Some days are harder Like an ant moving a tree Some days are hardest Self-loathing be damned Wash clean the muck of the day Bring alight dawn's win #haiku #poetry #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Without a doubt, print books, although my preference for hardback versus paperback has changed over time. I still try to read on a Kindle but it rarely sticks. Audiobooks were fine when I had a 1-hour commute, but now I walk from my couch to my desk. #books #writing #writesky #writingcommunity

What is writing now? bxwretlind.com/blog/2025/08... #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

For those who don't know me (everyone?), I exist to help you, the writer. Not for money. I do just fine. I'm an emotional intelligence researcher and found that (almost) 0 academics think the emotion-writer subject is worth their time. It's a wrong worth correcting. #WritingCommunity

Getting up early is the only way I can find the time to write. By "early" I mean 4 a.m. It wasn't always like this. Years ago, I could only write after dinner until the wee hours of the morning, then try to get some sleep before work. I like this way better. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Hasn't been the best last few months. Placed my mother's ashes with my father's yesterday. That's one step closer to closing out their lives. Is death just as easy as television and movies (and books!) would like us to believe? Fuck no.

1st Draft DONE. (Okay, it's the 3rd draft of the 1st draft. Still.) DONE. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #amwriting

Fog may come in on little cat feet, but it can do some wicked things to your reader’s state of mind. On Fog & Emotion emotethis.net/on-fog-emoti... #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Curious how your brain naturally processes emotions for storytelling? I am! emotethis.net/wec/ #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Pretty sure I'm the worst at social media, posting at least. I can scroll all day, but no doom scrolling. I like cat videos, like the old fart I am. I was working on a draft of a novella (literary, clifi), but stopped the day before my mom passed. Need to get back to it. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Lil' bit 'bout me: Author. Coach. Researcher. Artist. That last one is questionable. Say hi --> bxwretlind.com #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Research-backed articles to help you understand how emotions truly work in fiction. (More coming soon!) Articles (Content Library) emotethis.net/articles-con... #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Every 3 weeks-ish, I write an insight about emotional craft with at least one exercise you can use now. This isn't generic writing advice, and it isn't fluff. I'm just giving you: Emotional Intelligence for Writers, in Manageable Sips: emotethis.net/newsletter/ #WritingCommunity #authors

Talking with other writers about their writing is one of the most rewarding things I have done in a long time. Looking forward to this research. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

The one good thing about temperatures rising next week: the pool might be swimmable. Had it built last fall and haven't been in yet. This will take time away from writing, reading, and researching... but there's no reason a person can't relax once in a while, right? #WritingLife #WritingCommunity

When writing sci-fi or cli-fi, how do you feel when you take long enough and the "fiction" becomes reality, and you've just predicted the present even though you were really trying to be snarky and wild and out there? Seems to be happening to me... #WritingCommunity #WritingQ #WriteSky

When I say I feel "the impermanence of permanence," what does that say to you? (for context, this may or may not be in a book and may or may not be related to anything I've just gone through in the last 18 months) #WritingQ #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

#writingtips Like the cat of Sandburg's poem, fog does not announce itself very well. So how can we use this stealthy behavior as a writing tool? emotethis.net/on-fog-emoti... #amwriting #writingcommunity #blog

I finally (?) feel more organized than I have been in the last few weeks (months?). Current writing projects include (among other things) a final push to come up with draft 1 of my latest cli-fi novel (although it's really a novella). Maybe March will be better? #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

When you recognize an emotional pattern in one place and apply it somewhere unexpected, you’re using a distinct emotional intelligence skill. emotethis.net/connecting-e... #WriteSky #amwriting #WritingCommunity #WritingQ

Distractions. Not from #writing, though. From life. In the last month I've been highly distracted from this thing called "life." It started when my mother passed. I'm writing the grief in ways I never imagined. Distractions can be healthy. Don't let anyone tell you differently. #WritingCommunity

I wish I could share a #writing update. I have so many things in my brain's Fisher Price Lawn Mower that I'm annoying myself with the noise. But I'm trying my best, damn it. #writinglife #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

(Note: while dealing with the death of my mother and the complications of what happens AFTER, I'll post a few older articles and questions.) How many novels have you read where the wind acts like a character? emotethis.net/on-wind-emot... #WriteSky #amwriting #WritingCommunity #WritingQ

Emotional intelligence won’t get you published. But it might help you write something worth publishing. What Emotional Intelligence Really Means for Fiction Writers emotethis.net/what-emotion... #WritingCommunity #amwriting #WriteSky

Have you taken the temperature of your world? Does the reader know this? emotethis.net/on-temperatu... #WriteSky #amwriting #WritingCommunity #WritingQ

We have been trained since birth to recognize signs in the sky, so does your story look up? emotethis.net/on-clouds-an... #WriteSky #amwriting #WritingCommunity #WritingQ

When you recognize an emotional pattern in one place and apply it somewhere unexpected, you’re using a distinct emotional intelligence skill. emotethis.net/connecting-e... #WriteSky #amwriting #WritingCommunity #WritingQ

In the last year, I've lost my dad, my mom (two days ago), my oldest pup, and a friend at work. You would think that I could channel some of this emotion into my #writing, but I think I need to define what I'm feeling first. Numb comes to mind right now. #WritingCommunity

Lost my mom yesterday. I'm not sure what to feel, what to say, what to do. I've run the gamut of emotions over the course of the last year, especially this past week as I kept her comfortable in home hospice. As the saying goes, "Now what?"

Your body is already giving you information about your #wip. The first step in using emotional intelligence as a writer is simply learning to notice what it’s saying. emotethis.net/perceiving-e... #amwriting #WritingCommunity #authors #fiction

Have you ever used a thunderstorm in your writing to set the scene or even mimic the plot? emotethis.net/on-thunderst... #WriteSky #amwriting #WritingCommunity #WritingQ

Does it rain in your world? Snow? What does that feel like? On Precipitation & Emotion emotethis.net/on-precipita... #WriteSky #amwriting #WritingCommunity #WritingQ

Emotional Intelligence for Writers, in Manageable Sips. #Newsletter emotethis.net/newsletter/ #amwriting #writingcommunity #writer #writerslife

Do you use fictional towns in your work or incorporate towns you know well? Is it a mix of both? For me: it's a little of both (sci-fi on a different world vs. sci-fi here) #amwriting #writingcommunity #WritingQ #writer

What the movies and television want you to believe regarding the last days of a loved one is ridiculous. Watching my mother fade away for three straight days and dealing with some of the most bizarre shit is nothing like I expected. It is the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with...and I'm old.

I did a little study about weather and emotions. Here are some thoughts on what I found. bxwretlind.com/blog/2022/05... #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #writingadvice #writinglife #WritingQ #writingtip #writingtips

Maybe #authors could ask this instead of asking "Did you like it?" There might be a grain of something in there that's more useful and lands better. I might consider this approach the next time I send a manuscript to a #betareader hbs.edu/faculty/Page... #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

#writingskills #writers #authors #writeaway #writinglife #creativewriting

Amid the fireball juggle of life (my #WIP, taking care of my mother in hospice, finalizing my research plan, working full time), I'm building something to help writers turn real emotions into resonant stories. What if you could map emotional intelligence onto your characters? emotethis.net

Going down the rabbit hole of concordant action versus altruism. I could be napping, you know. #research #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Applies as well to non-scientific writing. Writing is thinking. Writing is feeling. Writing is thinking how to make readers feel what you’re feeling & understand what you’re thinking. #writing #writingcommunity

Writing is thinking "On the value of human-generated scientific writing in the age of large-language models." www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Trying to get this first draft good enough that I can tack on "v1" at the end before other things take over my time. It's going better than I thought. Eventually, I'll have TL_v34_final_final_really_final_v12.docx ready to submit. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Are you an #author with a #newsletter? Would love to see what other folks do (and yes, subscribe). Share the details! #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Today's reading... an 1895 version of The Iliad in Greek. One. Word. At. A. Time. #amreading

So last night's dream involved a biplane that crashed, a dinosaur, talking about my first job at Jack-in-the-Box, getting blood drawn for a heart test, and a newbie lab tech. Interpretations, please. There's gotta be a novel in there. #dream #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

End of Movement II. Yes, my #WIP has Movements, not Acts, not Chapters. I want to say there's a reason for this, but I haven't yet come up with anything other than "I like movements." Now I have some Madagascar song in my head. Great. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

It was 139°F in Houston yesterday. In my dream. On a weather map. It's great when your obsession with whatever #writing project you're working on leaks into your subconscious and colors dreams. #WritingCommunity #WIP

Cloud, Creek, Chateau - July 2020 - 24 x 24, acrylic on canvas Never was good at titles of anything. #art

I don't always wake up late, but when I do, I had to be up 2 hours earlier. I just hope to be able to calm my nervous system down enough by this afternoon to write. #WritingCommunity