Search results for tag #writing
#WritersCoffeeClub 27th July ~ What's a writerly growing pain you're experiencing right now?
The realisation that editing and polishing doesn't have an end point. It can apparently go on forever.
#WritersCoffeeClub 27/7: What's a writerly growing pain you're experiencing right now?
I think it’s ageing pains I might need to worry about, not growing pains. Best thought of as experience, though.
#books #writing #writersofmastodon
self promotion [SENSITIVE CONTENT]
New short horror story "NDA" available for free under a pay-what-you-want model at ko-fi and itch.io.
Exhausted and overwhelmed by experiences surrounding his employer, Frank seeks out an independent investigative journalist to confide in. Frank is unsure, as the interview progresses, if his tired mind is failing him or if the interview is falling apart.
~4,600 words
https://ko-fi.com/s/ba12c7ecde
https://davidbragg.itch.io/nda
I don't know that I subscribe to the idea that handwritten notes are somehow more cognitively substantive than typing but it's nice to see someone articulating the idea with some conviction
'when writing by hand, one is continually solving a series of small problems having to do with the spacing of words...through coordinated movements not just of the fingers but of the whole arm. All of that has to be integrated in real time with whatever is happening on a more abstract level in the brain’s processing of ideas and imagery'
#writing #pedagogy #criticalTheory
https://nealstephenson.substack.com/p/writing-by-hand-is-good-for-your
My witching post on fascist late capitalism is gonna come in soon, but takes some research.
Our new health minister in Germany has uttered in keeping a list of people with mental health issues just as lists for terrorists and extremists. This is eugenic thinking, and nothing good comes from this. Ever.
As a science historian currently working on
1.) Body perception in witch hunts and
2.) Eugenics movement in 1920-1950
I can tell and I am freaked out.
#writing #writer #writers #writingCommunity
I thought maybe someone would want to be a part of this. It's a cut-n-paste from an email and lost the links, but you could just go to the Vagina Museum's site if interested.
Call for Submissions
====================
Lip Service invites visual, fiction, and non-fiction submissions for Issue #7 – On Ageing
Lip Service is a quarterly publication by the Vagina Museum in the style of old school community magazines. In this A5 zine, the content ranges from expanded exhibition content and other longform commentary and cultural critique, to photography and letters. The hope is that it serves as a forum for community engagement and knowledge exchange.
As a creative, promotional and educational outlet, Lip Service also serves as another channel by which the Vagina Museum might share our work with the public. Our work being:
📢 Spreading knowledge and raising awareness of the gynaecological anatomy and health
🗣️ Giving confidence to people to talk about issues surrounding the gynaecological anatomy
🚫 Erasing the stigma around the body and gynaecological anatomy
🏳️🌈 Acting as a forum for feminism, women’s rights, the LGBT+ community and the intersex community
🔥 Challenging heteronormative and cisnormative behaviour
✊🏽 Promoting intersectional, feminist and trans-inclusive values
We are accepting submissions for Letters, Commentary, Fiction, Visuals as well as questions for Ms Fallopia.
Commentary, fiction, visual and question submissions should respond to, engage with, or in some sense tackle the theme of On Ageing. Ageing, although simply the result of passing time, is a phenomenon mired in controversy. From demographic fears about ageing populations to uptake in so-called ‘preventative’ cosmetic procedures, ageing causes all manner of anxieties on an individual as well as population level. This is not only true of ageing in the later stages of life, but at all stages of development. Cultures and societies all over the world track the passing of time in different ways, commemorating milestones at different occasions. A child’s first laugh, menarche, a voice breaking, going off to university or landing your first job, the first time it hurts to sit on the floor, menopause, that red Ferrari purchase, the passing down of an heirloom or a first dance. Some, but not all, of these milestones are marked in the body and the body is where so much of the trepidation around ageing lives.
We’re interested, then, in explorations of what ageing, growing up or growing old means. What does it mean to ‘get old’? Or to age gracefully? Who gets to decide? How are ideas about gender, about disability, sexuality, aesthetics, and power entangled in getting older? How is ageing differently understood, experienced, thought about around the world? We invite submissions, both written and visual, exploring these ideas.
The zine is a collaborative, mixed media project so we encourage not only written submissions, but visual submissions also.
For a full description of the sections see here.
Submission Guidelines
---------------------
Deadline: 5pm on Friday 11th September 2026
How to Send Us Your Work: Please email your work to lipservice@vaginamuseum.co.uk, clearly indicating the section you’re submitting for in the subject line. Your work must be complete and in one of the following file forms: .doc, .docx, .pdf, .txt, .jpeg, .png.
Formatting Your Work: All written submissions should be in 12-point type, with at least one-inch margins, and sequentially numbered pages. Fiction and nonfiction should be double-spaced. Poetry can be formatted as preferred. The author’s name and email address should be typed at the top of the first page. Contributors are asked to include a brief biographical note with their submissions.
Simultaneous Submissions: We accept simultaneous submissions.
Payment to Authors: We cannot pay contributors at this time.
Word Count Guidelines:
Letters must be under 300 words. A letter can be anything from a five word response to a letter in a previous issue to a short review of the Museum. Letters need not adhere to the theme of the issue.
Commentary works between 500 words and 1,200 words can include creative non-fiction, reviews, commentary, analyses, Op-Eds and more.
Fiction submissions may take two forms: flash fiction or poetry. Flash fiction submissions should be complete works no more than 500 words in length. Poetry submissions should be no longer than two A5 pages.
Questions for Ms Fallopia should be no longer than 100 words.
Visual submissions should come with a summary no more than 250 words in length and a description suitable for alt text.
–
Before submitting, please consult the full submission guidelines here and the full editorial guidelines here.
Does thinking of cool ways to kill the multiverse count? 🤔 😁
@galacticwriters @bookstodon @joinin
@writingbooks @humor@fedigroups.social @humor@lemmy.world @aiop
#WritingMemes #Meme #Humor #Humour #Geek
#Author #IndieAuthor #Indie #Writers #Writing #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon
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Photo of a woman looking menacing holding a butcher's knife.
Caption: "If you've ever spent any measurable amount of time considering "cool" ways to kill people... You're probably an author"
~Harry Widdifield
The Wandering Shop Stories #prompt for today, Sat-25-Jul, is #north. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "north" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/north Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @philipbrewer
We are all exiles, fellow travelers. Maybe we had different starts and have different endings, but in the end, we are exiles.
https://realityfragments.com/2026/07/24/exiles/
#writing #tolerance #philosophy #metareligion
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A black background. A blue planet with apparent clouds sits off slightly to the right, alone, with no continents visible.
The Wandering Shop Stories #prompt for today, Fri-24-Jul, is #steer. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "steer" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/steer Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @stevendbrewer
How active a role do the gods (if any) play in your world?
#WorldBuilding #AmWriting #writing #WritingCommunity #ttrpg #GameDev
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Do clouds ever look down on us and say, "That one is shaped like and idiot?"
NSFW/explicit sexual content: The Prize by Yolanda King
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Yolanda_King_The_Prize?id=8BtqEQAAQBAJ
#radio #usa #BoothbayHarbor #TopsideInn #Maine #sensuality #pleasure #SpontaneousSex #sex #love #romance #erotica #EroticLiterature #EroticRomance #desire #passion #books #reading #writing #SelfPublishing #book #EroticFantasy #YolandaKingAuthor #AdultsOnly #midlife #StrongWomen #empowerment #lust #carefree #mature #NoInhibitions #MatureSex #independence #NoGuilt #NoRegrets #ThePrize
NSFW/explicit sexual content: The Prize by Yolanda King
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Yolanda_King_The_Prize?id=8BtqEQAAQBAJ
#radio #usa #BoothbayHarbor #TopsideInn #Maine #sensuality #pleasure #SpontaneousSex #sex #love #romance #erotica #EroticLiterature #EroticRomance #desire #passion #books #reading #writing #SelfPublishing #book #EroticFantasy #YolandaKingAuthor #AdultsOnly #midlife #StrongWomen #empowerment #lust #carefree #mature #NoInhibitions #MatureSex #independence #NoGuilt #NoRegrets #ThePrize
I mean, everyone I know is writing a book.
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Times are bad. Children no longer okey their parents and everyone is writing a book.
-Cicero, 43 BCE
#QuestionOfTheDay what's a speech/line in fiction that is meaningful to you and you still think about a lot?
#writing #fiction #books #poetry #music #musicals #comics #comicbooks #movies #film #anime #manga #television #TV #videogames #CCGs #TTRPG #gaming #boardgames #scifi #fantasy
Update: Y'all, where I live is becoming less and less safe by the day. The campaign in my Chuffed is meant to help me move and make it for a time
This is urgent, I really need to get to a safe place
Please do all you can! stalled at $4988/$7000 came in so far!
#mutualaid #Chuffed #helpfolkslive #mutualaidrequest #housingcrisis #disability #Writer #Writing
“And in the silence
slowly, I begin to unravel.
I find that within me
there is a field of flowers.
In the absence of impressions
I spot a glimmer.
Of a soul that sings
and an ear that listens -
stillness at last.
A gentle breeze of calm -
the quiet so warm.
A soft sway
of the cornflowers at dawn.”
- a poem by me
#writersofmastodon #writing #writingcommunity #poetry #poetrycommunity #writerscoffeeclub
Instagram: xvisualsoul
recently i noticed that my mental health has gotten better ever since i started listening to jazz, so i wrote about it: https://winnielim.org/journal/jazz-and-my-mental-health/
I have spent a lifetime trying to corral young artists and budding writers through the process of creating something from nothing and my most important lesson has always been that perfection is a myth, and that seeking it, is a complete waste of spirit.
#Writing #Creativity #Art https://www.davidtoddmccarty.com/there-is-a-crack-in-everything/
THE #world_according_to_hoyle #news #opinion #writing for #errtling #bookcafe #society and others - both human and those experiencing #android_dreams or #ai thought patterns. But, mostly, it's just some wry, caffeine induced commentary on the state of things from this part of reality.
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THE #world_according_to_hoyle #news #opinion #writing for #errtling #bookcafe #society and others - both human and those experiencing #android_dreams or #ai thought patterns. But, mostly, it's just some wry, caffeine induced commentary on the state of things from this part of reality.
Post by Will Stenberg.
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23h
As a writer who doesn't use Al, it's not like there is some temptation I am resisting.
I am a writer. I engage in the act of writing.
It's like asking if someone who loves to play tennis would prefer sitting on the sidelines and watching a robot play tennis. They'd be like, "No, man, it would just make me want to play tennis."
There's no temptation; the very idea is baffling.
The #MastoPrompt for Wednesday 22 July 2026 is:
The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.
@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.
If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.
#Writing #SmallPoems #Poetry #Fiction #MicroFiction #SmallStories
Watching late capitalism turn fascism feels a lot like Daddy came back from his grave to tell you all off. Recently been ill? Pink hair? Wrong skin? No more air to breathe for you. My witch giggles hysterically. That needs a blog post. Fuck off Daddy. #writing #blogging #witch
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Selfie of a red-haired woman with glasses resting her head in her left hand while looking sceptically.
@CTLiotta
Don’t you find it frustrating that publishers are obsessed with ‘genres’? How can any original creative work get published under these circumstances if they don’t in fact slot easily into one of these ‘genres’? The whole premise is anathema to readership diversity IMO.
Question for early self-publishing fiction authors:
Have you done a SUCCESSFUL AMAZON LAUNCH? In which your sales and reviews in the first week got the Amazon algorithms to continue showing the book to shoppers for weeks, rather than burying it?
How did you do this? ARC readers? TikTok/Instagram influencers? Free book giveaways? Cross-promo from established author's email list? Ritual sacrifice?
@thepurpleoctopus One cup of coffee? In this writing economy? *chugging her third pot of free-trade Guatemalan*
Do you employ dramatic irony in your work?
#writing #AmWriting #cycling #Bike #irony #WritingCommunity.
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A large sign imploring motorists to "Give Cyclists Space" has been parked in the bike lane.
#QuestionOfTheDay what's something (trope/mechanic/plot/story beat/character/etc) that when it shows up in a work is an absolute dealbreaker for you?
#fiction #writing #movies #television #comics #comicbooks #ttrpg #ccgs #boardgames #videogames #tv #film #anime #manga #books #music #musicals #webcomic
Horror tip: fear works best when the monster touches an existing wound. The question is not only “what is scary?” but “why is this character vulnerable?”
Advice For Writers: Know What Your Goals For The Story Are
Or: Does it matter if my story is strange?
#business-of-writing #craft-of-writing #writing #advice
https://ideatrash.net/2026/07/advice-for-writers-know-what-your-goals-for-the-story-are.html
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Advice For Writers: Know What Your Goals For The Story Are
I am not much of a drawer of lingerie, but I can TRY sometimes to make it work.
BTW... we are publishing the new ACT for The Dominant Ones... all new chapters and art BY ME!
https://edge400.substack.com/p/act-two-chapter-one?r=2mrre6
#digitalart #lewd #originalstory #originalcharacter #writing #story #substack
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Couple in a dark room, woman with black hair and dark skin in lingerie sitting on the lap of a young man with blue hair in silk PJs.
#QuestionOfTheDay what's a scorching hot take you have about a hobby/genre/piece of fiction/work/etc that you're into?
This has to be an actually hot take, bonus points if it's unique to you (as far as you know) or fairly weird/idiosyncratic
#sports #fiction #anime #manga #writing #coding #videogames #gaming #ttrpg #ccgs #boardgames #comics #comicbooks #webcomic #music #musicals #books #tv #television #movies #film #art
Writer mode: activated. ✍️🌈
One notebook, one cup of coffee, one pair of lucky rainbow socks... and absolutely no promises that the characters will behave themselves. 💜📚
#Writing #RainbowSocks #QueerJoy #CozyVibes
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Close-up photo of a bent leg wearing a thick rainbow-striped knee sock in shades of purple, pink, blue, and green. A black-and-white skirt peeks into the foreground, while a colourful rainbow fabric and a tote bag blur softly in the background, creating a cosy, playful writing nook.
The small, real, original web https://spacetimetech.wordpress.com/2026/07/19/the-small-real-original-web
Got my post on the small web done- it links to sites by @rootcompute and @stefan, a directory by @ttntm, and blogs by @HailsandAles, @ploum, @reedandpickup, @derthomas, @fribbledom, and @j9t
Also tagging these folks from when I mentioned it before, hope I got everyone, apologies if I didn't!
@allen @tk @wendigo @enocc @unfunnyryan @donutage @farrisswisher @chris @cb @irgndsondepp @hl @Tijn @isocat @mastosalo @unusnemo @shivering_wreck @RadicalSocialWorker @vlrny @rushey @librarymonster @shellsharks @RobinMarx @82mhz @BonfireAtNight
#SmallWeb #IndieWeb #PersonalWebsites #blogs #blogging #writing #smolweb #indie #HumanWeb #GeminiProtocol #Gopher #WebHistory #InternetHistory #future
The #MastoPrompt for Sunday 19 July 2026 is:
The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.
@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.
If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.
#Writing #SmallPoems #Poetry #Fiction #MicroFiction #SmallStories
The Wandering Shop Stories #prompt for today, Sun-19-Jul, is #graft. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "graft" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/graft Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @NaraMoore
Kait probably is already considered a superhero by some. Not the ruling houses, ofc, but if a government designed to protect abusers, with laws only there to legitimize corruption, considers you a villain – that is the actual mark of a hero.
Her iconic pink jacket pretty much already is considered iconic in the minds of most who crossed her path. Because no matter what she does with her outfit otherwise, that thing stays on.
If she had to choose a symbol for herself, it'd probably be a beer bottle or molotov cocktail thrown through a window. Truly a role model for us all.
#voidfront #writing #worldbuilding #art #drawing
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Line art drawing of Kait crashing through a window, probably, there are glass shards flying everywhere, with a beer bottle in hand and a "what?" expression on her face.
Off to the Tamar Valley Author's Market today to sell my books. It's a local farmer's market, but they have little themes for the mid-month market. Apparently, there will be at least two writers present. Head a long to Beaconsfield in the extremely unlikely event you read this and live in Northern #Tasmania.
#Books #Reading #writing #Bookstodon
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Books. Get HBO programming ten years before everyone else.
I said I was going to take a more direct route home because heat, but I decided to go on an adventure. I turned left down a path I had never taken before. Robert Frost would be proud 😉
Only edited a chapter tonight and it was a very short one. I think it was good to rest a bit after this week though.
Tomorrow I’ll be at my partner’s studio for her art reception! Wish her luck or broken canvases or whatever you’re supposed to say to an artist. 😜
#Today #BikeTooter #saskatoon #writing #art
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Photo of a pedestrian and cyclist trail with trees ahead, overgrown in a way that they make a lovely little tunnel through the verge.
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Photo of a worn dirt trail with grass alongside. It disappears into the brush. Overhead, blue sky filled with wispy clouds.
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Selfie of a smiling fellow in a bike helmet and rainbow suspenders. The sun shines behind, washing out the photo a bit.
‼️New blog post by me‼️
"Against Pessimism"
> I know that it feels wrong to celebrate a small victory when so much else wrong is going on, but I promise you we won't be able to make it to the end if this is our outlook on life. If everything is terrible and nothing good ever happens or is talked about, then why should we even fight for the next victory?
...
> Nearly every single time I see one of their blog posts shared around on social media where they celebrated a victory they've made, there's always somebody in the comments complaining about how it didn't go far enough, that we still haven't done enough. And they're right in a sense — we do still need to keep going, keep fighting. This victory alone is only a step along the path! But why do you feel it is important to share that right now? Why must we pollute every victory with some sense of additional fear and worry?
Read the full post on my blog:
https://riverseeber.net/blog/post/against-pessimism/
#writing #collectiveAction #progress #privacy #usPol #leftism
#writing friends, what's the trope name for "there is a secret invisible world overlaid on the one you know"?
Not portal fantasy, it's overlaid, like spy movies and The Toybox trilogy and There Is No Anti-Memetics Division.
Edit: Masquerade, apparently: (warning: TVTropes is a memetic hazard, subtype Fascinator) https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Masquerade
Overused tropes. Finishing each other's sentences is not the only sign that two people get along, or know each other well. What other indications can you think of?
#CatsOfMastodon #cats #writing #AmWriting #WritingCommunity #Character #funny
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Two cats on top of a fence climb over each other in passing. The greet each other familiarly, "Mornin' Sam." "Mornin' Ralph."
The Wandering Shop Stories #prompt for today, Fri-17-Jul, is #flock. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "flock" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flock Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @tobadzistsini
NEW: Tyre Kickers, Lowballers and Camels: 7 PR Rep Negotiation Tactics Used Against Bloggers
This one is for anyone who offers paid services/advertising on their blog or website. And regularly gets upset by rude folk in their email inbox.
The article I wish I'd read 17 years ago.
https://carasutra.com/2026/07/pr-negotiation-tactics-bloggers/
#Blogging #Marketing #ContentCreator #PR #Business #Networking #Writing #WritingCommunity #Blogs #Blogger
The #MastoPrompt for Thursday 16 July 2026 is:
The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.
@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.
If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.
#Writing #SmallPoems #Poetry #Fiction #MicroFiction #SmallStories
Now I want Eldritch Horror, I want to glimpse the infinite complexity that will turn to madness... As long as I don't have to get of the couch and put on pants 😂
@galacticwriters
@writingbooks @humor@fedigroups.social @humor@lemmy.world @aiop
#Ant #Horror
#WritingMemes #Meme #Humor #Humour #Geek #Game
#Writers #Writing #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon
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Post by bramblesand
People, especially games, get eldritch madness wrong a lot and it’s
really such a shame.
An ant doesn't start babbling when they see a circuit board. They find
it strange, to them it is a landscape of strange angles and humming
monoliths. They may be scared, but that is not madness.
Madness comes when the ant, for a moment, can see as a human
does.
It understands those markings are words, symbols with meaning, like
a pheromone but infinitely more complex. It can travel unimaginable
distances, to lands unlike anything it has seen before. It knows of
mirth, embarrassment, love, concepts unimaginable before this
moment, and then...
It's an ant again.
Echoes of things it cannot comprehend swirl around its mind. It
cannot make use of this knowledge, but it still remembers. How is it
supposed to return to its life? The more the ant saw the harder it is
for it to forget. It needs to see it again, understand again. It will do
anything to show others, to show itself, nothing else in this tiny world
matters.
This is madness.
#WritersCoffeeClub 16/7: What's a trope you'd like to see subverted?
Ideally, all of them.
But certainly, Chosen One. And if if we count Hero’s Journey as a trope, that needs to be binned.
#books #writing #writersofmastodon
Editor's note:
The word "crusade" actually derives from Cross. That's something to consider in choosing your words.
The #MastoPrompt for Wednesday 15 July 2026 is:
The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.
@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.
If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.
#Writing #SmallPoems #Poetry #Fiction #MicroFiction #SmallStories
The Wandering Shop Stories #prompt for today, Wed-15-Jul, is #foil. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "foil" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/foil Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @asakiyume
The #MastoPrompt for Tuesday 14 July 2026 is:
The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.
@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.
If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.
#Writing #SmallPoems #Poetry #Fiction #MicroFiction #SmallStories
The Wandering Shop Stories #prompt for today, Tue-14-Jul — Bastille Day, is #bastion . Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "bastion " in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bastion Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @NaraMoore
The other aspect of being a Christian?
“Other than enjoying a little spanking on the one cheek and then as well the other one?”, my witch giggles, and I want to blush.
Yes, besides that, the other crying girl described her inability to understand how wonderful god was...
http://mistresswitchwrites.com/2025/04/01/okay-daddy-sinful-thoughts-of-a-witch/
England during the reign of Elizabeth I (~AD1600) was a dangerous time and place to write plays, such as Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”.
Better watch those metaphors. Public plays were studied closely for signs of treason.
Christopher Marlowe was arrested for atheism, a capital offense. Thomas Kyd was tortured on suspicion of treasonous activity. Ben Jonson was in dire trouble several times.
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James Watts's painting depicts Rosalind, Celia and Touchstone after they flee the ducal court for the Forest of Arden in Shakespeare's As You Like It. The comedy explores themes of exile, family reconciliation and identity, with Rosalind disguising herself as a man to navigate a dangerous world. (Photo by Getty Images)
The #MastoPrompt for Monday 13 July 2026 is:
The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.
@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.
If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.
#Writing #SmallPoems #Poetry #Fiction #MicroFiction #SmallStories
Hey lovely people. Big announcement today.
We're launching Beautiful Words, an indie writing con based in Nelson New Zealand and Online in September & October 2026.
https://www.beautifulwords.net/
So many awesome events, including in-person and online Tiny Moments workshops that will be for everyone.
There'll also be workshops about friend making and networking. Practical writing and publishing workshops. And some really amazing talks by some wonderful writing people.
We'll be announcing the online program within the next few weeks, but if you want to make sure you don't miss anything, just sign up to the newsletter on the website or follow our new Beautiful Words account:
https://bookstodon.com/@beautifulwords
Everything at the in-person con is Koha*/Pay-what-you-can or affordable.
The online program will be all Koha*/Pay-what-you-can because we know how tight the money is right now for people, especially creatives.
*Koha is a Māori custom which can be translated as gift, present, offering, donation or contribution.
(As always, much more, including context for the typewriter on the beach, in the alt text!)
#writingcommunity #writing #books #bookstodon
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Short description: You're looking at an image of a sun drenched beach at low tide with a table featuring a typewriter on it in the foreground. The words Beautiful Words, An Indie Writing Con Based in Sunny Nelson, New Zealand & Online, 1 September - 10 October 2026 are superimposed over the sand and sky above the typewriter and table. Longer description. The table's covered in a red and white check table cloth, hand sewn and if you zoomed in you'd see that I am an anarchist who does not care about snipping loose threads. There's a cup of black tea in a vintage blue and white china cup, the sort your nan might have owned, and some biscuits on the saucer under the cup. They're an anzac biscuit and a fairy biscuit, which is essentially sprinkles on icing on a sweet bikkie. The typewriter on the table is green and quite stylish. This is a typewriter you could take to a fancy dinner and it wouldn't be out of place. There's also a small white tea pot on the table, a shell and a small purple vase with a wayward bit of greenery sticking out of it. In front of the table is a stool with a retro black and white cushion on it. Why is this table at the beach? Ask the batty author who lugged it there a month ago in a beach wagon and they won't quite be able to tell you. But you can definitely picture that author munching on a biscuit or ten while taking this picture. The beach is sprawling, the sky a brilliant clear blue and there are mountains in the background because it is New Zealand and those suckers lurk everywhere. The writing superimposed over the top is in orange and blue. The overall vibe is an author who's sorted a writing con for the past three months and isn't quite sure what sane is anymore. Why else would they lug a typewriter, a tea set, a teapot and biscuits to the beach? Maybe they need another one of those biscuits. They're rather delicious. Especially the anzac ones.
#QuestionOfTheDay who is a fictional character whose fan interpretation you accept over the canon?
#fiction #writing #anime #manga #comics #comicbooks #superheroes #TV #television #movies #film #videogames #ttrpg #ccgs #books
I have just read the carrier bag theory of fiction by #LeGuin and now I have the need to read more of things like that. I need some guidepost to other #feminist writing theory, maybe stuff inspired by her that appeared in the span of the 40 years since she wrote it, that she certainly inspired?
#hivemind If you have some feminist philosophy to recommend, I'll appreciate it too.
I'm writing #solarpunk utopia right now, so if you know of relevant (preferably feminist) stuff, please drop it below :)
#writing
The #MastoPrompt for Sunday 12 July 2026 is:
The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.
@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.
If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.
#Writing #SmallPoems #Poetry #Fiction #MicroFiction #SmallStories
I always wanted to use a #Psion for real, meaningful work — even started writing a book on it ( #worldglass ) — but today I use it to write my statement to a judge to be read in a court of law to determine the future of my disabled child. It does not get more real and meaningful than this.
#psion #writing #retrocomputing #writerdeck
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Photo of a Psion 5mx Palmtop computer on a table saving a new document.
I don't find it surprising that people send LLM-generated docs, publish LLM-generated blog posts, etc. Writing is a chore and there's this big button labeled "get it done".Writing can be many things, but a chore? That's not something I entirely understand. I don't mean to sound like I'm hollering at this single point from this person's post, but it's a sentiment I've seen expressed before and this was a convenient example (and what I say next is in the spirit of and amplifies the further point they make!)
There's an emerging theme in my last few posts today concerning means vs. ends. Science as a production process that spits out knowledge products. Writing as the necessary chore sitting between a person and "having another blog post" or "citation count go up".
Overfocus on the ends can lead one to think of the means as chores. Science is slow and boring, let's use AI to spit out the Good Science Stuff faster. Writing is a chore, let's use the AI to spit out Documents. Heck let's chain them together and have the machine do Good Science Stuff and then spit out Documents about it that we feed back into the machine and hey we can send the Documents to Funding Agencies to get Funding for our Good Science Stuff and spit out even more Documents so that...and...to...so...[infinite random string]. Wait what were we doing again?
Personally I think it's poisonous to focus mostly on ends. The absurdity is a clue. If I believed in souls I'd say it's bad for them. I guess I find the mindset confusing because long ago I came to think that the means are the ends. There are no other ends but the means.
Yes, I well understand there are certain kinds of mandated writing that are tedious and unwanted.
#ScribesAndMakers 11/07: It all started when..
I read a book I borrowed from my Mum, and there was a chapter I didn't like. So I rewrote it.
The rest is history.
“I believe”
I think it turned out to be a pretty decent poem.
Okay, it is a little melancholic.
I’m curious to hear what you all think.
#mastodon #fediverse #mastoart #YouWinAgainSi #writing #poem #poetry #prose #lyric #thoughts #world
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I believe that the mountains
know the answers
Locked deep within the rock,
they keep everything hidden
Too much of the truth
would destroy us
Questions where answers
bring only horror
They must remain in the eternity
of the rugged rocks
Carved in stone, it stands;
anchored in eternity, it remains
All of this is inaccessible to us;
it is not meant to cause us pain
I believe that the mountains
know the answers
Hands now bloody,
scraped raw from digging
Despair is great
over the truths buried so deep
in rocks as hard as life itself
The #MastoPrompt for Saturday 11 July 2026 is:
The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.
@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.
If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.
#Writing #SmallPoems #Poetry #Fiction #MicroFiction #SmallStories
With apologies to all the poetry lovers out there, but... 😂
@humor@fedigroups.social @humor@lemmy.world @aiop
#WritingMemes #Meme #Humor #Humour #Poetry
#Writers #Writing #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon
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Post by LilJonson
I have bad anxiety and one point I got prescribed Xanax. Without the anxiety, all of a sudden I felt like a different person. I was doing things I never did, like I started writing poetry. thats when I got off the meds because I'd rather have crippling anxiety than write poetry.
There are countless stories about inheriting a relative you don't know, and exploring the unfamiliar real estate they left behind. There are none about inheriting your great aunt Daisy whom you visited at the care home twice a month after you helped her move out of her house and get rid of her stuff, which was a major chore.
The Wandering Shop Stories #prompt for today, Fri-10-Jul, is #nickle. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "nickle" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nickle Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @NaraMoore
The Wandering Shop Stories #prompt for today, Thu-9-Jul, is #pointer. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "pointer" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pointer Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @extraspecialbitter
The #MastoPrompt for Thursday 9 July 2026 is:
The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.
@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.
If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.
#Writing #SmallPoems #Poetry #Fiction #MicroFiction #SmallStories
The #SmashWordsSummerSale is now on (or #SmashwordsWinterSale if you're in the southern hemisphere). So, all my #fantasy / #scifi stories are 50% off for the entire month of July!
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/PhilipRowlands
There are more, but Fomoritis Uncovered and Remittance Witch are probably my best.
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An old Mauser C-96 pistol and a petri dish lie on a table next to a folder titled "FOMORITIS UNCOVERED".
This is a #dieselpunk novella where a dwarven megacorporation in pre-WW1 Ireland experiments on a couple of teenagers to see what caused the "Fomorians" to appear, only for it to blow up in their faces after they cheat their suppliers. Now the kids have to adjust to it.
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A torn map and a wand lie on a blanket.
Remittance Witch is a #steampunk / #WeirdWest novella, set in a world that's sort of Skyrim-as-a-Western. The titular witch is a young woman with problems controlling magic in a hot and humid environment, so her parents send her to Skyrim...er...the Sydfjords for an apprenticeship. There's one problem with that: she's doing this under a retired warlock.
Looking for some non-YouTube music if possible to have in the background while writing a short story with halflings, half elves and goblins etc. Keen to find something non-AI based and if it works for my writing, be able to direct some funds to the artist behind it.
Have been listening to Danheim, but that can get a little heavy for what I need.
Theatre troupes in the past used to have a book of skits, from which they could construct plays on the fly depending on the audience, a Zibaldone in Commedia del Arte. Do you have a book of snippets to pull from in your writing?
#WritingTips #writing #AmWriting #WritingCommunity
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A baseball diamond, with a London police box parked on it. Who's on first.
Seems the Discourse Wheel has landed on "I don't have time to write, I'm not a full time writer, it's not fair, so I use AI to write." How did I become a full time writer?
By #writing and traditionally publishing a dozen books while employed, plus 14 failed books. I wrote many more failed books in college.
I gave up nights, weekends, holidays, TV, in favor of writing.
Some folks cannot do that. Many aren't *willing* to.
#ScribesAndMakers 6th Jul
First sentence[s] of the last chapter of one of your novels.
Holden wondered - not for the first time - how women did this every day. Putting on eyeliner always took longer than he expected it to, and it was so fiddly. How anyone could do something so maddening on a daily basis and not lose their shit was beyond him. (That's from Infected: Throwaways.)
The Wandering Shop Stories #prompt for today, Mon-6-Jul, is #rank. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "rank" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rank Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @tobadzistsini
Sometimes I wonder why I even try to write when Thumper is stomping around upstairs and her washing machine is agitating and the dryer vibrating her floor/my ceiling. I'm not going to get anything done.
#Today #Writing #NotWriting
The #MastoPrompt for Sunday 5 July 2026 is:
The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.
@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.
If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.
#Writing #SmallPoems #Poetry #Fiction #MicroFiction #SmallStories
*/ Cookie Cutter /*
Cookie cutter people
Working cookie cutter jobs
Cookie cutter marriages
To other cookie cutter slobs
Went to cookie cutter colleges
With cookie cutter majors
Cookie cutter GPAs
Walking cookie cutter stages
Cookie cutter hobbies
And cookie cutter careers
Throwing cookie cutter bbqs
Serving cookie cutter beers
Cookie cutter settling down
A cookie cutter paragon
Subbing 401k for all your dreams
Until what you were is long gone
Cookie cutter, break the mold
Discard the chains that bind
Cookie cutter, recall those dreams
Beneath the mask, your soul you’ll find
Cookie cutter, break the mold
You need not accept surrender
Dig down deep and find your truth
And escape you just may tender.
–
It is never too late to find your truth
Reclaim what you once were
Reclaim your dreams
Reclaim
Reclaim
Reclaim.
#poetry #writing #WritersOfMastodon
https://tiefling.bardicperspiration.com/index.php/2026/07/04/cookie-cutter-people/
The #MastoPrompt for Saturday 4 July 2026 is:
The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.
@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.
If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.
#Writing #SmallPoems #Poetry #Fiction #MicroFiction #SmallStories
The #MastoPrompt for Friday 3 July 2026 is:
The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.
@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.
If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.
#Writing #SmallPoems #Poetry #Fiction #MicroFiction #SmallStories
The Wandering Shop Stories #prompt for today, Thu-2-Jul, is #graphite. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "graphite" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/graphite Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @philipbrewer
Hn, I've been busy lately (no not busty, autocorrect, that has NEVER been true lol) SL my story is kind of not done, but... enjoy this real life short of sus stuff and humor!
#NSFW #Sex #LongDistance #RealLife #Sex #Writing
https://tiefling.bardicperspiration.com/index.php/2026/02/10/thats-just-like-a-man/
"My name is Oluba Ronald and I am a filmmaker. Months ago, I was a Gulu Sisi Film Lab student. This blog is about the first time I directed a Tv series. I recall clearly, I was walking home, 6km away from school when I received a call. I had been selected for internship, and I was going to be among the directors for a Tv series!"
See our Stories #SisiStories
Real talk time, u pervs of the Fedi!
I write spicy stories when I have time. I can see that ppl at least click on them but only rarely do ppl comment. So like... which of these is u?
Feel free to comment if u have more to say!
And if u are like "wait u write spicy?" then here u go. There's polyness in it, tho not in the spicy:
https://tiefling.bardicperspiration.com/index.php/2025/08/05/interlude-in-the-lower-city-full/
#NSFW #erotica #polyamorous #sex #writing #WritersOfMastodon
| I read spicy things and comment when I want!: | 6 |
| I read spicy but aaah commenting is a nope!: | 6 |
| I don't read spicy things, awk/gross...: | 2 |
| I have things to say / want to see results: | 1 |
Feedback is precious, and honest feedback doubly so... except from children 😜🤣
@galacticwriters @bookstodon
@writingbooks @humor@fedigroups.social @humor@lemmy.world @aiop
#Feedback
#WritingMemes #Writing #Meme #Memes #Humor #Humour
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Post by Bradford Pearson
Just talked to a class of sixth-graders and one of them asked "If someone else wrote your book and you read it, would you still think it was good?" and I felt the room start to spin...
The #MastoPrompt for Monday 29 June 2026 is:
The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.
@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.
If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.
#Writing #SmallPoems #Poetry #Fiction #MicroFiction #SmallStories
The Wandering Shop Stories #prompt for today, Mon-29-Jun, is #east. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "east" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/east Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @philipbrewer
RE: https://hci.social/@floe/116829935527080518
Florian's post reminded me of the 1979 UK series Danger UXB, created by John Hawkesworth and John Whitney (creators of Upstairs, Downstairs; The Flame Trees of Thika; & The Duchess of Duke Street).
I saw it a few years ago (on Acorn maybe? I don't remember now).
Whether the series is your cup of tea or not, the pilot has some great writing. I recommend it for TV- and film writers.
https://www.justwatch.com/ca/tv-show/danger-uxb
#DangerUXB #AnthonyAndrews #TVWriting #Writing #Screenwriting #TV #UKTV
As a longtime member of our student association, I came back to the office after the summer break and noticed a bulging pack of iced tea on the window sill that had been fermenting in the sun for some weeks. 🫣
So I fetch a big wastebin, open the lid and put it next to the iced tea. Then v-e-r-y carefully pick up the pack and move it over the bin, drop it, and immediately slam the lid shut.
Half a second later, a distinct poof from inside. Felt like a bomb defuser 😎
The Wandering Shop Stories #prompt for today, Sat-27-Jun, is #paper. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "paper" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paper Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @philipbrewer
We all like designing monsters, but have you ever included a ridiculously beautiful animal in your #WorldBuilding?
(This is a papercraft art project design based around the Actias Luna Moth.)
#monsters #writing #ttrpg #dnd #WritingCommunity #AmWriting #dnd #gaming #GameDev
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A fake green and red moth, but beautifully designed as a tree ornament. The finish resembles the powdery look of moths, with feathery sections and a long tail to each wing.
What's your pet grammar peeve? That one rule you learned but everyone else still gets wrong?
#WritingCommunity #writing #AmWriting #reading #books
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so “T-Rex” isn’t just some pop culture shortening of Tyrannosaurus rex, it's actually a standard way of shortening the genus in a binomial, e.g. E. coli for Escherichia coli. Despite what movie titles or toy packaging or band names say, it should always be written as T. rex and not as T-Rex or T-rex or god forbid T. Rex. And it should be italicized, which should be clear to anyone reading this but not clear to you, Corythosaurus, because I am speaking aloud to you and I don’t know how to italicize my voice.