Late Writerly Ways

Sep. 2nd, 2025 11:19 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
Because no one wants to hear about my boring day of being too tired for laundry and since I missed it on vacation, here's a late writerly ways.

But before that there's a few more days on [community profile] fandomgiftbasket and here is mine if you'd like to write me something or do a little art (Prodigal Son, Hazbin Hotel, The Amazing Digital Circus)


Only...I can't remember what I wanted to talk about. I do know that for me, finding stuff in museums is a good source for my stories. That said I am seeing a shift in my writing, more and more things are historical. Okay I've been writing historical for more than a decade but now almost everything I do is historical even if it's only in the 80s and 90s. And I'm not sure why. Is it my age? I don't believe it was better way back when (granted some of the 90s were better than what Trump's done to today). Then again I love history. I minored in it after all. Hmmm


Open Calls

The Black Beacon Book of Horror 2 they do not send rejection letters

Flashpoint Science Fiction Science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and everything in between

Humans From Earth!! SF/Horror, stories in which humans are a source of genuine horror/terror to extraterrestrials (aliens).

Stone’s Throw Noir stories of haunted characters—either haunted by the remembrance of a lost loved one, or maybe haunted by the things they didn’t do . . . or worse, the things they did do.

Planet Scumm. Speculative fiction, ideally science-fiction

Quest Magazine #1 SF/Fantasy: “Thresholds”

Space Stories from the Rock Canadian authors only writing about “space stories”



50 Magazines and Anthologies Publishing Speculative Fiction




From Around the Web


Collecting or Creating?

When to Ignore Your Editor I have a lot to say about this. Maybe THAT could be a topic.

Write Where You Know I always love a strong sense of place


Notes from the Editor’s Desk: August 2025

How to Find Publishers Open to Direct Submissions



From Betty

How to Craft a Tense School Plot That Isn’t Absurd

Seven Rules of Effective Prose

Land Travel Before Engines

Six Problems With Realistic Space Battles

Unlock The Freedom To Cheat Deep POV

How to Craft Accurate Fight Scenes.

Making the Best of Chance Encounters

How to Drill Inside Your Villain’s Head I need to read this better

Writing 101: How to Fix an Infodump

Prime the reader to build anticipation

10 random facts about me meme

Sep. 3rd, 2025 02:39 pm
mific: (Gold mandala)
[personal profile] mific
Snaffled from various friends. Some of the following eccentric behaviour is only possible as I live alone. :)


1) I briefly got my hair done peroxide blond in my twenties. Proof. But mostly I dyed it auburn using henna. Chemists (pharmacies) in NZ used to stock packages of powdered henna back then - it was the seventies!

2) By chance, I have a lot of Nepali restaurants nearby - 3 or 4 within takeaway range. I love the chicken momos best (steamed Tibetan dumplings served with a romesco-chilli sauce). Yum.

3) I have a side table by my main armchair that's like a restaurant table set-up. It has a titanium spork (my main cutlery item), tissues, a kids' jewellery organiser full of tea bags, a long-stemmed sundae spoon, a small serrated kitchen knife, a cruet set with balsamic vinegar and garlic-infused olive oil, a pink-salt shaker, and jars/bottles of mango chutney, peanut butter, maple syrup, store-bought lemon juice, promite, and apricot compote. It cuts down on traipsing to and fro to the kitchen for stuff.

4) Since moving into my flat 2-3 years ago, I sussed out the ceramic cooktop but haven't been able to figure out the main oven controls. The landlord couldn't either. Haven't been able to intuit the electronic controls or find info online, so I use a toaster-oven instead, which works fine.

5) I have mild sleep apnoea that doesn't bother me as long as I sleep on my side. That's what my tricky right hip and left knee prefer, anyway.

6) I got fed up with bed-making, stuffing duvet covers, and getting tangled in layers of bedding many years ago. I just use one thinnish faux fur blanket (leopardskin pattern of course) with a faux-flannel backing. It's lightweight but surprisingly warm and I only need to add one extra light blanket a few times in mid-winter. So my bedding is a flannel sheet on the mattress and then the blanket. It's like being a Neolithic person using just a fur spread for bedding, but with more microfibres. I make the bed once a week before Fionna comes to clean my flat, and my elderly washing machine can just manage the blanket as a single load.

7) I haven't worn any shoes except crocs for over 20 years. Auckland's warm enough for that to be comfortable, and all "normal" shoes pinch my feet. I go barefoot inside, only rarely resorting to slippers on especially cold nights.

8) I've lived with one or more cats all my life until several years ago. I miss having a cat friend, but when someone recently offered me a nice adult boy they were trying to find a home for, I had to say no. There's a busy road only a stone's throw away and the neighbours drive up and down the driveway a few feet from my front door every day, so it wouldn't be safe. The flat's not set up for an indoors cat - the back door to the garage has no screen and it'd be way too hot in summer to keep it closed. But mainly, I no longer feel able to cope with the regular round of vet visits, emergencies etc. that come with caring for a cat. I'll make do with feeding the sparrows, and my duck visitors.

9) My first boyfriend when I was 17 was Dave, from a smallish town in Illinois. He was in my English class - an exchange student at my high school. We taught each other to play chess (badly) and sometimes actually did play it before Mum got home from work, but "playing chess" was mostly a euphemism for making out.

10) In my twenties to thirties I had a series of Morris Minor cars as they were cheap and I liked their quirkiness. Kiwis are good at repairing cars with NZ being harder to import to and local DIY culture, so you could get fixed-up Morris Minors fairly easily. I drove my last one from Christchurch up to Auckland when I returned from working overseas. I'd painted it with red, maroon, and gold swirls in the seventies, then in Auckland I sanded it off and repainted it bright yellow, with the chrome all done in black. Here's a cartoon I did of it back in the day.

yellow morris minor from front, black trim, woman driving it.

Disgruntlement

Sep. 2nd, 2025 09:45 pm
brithistorian: (Default)
[personal profile] brithistorian

I received an email tonight saying I had a comment on one of my fics, which is a rare enough event that I got extremely excited. Then I read the comment. The first sentence sent my heart soaring:

The way you write is cinematic.

Then I read the remainder of the comment:

I only do paid comic work, and I think we could create something amazing. Let’s chat on Insta: [REDACTED]

So I reported them to AO3 (this sort of commercial solicitation violates the site's TOS) and I'm going back to writing.

(Also, just out of curiosity, I went to their Instagram. Even if I was interested in hiring someone to make a comic based on my fic, it wouldn't be them — their work was sub-mediocre at best!) ^^

rahirah: (su_editor)
[personal profile] rahirah posting in [community profile] su_herald
GILES: (smiling) Oh God, Buffy.
GILES: You're alive. You're here. And you're still ... remarkably strong.
BUFFY: Huh? Oh. Sorry.
GILES: Willow told me, but I didn't really let myself believe ...
BUFFY: I take a little getting used to. I'm still getting used to me.
GILES: It's, uh ... you're ...
BUFFY: A miracle?
GILES: Yes. But then, I always thought so.

~~Buffy Season 6 Episode #104: "Flooded"~~



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Clicky

Sep. 2nd, 2025 09:48 pm
kalloway: Tieria from Gundam 00 looking grumpy (Tieria)
[personal profile] kalloway
The grocery store had a small rack of clicker-style Sakura Gelly Roll pens; I immediately bought a pack. (I will probably buy more.) Of course, being very used to normal Gelly Rolls, I keep trying to yank the 'cap' off them. ^^;; I'll get used to it... (I hope.)

I am not entirely sure, but last night might've been the first time in my years that we didn't even get close to finishing shop start-up. It was bad. It was not personally terrible for me; I was busy but never overwhelmed. But overall, yeah, machines hate long weekends. Or, perhaps, also do not want to go back to work after them. ^^;;

Of my international Kickstarters/Crowdfunding, one just went 'oh fuck US shipping dunno what I'm gonna do but I'll let you know', one said that a few weeks back, and I've not heard a peep from the last that I can think of. (That one is a ways out, though.) At least two other int'l projects are launching this month. I don't know what options will even be. (I wouldn't blame the one smaller one for just excluding US backers altogether.)

I picked up a September Bingo card on [community profile] lyricaltitles. Much like last year, I expect the fun will be picking songs and I won't actually manage to write anything.

Books read, April

Sep. 3rd, 2025 01:46 pm
cyphomandra: (balcony)
[personal profile] cyphomandra
Favourites for this month were Black Water Sister and The Library at Mount Char, plus for sheer prose quality A Diary without Dates.

A diary without dates, Enid Bagnold
The Lord of Stariel, AJ Lancaster
The library at Mount Char, Scott Hawkins
Home truths, Charity Norman
Fast connection, Megan Erickson
The friend zone experiment, Zen Cho
Careless people, Sarah Wynn-Williams
A month in the country, JL Carr
Cat gamer 7, Water Nadatani
Dinosaurs sanctuary 6, Itaru Kinoshita
My year in the middle, Lila Quintero Weaver
The shots you take, Rachel Reid
A rake of his own, AJ Lancaster
The husband, Dean Koontz
All systems red, Martha Wells
The Venice hotel, Tess Woods
Life among the savages, Shirley Jackson (re-read)
Black water sister, Zen Cho
The song machine, John Seabrook
The body in the blitz, Robin Stevens


I've stuck them under here rather than clutter up everyone's reading page. )
[syndicated profile] the_recipes_project_feed

Posted by Melissa Reynolds

By Esther Martin People love Stuff. They’ve always loved Stuff. For hundreds of years, humanity has made a practice of collecting the Stuff they love. These collections carry alternative implications, showcased and flaunted to establish both the status and identity of the owner. The act of collecting is easy to dismiss as a type of overconsumption, but it is deeply tied to a person’s need to establish their sense of self, and to identify where they fit into the social spectrum. Collectors become taste-makers, … Continue reading A Handheld Cabinet of Curiosities: Kitchenalia, Social Media, and the Cultural History of Collecting
[syndicated profile] the_recipes_project_feed

Posted by Melissa Reynolds

By Charlotte Gaudry When we talk about historical reconstruction, “making” can be understood as the act of bringing the past back to life, recreating what once existed. This fits closely with the goals of the reconstruction I have in mind for my thesis project. It is not just about restoring objects or practices, but about exploring new ways of understanding and “making” history itself. It’s a process that can engage all our senses: sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. In this sense, reconstruction becomes … Continue reading Reconstructing an Italian Perfume from the Nineteenth Century

458: BBC Sherlock: Gen

Sep. 2nd, 2025 09:44 pm
stonepicnicking_okapi: teacupface (teacupface)
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi posting in [community profile] 100words
Title: What is it?
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Rating: Gen
Notes: Sherlock is looking down a dark hallway.

Read more... )
fic_in_a_box_mod: (Default)
[personal profile] fic_in_a_box_mod posting in [community profile] ficinabox

We've finished request checks and sent a ton of emails!

If your username starts with A, B, C, D, E, F, I, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, V, W, or Y you need to check your email.

...yes, that's most of the alphabet. We sent a lot of emails about a lot of problems. Some of these emails concern things that will make us remove things from your requests or even delete your sign up altogether if we don't recieve a reply. We don't want to do this! Please email us back! You all have until 10:00PM EDT on September 4th to reply. We suggest checking your spam folder just in case.

Other notes/reminders:

  • While we contacted people about a lot of things, we did not generally contact participants about unenforceable DNWs unless we felt they were DNWs that were DNWing a requested tags or DNWs attempting to force creators into making something very specific. Some of you might still have DNWs that we would have a hard time enforcing because they're phrased too vaguely or something like that.
  • Please unlock/finish your letters asap.
  • If you're requesting swaps based on username rather than AO3 matching (like, if you've given us a list of usernames to swap with) make time after assignments come out but before swaps end to double-check that everyone you're requesting is still requesting the fandoms/relationships/mediums that you think they are.

Galumph!

Sep. 2nd, 2025 05:24 pm
azurelunatic: Computer with a wind-up key captioned "Which version of STUPID are you running?" (stupid)
[personal profile] azurelunatic
It turns out that there is a timeout to the "let's test your equipment" for the browser-based telehealth appointments with my therapist. That timeout is 5 minutes. I had to switch to my phone, which is always vexatious for me.

Recently, Belovedest hauled Dad's old machine (dubbed Galumph, after the imaginary draft horse stallion Dad always talked about as his preferred riding beast) out to test it and see if it would run. (The massive monitor that came with it did not run, but I have found a suitably crusty-looking TV and other screen based appliance repair shop to attempt a repair.) Galumph ran. Belovedest looked at the specs. "That's a freaking RACK SERVER masquerading as a desktop!!!" they said, or words to that general effect.

So after we returned from the Michigan trip, I told Belovedest that it was time to take them up on their offer to rebox my poor old suffering machine.

I accidentally gave them the wrong figures for my C: and D: drives, so there was a bit of a flurry at first, but after they switched them, they were able to get to a login screen. I opened my Chrome / User Data / Default / Sessions folder, copied the most recent Tabs_* and Session_* files to a subfolder that I've named "Explicit Distrust" and launched my browser.

All 1,5XX tabs opened.

I've been trying to decrease them a little bit ever since, starting with my Main window, where the tabs tend to proliferate with abandon. (Trying to do this on the old hardware took forever, in addition to me getting distracted by shiny things.)
yuletidemods: A hippo lounges with laptop in hand, peering at the screen through a pair of pince-nez and smiling. A text bubble with a heart emerges from the screen. The hippo dangles a computer mouse from one toe. By Oro. (Default)
[personal profile] yuletidemods posting in [community profile] yuletide_admin
As we all start planning our nominations and requests, mods have been reviewing our rules around the number of fandoms that can be nominated and requested.

Traditionally, Yuletide has allowed participants to nominate a maximum of 3 fandoms to the tagset, with up to 4 characters each. We increased that to 4 fandoms in 2023 and got positive feedback about that change.

During signups, participants have been required to request at least 3 fandoms, and up to 6 fandoms if they choose. They must offer a minimum of 4 fandoms.

We've needed to limit the tagset size due to a combination of AO3 technical limitations as well as the logistical effort to confirm each fandom is eligible while avoiding duplicate fandoms. The good news is that we’ve found AO3’s tagset interface loads the moderation tools a bit faster lately. We've also developed more scalable processes and a group of wonderful, experienced volunteers to help with that checking. We think we can handle more nominations this year, but we won’t know until we try!

Change to nominations:


For 2025 only, we are going to increase the number of tagset nominations from 4 fandoms to 5 fandoms per person. The maximum number of characters will remain at 4 per fandom.

We’ll see how this goes, and whether the additional workload seems manageable to us, before deciding whether to keep the increased limit in 2026.

Change to requests:


For 2025 only, we are also going to increase the maximum number of fandom requests from 6 to 8. The minimum of 3 will not change. This means you must request at least 3 fandoms, and up to 8 fandoms if you choose.

Everything else remains the same: for each fandom, you will still be able to request up to a maximum of 4 characters. You will still be required to offer at least 4 fandoms with a minimum of 2 characters each.

Again, we will evaluate how it goes, and how this affects our workload, before deciding whether to keep the increased limit in 2026.

We hope this opens up some exciting possibilities for you in the 2025 round! Please stay tuned for our usual eligibility and evidence posts.

Past Life

Sep. 3rd, 2025 02:10 am
schneefink: stickers for all five seasons of the Life series (Life Series stickers)
[personal profile] schneefink
Past Life ended, and it was great. The teams were fantastic, the gimmick was fun but more in the background than in the previous too which was a nice change of pace, the improv was on point, the stories came together so well again.

I watched several videos each week, sometimes more sometimes less, and there's plenty I still want to watch eventually and some I want to watch again. I wanted to go over my notes again too to clean them up and add some more, but if I don't post them now I don't know when it will happen, so here is the first draft. (Which is already at 7k.)
I'm typing this while admiring my shiny new Life series desk mat btw, very pretty.


#1 Early early on )

#2 Tango with a mustache )

#3 The Secret Society )

#4 Joel with a mustache )

#5 The Proposal )

#6 Fire! )

#7 - Records are made to be broken )

#8 - The Finale )

United Healthcare is at it again

Sep. 2nd, 2025 05:17 pm
azurelunatic: "Where's the goddamn NERF BAT when you *really* need it?" Animated cartoon tech support loses her cool.  (work)
[personal profile] azurelunatic
United Healthcare sent me a letter, dated August 26, to tell me that they were taking away my primary care of record (not actually my real primary care) -- retroactively not covered since May 16. And assigning me to someone whose UHC profile shows that he only takes 0-17 year old patients.

"If you have any questions" I could call in. Where I learned that there were a lot of those letters sent out in error.

I requested that the UHC phone agent quote me with any creative profanity she'd like to attribute to me when conveying my displeasure to her supervisors.

I called the schedulers listed for my "new primary care", who instructed me to call UHC back to say that I wanted to keep my actual primary care doctor (who I've had since my former nurse-practitioner went into Infectious Diseases. And gave me the "MPI" number of my current doctor, and further instructions on how to make this happen. (But it can't continue happening until tomorrow, because both of them close down their phones at 5.)

Kudos to that agent, who was on the phone with me past her scheduled departure time. I thanked her for that.

(no subject)

Sep. 2nd, 2025 07:43 pm
flemmings: (Default)
[personal profile] flemmings
Yesterday was an Accomplish Nothing day, where I stayed indoors in spite of the (still) gorgeous weather. Did finish Inventing the Renaissance and started on Brokedown Palace which I got at the same time as the Palmer and didn't get around to because, well, 650 pages of Palmer. Fortunately it's renewable, unlike the '40 people waiting' Renaissance book. The e-book is haveable for the cost of a moderately priced dinner and tip, so I can buy it if I need to refresh things.

Unfortunately, a bypath in Inventing led me to google Caterina 'La Tigre' Sforza and yuck. Her second husband was assassinated so Caterina had not only the assassins but their pregnant wives and three year old children slaughtered. Yeah, so did Chinese emperors, but Chinese emperors didn't pay lip service to any sixth commandment. Of course neither did half the rulers in the Renaissance. This has rather put me off the Renaissance for now.

Last night I kept waking up in darkness, contrary to my usual 'once down I stay down' habit. So have felt a bit off all day, not helped by that September topos of cool humid mug that twinges all the joints and tendons. But laundromatted and grocery shopped and in the 7 p.m. dusk returned Inventing to the library.  I hope physio tomorrow can do something about the swollen everythings, but am starting to think I need to up my water intake by a factor of three.
stepnix: Nanoko from Wish Upon the Pleiades (magical girl)
[personal profile] stepnix posting in [community profile] anime_manga
Re-sharing an old Cohost post here while I get ready to rehost it on my Neocities. Hope you enjoy!
Read more... )

Rest in Power Graham Greene

Sep. 2nd, 2025 04:40 pm
muccamukk: Cluster of purple and white lilac flowers. (Misc: Lilacs)
[personal profile] muccamukk
I think there will be more in depth obituaries to follow, but here's a couple I liked.

CBC: 'Like watching Gretzky play hockey:' Colleagues remember actor Graham Greene.

CBC (Video): Remembering Graham Greene (interview with Jesse Wente).

I just saw him in Sweet Summer Pow Wow last week. Hard to imagine he's gone.

Just not right

Sep. 2nd, 2025 09:24 pm
[syndicated profile] slacktivist_feed

Posted by Fred Clark

The words "justice" and "righteousness" could not be allowed to remain similar in meaning by people wanting to regard themselves as righteous while avoiding justice.

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eruthros

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