys single on which it appears I carried out a GCSE chemistry practical. As you do. #musicsky #musicchallenge #VinylCommunity #VinylSky

Today on #WIPSnips: A sprite falls over; Danny Dyer is an Oompa-Loompa; and Sam Cooper leaves. Twice. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

#80sTop30 warm-up Today's offering from the #7inchmysterybag is Don't Look Down by Go West. I have no idea why it's subtitled 'The Sequel'. #musicsky #musicchallenge #vinylsky ##VinylCommunity

#80sTop30 warm-up: At the beginning of 1986 I officially declared myself a Madonna fan and made a New Year's resolution to buy all her singles from that point on. Predictabley, it lasted 3 whole singles. They all sustained juice damage but lived to tell the tale. #musicsky #musicchallenge

Today's #WIPSnips is a throwback to The Chip Whisperer, and Sam and Phil's first encounter with the, well, chip whisperer. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

#80sTop30 warm-up Christmas 1985 was the start of my singles buying era, and the first single I bought was the classic West End Girls. Some time after the apple juice incident, Neil Tenant was heard asking what he had done to deserve this. #musicsky #musicchallenge #VinylSky #VinylCommunity

#80sTop30 warm-up: I think it was apple juice. I bought this one for the B-side, but My Hometown has sort of grown on me as I've grown up. #musicsky #musicchallenge #VinylSky ##VinylCommunity

Today on #WIPSnips, we join Sam Cooper on a side quest which, for some reason, involves Dad jokes. Obviously. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Yes it's the same as every other Comic Con set up photo - but in Middlesbrough! (Middlesbrough Sporting Village, if anyone is nearby!)

#80sTop30 warm-up Our first dip into the #7inchmysterybag (I hope that doesn't catch on, it's a very small bag) is some classic Janet Jackson. You can see where at some point - play along and maybe we can pinpoint when - a spillage damaged part of my singles collection. #MusicSky #MusicChallenge

Today in #WIPSnips, Phil ventures into a stable yard. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

To get myself (and hopefully you) in the mood for the #80sTop30 I'm going to share some of the contents of my 7 inch mystery bag! Or should that be misery bag? I'll open it tomorrow and we'll find out. #MusicSky #MusicChallenge #VinylSky #VinylCommunity

Going through my usual #ComicCon prep on a Thursday night because Middlesbrough Comic Con is on Saturday, and Saturday is normally when I pack...

Today in #WIPSnips, I can’t be bothered looking past the opening paragraph of The Knight Errors. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Post a female character you love.

If you've followed my writing posts you may have noticed that part of my brain is stuck in the 1980s. So the #80sTop30 should be fun (and my first #MusicChallenge!) Expect some pop from my tween/teen years, some more eclectic tunes I found later, and some from the Ambivalence Chronicles soundtrack.

Today in #WIPSnips, Dexy becomes an unlikely sensei in preparation for the training montage scene in The Knight Errors. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Today in #WIPSnips, Phil Grundy receives his somewhat mediocre award for completing a gaming challenge. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #AmWriting #GameLit

Today in #WIPSnips, our reluctant heroes finds himself thrown into an unconventional joust, in the chapter which inspired the cover of The Ambivalence Chronicles vol.2. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Today in #WIPSnips, Phil Grundy makes a slightly intoxicated exit from the King's Fun Room. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

If I could give my younger self one piece of writing advice it would be: Stop overthinking and start writing. Get the damn story down on paper, and you can worry about everything else later.

So I heard today's #WIPSnips prompt was originally going to be dragon... Well, I have a whole book full of dragon references, so here's an extended snip from The Dragon Download, as a nod to DragonCon. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity The Dragon Download is available now: books2read.com/thedragondow...

#SFFChat Day 14 A very foody snippet from The Road Worrier, with bonus Easter Egg and finishing on a really bad/obvious pun. Sorry. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Today's #WIPSnips snippet comes from The Kempston Interface. It's short, self-contained and perfect for the prompt. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Today in #WIPSnips, unexpected reunion turns out to be very real in this snippet from The Knight Errors. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Today in #WIPSnips, a flower reference leads to an obvious Easter Egg. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

#SFFChat day 10 - something visual. Here's some people reading #sff books. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Today in #WIPSnips, not a WIP, but the opening sentence to my last published book, The Dragon Download. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

I feel like there should have been more End of Level Bosses in The Ambivalence Chronicles, but instead I'm sharing this snippet from Bit#1, from a chapter more full of Easter Eggs than the big Tesco on February 15th. #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

#SFFChat Aug 5th - Side Character who steals the show Shout out to Bryonetta Bootlesquith from The Ballad of Matthew Smith. She made a cameo appearance in The Kempston Interface and was such fun she became a main character from the next story. She's basically Kryten played by a young Joanna Lumley.

Today in #WIPSnips, trends become fads in a scene from The Kempston Interface. Which character you relate to in this scene will depend partly on whether you've been to an English High Street in the 80s. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

The link between 'cheat' and 'Writetyper' is fairly niche, but as I've been revisiting Bootlesquith Manor lately it just came to mind. So here's a #WIPSnips throwback to The Ballad of Matthew Smith. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #Retrogaming #GameLit #ZXSpectrum

#SFFChat outro Finishing late, but it's a marathon not a snickers, right? And on the subject of chocolate, here's a link to the Easter Egg Hunt for The Ambivalence Chronicles which I've mentioned: stevetrower.co.uk/the-ambivale...

#SFFChat A4 This snippet from The Chip Whisperer has technology and magic, as the Entelechus Hex is first summoned.

#SFFChat A3: I don't have much to add here, except maybe another shout out to Douglas Adams, who brought us not only the Infinite Improbability Drive, but also the Bistromathic Drive and all manner of other whimsical gadgets.

#SFFChat A2: In the Ambivalence Chronicles, the most powerful piece of magic is the Entelechus Hex, which can make pretty much anything happen, as long as there's been a computer game of it. In the story it is operated by/through a sentient ZX81 known as Dexy.

#SFFChat A1: I guess my answer to this is matter-of-fact. A bit like the average person's approach to the internet or cars: we accept it's there, we mostly have a basic understanding to help us use it, but mostly couldn't explain it to an alien.

Drop your 10/10 game, no context needed

#SFFChat I'm Steve, author of sci-fi and GameLit, based in the north east of England, and surprised at the number of people not saying TARDIS in response to this prompt

#SFFChat July 29 I've had more positive reviews, but rather than subtly post comparisons with Douglas Adams. I'm going to share this review for The Ballad of Matthew Smith, because it makes me chuckle. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Today on #WIPSnips: some rubbish in a car park. Don't say I never give you the good stuff. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

#SFFChat July 28 - an action snippet from The Knight Errors. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

#SFFChat July 24 As one of my characters in a sentient ZX81, I'm duty bound to mention John Harris as my favourite SFF artist. #iykyk #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

#WIPSnips Inside the subtly changed Romford Municipal Landmark, lights flickered reluctantly into life, like the bored fluorescent tubes in a maths classroom. Phil followed the badly lit - and even more badly cleaned - corridor, to something called 'Gort's Giftorium'. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

#SFFchat July 23 Simon Pegg as Phil Grundy, with Nick Frost as his nemesis Viktor Wendig Zendaya is Bryonetta Bootlesquith. Jenna Ortega clearly based Wednesday on Charlotte, so that would be too obvious And a cameo for the legendary @floellabenjamin.bsky.social as Nancy #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

I don't have a Minor, just a Mini, and they're closely related, so let's join Sir Philip of Grundy as he tries to get the thing started... #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WIPSnips

Having a decent writing night tonight, kicking one of the last few chapters of The Knight Errors into shape. Sir Pterry's influence is all over the fantasy elements (hopefully in a good way), and when the Netflix people call, I've got a cameo for Danny Dyer. #amwriting #WriteSky #WritingCommunity