Yes, I think my new #WIP is definitely going to have a heavy #poetry component … pre-contemplative stage notwithstanding. I mean, I only have 82 so far (none of them are on BlueSky 🙃) so I could always go in a different direction.

Too Cute My niece is wearing my old #scarf Because my sister let her. I‘m not upset. I‘m really not. But, um. Who wore it better? #thingstowriteabout #poetry Nothing like a writing prompt in the morning to kick off a nice Christmas Eve 😋. Thanks @thingstowriteabout.bsky.social !

For Your Convenience They didn’t not redact the lot Because they didn’t have the knack: They HIGHLIGHTED important bits They just did it in BLACK. It all was quite intentional And well thought out, you see: In the business we all call this, “Opaque transparency.” #poems #apolitical 🤥

Okay. Now replace the last word in this poem with “meat.” Is the tone much different now? Which poem is better? 🙃

Oops I smiled and The woman ran “Flee!“ she shouted, “Retreat!“ I turned and saw (To my relief) The #monster wasn’t me. That was when Its teeth came down Its maw would be My end. And I regret That woman now Who I won’t get To meet.

Please 👀 new pinned thread? Being serious for a second, so I can go back to being goofy. 😊 Thank you, thank you, and also thank you. 🙏 #authorsky #booksky #writingcomminity #indieauthors #writing #speculative #literary #creativenonfiction

Audience Participation Time. Let’s beat out Threads! #Readers: I’ve got 3 titles on KU / 3 5-day windows to sell those e-books for $0.00. If you‘d CONSIDER downloading a free book, drop a 📚 in the comments. #Authors: Should I push all three titles at once? Or break ’em up? A Like doesn’t A the Q.

Watch Out! It’s sort of true, I swear to you That when I get hungry… I’m a #cactus that ambulates But way more prickily. I won’t skip meals on purpose, but Be wary of the signs… Remember: look, but do not touch Or you may feel the spines. 🌵 👀 #thingstowriteabout #hanger #poetry

First real review? Whoever this dude/dudette is called The Visibility Trick ”Original and thought-provoking.“ I’ll take it! Want to be #2? You’re welcome to call use “Original and thought-provoking,” although that would no longer be original … or thought-provoking. 🧐 #booksky #authorsky

Before I show you this picture, I should note that I’m a practicing liberal and a secular humanist. So thanks, grandma! 🙏😘. I’ll never, ever wear it!

At the moment I’m blue, much like the sky isn’t.

I’d like the weather report in Kelvin today, please. Just need to hear a bigger number. You know?

Wrong time for pragmatism? You decide.

Professional Dad, Offering Services, with Thanks in Advance It may be #stupid, #tired, #old but friends… some #dadjokes must be told. And just so you don’t misconstrue it, may I please be the dad to do it? #poetry #poems

reminder: Normal is a setting on a dryer.

#WIP Drama Like a werwolf transforming The full moon after it’s bitten It‘s getting really hard to sleep While this story goes unwritten… I’ve got it bad, guys. 7 poems between 3 and 4am, and one of them might be my second favorite ever. Leave me alone, muses. I want sheep. #5amwritersclub #ouch

Q: You can‘t post that, Chris! It’s too long. A: Yeah, yeah. Just like I can’t post phone numbers in Rover? If you needed any proof I’m not a #robot, here it is. #thingstowriteabout

I have a pickleball friend who bakes. Sometimes, I offer books: ones with no reviews on Amazon, ones which aren’t genre fiction, but speculative, or maybe literary, and which I do not give away for free. Sometimes, she offers cookies: still warm off the plate. You can guess who is more popular.

My progress is a Polaroid I shake: but it is frozen Not sure this is the life for me… But it’s the one I’ve chosen? I do not like this numbers game I do not want to play… I don’t think I’ll post anymore But - oops - I’ve done today.

If this note in “Notes” gets any longer I’m going to need cliff-notes for my note 😂 . Ya’ll know I can’t resist a challenge, so I suppose I’m posting one more time today. Or one more additional time. Or an extra bonus time, also. #button #thingstowriteabout

Q: So I hear you might have a new #WIP? A: From who? From where? Stop following me! Look I’m not discussing it, OK? I may have written 16 #poems already today but I may do nothing with them. Well, technically 17…

Q: Tell a bad joke you just made up. A: 1) Not a ? 2) Let’s do this thing. For 4 years I bought my wife 2 purses. 1 for her birthday. 1 for Christmas. She loved them all, but after 4 years she’d had enough. “No more purses,” she said. “These’ll last a lifetime!” I guess she was purse-ever-8-ing.

Don’t mean to inundate you with posts, friends, and neither do I mean to boast too, too much. But this inscription, though. It might be my best work!* *Unqualified. #5amwritersclub #booksky #authorsky #writingcommunity #allthethings #andifyoucantreaditivegotplaintext

Very Funny, Amazon Aha! This pudding is my “proof”? Alright then. Make this quick You never have warned #authors Before inserting your prick. To be fair, the clues were there I CHOSE to join this circus… “Yeah, yeah. OK. Print it fast But ugly it on purpose.” #5amwritersclub #buyerbeware #booksky

Do me a favor, eh? Solve the puzzle? 🧩 Tell me the answer? You might have to view the original post and support the author? But I’m OK with that. Thank you muchly. #naptime ( @louiseblackwick.com this isn’t cheating, is it?)

Learn Grammar, Dude I’ve nixed many a silent ‘g,’ I thought I had its blessin’ Turns out I’ve been undignified And haven’t learned my lesson.

Priorities It’s sad, the rep that black cats have, But know what’s even sadder? To avoid one crossing my path I walked under a #ladder. 🐈‍⬛ 🪜 I upended a bucket, then And paint spilled on my head I’m lucky I am colorful And didn’t wind up dead. 😵 🎨 #thingstowriteabout

Morning #5amwritersclub! Did I oversleep? It’s just shy of 24 hours, but I didn’t want to forget: That’s Chroma the Great, conductor of colors! Because you didn’t play for him, the world is a blank coloring page today, all bold lines and empty spaces. Bummer. At least you won‘t miss Milo week.

The title of this #poem is: Today the Algorithm has Determined I Will Get No Meaningful Interaction. Thanks a Lot, Algorithm! By the Way, I Double-Dog Dare You to Prove Me Wrong. You want to human-speak, AI? This isn’t analog- When I dare you, you must comply If it is double dog! Cheers everyone😏

Q: What were you doing all day? A: Aha! I was making custom Connection puzzles. Ever played? My dad likes puzzles, and I have to admit making them has been a tiny rush (not like finishing a novel, but maybe like posting a tweet). I’m a convert them into QR codes and present them as a puzzle book! 🥳

I’m having so much more fun reading my children chapter books that I am reading my “adult“ chapter book right now. Maybe I am, in fact, destined for YA fiction. Character challenge! Who’s this guy? (Please play. I’d love for someone to get it. You can be silly.) #writingcommunity #5amwritersclub

Hahahaha… Oh, the moment of disorientation when you wake up from a nap. I glanced at my watch like: ‘I did it! I’m in the #5amwritersclub again!‘ (Yeah: no military time.) Shit. So I suppose I owe you art?? Fine. I was saving this one for a rainy day. Ask me for the less appropriate version. 😉

I’ve written some #poems for you today about how I‘m feeling. The subject isn‘t new, but the poems are! (Second one in pictures.) You like? Just Enough Wouldn’t it be great If I had just enough influence That the next Donald Trump Lost the next election?

That’s kind of him to offer them some job security after they showed such courage and integrity.* *I mean, what kind of threat is that? Does he realize he’s kind of the opposite of King Midas right now?

I meant to throw a quote it here, and got carried away being silly. So being completely serious now, here is a completely serious quote from The Phantom Tollbooth: “How are you going to make it move? It doesn’t have a-“ “Be very quiet,” advised the Duke. “For it goes without saying.”

Whoa! My dog, she took one sniff and jumped As though she’d seen a ghost- The other dogs must have been pumped To be marking this #post. #thingstowriteabout One for each definition. Making up for lost time. :)

Somebody Asked Me About My Shirt today! Looks like the QR Code is already defunct. Too many washes 🤦‍♂️. Website is books2read.com/thevisibilit... #bookesky #authorsky

Motion-Activated It keeps flushing as I sit here… My goodness, it’s almost Like all of this is TMI Maybe I shouldn’t #post? #thingstowriteabout Sorry, decided to be “that guy” today. Again? Next time I’ll do better. Maybe…

Haven’t posted any BIP (Books I’m on the process of reading… is this a thing? Can we make it a thing?), because my current BIP is more of a BLIP, and I wish it hadn’t showed up on my radar. Luckily I‘m reading books with both children. And OMG, I forgot how much I love Phantom Tollbooth! RIP, BIP!

The Path at Night My dog spotted the bushy tail I reined her in, ”Stay, girl.” We watched in fascination, both: For that was NOT a squirrel. #fox #thingstowriteabout

Because Douglas Adams Couldn’t POTUS, I find, is rather loud With his head full of rocks. Methinks he is almost, not quite Completely unlike a #fox. #thingstowriteabout Did I do that right? Am I going to get myself in trouble? 🙃

Maybe you’d like to support me or another author but can’t stretch to buying a book? 📖 There are free ways to do it: Leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads, post about our work on social media, ask for our books at your library, add our books to your wish-lists online! 🎁 it makes all the difference 😘

More niche advice? Great. I’ve got you covered. If your wife really likes those god-awful heavy snowflake lights, skip the adhesive hooks and find yourself a nail and a stud. Just don’t miss with the hammer, because your finger skin is thinner than drywall. Join me again next episode!

Q: Prove you’re a closeted optimist. Because I notice you’re negative a lot. A: Sure! OK: I got out of my car the other day, and the parking lot smelled of lentils. Q: Huh? A: I think we can both agree there are much worse olfactory stimuli I could have assumed. Q: Yeah. Fair enough.

When your kid asks you, “Can I do something?“ What they mean is, “I see that you are trying to sleep in. What screen can I look at that normally I couldn’t?” And the answer is no screen, because the GS thing starts earlier than you realized. Now you have to get up, and nobody wins. 😞

#amwriting … is it am writing, as in I think, therefor I? Or is it AM writing, not to be confused with 5AM writing club (which this unfortunately is not)? Um. I’ve done my New Year’s resolution early. (In stanza form, of course.) #Poem, I guess. #Cheers.

Pro-tip that was news to me today, so it might be news to you: If five copies or fewer will get you by, don’t order “author copies” from Amazon. Order “proofs.” Same price and they ship much faster. (A few planned surprise gifts are once again happening! 😋) #indieauthor #authorsky #booksky

I’m going to preface this #poem by reiterating, once again, that I don’t understand free verse. As in, what distinguishes it from prose. More Speed Yes, Mr. President This boat is big and beautiful… The thing is, I just saw an octopus And aren’t we supposed to be On TOP of the water? 🐙.

We have bells! We have whistles! I’ve cleaned up the backlog and slapped some lipstick on it, so it might be mostly crickets (re: the new writing announcements) from here. Start with The Second Coming of Christina? It’s free with Kindle Unlimited, and I need reviews! www.amazon.com/stores/Chris...

Cross talk with my daughter: “Are you awake? Ready for school? You look tired. Are you still tired? Have breakfast yet?“ “Not yet…” “You’re not tired yet?” And the worst part is, it wasn‘t a joke. Totally made sense in my brain at the time. What a day this is going to be.