#commentingiscool — Public Fediverse posts

#ScribesAndMakers 2025.08.17 — What's your favorite instrument?

The pen.

It is far mightier than the sword.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.08.16 — If you had to live solely off of food you could grow yourself, how well would you be eating?

I'd have starved.

I do grow strawberries. In the past squash and tomatoes, but farming? Heck, no. In our climate zone, everything (except the strawberries) gets downy mildew or similar fungus and DIES HORRIBLY.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.08.11 — Have you ever exhibited artwork in a public place?

Yes. I entered this on in a contest and it got accepted for exhibit.

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#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 14 Nbr 18 — Do you read scripts? Would you try writing a script or screenplay?

I don't read scripts.

When my agent optioned a novel of mine, I decided it might be a good idea to create a script from that novel. Nice to have a screenwriting credit, right? I thought, how hard can it be?

I learned the hard way that there is a lot of skill required, and the ability to chunk down a novel-sized idea into its essence, to create a limited number of scenes that abstract its most important story lines whilst preserving the feel of the original novel. I did not have that ability. At that time, I couldn't write anything shorter than 100,000 words. To be able to write a script, not only do you have to have facility with dialogue, which I do, you need to be able to write very concise scenes.

I am not going to try writing a script or screenplay without being hired ahead of time and given somebody to help tutor me to do the best I can.

I suspect that won't happen.

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#EngenderedWriting 92 — How would it change society if women were and had always been physically stronger than men? CW: Patriarchy dissected.

It's a fun idea, and I know authors who are making it work. Still, my opinion, if strength is the only factor I am not sure it would have resulted in a society substantially different than our own. I'll analyze it for you authors so you can rewrite history.

It takes more than strength to make two people evenly matched. (I've been researching prizefighting.) Arm reach is the difference between your punch being blocked and being able to hit with few injuries. Speed and stamina matter. Weight and inertia matter. Think wrestling. All are more important than quantitative strength. This is why there are weight classes in most combative sports.

Unfortunately, women have a smaller stature on average. Weapons are an equalizer here, especially if women can wield heavier weapons than their male opponents. In a fantasy context, magic could be an equalizer. The male tendency toward aggression in aggregate could tip the scales if overwhelming force is applied.

The Indo-Europeans might have invented the concept of controlling women's sexuality to ensure a man could guarantee the paternity of a child and thus make passing property only down the male line arguably reasonable. This usurps matriarchy. This is the true definition of patriarchy. Theories are that Indo-Europeans attacked pre-existing matrilineal societies. There is archeological evidence of prior societies that seem to have been lead by women. Their demise might be the genocides hinted at in the Bible. Who would win (or would have won) if women were significantly stronger?

Women do have their advantages. Arguably speed due to less inertia, especially with added strength. Not natively aggressive in general, they might be better able to pick the winnable fights while angry men might be thinking emotionally. Flexibility. A greater biological investment in offspring might make women less likely to look at fighting as a game, the way men to this day are prone to do (not all of them, of course). For men, fighting can be fun. The danger is a gamble, but we understand the psychology of gambling, too.

For women a fight that includes protecting genetic family from child killers is never a game. Remember that paternity is imperative to a patriarch, more than life itself. A woman, especially one who's stronger than a man her size, might fixate on the death of an attacker and become ruthless. Protecting one's child changes the concept of mercy and surrender. Are either even reasonable?

We aren't those precursor matrilineal people anymore, so it's hard to characterize what could have happened were women stronger. I didn't address women's language skills or diplomacy as these aren't strength dependent, and did not prevent the obliteration of matrilineal societies by the Indo-Europeans. What I've listed are things I'd consider if I were to rewrite history with only one change: Women being stronger.

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#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 12 Nbr 15 FEV— Have you used any form of AI to help in creating your work? Do you have a red line? Where is it? Full Essay Version

I've been around long enough that I remember when the #Altair 8080 (the first commercial personal computer) got a full page ad in Scientific American. My BFF and I talked about it after school (11th grade, I think?) for hours. I had my own slimline phone on my own extension. I was a privileged kid. The #computer club had a teletype connection to a computer that ran #BASIC. We also had access to an #IBM mainframe assembler using #MIS (pencil in) punch cards. A friend built an #IMSAI 8080 with 256 bytes of memory and it played songs we could listen to by tuning to part of the FM band influenced by the frequency of bits passing through the memory buss.

Why do I bring this up? The first things we programmed (after ping-pong on the toggle switch lights, Star Trek, and later adventure games) where types of artificial intelligence. We've been "teaching" computers to "think" for us since we could rip them away from the greedy money grubbers who wanted to do things like accounting and payroll. Current concepts of AI rely on pattern matching against databases, in very simplified terms. Early #AI were procedural, and if it solved your math problem, spelled your word correctly, or found data in the noise, it was intelligent. It is inescapable that unless we write longhand or type on a typewriter, that we have used what someone terms AI.

Anybody remember Clippy?

The key to this question, and how I am going to take it, is to focus on the word "creating." To me, that highlights generating something. Text. Graphics. Though this implies #genAI (the current thing, something like #Diffusion or #ChatGPT). It also means graphic tools that I use to remove and add image elements to photos, or otherwise intelligently improve them in ways I could imagine but was previously incapable due to lack of talent, practice, or understanding of the unenhanced tools.

As for text, I remember once writing a chatbot psychologist. IF-THEN-ELSE. In BASIC, back in high school or it may have been in an equivalent language on a DEC-10 at university. It did not pass the Turing Test, but it could lift one's mood, which could help with me "creating" work!

I've no interest in using something like chatGPT to build a story from prompts. It would be the program's story, not mine. It would be a Cliff Notes version of an unwritten story, summarized, never provided a soul, before even being written. Because these things work by pattern matching and predicting what would be the next word (based on an average of everybody's writing or specific genres or authors), it would be pure statistical fabrication—not even fabulation, which implies creative fantasy. It would be a story with none of the emotion, feeling, or meaning I'd put into it. It would be phantom chatter masquerading as wit through statistical randomness. No enlightenment possible, except by accident.

As an author, why would I even try to replace myself, or create the tools for others to try to do the same? I suspect people that do, do so as I wrote above because they are "incapable due to lack of talent, practice, or understanding of the tools." I'll add, also laziness, though I tar myself with the same brush as I wrote above.

Never discount greed. Authors cost money. Computers cost once.

In any case, the AI tools built into the software I do use barely save me time as it is. I can't start a dictation with the 1st person personal pronoun on any of my systems. Statistically, more people start dictation with "Hi" then "I," so I always have to correct that. Thanks to auto-incorrect, even the words I spell correctly (few enough as it is) get changed. In this very article, the tool insisted I had a "teletype connection to a commuter!" Not only do I have to be aware of my own tendency toward grammar issues and typos, I have to proof for AI typos, including chaining typos since the tools keep track of some meaning and can spawn a hellacious brew of misconception and embarrassment should it slip out to readers. I know what I mean to write. Sometimes I find myself overruled by my own tools.

Have I used AI? Not genAI. Procedural tools, yes. Not for willingly generating text.

Red line? Yes. No generating story or text. What's the point?

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#WordWeavers 9.18 — Do your characters worry about their health?

In TB&T, everyone's heath is vulnerable. It's damned if you help someone "sick" and damned if you don't situation. People worry about this because it not only changes your life, it changes you. That said, it is a well understood issue that most people can avoid. But not the MC.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2504.14 — Would you enjoy living in a creative village/house/shared accommodation? Or do you already?

The question did not ask if I had enjoyed living in a creative space (past tense).

I did.

I attended the Clarion Writers Workshop (Clarion West). It's for Speculative, SF, Fantasy, and (I think) Horror Genre writing. It's for professionals or professional wannabes. You have to submit work to qualify.

It was literally (pun intended) the best six weeks of my life as an author.

Don't get me wrong, selling is fabulous, but the feeling lasts only a moment (like sex). The sense of community and actually living the life of an author while attending the workshop cannot be beat.

We lived together (except for a few locals) in the dorms of a college in downtown Seattle, cooked together, used the showers together, had our own floor to ourselves. We spent many hours in the common areas gabbing and blue-skying. Mostly, however, we wrote.

Then read what others wrote.

Then critiqued. Learned how to do that well, learned how to anticipate certain critiques from specific authors and to fix our stuff (assuming we thought we need to), learned how to have a hard shell by accepting criticism that helped us, and rejecting what didn't. Largely, we also helped each other through our fears.

Week days we had a guest lecturer who was a professional writer or editor. One day a week, we attended readings, usually at Powell's, by a local writer, though once at an author's place (I think that was for Octavia Butler).

The feeling of community and support was amazing. One time I wrote a 15,000 word novella in 15 hours for critique the next day. That was my max output per hour or per day ever.

I never felt burnt out. Those six weeks seemed to compact six months of life into a short span. When I returned home, I barely recognized my surroundings or old life. Ask my spouse!

Highly Recommended

PS: After reading other responses I want to qualify that I am cripplingly shy, introverted, and write fiction that doesn't go much with my persona. Nobody knew my gender despite an enormous email thread until I arrived, and I got the nickname Ambiguous Spice (and Oblivious Spice) for a reason. I warmed quickly because these were people like me. Kinda weird, some introverted, some extroverted. All in love with words and stories. I warmed up quickly.

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#WritersCoffeeClub ! - Intro: Shameless Self Promotion. Tell us about yourself, your published work or WIP.

Hi! (Waves.)

I am a conventionally published #feminist #sf and #fantasy author. RS is a name my #Clarion friends knew me by, so if you are reading this direct message me and say hi! I intend to use RS as a pen name for my next generation #speculativefiction stories, in particular for what I call my Reluctance #sff series. I do write fanfiction, also, but I'm somewhat shy about talking about it. I wish to point out how thankful I am for discovering that outlet. It provided a speed-publishing microcosm in which I could write and get quick feedback. It allowed me to return from a complete authorial burnout at the turn of the millennium. (I'm so proud I can finally use that "turn of" phrase!) I hope to be retiring from my day job soon so I can focus exclusively on my novel writing.

Since I write a lot about gender issues, I purposely use language that masks my gender. Allowing a reader to freely know that bit of information, I feel, adds a subtext to anything I write. When I was growing up, I was an über fan of André Norton. Learning the author's gender had a profound affect on me. It's not that you cannot discover my gender if you dig, but I will make you think if you do so—like why is it important and does it color my perceptions?

My newer writing is subversive and often breaks societal conventions. Saying how would be spoilery. The greatest complement you can give me is that I made you think.

Everything else I've admitted about myself you can find pinned to my Mastodon profile, including a list of sample fiction I wrote for posting. As such, they are all no more than 800 words. Please check it out.


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#PennedPossibilities 357 — MC POV: Tell us about one of your bad habits.

Well, I'm... um... People around me know that I am very encouraging and equitable, distributing assignments on merit, listening to suggestions, reprimanding fairly, and demonstrating when necessary. I do tend to observe and evaluate everything. Thankfully, what I think, uh... emotionally in the moment, or angrily or in disappointment, doesn't leak out to effect how I treat people or change my decisions. I know better. Except when I have to deal with stupid. I have some tolerance for people who tease me, less for people who harass me for their own benefit, and almost none for those who work to provoke me—assuming I don't have to tolerate such treatment for the sake of my people or my objective.

When that happens, the snark inside leaks out. I wield my vocabulary like a weapon, which is better than using a fist. I remember this one time a guy wolf-whistled me. When he took exception to my ignoring him, he followed me, taunting me, doing everything from spewing a running commentary for his companions on my "curves," and lack thereof, to trying to lift my skirt. I acted stupid, bubbly even to diffuse his interest—but I was trained enough to be faster at dodging than him grabbing. Made him try harder. I'm afraid my retorts, while sounding stupid, had vocabulary above his head. When he asked my name, I said, "Gelding." Then told him, "It's a verb."

He understood that one. Not happy. Angry. Red faced. Made me grin.

Fortunately, he'd followed me into the territory of a rival gang. That I used my "magic" to push them together and start a fist fight made the evening all the more amusing! That led to more fun with his girlfriend who took exception to me somehow beguiling him in the first place. My fault, huh? Really? (#pennedpossibilites 356: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/112675803247963180)

Now that I think of it, all of it was great fun. I really enjoy when people give me permission to play with them!

Really is a bad habit!

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Yep, I make a template file each month that includes all the monthly questions for the #WritersCoffeeClub and #WordWeavers prompts. Cut/paste/delete: It's how I answer reliably and quickly; I minimize the repetitive parts.

I copy the questions to the template from the text source posted with the questions (thank you folks for doing that!), or in the case of #Writever, I OCR the text. I add my introductory lines with double-clickable replacement text and my hashtags so I don't have to bother with each post. See the example below.

To answer a prompt, I duplicate the template file and start writing! For prompts like #PennedPossibilites, I have a template file that I never have to change. I copy past the canonical question directly from @floofpaldi's post.

Below an example of my headers and hashtags. Note I haven't revised the hashtags specifically for this post. Normally I delete the non-applicable ones. I'm being illustrative. Sorry!

EXAMPLE: (For those that don't see it, there is a right facing angle bracket before the first hashtag for my signature formatting flourish.)

#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 9 Nbr nn — Question

text

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R.S. (@sfwrtr) #MastodonAnniversary — Nov 17, 2023

1 year ago, at the urging of an online friend and with a great deal of assistance, I joined Mastodon. It has been a journey of discovery, and plenty more, where I've met a great number of diverse authors and learned /so much/ about the craft and the experience of writing that my mind wants to explode. Along the way, I've met numerous artists—who I'm following as perspective cover artists, as well as for genuine inspiration—photographers, pundits, and other creatives. Every day has been fun. I've enjoyed answering your questions from my experience as a writer. As a shy introvert, who's somewhat #autistic, you've gifted me the opportunity to experience community very unlike my experience as an author, pre-Internet. I might not have burnt out and had to rediscover writing had I had you'all around.

So...

Thank you! ❤️

And to the 499 followers I've garnered, here's a special warm thanks: 💫 I don't award a gold star to just anyone! I hope I've entertained and inspired you along the way.

Any one want to be my 500th follower?

EDIT: @gryphonEschmidt got the honor, but you can still follow. 750 is the next target. 😇​

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Hashtags I follow:
#writingWonders #WordWeavers #PennedPossibilites #WritersCoffeeClub #TimeTravelAuthors #Writever

#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 6 Nbr 20 — What's the secret to writing a good blurb?

Since I have no secret, I'll give you what I would do. (Example below.)

• Pick an interesting cliffhanger, realization, or quote (or a combination) from the middle of your novel that stars your most empathetic character. Think of it as cover art in word form.

• Summarize it in five sentences.

• End with a "but they didn't know, or dreaded that they did know, " that they were "in danger, found a lover, or was being kidnapped, etc." type of last line.

• Do not explain place, politics, or personalities or /anything/ that could be considered /getting into the weeds/. Only "plain words" or "common genre jargon" may apply. No exceptions. This is the same rule for the first half page of a short story, and first three pages of a novel.

• If 3rd person, give a name for the reader to latch on to.

• If 1st person, make the 1st person POV sound like they know they are in deep doo-doo.

• Do give a hint of whether it is space opera, high fantasy, romance, historical, etc.

• If the story revolves around gender, gender roles, sexual preference, body image, eroticism, or other potentially niche sub-genres that would sell to your intended audience, or cause the wrong audience to never to read a story by you again, ensuring that's clear may be advisable. Your choice.

• You need to make the five sentences intrigue the reader. You may want to make them mysterious, also.

• You are under no obligation to explain the whole story. /So. Don't./

• It is okay for the blurb to mislead about the broader story so long as:

  1. The event happens as portrayed.
  2. How you portray it is valid in the context of the story.

/Keep it simple./

Example: (For /Inklings/)

/Beasts/ I could understand. /Beasts/ were straightforward in their dangerous natures. Not so much /human beasts/. Because Her Highness had figured out it was me who'd spoken to the red dragon and convinced it to stop setting farms afire, and that I lived amongst and hunted with wolves I'd also befriended, she forced me attend her magic university to learn to become more human. What I didn't know about acting like a "normal" human female wasn't simply embarrassing in society's eyes—like you don't wear only a loincloth in public—certain offenses could also get you killed.

Analysis:

• Five sentences, some much larger than others.
• First three sentences are a quote.
• They signal fantasy, as "magic" and "dragon" later do in plain genre jargon.
• "Human beast" is intriguing.
• Convincing a dragon makes the POV sound strong.
• Wolves makes POV sound dangerous.
• "Her Highness"is a name to latch on to and signals royalty.
• University suggests a milieu, modernity, and suggests character ages.
• "Befriended" says not in Kansas Toto and adds mystery.
• Loin cloth and embarrassment set body image issues and possibly nudity, possible suggestive content.
• Last sentence suggests POV is a fish out of water and is worried she might get killed despite seemingly powerful. It makes you wonder why and worry how?
• Events all taken from story, though emphasis is changed.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.06.06 — What’s your best dish? What are the ingredients and how do you make it?

Not going to say it is my best, but it is a new favorite invented by my spouse. It's super easy super tasty, and I want to share it with y'all.

Soufflé Hamburgers 🤤😋

This recipe creates fluffy tender moist burgers that almost fall apart. It is not suitable for the bbq grill. I've only pan cooked them, but the recipe might work in the oven. Practice raw meat and egg safety when making this.

Makes 4 large burgers.

Essentials:

• 2 eggs or 3 egg white portions (see criteria below)
• 20 oz of ground meat: beef, chicken, or turkey
• 1/2 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese; more to taste. Substitute similar cheese if desired

Add ins to taste:

• Your usual burger seasoning if not wet, or add salt and pepper being aware the cheese is a source of salt

Or mine:

• Fresh torn basil leaves, 6 or more
• Fresh chopped oregano, about a tsp minced or more
• Rosemary leaves chopped, 1/4 tsp or more
• Cloves of garlic minced fine — I use a tsp (1 clove) freeze dried, ground in a mortar
• 7 Black peppercorns ground in a mortar, or more

Preparation:

1. Mix (by hand recommended) ground meat in a bowl with egg
2. Mix in seasoning
3. Mix in cheese

This makes an intentionally soupy mixture (like a thick pea soup, but it mostly holds shape). If your meat is very dry, or your mixture isn't soupy, you may need to add more egg. For this reason, a carton of egg whites might be easier to work with.

Because of the soupiness, we often freeze between parchment paper 4 large burgers, then cook from frozen in a ceramic surface pan with a tiny bit of olive oil (enough to prevent sticking). However, you can ladle or spoon into a hot pan immediately. If so, you'll need slightly more oil. Be careful when turning to wait for the burger to harden on a side first.

These burgers cook much faster than you expect! Use your food thermometer.

Extra credit:

Place a bottle of cooking sake, red wine, or large glass of hot, preferably boiling, water together with a silicone cooking brush beside the stove. As the burger cooks, the fat browns and burns on the surface of the pan. This is part of the taste produced by the Maillard reaction, lost! Pour in at least an ounce of liquid (do not drown pan) and brush the pan as if deglazing, scrubbing up and dissolving all burnt or browned juices. Add enough that it doesn't boil away. Once the burger has a hard shell on top, brush the glaze on the burger. Repeat while flipping until the meat reaches doneness. I often start with the wine then when there is a few ounces in the pan, I switch to water. Brush flipped burger on plate with any remaining liquid.

Serving Suggestion:

On a bun or toasted low carb bread (I recommend Inked Bread Co. Keto), lightly slathered with brown or Dijon mustard. Extra decadent? Top burger with a medium fried egg and squash the bread down so the yolk runs!

Bon Appétit!

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.08.13 — What foods can't you stand? This can be a sensitive subject for some people, so consider using a CW if you think it might be difficult.

Cilantro (the wicked weed) and coriander (the seed of the weed). As someone who cooks, I realize the former is important to Mexican and the latter to Indian. I eat both cuisines, but what's important her is moderation. For Mexican food, Cilantro used as a spice provides a distinctive "background" flavoring, but when used as a decorative flourish, or worse as vegetable mixed in with the dish, it is far too much of a good thing. When I find cilantro leaves, or worse more-or-less anonymous cilantro sprouts, mixed in to field greens salad, I become annoyed as it takes over the flavor of the salad. To me, it is both horribly aromatic and chemical tasting.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.08.10 — What kind of photography do you most enjoy? (Taking, viewing, or both.)

As a photographer who's done weddings, events, and fine art #photography, I can be more fine-grained in my answer instead of simply stating: Both.

I find taking photos far more interesting than viewing them, and I spend much more time shooting than viewing. What I really enjoy viewing is street photography (think Henri Cartier-Bresson), and were I not a shy person, I would engage in it more often. Working a wedding or a child's party, I take candids, not posed pictures. I endeavor to be invisible and capture the special fleeting moments of who people are rather than what they want us to think they are. Kind of like street photography, huh?

I am currently writing a novella where the main character's street photography leads to her finding friends and overcoming adversity. For me, it might be aspirational.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.08.02 — Do you have artwork on your walls? If so, describe one of the pieces.

Mine (on the right) and other artists (on the left). Both copyrighted, so the image is small and blurry-cammed.

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#ScribesAndMakers #ttmd 2025.08.03 @JulieLiddellWhitehead Author Talk to Me Day

Sometimes I get the opportunity to research and sometimes I don't, like today (I'm currently unwell). I hope I'm asking a fair question here; beyond that, that it's not something I should have seen in a bio if I'd looked.

Your book collection of short stories appears to be about characters living through hard times and dealing with hard decisions made or needful. It feels like something an author would write in part to work through their own demons or to make sense of a nonsensical world. Is this the case for you? If not, what drives you and your writing? What do you wish the reader to feel they have learned when they finish the reading the last page of your story?

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.08.01 — Alt: Word.

This word comes from Mars Needed Women, which is in beta. The Decath Crown, as it is referred to, is one of a number of antagonistic organizations the book's MC ends up dealing with, but it is also the most insidious. I don't expect anyone to read about this out-of-context, but I will admit that I invented the religion for a fascist state instead of using a real one to diffuse my fear of needlessly picking on one religion and likely upsetting part of my potential audience. After the fact, it feels a bit like I am picking on all religions, only kind of passive-aggressively. I'm okay with that. Everybody needs their nose tweaked now and again. What follows is a slightly [annotated] excerpt from the glossary in the book.

Decath - A religious organization which was a successor to the various Christian nationalist faiths that created NADS [North American Decath States] from its predecessor state [the United States], consolidated into a theocratic state-supported ministry. The religion is now world-wide, except where banned in five catholic countries. Adherents say it is not a successor to Catholicism, but a rejection of it. It comes from Dissenting Catholicism, and teaches that the liberal interpretations promulgated by the various orthodox and protestant churches regarding Christ's word was unfounded, and furthermore misrepresented God's will based on improper readings of both the new and old testaments. Their catholicism is a new orthodoxy that properly interprets an apostolic church structure while supporting a protestant ideal of a priesthood of believers that is guided by ministers. It is accurately spelled De-cath not Dis-cath. This because the members of the initial Synod of Alabama—which drew together the leaders or designates of various nationalistic churches, their largest corporate sponsors, and hundreds of US congressmen and sixty-nine senators—thought having the word sound like decaf would sell better amongst the disparate flocks they shepherded.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.08.01 — What's on the docket for this month?

Complete Reluctant Courier (for the Mob), preferably this weekend.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.07.31 — Alt: Yellow?

Citron is a cute gangly teenage guy who is both seriously dangerous and seriously loyal. His hair has been described a being like lemon meringue pie, that is, various shades of yellow swirled with very light blond. It's a stand-out feature.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.07.31 — How did it go? Any changes you want to make next month?

My biggest July project was attending BayCon / WesterCon and talking with the guests of honor, writers, and publishers without turning into a shrinking violet. I wrote about that in another post.

It went arguably well. I talked to pretty much everyone, the writers who are M. A. Carrick, and a small press publisher. The latter went pretty well, since I got an invite to submit before submissions open in February. Now if my beta readers were only a bit faster. Having that I was a shy person on my badge helped; some noticed, but I had it as a backup that I never really needed.

This month doesn't involve conventions, so I'm safe!

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.07.29 — Why do you like your genre(s)/style(s)?

Scribe

Frankly, I love writing in the science fiction and fantasy genre because I control the horizontal and I control the vertical†, essentially, I can control all aspects of how society works. My knowledge of our current reality, and how people operate it is too incomplete to write mainstream. I might, otherwise. What you get from me is a (hopefully literate) mixture of adventure, wonder, and slice of life. I am increasingly good at the latter. You can judge for yourself with the excerpt in this reply to Writers Coffee Club today: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/114939073843956961

Maker

My photographic style is not the compromise that Scribes presented above. My primary style is contrasts, especially color contrasts. This may be due to two things. The first was taking a class in drawing (charcoal and pen & ink) and in color (pastel and colored pencil). What I learned was how to portray volume in 2D images, and that's through contrast. The second was that I really got into the Carlos Castaneda books.There I encountered the concept of seeing shadows instead of the object, and learned to do that. (I also learned to lucid dream, but that's another topic.) It's called Negative Space in art speak. It thrills me when I capture an image that pops brightly out of the background because the background is dark or a contrasting color. The following copyrighted image is from the Glass Koi series (under another pseudonym). The fish colors render in sRGB as bright red, but when properly printer profiled they render as a burnished bronzy orange. It nevertheless demonstrates color contrast.

=-=-=-=-=-=
† This is a Twilight Zone reference.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.07.18 — Show us the cover to yesterday's book, and tell us what you don't like about the cover.

The cover art features a woman with a knife and what looks like a wookiee. Whilst dressed nominally (and correctly) as a man, she looks like an anglo white Vogue model that would convince nobody she's a guy; she's supposed to be ethnically Japanese. There's a vast difference between a sheep dog and a wookiee. I dislike covers that are wrong in great detail, but the publisher sold through a big printing, without any advertising, using it, so I forgive them. Since there were virtually no returns, I suppose even the duped Star Wars fans loved the story.

I am not showing the cover as I did not publish it under my current nom de plume. Sorry.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.07.17 — Tell us about a book you like despite its cover (don't show the cover yet.)

The elevator pitch is "Yentl in the future." Google Yentl. My novel†. An SF YA. Published years ago before I took the R.S. nom de plume.

=-=-=-=-=-=
† I edited the post to be clear, Yentl is not my novel; I am simply not stating the title. Aren't the vagaries of English wonderful?

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.07.14 — Self-promotion day. Show us what you're proud of. Let's boost away.

What I'm proud of today, I'm going to title Savory Soup. It features both my writing and cooking skills, is 502 words, and provides a good insight into the character of one of my women MCs—from what may yet turn out to be a cozy (yet spicy) romance fantasy (it has dragons) novella. Best of all, the excerpt is posted here on Mastodon. It ought bring you a smile, so please give it a read.

Savory Soup: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/114814396383680088

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.07.10 — How difficult would it be to continue your creative activity(ies) if you couldn't have your favo(u)rite beverage?

More worrisome would be why I couldn't have my favorite beverage. Is it a world disaster? Am I being marched off to a concentration camp? Has climate change destroyed the crop forever!? All or any of that would worry me a lot and I might fail to write. That's not going to happen, is it? Is it? Oh, noes! Now I'm REALLY anxious…

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.07.04 — How do you feel about breaking the fourth wall? If you write, have you ever done it?

I generally write in 1st person POV. Such POV characters tell their own stories, aware they're being read. They take license to be secretly snide to influence or entertain the reader whilst being proper in dialogue. They'll lie or misrepresent facts (for later reveal, of course). It's an opportunity to demonstrate the duality of people's personalities and how we cynically self-censor.

Do these characters converse directly with the reader? If it fits their personality, or it follows from their narrative: Yes. Whether it survives revision depends on whether it works well or not.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.07.01 — What do you want to work on this month? Alt: Bread?

Baking bread—instead of trying meet the guests, schmooze, and network at an SF convention as a shy published author trying to recreate their career—would be a lot less scary and far more pleasant, despite being on a low carb diet. Oh my, am I craving carbs right now. Ice cream, please.

I've made a badge extender that states what I am and that I'm shy. I am reading one of the guests of honor's book (M.A. Carrick). I've researched the others. This weekend is all I can think of for this month.

Will I survive peer interaction?

If you never hear from me again after this weekend, you'll know what happened!

Meanwhile, if you have ideas for conversing with authors or a comics artist, or just anyone, a suggestion or two might help me survive.

🍞🥖🥐😥

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.06.24 — Tell us about a time when you pushed yourself outside your comfort zone with your creativity. How did it go?

Work in progress!

I am attending Westercon over the 4th of July weekend. I registered at a level that gets me invited to guests of honor events, including a luncheon. I am a shy person.

Normally, this would not end well. Already my heart is racing just thinking about what I will encountered a week and a half from now…

In an effort not to lock up and become unable to speak, I am trying these strategies:

1. I will add to my name tag that I am an SFWA member.
2. Add a small picture of a novel I wrote.
3. Add the line: "Shy person, but I WANT to communicate."
4. I will study and memorize all the information I can about the guests of honor.
5. I will write a list of questions I can ask.
6. I will write a list of topics I can talk about if I go blank.

Any other tips or suggestions?

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.06.19 — Did you ever try talking a friend or loved one into taking up your creative activity too? How did it go?

No. Never tried, never will, never happening, Becoming an author requires faculties very few people possess, that must be combined with discipline. You have to want to tell stories and be okay with working alone like a monk, possibly never having anyone read any of those stories except yourself. Despite knowing before I was twenty that this was my avocation, and having sold and published, I still burnt out for 15 years.

I'm of the opinion that friends don't encourage friends to become writers. Okay, maybe sadistic friends do…

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.06.18 — Share pic(s) of something you've created. (Don't forget the alt text.)

This. More in #AltText.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.06.16 — Have you ever tried hyperbolic crochet?

I can be hyperbolic at times, but I'm never crochet-y.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.06.13 — Self-promotion day: show us what you're proud of. Let's boost away.

While I plod at composing story, work at revising stuff, have brought a decades old story into Scrivener to rewrite, and work with beta readers on the most recent novel, what I'm proud of is some of this month is my photography. The moving images are photos: live photos rendered as a wigglegram aka a Harry Potter photo. It includes one tree from my Trees project.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.06.11 — Do you give any of your work away for free?

Those that follow me may recall that I started recovering after a burnout in 2015. For the next seven years I wrote in another "medium" under a different "pen name" than I write my SF now. During that period, practicing my craft, perfecting (to the extent that's possible) writing in a 1st person POV, I wrote the equivalent of nine standard novels, a total of 45 stories. My output consisted of a handful of novels, a few series arcs, novellas, novelettes, and short stories. About 900K words.

I gave it all away. Free. Because of the medium, I could not sell it if I wanted to. In return I got plenty of feedback (though never enough), likes, and comments. A few fans.

If I could have had a $1 for each view, I'd have made a nice chunk of change, though, frankly, it would have been way under minimum wage.

As for the last three years, I've been writing SF and fantasy exclusively. The first result of that is being beta read. Do I give away any of my work for free? Plenty. Take a look at my samples! I have a Samples post pinned to my profile. When I get closer to publication, with some inventory to ensure people who like my writing can find more of it, I'll likely make excerpts free on a yet-to-be-created author website. I may write short side-stories. I won't commit until I see what's necessary.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.06.09 — Tell us about the book that received the fewest votes yesterday.

Ratha's Creature by Clare Bell.

Clare Bell is an emotive and talented author of a number of what might be considered YA books. Ratha's Creature fits my description of science fiction as a story about how technology affects people. In this case, it's the discovery of how to use fire. The people here, however, are sentient leopard-like cats, but make no mistake, they are human stand-ins with a different biology and a very different society. You know you are no longer in Kansas, Toto, yet the main character is very accessible and easy to empathize with. A lot is said about fearing change, about being female, and about abuse. The latter is devastatingly subtle and you might find yourself not noticing it, but the author realized it in a sequel, which is well worth reading, also. The story is poignant and a good, fast read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.05.31 — How did it go? Any changes you want to make next month?

Got the beta out to beta readers; this was good. Worked through pushback from the internal censor. Got only one chapter finished, but boy howdy: it clarified the antagonist's motivation in starkly scary terms, and it made one MC quite proud.

Next month. More composing; revision should be subservient to that work. If I can gain momentum, finish the novel.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.05.30 — Did you have a teacher who either supported or hindered your creative activity?

Weird story.

I had an AP analytic geometry class. I'm bad at arithmetic but good at logic. So long as I don't have to plug in numbers, I can solve math problems. I don't usually do good at these things, but I was excited that I might get a good grade and studied very hard. Very. Hard.

I arrived and the final was open book. Easy.

I had so much creative energy built up, I went home and over Christmas break wrote and completed my first novella (25K typewritten) in two weeks.

True story.

Okay neither supported nor hindered, but I give the teacher credit nonetheless for inadvertently starting my career.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.05.29 — What is your proudest or best moment with your creative endeavor this month?

Got the novel out to beta readers and an author associate has agreed to also look at it.

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.05.28 — Have you ever made an app?

Was a programmer. 'Nuf said.

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#MiniMasterpieces 5 — Friend or Foe

I looked down from the plateau as wisps of fog drifted by on that humid hot first day. Caught up in a giant ring of fire that swept through the park, it affected my vision. It affected everything! It had transformed my family, but at least I could see. Differently. Telescopically. My older son and his cousins crawled near the cliff face, patrolling though confused and scared, heeding my warnings to watch the world below us. My twins and Little Betty, barely 1 1/2 years old, had become long, white eggs, the size of an SUV.

Out there, I saw: /Others./ We'd had a picnic at the seaside park. That explained the sand. It might have explained the scuba suit. It did not explain why a pig with a pink snout was wearing said suit. Silently watching us. Nor the yellow tanks, or the mask.

I had to assume the ring captured and transformed everything alive it found, leaving us in an alien world. It might have only been transmuting only people, or I could be facing changed coyotes and seagulls. Facing any beast, animal or human, worried me.

I was a mom.

My family and I were iguanas now, or were we iguanodons? Did this mean I was a dinosaur? I should have listened to Johnny when he babbled incessantly about them.

The one thing I knew for sure was that I could not take a chance that the pig man, nor anyone else, was hungry... for eggs or lizard meat.

We had to be alive to return home.

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#MiniMasterpieces 4 — Campfire Friends

@floofpaldi

"Ughhhh!"

I backpedaled so quickly, arms waving, that I tripped, loosing my staff. My right sandal flew into the fire. My heart beat so rapidly, I was instantly dizzy, which may be why I hit my head on a tree, slid over, scratching my cheek, flailing. I twisted—and oh my stars did that hurt!—but kept from splashing face forward into the lake. Just my hand.

Yes. I screamed like a 10 year old girl. I know because a purple poison frog had hopped on my chest when I was a 10-year-old. And. If you ever repeat that—you're toast!

It took me minutes to catch my breath, staring upward, heart racing. I checked if I'd peed myself, and I had not.

I don't often take Scarletto away from town, and I'd really had to think hard about bringing my boyfriend into the forest. He' smart, always working to solve disagreements for me with the guilds and crafters, but he really is more suited for life in any town, with its homes, restaurants, shops, and inns. His magic made me shiver, and he could be very sweet. Sadly, he was also a gentleman. I wanted more passion. I wanted him to kiss me as he had done that day...

To that end, I'd heard of the giant boulders discovered beside the Crystal Lake. The mouth of Puma river had changed outlets, revealing the previously hidden grotto. Travelers passing through the inn had told stories that if you and your girl camped there, you were certain to either marry or find the true demeanor of your love. Guild members had verified it, but none would tell why the place was special.

They teased me about my boyfriend.

I wasn't taking him there without first checking it out, of course. I needed to make sure it was safe.

I'd found it easy enough. No other boulders sat beside the gently lapping lake. I've fair night vision and the moon was full, so I had little trouble hiking without a torch. Scarletto would need some help, which meant he'd be holding me a lot. Nice little rock beach, actually. Spring hadn't caused the trees to fill with buds hiding the moon, or filled in the underbrush masking fallen deadwood. I assembled kindling. I arranged split wood in a cone, spilled fuel, and lit it.

Hands out over the crackling flames, I noticed something gleam above. I looked.

Demon eyes set in a lion's face below demon horns returned my gaze.

I then screamed, "Ugh...!" The rest you know.

Why some sadistic /fool/ had carved that, I've no idea! As I retrieved my smoking sandal, I resolved that were I ever to discover who the creep was—what an elaborate prank—I might just /accidentally/ break his leg.

On the other hand, my boyfriend did like ghost stories... I chuckled, grinning widely.

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#PennedPossibilities 556 — If it ever came down to it, who would your MC be willing to die for? CW: Definitely spoilers for the first climactic scene in the last story of the serial, written under a different alias.

This was going to be one of those, "Well she already died for someone," answers. I was going to say she died for the boyfriend that taught her to love and made her finally understand she was capable of having friends, that she had had them all along.

I was wrong!

Well, she did die.

Technically.

But that was when she was ill, exercising when she shouldn't have been, was in an exceptional situation where she had no guards, that day after the invasion when the bad guys attempted to assassinate her. The boyfriend, who'd turned on his cohort of insurgent invaders, however, turned out to not be as good a fighter as his former captain. To save him, the MC killed the captain after the captain had stabbed him.

But.

Killing her would have been murder, something for all the fighting she'd done all those years, she'd never done.

The MC used the last of her magic and energy healing the both of them.

Then died. Romantic, what? No?

Well, should have died. When medical technology failed, a shamanic healer she'd befriended in the series managed to revive her a number of times, finally keeping her from drifting away while conventional surgery did the hard thing.

So, the answer to the question was: the MC was willing to die for her assassin. Stranger things happen, right?

Right?

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#PennedPossibilities 552 — How strong is your SC’s sense of ambition? What is something that they strive for in life?

Bolt's ambition tends to be short-sighted. It got her blackmailed into being a messenger to a crime boss.

The MC fixed that mistake.

Bolt is now training as a praetorian guard (if she can hack it) to protect the MC (whose life she saved once already by risking her own). Bodyguard to the newly named heir to the throne is NOT the safest choice of profession. Complicating this is Bolt, who has been portrayed avowedly and frequently cis-het, realizes she's intensely attracted to the MC. The MC is a woman who ended the last serialized novel with two intimate boyfriends one of whom is a real prince, and a third who's declared his intimate intentions. Meanwhile, the MC has rediscovered her childhood boyfriend, whom she often fantasized about being all grown up throughout the serial.

Oh, yeah. Almost forgot. The MC may be pregnant.

Need I state Bolt's new short-sighted ambition? Yeah. You got it. If I write this sequel, The Five Suitors maybe?, it'll be both interestingly complicated AND racy.

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#PennedPossibilities 549 — Did your SC ever feel as though their innocence had been lost? If so, what moment in their life could be described as the end of that innocence?

Bolt was a wild and willful teen. Not only did she disappoint her family by planning to enter the trades instead of attending college, she played around with the macho guy at school, and often got reprimanded by teachers. When she tried to work at her trade, she found surprisingly that there actually was a trade dominated by men! (Hers isn't our world.) She fled her hometown after her attempts at minor vandalism against the gatekeepers got witnessed. (She threw a brick through a storefront window and rolled a van down a hill.)

None of that was a loss of innocence. She knew what she wanted and she figured she'd get it.

Elsewhere.

In another city, she took an easy job messengering things she wasn't to ask questions about. She got framed for murder, or would have been framed except she'd been set up by a local crime boss who'd eliminated a snitch. He now had the "proof" for what the constables would afterwards consider an unsolved murder.

She'd.

Been.

Blackmailed.

Stupidity always had a price. She could have had a steel collar on a chain leash; it would have made little difference. She'd work for that organization for nearly a decade, a slave to her mistake, until after she'd meet the MC of her story. Even then, she'd have to earn her freedom by demonstrating her remaining integrity.

That was her loss of innocence.

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#PennedPossibilities 0.001 /2 New Year Bonus Question: What kind of drunk is your MC? 🥳 🥂.

Okay, that calls for an #excerpt, revised for the audience.

I kept eating until the bartender in a white shirt and black bow tie placed a pink drink before me.  I smelled almond, chocolate, and based on the condensation on the outside, vanilla ice cream.  Red sugar sprinkles rimmed what my former guardian had taught me was a martini glass, and a cider-soaked cherry sat on top.  The bartender pointed a finger.

A tan fellow sat around the corner.  He had short cropped hair and wore an open-collared blue shirt.  He some High Desert blood in him because he was tall and refined-looking, though only in his mid-twenties.  A long scar on his jawline and blue eyes made him look both weathered and intriguing.  I gave him a come-hither wave.

He started, "Hi.  I'm—"

Waving a hand, I said, "Sorry.  I can't accept this.  I'm underage and I don't want the restaurant to loose its cidering license."

"Oh."  He sounded surprised, but only blinked, obviously rethinking his approach.  The bartender slid the drink in front of him.  Helpful Hanna.  The buck sat on the stool beside me.  

Before I could object, he said, "Hey, barkeep!  A Surely Contemplative for Lady—"  He raised an eyebrow at me.

Wasn't going to say my real name or let on I was a transporter for the mob.

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#PennedPossibilities 0.001 New Year Bonus Question: What kind of drunk is your MC? 🥳 🥂.

Between two novels, all the MCs are underage. The two women are rule breakers in many ways, but not in this one. The man would drink if offered, but since one of the other MCs wants him around most of the time, not many other women can offer and drunk never happens.

Btw: Age of majority in the Reluctance series (when it matters) is 24 because the main series antagonist is forever 24 and is well aware that anyone under that is really immature.

PS: Since I recently figured out the length of the year, that 24 number might have to be revised.

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#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 17 Nbr 01 — Where are you on your writing journey? What have you accomplished and what are your plans for the future?

I've left the valley floor solidly behind after having tumbled down a cliff. I still hurt and the summit is far above, but if I squint I can see the alpine meadows are still abloom. Flowers of yellow and blue remind me of earlier days. I grab a gnarled stick to help me walk, and climb.

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#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 16 Nbr 13 — What’s your favourite trope? Do you lean into it for your work or shy away?

I've little interest in tropes, which I see as cliched bits of plot found frequently enough that a critic (read: not an author) decided could be well summarized in a few words. In my opinion, every plot has been written before, as has every character archetype.

As authors, we should feel no shame, no angst, no fear borrowing ideas wherever we find them. We need combine our discovered treasures with whatever message and character moves us, and write. The self-harm of measuring against tropes, other authors, or critics needs be discarded for what it is: procrastination and insecurity. It stifles us from writing, it prevents us from realizing our characters' dreams when that's what we truly desire.

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