#boostingissharing — Public Fediverse posts

#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.29 — From soft to hard, where do your tastes fall on the Science Fiction scale?

Soft. I'm more interested in how technology affects people than learning or speculating about the tech. I don't have an engineering degree; it's a liberal arts degree.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.29 — From soft to hard, where do your tastes fall on the Science Fiction scale?

Soft. I'm more interested in how technology affects people than learning or speculating about the tech. I don't have an engineering degree; it's a liberal arts degree.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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RE: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/116990644467038101

#PennedPossibilities 1084 — In your universe, what happens to people when they die?

Mulched, most of the body, anyway. Health Services takes care of the physical remains, as well as possession of them, and Mental Services helps with mourning and helping families psychologically. You can find day angel feathers (night angels don't have feathers) where you'd buy stationary, labeled either as molts (less expensive) or unlabeled if not molts by the BHT (Bureau of Human Trafficking). The quills make great pens, but have other niche uses. Daemon bones, however, are serialized by the BHT, in conjunction with Health Services, since remnants have important technological use, which is heavily regulated.

Or, did you mean religiously? The quoted post ought give you a clue.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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RE: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/116990644467038101

#PennedPossibilities 1084 — In your universe, what happens to people when they die?

Mulched, most of the body, anyway. Health Services takes care of the physical remains, as well as possession of them, and Mental Services helps with mourning and helping families psychologically. You can find day angel feathers (night angels don't have feathers) where you'd buy stationary, labeled either as molts (less expensive) or unlabeled if not molts by the BHT (Bureau of Human Trafficking). The quills make great pens, but have other niche uses. Daemon bones, however, are serialized by the BHT, in conjunction with Health Services, since remnants have important technological use, which is heavily regulated.

Or, did you mean religiously? The quoted post ought give you a clue.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.28 — If you couldn't write, how would you tell your stories?

I have a degree with a specialization in folklore and mythology.

I've studied oral traditions, enough to know how bogus the kerfuffle is over Helen of Troy being portrayed with dark skin. Are the events of The Odyssey historical? Mostly, no. Furthermore, there's no single canonical original Odyssey text.

There are none.

The story existed for centuries only in the minds of the trained storytellers as a formulaic plot, song, story, and characters, recreated on-demand for a paying audience, often tailored to that audience. Often only the greatest hits parts, to boot. It would take days to tell the whole story. It's practically guaranteed that Helen would have conformed to regional beauty in each retelling. I remember reading about the many versions of the same tales collected by a folklorist, when that scholar could still find storytellers who made a living telling stories, before compiling them to build the tale they'd eventually publish.

I think I'd try live storytelling to see if I could recreate the mental systems they used for my own stories. Gives new meaning to having created a series of stories.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.28 — If you couldn't write, how would you tell your stories?

I have a degree with a specialization in folklore and mythology.

I've studied oral traditions, enough to know how bogus the kerfuffle is over Helen of Troy being portrayed with dark skin. Are the events of The Odyssey historical? Mostly, no. Furthermore, there's no single canonical original Odyssey text.

There are none.

The story existed for centuries only in the minds of the trained storytellers as a formulaic plot, song, story, and characters, recreated on-demand for a paying audience, often tailored to that audience. Often only the greatest hits parts, to boot. It would take days to tell the whole story. It's practically guaranteed that Helen would have conformed to regional beauty in each retelling. I remember reading about the many versions of the same tales collected by a folklorist, when that scholar could still find storytellers who made a living telling stories, before compiling them to build the tale they'd eventually publish.

I think I'd try live storytelling to see if I could recreate the mental systems they used for my own stories. Gives new meaning to having created a series of stories.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.28 — How difficult is it for you to write characters whose taste in art/books/music/television etc are vastly different from your own?

I think it is consistent with this question to mention characters whose understanding of mathematics is vastly different from my own. They see beauty in the numbers. Aesthetics of the solutions are important. These people can do force tensor operations in their heads necessary to figure out how to tip over a locomotive without tearing it apart, or imagine the mathematics of a singularity to build a quantum black hole. Me, I have trouble with my multiplication tables, though I can still do algebra and did learn calculus (though I never plugged in the numbers correctly). As you can imagine, I have to approach their narration very carefully and tangentially so as to be imaginatively vague yet believable. I think I've mostly succeeded.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.28 — How difficult is it for you to write characters whose taste in art/books/music/television etc are vastly different from your own?

I think it is consistent with this question to mention characters whose understanding of mathematics is vastly different from my own. They see beauty in the numbers. Aesthetics of the solutions are important. These people can do force tensor operations in their heads necessary to figure out how to tip over a locomotive without tearing it apart, or imagine the mathematics of a singularity to build a quantum black hole. Me, I have trouble with my multiplication tables, though I can still do algebra and did learn calculus (though I never plugged in the numbers correctly). As you can imagine, I have to approach their narration very carefully and tangentially so as to be imaginatively vague yet believable. I think I've mostly succeeded.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.27 — What's a writerly growing pain you're experiencing right now?

Trying to concentrate on reviewing the novel and not getting bogged down in revising it at the same time, which takes 20x longer. I think I'm procrastinating trying to avoid writing the tough parts, but I dunno. I've only be at this since the 1970s.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.27 — What's a writerly growing pain you're experiencing right now?

Trying to concentrate on reviewing the novel and not getting bogged down in revising it at the same time, which takes 20x longer. I think I'm procrastinating trying to avoid writing the tough parts, but I dunno. I've only be at this since the 1970s.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.27 — Have your MCs held onto any objects from their childhoods?

It's not that Bolt might not be sentimental, it's that she vandalized a business and then ran from the constables. She's never been home since.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.27 — Have your MCs held onto any objects from their childhoods?

It's not that Bolt might not be sentimental, it's that she vandalized a business and then ran from the constables. She's never been home since.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1083 — Are you pleased with the way the various relationships between the cast of characters are developing throughout your WIP?

Pleased? Yes? Happy? Well, I know in real life happy endings are few, and precious, and require work. My characters, including the antagonists, despite generally being people you would want to know or you'd like to see redeeming themselves, have their own agendas, fears, and tolerances and have to choose what's best for them and theirs. They can't all just get along. One LI has hit the breaking point and we're about to see whether or not the MC is selfish enough to get in the way of the LI leaving. The results will put stress on her to act and to change. A good story will have sad parts.

=-=-=-=-=
† I'm aiming for the cozy sub-genre.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1083 — Are you pleased with the way the various relationships between the cast of characters are developing throughout your WIP?

Pleased? Yes? Happy? Well, I know in real life happy endings are few, and precious, and require work. My characters, including the antagonists, despite generally being people you would want to know or you'd like to see redeeming themselves, have their own agendas, fears, and tolerances and have to choose what's best for them and theirs. They can't all just get along. One LI has hit the breaking point and we're about to see whether or not the MC is selfish enough to get in the way of the LI leaving. The results will put stress on her to act and to change. A good story will have sad parts.

=-=-=-=-=
† I'm aiming for the cozy sub-genre.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.26 — Do you have other works waiting in the wings? How many?

Beyond Reluctant Courier? Yes. 13.

Mostly to spur myself on:

Reluctant Moon WIP
Reluctant Fighter WIP
Mars Needed Women Beta
Inklings Hiatus
Zeezahsah Rewrite
Tears Rewrite
Balance I, II, III Rewrite
Trees I, II Rewrite
Motherhood Rewrite
Emeraline Re-publication

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.26 — Do you have other works waiting in the wings? How many?

Beyond Reluctant Courier? Yes. 13.

Mostly to spur myself on:

Reluctant Moon WIP
Reluctant Fighter WIP
Mars Needed Women Beta
Inklings Hiatus
Zeezahsah Rewrite
Tears Rewrite
Balance I, II, III Rewrite
Trees I, II Rewrite
Motherhood Rewrite
Emeraline Re-publication

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1082 — What is something your SC is reluctant to tell others?

Reluctant to tell? It's not that Steamed Milk and Sugar is a man who figured out very early that he was a girl not a boy. Proving he's in the wrong body was always a hard sell in a society where he's seen as encroaching on breadwinner women's jobs by being an aspiring journalist. Men usually only do physical or low skilled jobs, and certainly not ones where they could express aggression. He proved he has the chops as a journalist running the high school paper and (surprising to everyone) earning a journalism degree. He grew up around women, supporting other women, and gaining their trust and friendship. Still, he's perpetually proving to new people he's not some kook man who thinks too highly of himself, pretending to be a woman for ulterior motives.

What he's reluctant to tell others is that while he's a woman in a wrong body, he's also attracted to them, too.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1082 — What is something your SC is reluctant to tell others?

Reluctant to tell? It's not that Steamed Milk and Sugar is a man who figured out very early that he was a girl not a boy. Proving he's in the wrong body was always a hard sell in a society where he's seen as encroaching on breadwinner women's jobs by being an aspiring journalist. Men usually only do physical or low skilled jobs, and certainly not ones where they could express aggression. He proved he has the chops as a journalist running the high school paper and (surprising to everyone) earning a journalism degree. He grew up around women, supporting other women, and gaining their trust and friendship. Still, he's perpetually proving to new people he's not some kook man who thinks too highly of himself, pretending to be a woman for ulterior motives.

What he's reluctant to tell others is that while he's a woman in a wrong body, he's also attracted to them, too.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.26 — If you were to metaphorically assign your non-culinary creative work a flavo(u)r, what would it be?

Salty. With a hint of iodine. With dots of red sauce. Yep, like a freshly shucked oyster laid lovingly upon shaved ice with wedge of fragrant slightly-squeezed lemon on the side, glistening in the sunlight, ready to eat.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.26 — If you were to metaphorically assign your non-culinary creative work a flavo(u)r, what would it be?

Salty. With a hint of iodine. With dots of red sauce. Yep, like a freshly shucked oyster laid lovingly upon shaved ice with wedge of fragrant slightly-squeezed lemon on the side, glistening in the sunlight, ready to eat.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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photographer chef cooking
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#WordWeavers 2026.07.26 — Do any of your MCs have nicknames? How did they get them?

I have one MC and nobody gives her a nickname. Her name is Bolt. Lightning Bolt.

She does have nicknames for practically the whole cast, though, especially since names are descriptive and sometimes long. Since I figure the SC version of this question will eventually show up, I'll leave those for a later time.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.26 — Do any of your MCs have nicknames? How did they get them?

I have one MC and nobody gives her a nickname. Her name is Bolt. Lightning Bolt.

She does have nicknames for practically the whole cast, though, especially since names are descriptive and sometimes long. Since I figure the SC version of this question will eventually show up, I'll leave those for a later time.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1081 — About the MC: If they’ve had any, discuss their mad crushes, first kisses, etc.

Fundamentals of how the culture is constructed makes many of the things asked about in this question way less personally important and therefore much less memorable than in our culture. First times are events that good families ensure go well for their children, with school curricula filling in beyond that, with the aim of raising functional happily human adults. Doesn't always work, of course, which also comes up in the book. Nonetheless, as a result nobody doesn't know what to do or how their bodies work, but what we consider romantic or erotic doesn't hold the same excitement for them that it does for us. Bolt wouldn't remember her first kiss, any more than other firsts at school like the first time she was praised for reading aloud in class, but in the novel she does remember the first time she was needled for not sharing boys.

…Another lost memory surfaced of me at an eatery near school, aftergaming with my track team rowdy behind me, me preening in front of a skeptical cook at a smokey grill: "I can't have too many men; women need to compete better," but now I was thirty [not seventeen]…

Different priorities.

However, I decided to write the current WIP because I realized that Bolt will end up with a crush on someone, which will feel romantic to the reader (despite early consummation) but in her culture will demonstrate a level of attachment that's atypical and frowned upon†. It should evolve from how Bolt's many traumas resolve in the story. Whilst foreshadowed, I haven't written the crush, yet.

=-=-=-=-=-=
† Nobody will care that her crush is a woman. Oddly, the crush would be considered worse were it on a man.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#ai #chatGPT So, the new pitch is to teach students how to cheat without getting caught? Makes sense…🤔

#boostingIsSharing #altText

#artificialIntelligence #llms #claude #gemini

#ai #chatGPT So, the new pitch is to teach students how to cheat without getting caught? Makes sense…🤔

#boostingIsSharing #altText

#artificialIntelligence #llms #claude #gemini

#WordWeavers 2026.07.25 — What wrong assumption do people make about your MC?

There's the intentional impression and the inadvertent.

Intentional

People worry she might be violent.

Bolt is proverbial "the messenger" that worries about being killed. She's a mob courier. Being beaten up once was once too many times. She keeps herself lean and is muscular for a woman. She spikes up her hair, uses hair dye and body paint, wears jewelry that looks like chains, piercings, leather, etc. All for effect. Challenged, she'll run every time.

Inadvertent

First impressions are boastful, shallow, selfish, on the prowl, likely a lower working class boor.

When not working—when not outfitted to look tough—she looks like a former high school jock who has aged extremely well but is not notably beautiful. Men will say yes to her. Well, the libido part is correct, but she's quite vulnerable, values friends, enjoys teaching (especially men), and—despite working for the mob—demonstrates integrity. She agrees when asked that she's stupid, but it's not really so. She's thinking of the mistakes she made in her life. In areas of photography, athletics, and especially flying, she's well studied and practiced.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.25 — What wrong assumption do people make about your MC?

There's the intentional impression and the inadvertent.

Intentional

People worry she might be violent.

Bolt is proverbial "the messenger" that worries about being killed. She's a mob courier. Being beaten up once was once too many times. She keeps herself lean and is muscular for a woman. She spikes up her hair, uses hair dye and body paint, wears jewelry that looks like chains, piercings, leather, etc. All for effect. Challenged, she'll run every time.

Inadvertent

First impressions are boastful, shallow, selfish, on the prowl, likely a lower working class boor.

When not working—when not outfitted to look tough—she looks like a former high school jock who has aged extremely well but is not notably beautiful. Men will say yes to her. Well, the libido part is correct, but she's quite vulnerable, values friends, enjoys teaching (especially men), and—despite working for the mob—demonstrates integrity. She agrees when asked that she's stupid, but it's not really so. She's thinking of the mistakes she made in her life. In areas of photography, athletics, and especially flying, she's well studied and practiced.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

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#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

RE: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/116977832504515561

#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.25 — What's something you feel you've gotten better at with your creative work this year?

Yesterday's answer is as much as I'll say.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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RE: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/116977832504515561

#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.25 — What's something you feel you've gotten better at with your creative work this year?

Yesterday's answer is as much as I'll say.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.25 — Call &Response: What are your techniques for getting out of having written yourself into a corner. Everyone: Have you tried this? What do you do instead?

1. I find the offending text, move it to scrap if significant, then write it again from scratch. I do that for sections from a few paragraphs to chapter. I've done this four times for the first chapter of the WIP (not serially, but over the year), approaching the same material from different viewpoints, emphasizing different things each time. Bolt has to be a talented photographer in the wrong place at the right time. The current first chapter is now photorealistically vivid, so when she encounters a disaster she's identifiable as capable and dedicated to her craft by those she encounters.

2. For major plot holes—like the current one where in events B, C, D, event D gets mentioned as happening before B and after C—I bite the bullet and outline what I have, including, vaguely, the unwritten parts that ought logically follow if the characters don't pull me elsewhere. When I have a full sense of the story, I realign sections until the timeline is straightened out. I'm a pantser, so I must be vague about the missing parts else I might lose interest in the story.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1080 — Do any unseen forces have power within your universe?

Wait. There's a lot of ways to parse that question!

Are there unseen forces? Yes. Earth didn't get to be in it's current state by magic. The story is SF.

Are there unseen forces? Yes. By definition, they are unseen forces. Like gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak forces, they are additional forces unseen but felt by humans.

Are there unseen forces? Yes. The Wildings are annoyed the Domestics (all of us, but specifically farmers) aren't sticking to the Sunny Armistice and conflict may yet erupt. Additionally, another type of human is working behind the scenes. This would be important in sequels.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1080 — Do any unseen forces have power within your universe?

Wait. There's a lot of ways to parse that question!

Are there unseen forces? Yes. Earth didn't get to be in it's current state by magic. The story is SF.

Are there unseen forces? Yes. By definition, they are unseen forces. Like gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak forces, they are additional forces unseen but felt by humans.

Are there unseen forces? Yes. The Wildings are annoyed the Domestics (all of us, but specifically farmers) aren't sticking to the Sunny Armistice and conflict may yet erupt. Additionally, another type of human is working behind the scenes. This would be important in sequels.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.24 — What's something you feel you've gotten better at with your creative work this month?

I think I am getting better at hearing myself when I tell myself that a completed story is easier to revise than an incomplete one, and is less likely to make me feel bad about not completing it.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.24 — What's something you feel you've gotten better at with your creative work this month?

I think I am getting better at hearing myself when I tell myself that a completed story is easier to revise than an incomplete one, and is less likely to make me feel bad about not completing it.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.23 /2 — What’s something no one would guess about your most dangerous character?

Oh, better…

The main series antagonist was born in a deeply patriarchal society. She bought into having a marriage arranged for her, bearing sons, caring for a husband, and wearing head to foot clothing when out of the household. But her mother died. She had to raise her autistic twin brother, learned to read (taboo) and do magic (very special magic) to teach her brother. The town sheriff regrets f-ing with her to force her to marry him, and interfering with her brother; he ends up marrying her anyway, but under very unfavorable circumstances— oops, spoilers.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.23 /2 — What’s something no one would guess about your most dangerous character?

Oh, better…

The main series antagonist was born in a deeply patriarchal society. She bought into having a marriage arranged for her, bearing sons, caring for a husband, and wearing head to foot clothing when out of the household. But her mother died. She had to raise her autistic twin brother, learned to read (taboo) and do magic (very special magic) to teach her brother. The town sheriff regrets f-ing with her to force her to marry him, and interfering with her brother; he ends up marrying her anyway, but under very unfavorable circumstances— oops, spoilers.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.24 — Should a reader be forewarned about any and all erotic content, no matter how small?

If you have a publisher for your work, they will take care of this. They want to sell through their investment. They will decide. Try not to interfere.

If you self-publish, learn who your audience is, and the tolerance of those that host or print your content. Use this as a guide. Since you will suffer the brunt of your mistakes, I suggest you choose conservatively whether to warn. This means also that, depending on the venue, saying a product is erotic and it isn't sufficiently so could be ruinous.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.24 — Antagonist POV: What has the power to instantly irritate you?

I know everyone will happily find some reason they can say I'm evil. All true, of course; spin doesn't change fact, and nobody cares about the good in my reasons. What really burns, however, is when they (always men) imply I'm failing at something because I'm a woman. I was born in a time when I was breeding stock because of my gender, yet here I am impeding their greedy plans. I'll remind them to review what incidents started the Dragon Wars and how well that ended for the dragons that goaded me.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.24 — Antagonist POV: What has the power to instantly irritate you?

I know everyone will happily find some reason they can say I'm evil. All true, of course; spin doesn't change fact, and nobody cares about the good in my reasons. What really burns, however, is when they (always men) imply I'm failing at something because I'm a woman. I was born in a time when I was breeding stock because of my gender, yet here I am impeding their greedy plans. I'll remind them to review what incidents started the Dragon Wars and how well that ended for the dragons that goaded me.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#uspol #pardon #trump #corruption Corporations are people. Makes sense Trump would pardon them for crimes…

From Trump Creates the Corporate Pardon https://newrepublic.com/article/213393/trump-corporate-pardons-rise

BitMEX. The three co-founders of the company, a pioneer in crypto derivatives, all pleaded guilty in 2022 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires maintaining certain safeguards against money laundering. Each paid $10 million in fines. Then, in July 2024, BitMEX itself pleaded guilty to the same crime, and this past January the company was fined $100 million.

Something else of interest happened in January. BitMEX created a swap listing tied to the $TRUMP memecoin. Two months later, Trump pardoned the co-founders and the company. The pardon didn’t appear in time to spare the co-founders from paying $30 million, but it was just in time for BitMEX itself to avoid paying the $100 million fine, since the deadline was later that week. Before Trump, pardons and commutations did not spare recipients from having to fork over unpaid penalties. (Once a fine is paid, it’s non-recoverable unless Congress appropriates the money.)

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#PennedPossibilities 1079 — Tell us (rather vaguely) about a secret that burdens one of your characters. Does it leave them feeling isolated?

She ran away from home. If she's discovered, they'll drag her back. There are some powers in the world you don't want to fight; those who controlled her life were worse. Not being recognized badly circumscribes what she can do, who she can confide in. Mixed magical martial arts prizefighters wear costumes, however…

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1079 — Tell us (rather vaguely) about a secret that burdens one of your characters. Does it leave them feeling isolated?

She ran away from home. If she's discovered, they'll drag her back. There are some powers in the world you don't want to fight; those who controlled her life were worse. Not being recognized badly circumscribes what she can do, who she can confide in. Mixed magical martial arts prizefighters wear costumes, however…

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.23 — What’s something no one would guess about your most dangerous character?

The main series antagonist wants to retire. Whenever she can, she tries training people to replace her. Problem is she would be handing over responsibility for keeping humanity from going extinct. You don't want to be her student.

What? You expected something soft and cuddly? We already know she likes tea parties…

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.23 — What’s something no one would guess about your most dangerous character?

The main series antagonist wants to retire. Whenever she can, she tries training people to replace her. Problem is she would be handing over responsibility for keeping humanity from going extinct. You don't want to be her student.

What? You expected something soft and cuddly? We already know she likes tea parties…

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#tech #uspol #uae #foreignpolicy Keep this in mind when the wars break out in the late 20s and 30s that money caused those casualties. From Trump Ignored Warning about Giving the UAE Sensitive Tech https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2026/Items/Jul23-2.html

Last year, the DOC, which is run by Donald Trump's good buddy Howard Lutnick, agreed to sell the U.A.E. 35,000 of Nvidia's most advanced chips. The new move includes advanced chips, but also military equipment, satellite components and parts used in nuclear reactors. This is one of the most consequential foreign policy decisions in years, and it is hard to see how it benefits Americans, other than perhaps some who knew about it in advance and could load up early on the stocks of the companies making the equipment to be sold.

Much of the tech will be sold to an Abu Dhabi-based company, G42, that is involved with AI infrastructure and cloud computing. It is run by Peng Xiao, a Chinese-born American executive who renounced his U.S. citizenship to become an Emirati national. Other top G42 staffers also have close ties with China and Chinese tech companies. The whole thing has been a giant red flag for years and previous presidents have carefully avoided handing critical U.S. tech to the U.A.E. Now Trump has discarded that and eagerly wants to do business with the U.A.E., none of whose leaders are known for their morality or scruples.

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#tech #uspol #uae #foreignpolicy Keep this in mind when the wars break out in the late 20s and 30s that money caused those casualties. From Trump Ignored Warning about Giving the UAE Sensitive Tech https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2026/Items/Jul23-2.html

Last year, the DOC, which is run by Donald Trump's good buddy Howard Lutnick, agreed to sell the U.A.E. 35,000 of Nvidia's most advanced chips. The new move includes advanced chips, but also military equipment, satellite components and parts used in nuclear reactors. This is one of the most consequential foreign policy decisions in years, and it is hard to see how it benefits Americans, other than perhaps some who knew about it in advance and could load up early on the stocks of the companies making the equipment to be sold.

Much of the tech will be sold to an Abu Dhabi-based company, G42, that is involved with AI infrastructure and cloud computing. It is run by Peng Xiao, a Chinese-born American executive who renounced his U.S. citizenship to become an Emirati national. Other top G42 staffers also have close ties with China and Chinese tech companies. The whole thing has been a giant red flag for years and previous presidents have carefully avoided handing critical U.S. tech to the U.A.E. Now Trump has discarded that and eagerly wants to do business with the U.A.E., none of whose leaders are known for their morality or scruples.

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.23 — How much erotic content can a work have without being considered erotica?

That's asking a question on the quantitative axis instead of the qualitative axis. Reader tolerances or demands matter. Each publisher will have their own standards, ultimately. To put a point on it, I'm pretty sure most of us could write a steamy erotic story where "nothing" physical happens between the characters, or a really good, for example, non-erotic murder mystery that takes place in the porn industry, on sets, with the investigator one of the actors "investigating" thoroughly. Qualitatively, it all depends on whether what happens matters for plot advancement or for "spice level." However, you push standards at your own risk.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.23 — How much erotic content can a work have without being considered erotica?

That's asking a question on the quantitative axis instead of the qualitative axis. Reader tolerances or demands matter. Each publisher will have their own standards, ultimately. To put a point on it, I'm pretty sure most of us could write a steamy erotic story where "nothing" physical happens between the characters, or a really good, for example, non-erotic murder mystery that takes place in the porn industry, on sets, with the investigator one of the actors "investigating" thoroughly. Qualitatively, it all depends on whether what happens matters for plot advancement or for "spice level." However, you push standards at your own risk.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1078 — MC POV: Where did you learn your most valuable skill? Who taught it to you?

My most valuable? Well, my uncle pushed me off a cliff when I was nearly ten, but it was Mom who actually taught me to fly.

Huh? Why don't I consider my photography more valuable? It could be valuable, and it's making me good coin suddenly. I'd be stupid not to continue doing it. Of course, doing stupid things is what I'm best at, which is why I have to do what I am told, and count it a little victory any time I can do my street photography.

What? [Bolt smirks.] Flying tandem? Not. Exactly. Valuable, but it depends on your priorities! None other than daredevils and stunt flyers need to apply. I taught myself how, which is a great way to learn a valuable skill, right? Violates all the flight safety rules they teach you in primary school, so it ain't easy to unlearn a few things. My first time tandem was with a crazy guy from my Flight and Field club, but once I perfected it, other willing students showed up because Crazy Feather crowed all over school how I made it worth his while. (And he, mine.) Blue was my latest student, and he got accepted as a praetorian thanks to the skills I taught him. [She smiles.] We do it for fun and he makes it well worth my while.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1078 — MC POV: Where did you learn your most valuable skill? Who taught it to you?

My most valuable? Well, my uncle pushed me off a cliff when I was nearly ten, but it was Mom who actually taught me to fly.

Huh? Why don't I consider my photography more valuable? It could be valuable, and it's making me good coin suddenly. I'd be stupid not to continue doing it. Of course, doing stupid things is what I'm best at, which is why I have to do what I am told, and count it a little victory any time I can do my street photography.

What? [Bolt smirks.] Flying tandem? Not. Exactly. Valuable, but it depends on your priorities! None other than daredevils and stunt flyers need to apply. I taught myself how, which is a great way to learn a valuable skill, right? Violates all the flight safety rules they teach you in primary school, so it ain't easy to unlearn a few things. My first time tandem was with a crazy guy from my Flight and Field club, but once I perfected it, other willing students showed up because Crazy Feather crowed all over school how I made it worth his while. (And he, mine.) Blue was my latest student, and he got accepted as a praetorian thanks to the skills I taught him. [She smiles.] We do it for fun and he makes it well worth my while.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.22 — If your MC could steal one thing without consequences, what would it be?

I'd wager the intent of the question is to gauge the honesty of our MCs, but Bolt is a criminal (involuntary) and wouldn't think twice. She was blackmailed into working for the mob; she'd steal the blackmail evidence Boss Mead has on her.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.22 — If your MC could steal one thing without consequences, what would it be?

I'd wager the intent of the question is to gauge the honesty of our MCs, but Bolt is a criminal (involuntary) and wouldn't think twice. She was blackmailed into working for the mob; she'd steal the blackmail evidence Boss Mead has on her.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1077 — How important is technology to the daily lives of people in your world or universe?

Important. Daily. In most respects, their world seems as modern and urbanized as ours. Bolt uses lighting technology to light her home. Though she can fly, she takes the metro with a friend who doesn't have wings. She takes an elevator and converses with the elevator operator. They have bullet trains and interstellar colonies… but not electricity.

Still tech. They depend on it.

They even have computers, but I suggest you search for original meaning of computer.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1077 — How important is technology to the daily lives of people in your world or universe?

Important. Daily. In most respects, their world seems as modern and urbanized as ours. Bolt uses lighting technology to light her home. Though she can fly, she takes the metro with a friend who doesn't have wings. She takes an elevator and converses with the elevator operator. They have bullet trains and interstellar colonies… but not electricity.

Still tech. They depend on it.

They even have computers, but I suggest you search for original meaning of computer.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.22 — Are the limits of what is considered 'erotic' more or less universal?

No. Simply looking at what clothing is allowed women in conservative cultures versus liberal (to protect their virtue, supposedly) shows what will be fetishized and eroticized by those restricted to those cultures. That sample alone proves the rule. Attempts to restrict human sexuality fail against the human instinct to procreate.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.21 — Do your works contain erotic elements? How far do you go?

The dictionaries I surveyed are pretty explicit and in agreement about this word. Below find the definition from the The Oxford Learner's Dictionary. I feel it is the most encompassing one and, I think, the most consistent with this question:

Erotic adj: showing or involving sexual desire and pleasure; intended to make somebody feel sexual desire

In this case clause A can exist exclusive of clause B. So, my first answer is yes, but the current WIP isn't an erotic work.

As for my second answer: My MC was a track and field star in high school with a tuned body to show for it, with a great personality, able to attract any partner and did, and kept them, and boasted dozens. Still a hick, often sexist, sometimes prejudiced. Ends up a criminal. The story takes place when the MC is turning 30.

She's a woman. I write gender fiction.

Her perceptions of what is right in her society are what's important. What people consider right contrasts starkly with what we do, especially gender roles. Her experiences must ring true. The story isn't about sex. It certainly doesn't use common bodice-ripper or porn vernacular (it takes place on a different world) but the narrator doesn't fade to black. Why would she want to? She's proud. In a sense, she's boasting since the story has the flavor of the 1st person narrator conversing with the reader. It's also confessional. Yet, the narrator needs to convince the reader what she reports did happened—and sometimes, as a day angel with flying scenes, that what she reported was physically possible. Details? Right? There's her why, her joy, her worries, her confusion as to why she acts, and her justifications from inside her head amidst all the turmoil in her life.

If the reader gathers what physically happened between the characters, good. Not the purpose. It's plot advancement. If, further, the reader enjoys what they figure out happened, fine. Everyone is acting in the confines of their gender roles, arguably acting out, or sometimes exceeding self-imposed limits and finding meaning in and tolerance for the unfamiliar, which is thought provoking. Which is my intent.

How this works in practice (not-explicit): #excerpt

Bad enough that the Thousand Eyes associated me with Shugh. Me riding him, too? I wasn't sure I wanted not to. My body had its opinion, my brain another. Another lost memory surfaced of me at an eatery near school, aftergaming with my track team rowdy behind me, me preening in front of a skeptical cook at a smokey grill: "I can't have too many men; women need to compete better," but now I was thirty. I'd feel really bad if I hurt Shugh…

Her attitude about sex here is matter-of-fact and neutral. From our point of view? Some readers might find how she thinks about her passions erotic.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.20 — If your antagonist could improve one thing about themself, what would it be?

[Yes, I plan redemption arcs for my antagonists. Not saying they're easy to earn, or if they'll grow to deserve them.—R]

Improve himself? Learn how to make real friends, or figure out some way to do so. His current life as the goose that laid the golden egg is certainly comfortable, but lonely. His interlude with his courier (the woman MC of the story) made his loneliness worse because though she clearly hated him, she set that aside and demonstratively enjoyed having fun with him while remaining unerringly direct and open in their conversation, and now, that she's left, the house seems hollow. He knew what she felt. He's even thought of giving her all of the evidence he blackmailed her with, to see how she'd react, if maybe he could get her to join with him—but the syndicate that's made him its beating heart might react badly if she could freely leave if she chose to. His action might make her less safe, no, undoubtedly it would. He knows it's a bad idea. How can he make friends when he's as trapped by his own machinations as those he's trapped?

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1076 — What challenge does your MC dread even if they wouldn’t run from it? Why does it stand out?

Bolt has grown to accept her life as no longer her own, She's the messenger; people she delivers to want to kill her for that reason. She grows fond of a coworker, an increasingly very obviously dangerous daemon enforcer, blackmailed into taking the job, actually a young woman, a thaumaturgy student. Bolt is tasked with passing orders. The enforcer wants to be left alone to study and, as their boss tries to entrap the enforcer into worse criminal acts, she increasingly takes out her ire on Bolt until Bolt dreads delivering her blue envelopes. Bolt feels they're fish caught in the same net trying not to be lifted from the water, so she continues to like her coworker and tries to be friends.

It's not easy.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#Writephant 2026.nnnn — 2026.07.20 — A4 Have you ever seen something in the sky that you couldn’t explain? What would it take to convince you that extraterrestrials exist?

I'm not an astronomy know-all, but I've always eventually been able to explain it. I start out skeptical, but my first time seeing a Falcon rocket launch immediately after sunset felt pretty anomalous.

I could be convinced extraterrestrials exist if they would directly contact us and meet up at least optically (telescopes not digital signals humans could counterfeit). demonstrating the technology to travel the distance or at least displaying their biological selves. It is ridiculous to thing aliens will come here to sneak around. Traveling to Earth requires an immense investment in time and energy. If they're here, they'll make sure we know. Just because people want to believe UFOs exist—consistent with how in past centuries people wanted us to believe in visits from angels or the virgin Mary—and to facilitate that propose physics-defying science to make it possible doesn't make that science exist through logical deduction.

It can make for good stories, tho.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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