#ghostwriting — Public Fediverse posts

https://www.europesays.com/news/33623/ Biden Sues Justice Dept. to Block Release of Tapes #Biden #Ghostwriting #Headlines #HouseCommitteeOnTheJudiciary #Hur #JosephRJr #JusticeDepartment #News #Privacy #RobertKyoung #SpecialProsecutors(IndependentCounsel) #SuitsAndLitigation(Civil) #TopStories #UnitedStatesPoliticsAndGovernment

I've only got the bandwidth available for one more #TTRPG or #ghostwriting project at this point. Who will win my messy brain!? IT COULD BE *YOU*!

This fleshy mad science machine runs on TBIs + pure chaos. Infinitely cooler & weirder than any LLM.

Rent the weird Rev brain: ko-fi.com/c/03d38d59d7

I've only got the bandwidth available for one more #TTRPG or #ghostwriting project at this point. Who will win my messy brain!? IT COULD BE *YOU*!

This fleshy mad science machine runs on TBIs + pure chaos. Infinitely cooler & weirder than any LLM.

Rent the weird Rev brain: ko-fi.com/c/03d38d59d7

I've only got the bandwidth available for one more #TTRPG or #ghostwriting project at this point. Who will win my messy brain!? IT COULD BE *YOU*!

This fleshy mad science machine runs on TBIs + pure chaos. Infinitely cooler & weirder than any LLM.

Rent the weird Rev brain: ko-fi.com/c/03d38d59d7

I've only got the bandwidth available for one more #TTRPG or #ghostwriting project at this point. Who will win my messy brain!? IT COULD BE *YOU*!

This fleshy mad science machine runs on TBIs + pure chaos. Infinitely cooler & weirder than any LLM.

Rent the weird Rev brain: ko-fi.com/c/03d38d59d7

I've only got the bandwidth available for one more #TTRPG or #ghostwriting project at this point. Who will win my messy brain!? IT COULD BE *YOU*!

This fleshy mad science machine runs on TBIs + pure chaos. Infinitely cooler & weirder than any LLM.

Rent the weird Rev brain: ko-fi.com/c/03d38d59d7

I've only got the bandwidth available for one more #TTRPG or #ghostwriting project at this point. Who will win my messy brain!? IT COULD BE *YOU*!

This fleshy mad science machine runs on TBIs + pure chaos. Infinitely cooler & weirder than any LLM.

Rent the weird Rev brain: ko-fi.com/c/03d38d59d7

Wed. May 13, 2026: Steady Work Rhythm

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Rainy and cool

Happy mid-week! I hope yours is going well.

Yesterday, I did some housework/hauled out the garbage, dealt with some admin. My mood improved, mostly because the cats were being hilarious.

I buckled down and worked on the ghostwriting, polishing the 20K assignment and getting it out just before lunch.

After lunch, I did some more admin work, and then went back to BETTING MAN. I did about 1700 words, finishing chapter fourteen and starting chapter fifteen. I then started layering in some insert scenes to an earlier chapter where I had to smooth out a logic loophole and add a red herring that would affect things moving forward.

I prefer to work in full drafts, but my outline for this book wasn’t as tight as it should be, plus I changed direction with one arc that will affect the next several books, so I need to fix things in this draft in order to build on them. There are also things from STAGE FALL, the next book, that I have to seed in here, and I need to look at what I wrote on that (years ago, a lot will be changed) that needs to be seeded.

It’s not a particularly interesting day to read about, but it was a solid workday. Steady, got good work done, not stressful.

There’s some exciting news on the local theatre front. Molly Merrihew, who was the Managing Director of WAM, is now Executive Director of Shakespeare & Co. That’s a great opportunity for her, and they are lucky to have her. I really enjoyed working with her at WAM, and I look forward to staying in touch and cheering her on at Shakespeare & Co. Erin Patrick, who was the General Manager at WAM, moves into the Managing Director position – right before she goes on maternity leave! So that will make for an interesting summer, just as WAM’s season gets under way. But we’ll all pitch in however is needed.

By then, it was time to get ready for yoga. I got changed and walked up to the studio. It was a little cool, but still a lovely walk, with clear blue skies and things in bloom.

Class was terrific. Joey the service dog joined us again, which is always a treat. Walked home, heated up some leftovers for dinner, and read in the evening.

Slept reasonably well, although at 2:30, Charlotte decided the only possible place she could perch was on my rib cage. We negotiated, and I managed to get back to sleep until Tessa got me out of bed around 5:30, the usual time.

The morning routine was fine. I figured out the next section of BETTING MAN, that I will work on today, before switching back over to the ghostwriting this afternoon. Also this afternoon, I go down to Savvy Hive to pick up the first CSA box of the season! It’s supposed to rain all day, so I will probably drive, and maybe do some of the errands I would have done tomorrow. Since I’m going to be at the Clark event (at Shakespeare & Co., no less) from mid-afternoon to early evening with a friend tomorrow, I want to take some of tomorrow’s tasks off that plate and put them on today’s plate instead.

Have a great day!

Wed. May 13, 2026: Steady Work Rhythm

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Rainy and cool

Happy mid-week! I hope yours is going well.

Yesterday, I did some housework/hauled out the garbage, dealt with some admin. My mood improved, mostly because the cats were being hilarious.

I buckled down and worked on the ghostwriting, polishing the 20K assignment and getting it out just before lunch.

After lunch, I did some more admin work, and then went back to BETTING MAN. I did about 1700 words, finishing chapter fourteen and starting chapter fifteen. I then started layering in some insert scenes to an earlier chapter where I had to smooth out a logic loophole and add a red herring that would affect things moving forward.

I prefer to work in full drafts, but my outline for this book wasn’t as tight as it should be, plus I changed direction with one arc that will affect the next several books, so I need to fix things in this draft in order to build on them. There are also things from STAGE FALL, the next book, that I have to seed in here, and I need to look at what I wrote on that (years ago, a lot will be changed) that needs to be seeded.

It’s not a particularly interesting day to read about, but it was a solid workday. Steady, got good work done, not stressful.

There’s some exciting news on the local theatre front. Molly Merrihew, who was the Managing Director of WAM, is now Executive Director of Shakespeare & Co. That’s a great opportunity for her, and they are lucky to have her. I really enjoyed working with her at WAM, and I look forward to staying in touch and cheering her on at Shakespeare & Co. Erin Patrick, who was the General Manager at WAM, moves into the Managing Director position – right before she goes on maternity leave! So that will make for an interesting summer, just as WAM’s season gets under way. But we’ll all pitch in however is needed.

By then, it was time to get ready for yoga. I got changed and walked up to the studio. It was a little cool, but still a lovely walk, with clear blue skies and things in bloom.

Class was terrific. Joey the service dog joined us again, which is always a treat. Walked home, heated up some leftovers for dinner, and read in the evening.

Slept reasonably well, although at 2:30, Charlotte decided the only possible place she could perch was on my rib cage. We negotiated, and I managed to get back to sleep until Tessa got me out of bed around 5:30, the usual time.

The morning routine was fine. I figured out the next section of BETTING MAN, that I will work on today, before switching back over to the ghostwriting this afternoon. Also this afternoon, I go down to Savvy Hive to pick up the first CSA box of the season! It’s supposed to rain all day, so I will probably drive, and maybe do some of the errands I would have done tomorrow. Since I’m going to be at the Clark event (at Shakespeare & Co., no less) from mid-afternoon to early evening with a friend tomorrow, I want to take some of tomorrow’s tasks off that plate and put them on today’s plate instead.

Have a great day!

Wed. May 13, 2026: Steady Work Rhythm

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Rainy and cool

Happy mid-week! I hope yours is going well.

Yesterday, I did some housework/hauled out the garbage, dealt with some admin. My mood improved, mostly because the cats were being hilarious.

I buckled down and worked on the ghostwriting, polishing the 20K assignment and getting it out just before lunch.

After lunch, I did some more admin work, and then went back to BETTING MAN. I did about 1700 words, finishing chapter fourteen and starting chapter fifteen. I then started layering in some insert scenes to an earlier chapter where I had to smooth out a logic loophole and add a red herring that would affect things moving forward.

I prefer to work in full drafts, but my outline for this book wasn’t as tight as it should be, plus I changed direction with one arc that will affect the next several books, so I need to fix things in this draft in order to build on them. There are also things from STAGE FALL, the next book, that I have to seed in here, and I need to look at what I wrote on that (years ago, a lot will be changed) that needs to be seeded.

It’s not a particularly interesting day to read about, but it was a solid workday. Steady, got good work done, not stressful.

There’s some exciting news on the local theatre front. Molly Merrihew, who was the Managing Director of WAM, is now Executive Director of Shakespeare & Co. That’s a great opportunity for her, and they are lucky to have her. I really enjoyed working with her at WAM, and I look forward to staying in touch and cheering her on at Shakespeare & Co. Erin Patrick, who was the General Manager at WAM, moves into the Managing Director position – right before she goes on maternity leave! So that will make for an interesting summer, just as WAM’s season gets under way. But we’ll all pitch in however is needed.

By then, it was time to get ready for yoga. I got changed and walked up to the studio. It was a little cool, but still a lovely walk, with clear blue skies and things in bloom.

Class was terrific. Joey the service dog joined us again, which is always a treat. Walked home, heated up some leftovers for dinner, and read in the evening.

Slept reasonably well, although at 2:30, Charlotte decided the only possible place she could perch was on my rib cage. We negotiated, and I managed to get back to sleep until Tessa got me out of bed around 5:30, the usual time.

The morning routine was fine. I figured out the next section of BETTING MAN, that I will work on today, before switching back over to the ghostwriting this afternoon. Also this afternoon, I go down to Savvy Hive to pick up the first CSA box of the season! It’s supposed to rain all day, so I will probably drive, and maybe do some of the errands I would have done tomorrow. Since I’m going to be at the Clark event (at Shakespeare & Co., no less) from mid-afternoon to early evening with a friend tomorrow, I want to take some of tomorrow’s tasks off that plate and put them on today’s plate instead.

Have a great day!

Wed. May 13, 2026: Steady Work Rhythm

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Rainy and cool

Happy mid-week! I hope yours is going well.

Yesterday, I did some housework/hauled out the garbage, dealt with some admin. My mood improved, mostly because the cats were being hilarious.

I buckled down and worked on the ghostwriting, polishing the 20K assignment and getting it out just before lunch.

After lunch, I did some more admin work, and then went back to BETTING MAN. I did about 1700 words, finishing chapter fourteen and starting chapter fifteen. I then started layering in some insert scenes to an earlier chapter where I had to smooth out a logic loophole and add a red herring that would affect things moving forward.

I prefer to work in full drafts, but my outline for this book wasn’t as tight as it should be, plus I changed direction with one arc that will affect the next several books, so I need to fix things in this draft in order to build on them. There are also things from STAGE FALL, the next book, that I have to seed in here, and I need to look at what I wrote on that (years ago, a lot will be changed) that needs to be seeded.

It’s not a particularly interesting day to read about, but it was a solid workday. Steady, got good work done, not stressful.

There’s some exciting news on the local theatre front. Molly Merrihew, who was the Managing Director of WAM, is now Executive Director of Shakespeare & Co. That’s a great opportunity for her, and they are lucky to have her. I really enjoyed working with her at WAM, and I look forward to staying in touch and cheering her on at Shakespeare & Co. Erin Patrick, who was the General Manager at WAM, moves into the Managing Director position – right before she goes on maternity leave! So that will make for an interesting summer, just as WAM’s season gets under way. But we’ll all pitch in however is needed.

By then, it was time to get ready for yoga. I got changed and walked up to the studio. It was a little cool, but still a lovely walk, with clear blue skies and things in bloom.

Class was terrific. Joey the service dog joined us again, which is always a treat. Walked home, heated up some leftovers for dinner, and read in the evening.

Slept reasonably well, although at 2:30, Charlotte decided the only possible place she could perch was on my rib cage. We negotiated, and I managed to get back to sleep until Tessa got me out of bed around 5:30, the usual time.

The morning routine was fine. I figured out the next section of BETTING MAN, that I will work on today, before switching back over to the ghostwriting this afternoon. Also this afternoon, I go down to Savvy Hive to pick up the first CSA box of the season! It’s supposed to rain all day, so I will probably drive, and maybe do some of the errands I would have done tomorrow. Since I’m going to be at the Clark event (at Shakespeare & Co., no less) from mid-afternoon to early evening with a friend tomorrow, I want to take some of tomorrow’s tasks off that plate and put them on today’s plate instead.

Have a great day!

Wed. May 13, 2026: Steady Work Rhythm

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Rainy and cool

Happy mid-week! I hope yours is going well.

Yesterday, I did some housework/hauled out the garbage, dealt with some admin. My mood improved, mostly because the cats were being hilarious.

I buckled down and worked on the ghostwriting, polishing the 20K assignment and getting it out just before lunch.

After lunch, I did some more admin work, and then went back to BETTING MAN. I did about 1700 words, finishing chapter fourteen and starting chapter fifteen. I then started layering in some insert scenes to an earlier chapter where I had to smooth out a logic loophole and add a red herring that would affect things moving forward.

I prefer to work in full drafts, but my outline for this book wasn’t as tight as it should be, plus I changed direction with one arc that will affect the next several books, so I need to fix things in this draft in order to build on them. There are also things from STAGE FALL, the next book, that I have to seed in here, and I need to look at what I wrote on that (years ago, a lot will be changed) that needs to be seeded.

It’s not a particularly interesting day to read about, but it was a solid workday. Steady, got good work done, not stressful.

There’s some exciting news on the local theatre front. Molly Merrihew, who was the Managing Director of WAM, is now Executive Director of Shakespeare & Co. That’s a great opportunity for her, and they are lucky to have her. I really enjoyed working with her at WAM, and I look forward to staying in touch and cheering her on at Shakespeare & Co. Erin Patrick, who was the General Manager at WAM, moves into the Managing Director position – right before she goes on maternity leave! So that will make for an interesting summer, just as WAM’s season gets under way. But we’ll all pitch in however is needed.

By then, it was time to get ready for yoga. I got changed and walked up to the studio. It was a little cool, but still a lovely walk, with clear blue skies and things in bloom.

Class was terrific. Joey the service dog joined us again, which is always a treat. Walked home, heated up some leftovers for dinner, and read in the evening.

Slept reasonably well, although at 2:30, Charlotte decided the only possible place she could perch was on my rib cage. We negotiated, and I managed to get back to sleep until Tessa got me out of bed around 5:30, the usual time.

The morning routine was fine. I figured out the next section of BETTING MAN, that I will work on today, before switching back over to the ghostwriting this afternoon. Also this afternoon, I go down to Savvy Hive to pick up the first CSA box of the season! It’s supposed to rain all day, so I will probably drive, and maybe do some of the errands I would have done tomorrow. Since I’m going to be at the Clark event (at Shakespeare & Co., no less) from mid-afternoon to early evening with a friend tomorrow, I want to take some of tomorrow’s tasks off that plate and put them on today’s plate instead.

Have a great day!

"That would make a good film!" And sometimes it actually does ... #ghostwriting #moviemaking https://unitedghostwriters.co.uk/based-on-a-true-story/

"That would make a good film!" And sometimes it actually does ... #ghostwriting #moviemaking https://unitedghostwriters.co.uk/based-on-a-true-story/

"That would make a good film!" And sometimes it actually does ... #ghostwriting #moviemaking https://unitedghostwriters.co.uk/based-on-a-true-story/

Fri. May 1, 2026: Of Shakespeare and Strikes

Friday, May 1, 2026

Full Moon

Beltane

General Strike

Cloudy/rainy and cool

Happy Friday!

I’m honoring the General Strike today, which means no client work, no shopping, no marketing posts, and as little time spent online as possible. And no trip to the laundromat!

Online meditation group was good, and made Charlotte happy. Our group leader loves writing and poetry. She read Mary Oliver to us (which she often does, Mary is one of her favorite poets). She also encouraged us to read a poem every morning as a meditative practice. I’ve been reading one every morning for April’s poetry month, and often read RATTLE’s daily poem, but I like the idea of doing it more mindfully each day beyond the month. Maybe as part of my morning 30-minute meditation? I’ll play with it. Maybe it would be a better way to wind down the workday?

SELF magazine closed after 47 years, because Condé Nast is greedier and more bootlicking than ever. I was a subscriber back in the 90’s, and then got tired of it around the time I moved from NY because it got repetitive. I still have some of the recipes and information I pulled from old issues in a binder. I stopped being their target audience a long time ago, but there were years when some of their information was useful.

My life has changed enough so I could drop publications I used to subscribe to because I felt I had to for professional reasons. I used to be a magazine junkie (especially when I traveled in the UK), but the voices have been so flattened over the years that most of them aren’t worth it. Plus, a lot of the ones I enjoyed have closed. As a freelancer, monthly subscriptions for things don’t work for me. I am not paid on specific days. It fluctuates. I have enough monthly expenses with rent, utilities, etc. If I really like something, I’ll buy a year when I can afford it, but ONLY if there’s no auto-renew. Which I why I prefer to pay by check. Many publications just don’t fulfill my reading needs anymore, for a huge variety of reasons. And I won’t read anything on Substack because the company is very far out of alignment with my values, so a lot of the journalists that scuttled over there don’t get my time, attention, and certainly not my dollars, even if I respect them.

After breakfast, I grabbed the bags and headed out. It was sprinkling rather than raining, and I made the most of it. Picked up a prescription for my mom at the pharmacy, and did the grocery shopping. I didn’t shop much for the apocalypse, but I did score a gorgeous piece of tuna steak my fishmonger had just cut. Forgot the oranges I need for Tuesday’s crockpot citrus chicken, so I will swing by and pick those up after Saturday’s Farmers’ Market. Dropped off some mail at the post office, stopped by the liquor store, ended at the library to drop off/pick up books. Headed home, navigating around the road construction, which had the bottom of our street blocked off (again, with no advance notification), so I came in the top, went down another one way, and cut through the parking lot backing up to ours.

Home, hauled everything up the stairs, put it away. It started raining harder by then. Did the day’s marketing, and went through some email.

Joined the Freelance Friends chat. We talked food and drink, so it was even more fun than usual.

I had trouble settling into work. I wanted to take a nap. Now, I’m not a napper. If I nap in the afternoon, I usually don’t sleep that night. I didn’t get as much ghostwriting work done as I hoped, but again, I’m happy with the quality of it.

I got some information and questions from the Clark liaison about the event mid-month down at Shakespeare & Co. I asked my guest, got answers, and will make the arrangements with them today. The Clark is so good about stuff like that.

Pizza for dinner (Thursday has become pizza night lately). I wavered about whether or not to go to the show or go back into the work, but realized I really wanted to see the show, so I put on Real People Clothes and some makeup, got in the car, and headed over to Studio 9.

Studio 9 is an impressive venue. Intimate, but high ceilings and built for sound (it was constructed primarily for music). Parking would be an issue further into the season, but it was okay for that night. It’s just a little too far for me to comfortably walk, so driving was a necessity. My friend/colleague was happy to see me. I met the woman who runs the venue, and we got into a lively tech discussion. I sat with one of my friends from A4A, and we talked about projects. She showed me the bookcase her partner recently built in their house – amazing! They both have lots of books, too. Waved to some other people I recognized, who were seated across the room, including the neighbor I met at Monday’s event, and one of the poets from Monday’s event was on my other side.

The show itself, SHAKESPARE DUETS, was amazing. It was created by two actors, Andrew Codispoti and Ariana Karp. I’ve seen Andrew’s work in other Elsewhere Shakespeare productions and really like it. Ariana lives in California, and came out to do the show. They did Shakespearean scenes involving two characters, in this show from JULIUS CASEAR, HAMLET, TWELFTH NIGHT, MACBETH, and ROMEO AND JULIET. The total connection and focus and the way they can switch roles (as they did in HAMLET) with completely fresh interpretations that also built on each other was gorgeous. They know the whole canon inside out, and know how to make it immediate. It’s not the sonorous, presentational technique one sees so often. They embodied the text and brought it alive in beautiful ways. I especially loved the character choices in the TWELFTH NIGHT scene, and got to talk to them about it after. The precision and detail and flow of their work is stunning.

Ariana reminds me of what Susanna Centlivre is like in my imagination, as I write about her.

It was pretty dark by the time I had to drive home, but I managed it, without too much stress. It made me realize what a good choice it was to book a hotel the night after my reading, though.

Came home and took a while to settle, but so happy that I showed up and had that beautiful experience. My friend did such a good job producing the festival. It’s the second one – the first was last year. It’s so much work, I know, but I hope it continues, and I hope he gets the support he needs for it to continue.

Slept well until just before 5, when someone tossed up a furball, and then Tessa and Charlotte started fussing. I told them, “hey, I’m on strike today” and they said, “not with us” and then Willa crashed over a table with pictures and books and other stuff in my office, so that was that and I was up.

The morning routine was fine. Since I’m honoring the strike today, I’m not doing client work. I am, however, switching over curtains and furniture coverings and fabrics to the summer fabrics (even though it’s still in the 30’s at night). I’m going to celebrate Beltane, and tonight, the next show opens at FutureLabs during First Friday, so I’ll nip down to that for a bit.

Tomorrow is the Farmers’ Market, and I have to pick up the things at the grocery store I forgot, and wrap up the contest entries. Sunday is the opening of ROOTED down in Lenox. Busy again, but good busy!

Have a great weekend!

#writerscommunity #ghostwriting #bookediting #bookcoverdesign #bookpublishing

#bookformatting #bookpublishing #bookmarketing #websiteforauthors #ghostwriting

#Business #Debates
The AI writing witch hunt is pointless · We have fought this battle before https://ilo.im/16bxdw

_____
#Humans #Machines #AI #Authenticity #Writing #Ghostwriting #Content #Blogs #Websites #History

Brooksie Elk is writing a novel about a deer whose name is stolen by a famous singer. She's found a book that can help her. Chapter 10, which covers libel, is especially helpful. #ghostwriting #WriteTip #libel
www.ghostwritingnovels.com

Brooksie Elk is writing a novel about a deer whose name is stolen by a famous singer. She's found a book that can help her. Chapter 10, which covers libel, is especially helpful. #ghostwriting #WriteTip #libel
www.ghostwritingnovels.com

Brooksie Elk is writing a novel about a deer whose name is stolen by a famous singer. She's found a book that can help her. Chapter 10, which covers libel, is especially helpful. #ghostwriting #WriteTip #libel
www.ghostwritingnovels.com

#writerscommunity #ghostwriting #bookediting #bookcoverdesign #bookpublishing

Fri. March 27, 2025: Pens and Paints

Friday, March 27, 2026

Waxing Moon

Rainy with the temperature dropping

Happy Friday, and I hope you have a lovely weekend planned.

Today is World Theatre Day! Celebrate the theatre and those you know in it.

Bechdel Project is fully funded for next year, so I think now is a good time to talk about how to work remotely together. Since, you know, they claim to like my work and all.

I got an email from the cat anthology that seemingly contradicts what the editor sent me a few days ago, so I need to get in touch and sort that out. The editor gave me a date and promised details on the contract. This email goes into maybe-someday territory. So I want to find out what’s actually going on. Also, the editor’s email was specific to me and to my piece, and this email is a “dear author” email.

Contradictory information annoys me. It’s one thing if things need to change, and it’s clearly stated that it is changing. It’s another to pretend the original conversation never happened. Which is one of many reasons I do everything in writing.

Meditation was lovely, and Charlotte was happy.

I finished the March newsletter and got it out the door. I set up the document for June’s newsletter, so as things happen, I can do little write-ups, and it’s all set to pop into the template when it’s time for format and send.

I went to the grocery store my own damn self and had such a good time shopping! I was even in budget, although it was temping to just Buy All the Things. But I didn’t need all of it, just some of it, and restocking some basics. I got to catch up with the fishmonger, too, which was great. And treated myself to a bundle of purple tulips.

It was all I could do to keep from bursting into song, as though I was in a musical.

Oh, and suddenly, they have cooking implements back, but moved to be between the canned fish and the soup. With plenty of packages of wooden spoons! At least I know if I screw up this weekend, I can get more.

Came home, hauled everything up the stairs, put it away, set up on the porch, and painted the first coat on the next set of spoons.

By then, it was time for the marketing and the #FreelanceFriends chat. That was lively, and a lot of fun.

I had my lunch break, then did the next coat of paint on the spoons. Because it was clouding up and getting more humid, it took longer for the paint to dry on this batch.

I kept thinking yesterday was Friday, but it was Thursday.

Switched over to the ghostwriting, the project that was originally due this week, but was pushed out to Monday, due to the switch. I’ve been struggling with it, but I think/hope I’m doing some solid work. I didn’t move ahead as far as I hoped, but I was pleased with the work I did.

Heated up leftovers for dinner. It started raining by then.

I attended the virtual reading my fellow Boiler House Poets read in. All the work was really interesting, but their work, in particular, was terrific. I’m so glad they invited me!

It was bucketing down with rain by the time the reading was done. I sat and read for a bit with the cats. Bea wanted attention. Tessa wanted attention.

I slept reasonably well, and woke up around 4. I lazed in bed until 5, then got up and started the routine. I was up before Tessa had a chance to start yelling, and she was quite surprised. The rain seemed to have let up, so I fed everyone and did the day’s yoga practice, then hauled the laundry to the laundromat. I had trouble with the card reader – it said, “network error.” Fortunately, I had some cash on me and the coin machine was working, so I got quarters and put them through. And about a half hour later, I got a notification that the card payment was put through. Twice. Guys, I am not paying nearly $30 for a single load of laundry that should cost me $10.50. So I will be in touch with their office AGAIN. I want to switch back to only using cash there.

Very frustrating.

Hauled all the laundry home and up the stairs. It’s raining lightly, and I can feel the temperature drop. It’s supposed to snow tomorrow night. Urgh.

On today’s agenda: ghostwriting and the two art projects. I hope to get to where I need to be on the ghostwriting today, because it’s due at the end of day Monday. I would rather spend the entire weekend focused on finishing the two art projects. But we will see what needs to be done.

Tomorrow, I have a community obligation to attend (if you know, you know) for a few hours, and housework, but the bulk of the weekend will be finishing the art.

Next week, we end one month and start a new one. A full moon on April Fool’s Day is the universe having a good laugh at our expense, I think. Plus, with the regime in charge over here, every day is a day of fools, and not in the positive sense of the word.

I have a book review due today, so I will get that out after breakfast, and then get back to work on the art and the ghostwriting. I also need to do my 30-minute meditation and my 15-minute free write at some point.

It will all get done, and I’m excited about the new things I’m learning working on the art pieces.

Have a great weekend, and we’ll catch up on the other side.

"I can't pay you, but we'll split whatever we get from a publisher ..."
... is NOT an offer that works. Even Lenin disapproves. Find out why in Chapter 9 of GHOSTWRITING NOVELS: A GUIDE FOR GHOSTWRITERS AND THE GHOSTWRITTEN. #ghostwriting #writingfees #royalties https://www.ghostwritingnovels.com

"I can't pay you, but we'll split whatever we get from a publisher ..."
... is NOT an offer that works. Even Lenin disapproves. Find out why in Chapter 9 of GHOSTWRITING NOVELS: A GUIDE FOR GHOSTWRITERS AND THE GHOSTWRITTEN. #ghostwriting #writingfees #royalties https://www.ghostwritingnovels.com

"I can't pay you, but we'll split whatever we get from a publisher ..."
... is NOT an offer that works. Even Lenin disapproves. Find out why in Chapter 9 of GHOSTWRITING NOVELS: A GUIDE FOR GHOSTWRITERS AND THE GHOSTWRITTEN. #ghostwriting #writingfees #royalties https://www.ghostwritingnovels.com

Wow, this article reality pissed me off.

I'm a ghostwriter. It falsely equivocates my career to using GenAI overall, especially egregiously multiple places, while also pretending to explore the issue thoughtfully.... 🤔 just enough to make its BS sound legit.

Yes, the ethics of ghostwriting can be a difficult topic, depending on various factors. And some of those sticking points can be a little bit similar to claiming LLM work as your own.

NO, the ethical issues of AI do not end with those vague similarities. Not anywhere close!!!

Even the opening example is a poor one to demonstrate the few similarities: A university newsletter that went out championing human connection and community was written by AI, and it got pushback from students. If that had been written by staff or hired out and credited, say, to the president of the org as is commonly done (ghostwriting), it would STILL be a human writing about human connection.*

Meanwhile, us ghostwriters are out here going, uhm, but what about our jobs? And us writers who write our own works are asking, but what about our books and posts which were plagiarized to make the GenAI possible?? And the towns with the loud, polluting, ever-hungry data centers which were forced into their communities are asking for them to go away. And the people who rely on a functioning earth to eat are asking what will happen when the resources run dry.

The existence of this propaganda itself is unethical. A piece pretending to care about any ethical question which leaves out a majority of concerns is another ancient arrangement which has been written about by real people for over a century:

A straw man.

https://flip.it/-AWwhH

* That's not even touching on comparisons between other kinds of work where one person claims credit for the work of thousands of unnamed people, what we in the industry like to call "billionaires" and "CEOs." Would that the ethics of this arrangement be questioned to this degree.

#GenAI #writersCoffeeClub #LLM #ghostwriting #ChatGPT

#bookformatting #bookpublishing #bookmarketing #websiteforauthors #ghostwriting

Gestión de la #InformaciónCientífica #Ghostwriting y los #MonsantoPapers
Para un estratega de riesgos, la integridad de la información es el activo más crítico ante un regulador. #Monsanto, sin embargo, gestionó la #ciencia como una extensión de su departamento de #marketing, creando un riesgo de gobernanza que finalmente fue expuesto en los «Monsanto Papers»

Metodología de Ghostwriting: Documentos internos revelaron que estudios clave como el de Williams, Kroes y Munro (2000)

Microsoft’s “Microslop” Discord Ban Backfires: What AI Builders Can Learn from This Epic Moderation Fail

2,644 words, 14 minutes read time.

The “Microslop” Catalyst: When Automated Moderation Becomes a PR Liability

The recent escalation on Microsoft’s official Copilot Discord server serves as a stark reminder that in the high-stakes world of generative AI, the community’s perception of quality is as vital as the underlying architecture itself. In early March 2026, what began as a routine effort to maintain decorum within a product-support hub rapidly spiraled into a live case study of the Streisand Effect. Reports from multiple industry outlets confirmed that Microsoft had implemented a blunt, automated keyword filter designed to silently delete any message containing the term “Microslop.” This derogatory portmanteau has been increasingly used by developers and power users to describe what they perceive as low-quality, intrusive, or “sloppy” AI integrations within the Windows ecosystem. While the corporate intent was likely to prune what a spokesperson later categorized as “coordinated spam,” the execution triggered a tidal wave of digital civil disobedience. Instead of silencing the critics, the automated system provided a focal point for them, validating the sentiment that the tech giant was more interested in brand preservation than addressing the technical grievances that birthed the nickname.

Analyzing the root of this frustration reveals that the term “slop” is often an emotional reaction to a very real technical burden placed on the developer community. For instance, attempting to upgrade a SharePoint Framework (SPFx) project from version 1.14.x to the recently released 1.22.x is frequently described by those in the trenches as a “blood bath” of error messages and cryptic warnings. The transition is not merely a version bump; it is an overhaul of the build toolchain that often leaves developers debugging deep-seated errors that appear to stem from AI-generated or “slop-induced” bugs within M365 and community plug-ins. When a developer spends three days chasing an error only to find it buried in a low-quality, automated code suggestion or a poorly integrated community tool, the “Microslop” label stops being a joke and starts being an accurate description of a broken workflow. This disconnect between Microsoft’s “AI-first” marketing and the gritty, error-prone reality of its development frameworks is precisely why a simple keyword filter was never going to be enough to contain the community’s mounting resentment.

The Streisand Effect: How Censorship Becomes a Signal

The failure of the “Microslop” ban is a textbook example of how heavy-handed moderation can amplify the very information it seeks to suppress. In the context of AI builders, this incident highlights the danger of using automated tools to sanitize discourse, as it inadvertently creates a “badge of resistance” for the user base. Every bypassed filter and every subsequent ban on the Copilot Discord became a signal to the broader industry that there was a significant rift between Microsoft’s narrative of AI “sophistication” and the community’s lived experience with the product. Furthermore, by escalating from keyword filtering to a full server lockdown, Microsoft effectively confirmed the power of the “Microslop” label. This elevated the term from a minor annoyance to a headline-grabbing symbol of corporate insecurity, demonstrating that the more a corporation tries to hide a piece of information, the more the public will seek it out and amplify it.

This phenomenon is particularly dangerous for AI-centric companies because the technology itself is already under intense scrutiny for its reliability and ethical implications. If a builder cannot manage a community hub without resorting to blunt-force censorship, it raises uncomfortable questions about how they manage the more complex, nuanced guardrails required for the Large Language Models (LLMs) themselves. The internet rarely leaves such attempts at suppression unpunished; in this case, the ban led to the creation of browser extensions and scripts specifically designed to spread the nickname across the web. This demonstrates that in 2026, community management is no longer just an administrative task; it is a critical component of brand integrity that requires a much more sophisticated approach than a simple “find and replace” blocklist. Builders must recognize that transparency is the only effective dampener for the Streisand Effect, as any attempt to use automation to hide dissatisfaction only serves to validate the critics.

Why the “Slop” Narrative Resonates: The Technical Quality Gap

At the heart of the “Microslop” controversy lies a deeper, more substantive issue regarding the growing perception that AI integration has entered a period of diminishing returns, often referred to as the “slop” era. The term “slop” gained significant cultural weight after major linguistic authorities and industry analysts began using it to specifically define the flood of low-quality, mass-produced AI content clogging the modern internet. When users apply this term to a tech giant, they are not merely engaging in schoolyard insults; they are expressing a technical frustration with the way generative AI features have been integrated into a legacy operating system. Analyzing the user feedback leading up to the Discord lockdown reveals a clear pattern of “quantity over quality” in the deployment of Copilot. Developers and power users have documented numerous instances where AI components were perceived as being forced into core OS functions like Notepad, File Explorer, and Task Manager, often at the expense of system latency and overall stability.

This quality gap is precisely what gave the “Microslop” nickname its viral potency, as it hit upon a verifiable truth regarding the current state of the software. If the AI integration were universally recognized as seamless, high-value, and technically flawless, the derogatory label would have failed to gain traction among the engineering community. However, because the term captured a widespread sentiment that the software was becoming bloated with unrefined, “sloppy” code that prioritizes corporate AI metrics over actual user utility, the attempt to ban the word felt like an attempt to ban the truth itself. For AI builders, this serves as a critical warning that one cannot moderate their way out of a fundamental quality problem. If a community begins to categorize a product’s output as “slop,” the correct response is not to update the server’s AutoMod settings to include the word on a prohibited list; the solution is to re-evaluate the product roadmap and address the technical regressions causing the friction.

Root Cause Analysis: The Failure of Brittle Automation in Community Governance

The technical root cause of the Discord meltdown can be traced back to the implementation of “naive” or “brittle” automation—a common pitfall for organizations that treat community management as a purely administrative task. Microsoft’s moderation team relied on a basic fixed-string match filter, which is the mos

Furthermore, the automation failed to account for context, which is the most vital component of any successful moderation strategy. The bot reportedly flagged every instance of the word “Microslop,” regardless of whether the user was using it as an insult, asking a question about the controversy, or providing constructive criticism. By labeling a corporate nickname with the same “inappropriate” tag usually reserved for hate speech or harassment, the automated system actively insulted the intelligence of the user base. This lack of nuance in the AI-driven moderation stack created a pressure cooker environment where every automated deletion was viewed as an act of corporate censorship. For AI builders, the lesson is that any automation deployed for community governance must be as sophisticated as the product it supports. Relying on 1990s-era keyword filtering to manage a 2026-era AI community is a recipe for disaster, as it signals a lack of technical effort that only further reinforces the “slop” narrative the organization is trying to escape.

The Strategic Shift: Moving Beyond Blunt Force Suppression

The failure of the “Microslop” ban highlights a critical strategic inflection point for AI builders who must navigate the increasingly volatile waters of developer communities. Relying on blunt-force suppression as a first-line defense against product criticism is a strategy rooted in legacy corporate communication models that are incompatible with the transparent, decentralized nature of modern technical hubs. When a tech giant attempts to scrub a derogatory term from its digital ecosystem, it effectively abdicates its role as a collaborator and assumes the role of an adversary. This shift in posture is particularly damaging in the context of generative AI, where the success of a platform like Copilot is heavily dependent on the feedback loops and integrations created by the very developers who feel alienated by such heavy-handed moderation. Instead of viewing these “slop” accusations as a nuisance to be silenced, sophisticated AI organizations should view them as high-fidelity data points indicating where the gap between marketing hype and functional utility has become too wide to ignore.

Consequently, the move toward resilient community management requires a transition from “policing” to “pivoting.” Analyzing the fallout from the March 2026 lockdown reveals that the most effective way to neutralize a pejorative nickname is to address the technical deficiencies that gave the name its power. For instance, if users are labeling an AI integration as “slop” due to high latency, resource bloat, or inconsistent output, the strategic response should involve a public-facing commitment to performance benchmarks and a transparent roadmap for optimization. By engaging with the substance of the criticism rather than the semantics of the label, a builder can naturally erode the legitimacy of the mockery. Microsoft’s decision to hide behind a locked Discord server suggests a lack of preparedness for the “friction” that inevitably accompanies the rollout of transformative technologies. To avoid this pitfall, builders must ensure that their community teams are empowered with technical context and the authority to translate community outrage into actionable product requirements, rather than being relegated to the role of digital janitors tasked with sweeping dissent under the rug.

Building Resilience: Lessons in Context-Aware Governance

For AI startups and established enterprises alike, the “Microslop” debacle provides a definitive masterclass in the necessity of context-aware governance. The primary technical takeaway is that community moderation in 2026 must be as intellectually rigorous as the models being developed. A sophisticated governance stack would utilize sentiment analysis and intent recognition to differentiate between a user engaging in harassment and a user expressing a legitimate, albeit sarcastically phrased, grievance. By failing to integrate these more nuanced AI capabilities into their own moderation tools, Microsoft inadvertently signaled a lack of confidence in the very technology they are asking the world to adopt. If an AI leader cannot trust its own systems to handle a Discord meme without resorting to a total server blackout, it becomes significantly harder to convince enterprise clients that the same technology is ready to handle mission-critical business logic or sensitive customer interactions.

Furthermore, building a resilient community requires a fundamental acceptance of the “ugly” side of product development. In the age of social media and rapid-fire developer feedback, mistakes will be memed, and failures will be christened with catchy, derogatory nicknames. Attempting to legislate these memes out of existence is a losing battle that only serves to accelerate the Streisand Effect. Instead, AI builders should focus on creating “high-trust environments” where users feel that their feedback—no matter how unpolished or “sloppy” it may be—is being ingested as a valuable resource. This involves maintaining open channels even during a PR crisis and resisting the urge to implement “emergency” filters that treat your most vocal users like hostile actors. By prioritizing stability, transparency, and technical excellence over brand hygiene, organizations can transform a potential “Microslop” moment into a demonstration of corporate maturity and a commitment to long-term product quality.

From Damage Control to Product Discipline: Reclaiming the Narrative

The ultimate fallout of the Microsoft Discord lockdown serves as a definitive case study in why AI builders must prioritize technical discipline over narrative control. When a corporation attempts to “engineer” a community’s vocabulary through restrictive automation, it inadvertently signals a lack of confidence in the underlying product’s ability to speak for itself. Analyzing the broader industry trends of 2026, it becomes clear that the “slop” label is not merely a social media trend but a technical critique of the current state of LLM integration. For a developer audience, the transition from “Microsoft” to “Microslop” in common parlance was a direct reaction to perceived regressions in software performance and the intrusion of non-essential AI telemetry into stable workflows. By focusing on the removal of the word rather than the remediation of the code, Microsoft missed a critical opportunity to demonstrate the “sophistication” that CEO Satya Nadella has publicly championed. Builders must realize that in a highly literate technical ecosystem, the only way to effectively kill a derogatory meme is to make it irrelevant through superior engineering and undeniable user value.

Furthermore, the “Microslop” incident underscores the necessity of a unified strategy between product engineering and community management. In many large-scale tech organizations, these departments operate in silos, leading to situations where a community manager implements a blunt-force keyword filter without realizing it contradicts the broader corporate message of AI-driven nuance and intelligence. This strategic misalignment is what allowed a minor moderation decision to balloon into a global PR crisis that dominated tech headlines for a week. To build a resilient AI brand, organizations must ensure that their automated governance tools are reflective of their core technological promises. If your product is marketed as an “intelligent companion,” your moderation bot cannot behave like a primitive 1990s-era blacklist. Moving forward, the industry must adopt a “feedback-first” architecture where automated tools are used to categorize and elevate user frustration to engineering teams, rather than acting as a digital firewall designed to protect executive sensibilities from the harsh reality of user sentiment.

Conclusion: The Lasting Legacy of the “Slop” Era

The March 2026 Discord lockdown will likely be remembered as the moment “Microslop” transitioned from a niche joke to a permanent fixture of the AI era’s vocabulary. Microsoft’s attempt to use automated moderation as a shield against criticism backfired because it ignored the fundamental law of the digital age: the more you try to hide a grievance, the more you validate its existence. For those of us building in the AI space, the lessons are clear and uncompromising. We must build with transparency, moderate with context, and never mistake a blunt-force keyword filter for a comprehensive community strategy. If we want our products to be associated with innovation rather than “slop,” we must earn that reputation through technical excellence and genuine engagement, not through the silent deletion of our critics’ messages. In the end, Microsoft didn’t just ban a word; they inadvertently launched a movement, proving that even the world’s most powerful tech companies remain vulnerable to the power of a well-timed, nine-letter meme and the undeniable force of the Streisand Effect.

Call to Action

If this breakdown helped you think a little clearer about the threats out there, don’t just click away. Subscribe for more no-nonsense security insights, drop a comment with your thoughts or questions, or reach out if there’s a topic you want me to tackle next. Stay sharp out there.

D. Bryan King

Sources

• PCMag: Microsoft Effort to Ban ‘Microslop’ on Copilot Discord Didn’t Go As Planned
• Windows Latest: Microsoft Locks Copilot Discord After Moderation Backlash
• Futurism: Microsoft Bans “Microslop” on Discord, Gets So Humiliated It Locks Server
• Gizmodo: Microsoft Bans Term ‘Microslop’ From Official Discord Server
• PC Gamer: Microsoft banned the word ‘Microslop’ in its Copilot Discord server
• It’s FOSS: Microsoft Locks Down Discord Server Over “Microslop” Posts
• Slashdot: Microsoft Bans ‘Microslop’ On Its Discord, Then Locks the Server
• Ground News: Microsoft Locks Down Discord Server After Microslop Ban Backfires
• Mysterium VPN: Microsoft Banned “Microslop” on Discord, Then Panicked
• Kotaku: Flood Of ‘Microslop’ Messages Forces Microsoft’s Official Copilot AI Discord Into Lockdown
• WinBuzzer: Microsoft Bans ‘Microslop’ on Discord, Locks Server After Backlash
• NIST: AI Risk Management Framework
• CISA: Secure by Design Principles for AI

Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author. The information provided is based on personal research, experience, and understanding of the subject matter at the time of writing. Readers should consult relevant experts or authorities for specific guidance related to their unique situations.

Related Posts

Rate this:

Microsoft’s “Microslop” Discord Ban Backfires: What AI Builders Can Learn from This Epic Moderation Fail

2,644 words, 14 minutes read time.

The “Microslop” Catalyst: When Automated Moderation Becomes a PR Liability

The recent escalation on Microsoft’s official Copilot Discord server serves as a stark reminder that in the high-stakes world of generative AI, the community’s perception of quality is as vital as the underlying architecture itself. In early March 2026, what began as a routine effort to maintain decorum within a product-support hub rapidly spiraled into a live case study of the Streisand Effect. Reports from multiple industry outlets confirmed that Microsoft had implemented a blunt, automated keyword filter designed to silently delete any message containing the term “Microslop.” This derogatory portmanteau has been increasingly used by developers and power users to describe what they perceive as low-quality, intrusive, or “sloppy” AI integrations within the Windows ecosystem. While the corporate intent was likely to prune what a spokesperson later categorized as “coordinated spam,” the execution triggered a tidal wave of digital civil disobedience. Instead of silencing the critics, the automated system provided a focal point for them, validating the sentiment that the tech giant was more interested in brand preservation than addressing the technical grievances that birthed the nickname.

Analyzing the root of this frustration reveals that the term “slop” is often an emotional reaction to a very real technical burden placed on the developer community. For instance, attempting to upgrade a SharePoint Framework (SPFx) project from version 1.14.x to the recently released 1.22.x is frequently described by those in the trenches as a “blood bath” of error messages and cryptic warnings. The transition is not merely a version bump; it is an overhaul of the build toolchain that often leaves developers debugging deep-seated errors that appear to stem from AI-generated or “slop-induced” bugs within M365 and community plug-ins. When a developer spends three days chasing an error only to find it buried in a low-quality, automated code suggestion or a poorly integrated community tool, the “Microslop” label stops being a joke and starts being an accurate description of a broken workflow. This disconnect between Microsoft’s “AI-first” marketing and the gritty, error-prone reality of its development frameworks is precisely why a simple keyword filter was never going to be enough to contain the community’s mounting resentment.

The Streisand Effect: How Censorship Becomes a Signal

The failure of the “Microslop” ban is a textbook example of how heavy-handed moderation can amplify the very information it seeks to suppress. In the context of AI builders, this incident highlights the danger of using automated tools to sanitize discourse, as it inadvertently creates a “badge of resistance” for the user base. Every bypassed filter and every subsequent ban on the Copilot Discord became a signal to the broader industry that there was a significant rift between Microsoft’s narrative of AI “sophistication” and the community’s lived experience with the product. Furthermore, by escalating from keyword filtering to a full server lockdown, Microsoft effectively confirmed the power of the “Microslop” label. This elevated the term from a minor annoyance to a headline-grabbing symbol of corporate insecurity, demonstrating that the more a corporation tries to hide a piece of information, the more the public will seek it out and amplify it.

This phenomenon is particularly dangerous for AI-centric companies because the technology itself is already under intense scrutiny for its reliability and ethical implications. If a builder cannot manage a community hub without resorting to blunt-force censorship, it raises uncomfortable questions about how they manage the more complex, nuanced guardrails required for the Large Language Models (LLMs) themselves. The internet rarely leaves such attempts at suppression unpunished; in this case, the ban led to the creation of browser extensions and scripts specifically designed to spread the nickname across the web. This demonstrates that in 2026, community management is no longer just an administrative task; it is a critical component of brand integrity that requires a much more sophisticated approach than a simple “find and replace” blocklist. Builders must recognize that transparency is the only effective dampener for the Streisand Effect, as any attempt to use automation to hide dissatisfaction only serves to validate the critics.

Why the “Slop” Narrative Resonates: The Technical Quality Gap

At the heart of the “Microslop” controversy lies a deeper, more substantive issue regarding the growing perception that AI integration has entered a period of diminishing returns, often referred to as the “slop” era. The term “slop” gained significant cultural weight after major linguistic authorities and industry analysts began using it to specifically define the flood of low-quality, mass-produced AI content clogging the modern internet. When users apply this term to a tech giant, they are not merely engaging in schoolyard insults; they are expressing a technical frustration with the way generative AI features have been integrated into a legacy operating system. Analyzing the user feedback leading up to the Discord lockdown reveals a clear pattern of “quantity over quality” in the deployment of Copilot. Developers and power users have documented numerous instances where AI components were perceived as being forced into core OS functions like Notepad, File Explorer, and Task Manager, often at the expense of system latency and overall stability.

This quality gap is precisely what gave the “Microslop” nickname its viral potency, as it hit upon a verifiable truth regarding the current state of the software. If the AI integration were universally recognized as seamless, high-value, and technically flawless, the derogatory label would have failed to gain traction among the engineering community. However, because the term captured a widespread sentiment that the software was becoming bloated with unrefined, “sloppy” code that prioritizes corporate AI metrics over actual user utility, the attempt to ban the word felt like an attempt to ban the truth itself. For AI builders, this serves as a critical warning that one cannot moderate their way out of a fundamental quality problem. If a community begins to categorize a product’s output as “slop,” the correct response is not to update the server’s AutoMod settings to include the word on a prohibited list; the solution is to re-evaluate the product roadmap and address the technical regressions causing the friction.

Root Cause Analysis: The Failure of Brittle Automation in Community Governance

The technical root cause of the Discord meltdown can be traced back to the implementation of “naive” or “brittle” automation—a common pitfall for organizations that treat community management as a purely administrative task. Microsoft’s moderation team relied on a basic fixed-string match filter, which is the mos

Furthermore, the automation failed to account for context, which is the most vital component of any successful moderation strategy. The bot reportedly flagged every instance of the word “Microslop,” regardless of whether the user was using it as an insult, asking a question about the controversy, or providing constructive criticism. By labeling a corporate nickname with the same “inappropriate” tag usually reserved for hate speech or harassment, the automated system actively insulted the intelligence of the user base. This lack of nuance in the AI-driven moderation stack created a pressure cooker environment where every automated deletion was viewed as an act of corporate censorship. For AI builders, the lesson is that any automation deployed for community governance must be as sophisticated as the product it supports. Relying on 1990s-era keyword filtering to manage a 2026-era AI community is a recipe for disaster, as it signals a lack of technical effort that only further reinforces the “slop” narrative the organization is trying to escape.

The Strategic Shift: Moving Beyond Blunt Force Suppression

The failure of the “Microslop” ban highlights a critical strategic inflection point for AI builders who must navigate the increasingly volatile waters of developer communities. Relying on blunt-force suppression as a first-line defense against product criticism is a strategy rooted in legacy corporate communication models that are incompatible with the transparent, decentralized nature of modern technical hubs. When a tech giant attempts to scrub a derogatory term from its digital ecosystem, it effectively abdicates its role as a collaborator and assumes the role of an adversary. This shift in posture is particularly damaging in the context of generative AI, where the success of a platform like Copilot is heavily dependent on the feedback loops and integrations created by the very developers who feel alienated by such heavy-handed moderation. Instead of viewing these “slop” accusations as a nuisance to be silenced, sophisticated AI organizations should view them as high-fidelity data points indicating where the gap between marketing hype and functional utility has become too wide to ignore.

Consequently, the move toward resilient community management requires a transition from “policing” to “pivoting.” Analyzing the fallout from the March 2026 lockdown reveals that the most effective way to neutralize a pejorative nickname is to address the technical deficiencies that gave the name its power. For instance, if users are labeling an AI integration as “slop” due to high latency, resource bloat, or inconsistent output, the strategic response should involve a public-facing commitment to performance benchmarks and a transparent roadmap for optimization. By engaging with the substance of the criticism rather than the semantics of the label, a builder can naturally erode the legitimacy of the mockery. Microsoft’s decision to hide behind a locked Discord server suggests a lack of preparedness for the “friction” that inevitably accompanies the rollout of transformative technologies. To avoid this pitfall, builders must ensure that their community teams are empowered with technical context and the authority to translate community outrage into actionable product requirements, rather than being relegated to the role of digital janitors tasked with sweeping dissent under the rug.

Building Resilience: Lessons in Context-Aware Governance

For AI startups and established enterprises alike, the “Microslop” debacle provides a definitive masterclass in the necessity of context-aware governance. The primary technical takeaway is that community moderation in 2026 must be as intellectually rigorous as the models being developed. A sophisticated governance stack would utilize sentiment analysis and intent recognition to differentiate between a user engaging in harassment and a user expressing a legitimate, albeit sarcastically phrased, grievance. By failing to integrate these more nuanced AI capabilities into their own moderation tools, Microsoft inadvertently signaled a lack of confidence in the very technology they are asking the world to adopt. If an AI leader cannot trust its own systems to handle a Discord meme without resorting to a total server blackout, it becomes significantly harder to convince enterprise clients that the same technology is ready to handle mission-critical business logic or sensitive customer interactions.

Furthermore, building a resilient community requires a fundamental acceptance of the “ugly” side of product development. In the age of social media and rapid-fire developer feedback, mistakes will be memed, and failures will be christened with catchy, derogatory nicknames. Attempting to legislate these memes out of existence is a losing battle that only serves to accelerate the Streisand Effect. Instead, AI builders should focus on creating “high-trust environments” where users feel that their feedback—no matter how unpolished or “sloppy” it may be—is being ingested as a valuable resource. This involves maintaining open channels even during a PR crisis and resisting the urge to implement “emergency” filters that treat your most vocal users like hostile actors. By prioritizing stability, transparency, and technical excellence over brand hygiene, organizations can transform a potential “Microslop” moment into a demonstration of corporate maturity and a commitment to long-term product quality.

From Damage Control to Product Discipline: Reclaiming the Narrative

The ultimate fallout of the Microsoft Discord lockdown serves as a definitive case study in why AI builders must prioritize technical discipline over narrative control. When a corporation attempts to “engineer” a community’s vocabulary through restrictive automation, it inadvertently signals a lack of confidence in the underlying product’s ability to speak for itself. Analyzing the broader industry trends of 2026, it becomes clear that the “slop” label is not merely a social media trend but a technical critique of the current state of LLM integration. For a developer audience, the transition from “Microsoft” to “Microslop” in common parlance was a direct reaction to perceived regressions in software performance and the intrusion of non-essential AI telemetry into stable workflows. By focusing on the removal of the word rather than the remediation of the code, Microsoft missed a critical opportunity to demonstrate the “sophistication” that CEO Satya Nadella has publicly championed. Builders must realize that in a highly literate technical ecosystem, the only way to effectively kill a derogatory meme is to make it irrelevant through superior engineering and undeniable user value.

Furthermore, the “Microslop” incident underscores the necessity of a unified strategy between product engineering and community management. In many large-scale tech organizations, these departments operate in silos, leading to situations where a community manager implements a blunt-force keyword filter without realizing it contradicts the broader corporate message of AI-driven nuance and intelligence. This strategic misalignment is what allowed a minor moderation decision to balloon into a global PR crisis that dominated tech headlines for a week. To build a resilient AI brand, organizations must ensure that their automated governance tools are reflective of their core technological promises. If your product is marketed as an “intelligent companion,” your moderation bot cannot behave like a primitive 1990s-era blacklist. Moving forward, the industry must adopt a “feedback-first” architecture where automated tools are used to categorize and elevate user frustration to engineering teams, rather than acting as a digital firewall designed to protect executive sensibilities from the harsh reality of user sentiment.

Conclusion: The Lasting Legacy of the “Slop” Era

The March 2026 Discord lockdown will likely be remembered as the moment “Microslop” transitioned from a niche joke to a permanent fixture of the AI era’s vocabulary. Microsoft’s attempt to use automated moderation as a shield against criticism backfired because it ignored the fundamental law of the digital age: the more you try to hide a grievance, the more you validate its existence. For those of us building in the AI space, the lessons are clear and uncompromising. We must build with transparency, moderate with context, and never mistake a blunt-force keyword filter for a comprehensive community strategy. If we want our products to be associated with innovation rather than “slop,” we must earn that reputation through technical excellence and genuine engagement, not through the silent deletion of our critics’ messages. In the end, Microsoft didn’t just ban a word; they inadvertently launched a movement, proving that even the world’s most powerful tech companies remain vulnerable to the power of a well-timed, nine-letter meme and the undeniable force of the Streisand Effect.

Call to Action

If this breakdown helped you think a little clearer about the threats out there, don’t just click away. Subscribe for more no-nonsense security insights, drop a comment with your thoughts or questions, or reach out if there’s a topic you want me to tackle next. Stay sharp out there.

D. Bryan King

Sources

• PCMag: Microsoft Effort to Ban ‘Microslop’ on Copilot Discord Didn’t Go As Planned
• Windows Latest: Microsoft Locks Copilot Discord After Moderation Backlash
• Futurism: Microsoft Bans “Microslop” on Discord, Gets So Humiliated It Locks Server
• Gizmodo: Microsoft Bans Term ‘Microslop’ From Official Discord Server
• PC Gamer: Microsoft banned the word ‘Microslop’ in its Copilot Discord server
• It’s FOSS: Microsoft Locks Down Discord Server Over “Microslop” Posts
• Slashdot: Microsoft Bans ‘Microslop’ On Its Discord, Then Locks the Server
• Ground News: Microsoft Locks Down Discord Server After Microslop Ban Backfires
• Mysterium VPN: Microsoft Banned “Microslop” on Discord, Then Panicked
• Kotaku: Flood Of ‘Microslop’ Messages Forces Microsoft’s Official Copilot AI Discord Into Lockdown
• WinBuzzer: Microsoft Bans ‘Microslop’ on Discord, Locks Server After Backlash
• NIST: AI Risk Management Framework
• CISA: Secure by Design Principles for AI

Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author. The information provided is based on personal research, experience, and understanding of the subject matter at the time of writing. Readers should consult relevant experts or authorities for specific guidance related to their unique situations.

Related Posts

Rate this:

Microsoft’s “Microslop” Discord Ban Backfires: What AI Builders Can Learn from This Epic Moderation Fail

2,644 words, 14 minutes read time.

The “Microslop” Catalyst: When Automated Moderation Becomes a PR Liability

The recent escalation on Microsoft’s official Copilot Discord server serves as a stark reminder that in the high-stakes world of generative AI, the community’s perception of quality is as vital as the underlying architecture itself. In early March 2026, what began as a routine effort to maintain decorum within a product-support hub rapidly spiraled into a live case study of the Streisand Effect. Reports from multiple industry outlets confirmed that Microsoft had implemented a blunt, automated keyword filter designed to silently delete any message containing the term “Microslop.” This derogatory portmanteau has been increasingly used by developers and power users to describe what they perceive as low-quality, intrusive, or “sloppy” AI integrations within the Windows ecosystem. While the corporate intent was likely to prune what a spokesperson later categorized as “coordinated spam,” the execution triggered a tidal wave of digital civil disobedience. Instead of silencing the critics, the automated system provided a focal point for them, validating the sentiment that the tech giant was more interested in brand preservation than addressing the technical grievances that birthed the nickname.

Analyzing the root of this frustration reveals that the term “slop” is often an emotional reaction to a very real technical burden placed on the developer community. For instance, attempting to upgrade a SharePoint Framework (SPFx) project from version 1.14.x to the recently released 1.22.x is frequently described by those in the trenches as a “blood bath” of error messages and cryptic warnings. The transition is not merely a version bump; it is an overhaul of the build toolchain that often leaves developers debugging deep-seated errors that appear to stem from AI-generated or “slop-induced” bugs within M365 and community plug-ins. When a developer spends three days chasing an error only to find it buried in a low-quality, automated code suggestion or a poorly integrated community tool, the “Microslop” label stops being a joke and starts being an accurate description of a broken workflow. This disconnect between Microsoft’s “AI-first” marketing and the gritty, error-prone reality of its development frameworks is precisely why a simple keyword filter was never going to be enough to contain the community’s mounting resentment.

The Streisand Effect: How Censorship Becomes a Signal

The failure of the “Microslop” ban is a textbook example of how heavy-handed moderation can amplify the very information it seeks to suppress. In the context of AI builders, this incident highlights the danger of using automated tools to sanitize discourse, as it inadvertently creates a “badge of resistance” for the user base. Every bypassed filter and every subsequent ban on the Copilot Discord became a signal to the broader industry that there was a significant rift between Microsoft’s narrative of AI “sophistication” and the community’s lived experience with the product. Furthermore, by escalating from keyword filtering to a full server lockdown, Microsoft effectively confirmed the power of the “Microslop” label. This elevated the term from a minor annoyance to a headline-grabbing symbol of corporate insecurity, demonstrating that the more a corporation tries to hide a piece of information, the more the public will seek it out and amplify it.

This phenomenon is particularly dangerous for AI-centric companies because the technology itself is already under intense scrutiny for its reliability and ethical implications. If a builder cannot manage a community hub without resorting to blunt-force censorship, it raises uncomfortable questions about how they manage the more complex, nuanced guardrails required for the Large Language Models (LLMs) themselves. The internet rarely leaves such attempts at suppression unpunished; in this case, the ban led to the creation of browser extensions and scripts specifically designed to spread the nickname across the web. This demonstrates that in 2026, community management is no longer just an administrative task; it is a critical component of brand integrity that requires a much more sophisticated approach than a simple “find and replace” blocklist. Builders must recognize that transparency is the only effective dampener for the Streisand Effect, as any attempt to use automation to hide dissatisfaction only serves to validate the critics.

Why the “Slop” Narrative Resonates: The Technical Quality Gap

At the heart of the “Microslop” controversy lies a deeper, more substantive issue regarding the growing perception that AI integration has entered a period of diminishing returns, often referred to as the “slop” era. The term “slop” gained significant cultural weight after major linguistic authorities and industry analysts began using it to specifically define the flood of low-quality, mass-produced AI content clogging the modern internet. When users apply this term to a tech giant, they are not merely engaging in schoolyard insults; they are expressing a technical frustration with the way generative AI features have been integrated into a legacy operating system. Analyzing the user feedback leading up to the Discord lockdown reveals a clear pattern of “quantity over quality” in the deployment of Copilot. Developers and power users have documented numerous instances where AI components were perceived as being forced into core OS functions like Notepad, File Explorer, and Task Manager, often at the expense of system latency and overall stability.

This quality gap is precisely what gave the “Microslop” nickname its viral potency, as it hit upon a verifiable truth regarding the current state of the software. If the AI integration were universally recognized as seamless, high-value, and technically flawless, the derogatory label would have failed to gain traction among the engineering community. However, because the term captured a widespread sentiment that the software was becoming bloated with unrefined, “sloppy” code that prioritizes corporate AI metrics over actual user utility, the attempt to ban the word felt like an attempt to ban the truth itself. For AI builders, this serves as a critical warning that one cannot moderate their way out of a fundamental quality problem. If a community begins to categorize a product’s output as “slop,” the correct response is not to update the server’s AutoMod settings to include the word on a prohibited list; the solution is to re-evaluate the product roadmap and address the technical regressions causing the friction.

Root Cause Analysis: The Failure of Brittle Automation in Community Governance

The technical root cause of the Discord meltdown can be traced back to the implementation of “naive” or “brittle” automation—a common pitfall for organizations that treat community management as a purely administrative task. Microsoft’s moderation team relied on a basic fixed-string match filter, which is the mos

Furthermore, the automation failed to account for context, which is the most vital component of any successful moderation strategy. The bot reportedly flagged every instance of the word “Microslop,” regardless of whether the user was using it as an insult, asking a question about the controversy, or providing constructive criticism. By labeling a corporate nickname with the same “inappropriate” tag usually reserved for hate speech or harassment, the automated system actively insulted the intelligence of the user base. This lack of nuance in the AI-driven moderation stack created a pressure cooker environment where every automated deletion was viewed as an act of corporate censorship. For AI builders, the lesson is that any automation deployed for community governance must be as sophisticated as the product it supports. Relying on 1990s-era keyword filtering to manage a 2026-era AI community is a recipe for disaster, as it signals a lack of technical effort that only further reinforces the “slop” narrative the organization is trying to escape.

The Strategic Shift: Moving Beyond Blunt Force Suppression

The failure of the “Microslop” ban highlights a critical strategic inflection point for AI builders who must navigate the increasingly volatile waters of developer communities. Relying on blunt-force suppression as a first-line defense against product criticism is a strategy rooted in legacy corporate communication models that are incompatible with the transparent, decentralized nature of modern technical hubs. When a tech giant attempts to scrub a derogatory term from its digital ecosystem, it effectively abdicates its role as a collaborator and assumes the role of an adversary. This shift in posture is particularly damaging in the context of generative AI, where the success of a platform like Copilot is heavily dependent on the feedback loops and integrations created by the very developers who feel alienated by such heavy-handed moderation. Instead of viewing these “slop” accusations as a nuisance to be silenced, sophisticated AI organizations should view them as high-fidelity data points indicating where the gap between marketing hype and functional utility has become too wide to ignore.

Consequently, the move toward resilient community management requires a transition from “policing” to “pivoting.” Analyzing the fallout from the March 2026 lockdown reveals that the most effective way to neutralize a pejorative nickname is to address the technical deficiencies that gave the name its power. For instance, if users are labeling an AI integration as “slop” due to high latency, resource bloat, or inconsistent output, the strategic response should involve a public-facing commitment to performance benchmarks and a transparent roadmap for optimization. By engaging with the substance of the criticism rather than the semantics of the label, a builder can naturally erode the legitimacy of the mockery. Microsoft’s decision to hide behind a locked Discord server suggests a lack of preparedness for the “friction” that inevitably accompanies the rollout of transformative technologies. To avoid this pitfall, builders must ensure that their community teams are empowered with technical context and the authority to translate community outrage into actionable product requirements, rather than being relegated to the role of digital janitors tasked with sweeping dissent under the rug.

Building Resilience: Lessons in Context-Aware Governance

For AI startups and established enterprises alike, the “Microslop” debacle provides a definitive masterclass in the necessity of context-aware governance. The primary technical takeaway is that community moderation in 2026 must be as intellectually rigorous as the models being developed. A sophisticated governance stack would utilize sentiment analysis and intent recognition to differentiate between a user engaging in harassment and a user expressing a legitimate, albeit sarcastically phrased, grievance. By failing to integrate these more nuanced AI capabilities into their own moderation tools, Microsoft inadvertently signaled a lack of confidence in the very technology they are asking the world to adopt. If an AI leader cannot trust its own systems to handle a Discord meme without resorting to a total server blackout, it becomes significantly harder to convince enterprise clients that the same technology is ready to handle mission-critical business logic or sensitive customer interactions.

Furthermore, building a resilient community requires a fundamental acceptance of the “ugly” side of product development. In the age of social media and rapid-fire developer feedback, mistakes will be memed, and failures will be christened with catchy, derogatory nicknames. Attempting to legislate these memes out of existence is a losing battle that only serves to accelerate the Streisand Effect. Instead, AI builders should focus on creating “high-trust environments” where users feel that their feedback—no matter how unpolished or “sloppy” it may be—is being ingested as a valuable resource. This involves maintaining open channels even during a PR crisis and resisting the urge to implement “emergency” filters that treat your most vocal users like hostile actors. By prioritizing stability, transparency, and technical excellence over brand hygiene, organizations can transform a potential “Microslop” moment into a demonstration of corporate maturity and a commitment to long-term product quality.

From Damage Control to Product Discipline: Reclaiming the Narrative

The ultimate fallout of the Microsoft Discord lockdown serves as a definitive case study in why AI builders must prioritize technical discipline over narrative control. When a corporation attempts to “engineer” a community’s vocabulary through restrictive automation, it inadvertently signals a lack of confidence in the underlying product’s ability to speak for itself. Analyzing the broader industry trends of 2026, it becomes clear that the “slop” label is not merely a social media trend but a technical critique of the current state of LLM integration. For a developer audience, the transition from “Microsoft” to “Microslop” in common parlance was a direct reaction to perceived regressions in software performance and the intrusion of non-essential AI telemetry into stable workflows. By focusing on the removal of the word rather than the remediation of the code, Microsoft missed a critical opportunity to demonstrate the “sophistication” that CEO Satya Nadella has publicly championed. Builders must realize that in a highly literate technical ecosystem, the only way to effectively kill a derogatory meme is to make it irrelevant through superior engineering and undeniable user value.

Furthermore, the “Microslop” incident underscores the necessity of a unified strategy between product engineering and community management. In many large-scale tech organizations, these departments operate in silos, leading to situations where a community manager implements a blunt-force keyword filter without realizing it contradicts the broader corporate message of AI-driven nuance and intelligence. This strategic misalignment is what allowed a minor moderation decision to balloon into a global PR crisis that dominated tech headlines for a week. To build a resilient AI brand, organizations must ensure that their automated governance tools are reflective of their core technological promises. If your product is marketed as an “intelligent companion,” your moderation bot cannot behave like a primitive 1990s-era blacklist. Moving forward, the industry must adopt a “feedback-first” architecture where automated tools are used to categorize and elevate user frustration to engineering teams, rather than acting as a digital firewall designed to protect executive sensibilities from the harsh reality of user sentiment.

Conclusion: The Lasting Legacy of the “Slop” Era

The March 2026 Discord lockdown will likely be remembered as the moment “Microslop” transitioned from a niche joke to a permanent fixture of the AI era’s vocabulary. Microsoft’s attempt to use automated moderation as a shield against criticism backfired because it ignored the fundamental law of the digital age: the more you try to hide a grievance, the more you validate its existence. For those of us building in the AI space, the lessons are clear and uncompromising. We must build with transparency, moderate with context, and never mistake a blunt-force keyword filter for a comprehensive community strategy. If we want our products to be associated with innovation rather than “slop,” we must earn that reputation through technical excellence and genuine engagement, not through the silent deletion of our critics’ messages. In the end, Microsoft didn’t just ban a word; they inadvertently launched a movement, proving that even the world’s most powerful tech companies remain vulnerable to the power of a well-timed, nine-letter meme and the undeniable force of the Streisand Effect.

Call to Action

If this breakdown helped you think a little clearer about the threats out there, don’t just click away. Subscribe for more no-nonsense security insights, drop a comment with your thoughts or questions, or reach out if there’s a topic you want me to tackle next. Stay sharp out there.

D. Bryan King

Sources

• PCMag: Microsoft Effort to Ban ‘Microslop’ on Copilot Discord Didn’t Go As Planned
• Windows Latest: Microsoft Locks Copilot Discord After Moderation Backlash
• Futurism: Microsoft Bans “Microslop” on Discord, Gets So Humiliated It Locks Server
• Gizmodo: Microsoft Bans Term ‘Microslop’ From Official Discord Server
• PC Gamer: Microsoft banned the word ‘Microslop’ in its Copilot Discord server
• It’s FOSS: Microsoft Locks Down Discord Server Over “Microslop” Posts
• Slashdot: Microsoft Bans ‘Microslop’ On Its Discord, Then Locks the Server
• Ground News: Microsoft Locks Down Discord Server After Microslop Ban Backfires
• Mysterium VPN: Microsoft Banned “Microslop” on Discord, Then Panicked
• Kotaku: Flood Of ‘Microslop’ Messages Forces Microsoft’s Official Copilot AI Discord Into Lockdown
• WinBuzzer: Microsoft Bans ‘Microslop’ on Discord, Locks Server After Backlash
• NIST: AI Risk Management Framework
• CISA: Secure by Design Principles for AI

Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author. The information provided is based on personal research, experience, and understanding of the subject matter at the time of writing. Readers should consult relevant experts or authorities for specific guidance related to their unique situations.

Related Posts

Rate this:

Microsoft’s “Microslop” Discord Ban Backfires: What AI Builders Can Learn from This Epic Moderation Fail

2,644 words, 14 minutes read time.

The “Microslop” Catalyst: When Automated Moderation Becomes a PR Liability

The recent escalation on Microsoft’s official Copilot Discord server serves as a stark reminder that in the high-stakes world of generative AI, the community’s perception of quality is as vital as the underlying architecture itself. In early March 2026, what began as a routine effort to maintain decorum within a product-support hub rapidly spiraled into a live case study of the Streisand Effect. Reports from multiple industry outlets confirmed that Microsoft had implemented a blunt, automated keyword filter designed to silently delete any message containing the term “Microslop.” This derogatory portmanteau has been increasingly used by developers and power users to describe what they perceive as low-quality, intrusive, or “sloppy” AI integrations within the Windows ecosystem. While the corporate intent was likely to prune what a spokesperson later categorized as “coordinated spam,” the execution triggered a tidal wave of digital civil disobedience. Instead of silencing the critics, the automated system provided a focal point for them, validating the sentiment that the tech giant was more interested in brand preservation than addressing the technical grievances that birthed the nickname.

Analyzing the root of this frustration reveals that the term “slop” is often an emotional reaction to a very real technical burden placed on the developer community. For instance, attempting to upgrade a SharePoint Framework (SPFx) project from version 1.14.x to the recently released 1.22.x is frequently described by those in the trenches as a “blood bath” of error messages and cryptic warnings. The transition is not merely a version bump; it is an overhaul of the build toolchain that often leaves developers debugging deep-seated errors that appear to stem from AI-generated or “slop-induced” bugs within M365 and community plug-ins. When a developer spends three days chasing an error only to find it buried in a low-quality, automated code suggestion or a poorly integrated community tool, the “Microslop” label stops being a joke and starts being an accurate description of a broken workflow. This disconnect between Microsoft’s “AI-first” marketing and the gritty, error-prone reality of its development frameworks is precisely why a simple keyword filter was never going to be enough to contain the community’s mounting resentment.

The Streisand Effect: How Censorship Becomes a Signal

The failure of the “Microslop” ban is a textbook example of how heavy-handed moderation can amplify the very information it seeks to suppress. In the context of AI builders, this incident highlights the danger of using automated tools to sanitize discourse, as it inadvertently creates a “badge of resistance” for the user base. Every bypassed filter and every subsequent ban on the Copilot Discord became a signal to the broader industry that there was a significant rift between Microsoft’s narrative of AI “sophistication” and the community’s lived experience with the product. Furthermore, by escalating from keyword filtering to a full server lockdown, Microsoft effectively confirmed the power of the “Microslop” label. This elevated the term from a minor annoyance to a headline-grabbing symbol of corporate insecurity, demonstrating that the more a corporation tries to hide a piece of information, the more the public will seek it out and amplify it.

This phenomenon is particularly dangerous for AI-centric companies because the technology itself is already under intense scrutiny for its reliability and ethical implications. If a builder cannot manage a community hub without resorting to blunt-force censorship, it raises uncomfortable questions about how they manage the more complex, nuanced guardrails required for the Large Language Models (LLMs) themselves. The internet rarely leaves such attempts at suppression unpunished; in this case, the ban led to the creation of browser extensions and scripts specifically designed to spread the nickname across the web. This demonstrates that in 2026, community management is no longer just an administrative task; it is a critical component of brand integrity that requires a much more sophisticated approach than a simple “find and replace” blocklist. Builders must recognize that transparency is the only effective dampener for the Streisand Effect, as any attempt to use automation to hide dissatisfaction only serves to validate the critics.

Why the “Slop” Narrative Resonates: The Technical Quality Gap

At the heart of the “Microslop” controversy lies a deeper, more substantive issue regarding the growing perception that AI integration has entered a period of diminishing returns, often referred to as the “slop” era. The term “slop” gained significant cultural weight after major linguistic authorities and industry analysts began using it to specifically define the flood of low-quality, mass-produced AI content clogging the modern internet. When users apply this term to a tech giant, they are not merely engaging in schoolyard insults; they are expressing a technical frustration with the way generative AI features have been integrated into a legacy operating system. Analyzing the user feedback leading up to the Discord lockdown reveals a clear pattern of “quantity over quality” in the deployment of Copilot. Developers and power users have documented numerous instances where AI components were perceived as being forced into core OS functions like Notepad, File Explorer, and Task Manager, often at the expense of system latency and overall stability.

This quality gap is precisely what gave the “Microslop” nickname its viral potency, as it hit upon a verifiable truth regarding the current state of the software. If the AI integration were universally recognized as seamless, high-value, and technically flawless, the derogatory label would have failed to gain traction among the engineering community. However, because the term captured a widespread sentiment that the software was becoming bloated with unrefined, “sloppy” code that prioritizes corporate AI metrics over actual user utility, the attempt to ban the word felt like an attempt to ban the truth itself. For AI builders, this serves as a critical warning that one cannot moderate their way out of a fundamental quality problem. If a community begins to categorize a product’s output as “slop,” the correct response is not to update the server’s AutoMod settings to include the word on a prohibited list; the solution is to re-evaluate the product roadmap and address the technical regressions causing the friction.

Root Cause Analysis: The Failure of Brittle Automation in Community Governance

The technical root cause of the Discord meltdown can be traced back to the implementation of “naive” or “brittle” automation—a common pitfall for organizations that treat community management as a purely administrative task. Microsoft’s moderation team relied on a basic fixed-string match filter, which is the mos

Furthermore, the automation failed to account for context, which is the most vital component of any successful moderation strategy. The bot reportedly flagged every instance of the word “Microslop,” regardless of whether the user was using it as an insult, asking a question about the controversy, or providing constructive criticism. By labeling a corporate nickname with the same “inappropriate” tag usually reserved for hate speech or harassment, the automated system actively insulted the intelligence of the user base. This lack of nuance in the AI-driven moderation stack created a pressure cooker environment where every automated deletion was viewed as an act of corporate censorship. For AI builders, the lesson is that any automation deployed for community governance must be as sophisticated as the product it supports. Relying on 1990s-era keyword filtering to manage a 2026-era AI community is a recipe for disaster, as it signals a lack of technical effort that only further reinforces the “slop” narrative the organization is trying to escape.

The Strategic Shift: Moving Beyond Blunt Force Suppression

The failure of the “Microslop” ban highlights a critical strategic inflection point for AI builders who must navigate the increasingly volatile waters of developer communities. Relying on blunt-force suppression as a first-line defense against product criticism is a strategy rooted in legacy corporate communication models that are incompatible with the transparent, decentralized nature of modern technical hubs. When a tech giant attempts to scrub a derogatory term from its digital ecosystem, it effectively abdicates its role as a collaborator and assumes the role of an adversary. This shift in posture is particularly damaging in the context of generative AI, where the success of a platform like Copilot is heavily dependent on the feedback loops and integrations created by the very developers who feel alienated by such heavy-handed moderation. Instead of viewing these “slop” accusations as a nuisance to be silenced, sophisticated AI organizations should view them as high-fidelity data points indicating where the gap between marketing hype and functional utility has become too wide to ignore.

Consequently, the move toward resilient community management requires a transition from “policing” to “pivoting.” Analyzing the fallout from the March 2026 lockdown reveals that the most effective way to neutralize a pejorative nickname is to address the technical deficiencies that gave the name its power. For instance, if users are labeling an AI integration as “slop” due to high latency, resource bloat, or inconsistent output, the strategic response should involve a public-facing commitment to performance benchmarks and a transparent roadmap for optimization. By engaging with the substance of the criticism rather than the semantics of the label, a builder can naturally erode the legitimacy of the mockery. Microsoft’s decision to hide behind a locked Discord server suggests a lack of preparedness for the “friction” that inevitably accompanies the rollout of transformative technologies. To avoid this pitfall, builders must ensure that their community teams are empowered with technical context and the authority to translate community outrage into actionable product requirements, rather than being relegated to the role of digital janitors tasked with sweeping dissent under the rug.

Building Resilience: Lessons in Context-Aware Governance

For AI startups and established enterprises alike, the “Microslop” debacle provides a definitive masterclass in the necessity of context-aware governance. The primary technical takeaway is that community moderation in 2026 must be as intellectually rigorous as the models being developed. A sophisticated governance stack would utilize sentiment analysis and intent recognition to differentiate between a user engaging in harassment and a user expressing a legitimate, albeit sarcastically phrased, grievance. By failing to integrate these more nuanced AI capabilities into their own moderation tools, Microsoft inadvertently signaled a lack of confidence in the very technology they are asking the world to adopt. If an AI leader cannot trust its own systems to handle a Discord meme without resorting to a total server blackout, it becomes significantly harder to convince enterprise clients that the same technology is ready to handle mission-critical business logic or sensitive customer interactions.

Furthermore, building a resilient community requires a fundamental acceptance of the “ugly” side of product development. In the age of social media and rapid-fire developer feedback, mistakes will be memed, and failures will be christened with catchy, derogatory nicknames. Attempting to legislate these memes out of existence is a losing battle that only serves to accelerate the Streisand Effect. Instead, AI builders should focus on creating “high-trust environments” where users feel that their feedback—no matter how unpolished or “sloppy” it may be—is being ingested as a valuable resource. This involves maintaining open channels even during a PR crisis and resisting the urge to implement “emergency” filters that treat your most vocal users like hostile actors. By prioritizing stability, transparency, and technical excellence over brand hygiene, organizations can transform a potential “Microslop” moment into a demonstration of corporate maturity and a commitment to long-term product quality.

From Damage Control to Product Discipline: Reclaiming the Narrative

The ultimate fallout of the Microsoft Discord lockdown serves as a definitive case study in why AI builders must prioritize technical discipline over narrative control. When a corporation attempts to “engineer” a community’s vocabulary through restrictive automation, it inadvertently signals a lack of confidence in the underlying product’s ability to speak for itself. Analyzing the broader industry trends of 2026, it becomes clear that the “slop” label is not merely a social media trend but a technical critique of the current state of LLM integration. For a developer audience, the transition from “Microsoft” to “Microslop” in common parlance was a direct reaction to perceived regressions in software performance and the intrusion of non-essential AI telemetry into stable workflows. By focusing on the removal of the word rather than the remediation of the code, Microsoft missed a critical opportunity to demonstrate the “sophistication” that CEO Satya Nadella has publicly championed. Builders must realize that in a highly literate technical ecosystem, the only way to effectively kill a derogatory meme is to make it irrelevant through superior engineering and undeniable user value.

Furthermore, the “Microslop” incident underscores the necessity of a unified strategy between product engineering and community management. In many large-scale tech organizations, these departments operate in silos, leading to situations where a community manager implements a blunt-force keyword filter without realizing it contradicts the broader corporate message of AI-driven nuance and intelligence. This strategic misalignment is what allowed a minor moderation decision to balloon into a global PR crisis that dominated tech headlines for a week. To build a resilient AI brand, organizations must ensure that their automated governance tools are reflective of their core technological promises. If your product is marketed as an “intelligent companion,” your moderation bot cannot behave like a primitive 1990s-era blacklist. Moving forward, the industry must adopt a “feedback-first” architecture where automated tools are used to categorize and elevate user frustration to engineering teams, rather than acting as a digital firewall designed to protect executive sensibilities from the harsh reality of user sentiment.

Conclusion: The Lasting Legacy of the “Slop” Era

The March 2026 Discord lockdown will likely be remembered as the moment “Microslop” transitioned from a niche joke to a permanent fixture of the AI era’s vocabulary. Microsoft’s attempt to use automated moderation as a shield against criticism backfired because it ignored the fundamental law of the digital age: the more you try to hide a grievance, the more you validate its existence. For those of us building in the AI space, the lessons are clear and uncompromising. We must build with transparency, moderate with context, and never mistake a blunt-force keyword filter for a comprehensive community strategy. If we want our products to be associated with innovation rather than “slop,” we must earn that reputation through technical excellence and genuine engagement, not through the silent deletion of our critics’ messages. In the end, Microsoft didn’t just ban a word; they inadvertently launched a movement, proving that even the world’s most powerful tech companies remain vulnerable to the power of a well-timed, nine-letter meme and the undeniable force of the Streisand Effect.

Call to Action

If this breakdown helped you think a little clearer about the threats out there, don’t just click away. Subscribe for more no-nonsense security insights, drop a comment with your thoughts or questions, or reach out if there’s a topic you want me to tackle next. Stay sharp out there.

D. Bryan King

Sources

• PCMag: Microsoft Effort to Ban ‘Microslop’ on Copilot Discord Didn’t Go As Planned
• Windows Latest: Microsoft Locks Copilot Discord After Moderation Backlash
• Futurism: Microsoft Bans “Microslop” on Discord, Gets So Humiliated It Locks Server
• Gizmodo: Microsoft Bans Term ‘Microslop’ From Official Discord Server
• PC Gamer: Microsoft banned the word ‘Microslop’ in its Copilot Discord server
• It’s FOSS: Microsoft Locks Down Discord Server Over “Microslop” Posts
• Slashdot: Microsoft Bans ‘Microslop’ On Its Discord, Then Locks the Server
• Ground News: Microsoft Locks Down Discord Server After Microslop Ban Backfires
• Mysterium VPN: Microsoft Banned “Microslop” on Discord, Then Panicked
• Kotaku: Flood Of ‘Microslop’ Messages Forces Microsoft’s Official Copilot AI Discord Into Lockdown
• WinBuzzer: Microsoft Bans ‘Microslop’ on Discord, Locks Server After Backlash
• NIST: AI Risk Management Framework
• CISA: Secure by Design Principles for AI

Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author. The information provided is based on personal research, experience, and understanding of the subject matter at the time of writing. Readers should consult relevant experts or authorities for specific guidance related to their unique situations.

Related Posts

Rate this:

Microsoft’s “Microslop” Discord Ban Backfires: What AI Builders Can Learn from This Epic Moderation Fail

2,644 words, 14 minutes read time.

The “Microslop” Catalyst: When Automated Moderation Becomes a PR Liability

The recent escalation on Microsoft’s official Copilot Discord server serves as a stark reminder that in the high-stakes world of generative AI, the community’s perception of quality is as vital as the underlying architecture itself. In early March 2026, what began as a routine effort to maintain decorum within a product-support hub rapidly spiraled into a live case study of the Streisand Effect. Reports from multiple industry outlets confirmed that Microsoft had implemented a blunt, automated keyword filter designed to silently delete any message containing the term “Microslop.” This derogatory portmanteau has been increasingly used by developers and power users to describe what they perceive as low-quality, intrusive, or “sloppy” AI integrations within the Windows ecosystem. While the corporate intent was likely to prune what a spokesperson later categorized as “coordinated spam,” the execution triggered a tidal wave of digital civil disobedience. Instead of silencing the critics, the automated system provided a focal point for them, validating the sentiment that the tech giant was more interested in brand preservation than addressing the technical grievances that birthed the nickname.

Analyzing the root of this frustration reveals that the term “slop” is often an emotional reaction to a very real technical burden placed on the developer community. For instance, attempting to upgrade a SharePoint Framework (SPFx) project from version 1.14.x to the recently released 1.22.x is frequently described by those in the trenches as a “blood bath” of error messages and cryptic warnings. The transition is not merely a version bump; it is an overhaul of the build toolchain that often leaves developers debugging deep-seated errors that appear to stem from AI-generated or “slop-induced” bugs within M365 and community plug-ins. When a developer spends three days chasing an error only to find it buried in a low-quality, automated code suggestion or a poorly integrated community tool, the “Microslop” label stops being a joke and starts being an accurate description of a broken workflow. This disconnect between Microsoft’s “AI-first” marketing and the gritty, error-prone reality of its development frameworks is precisely why a simple keyword filter was never going to be enough to contain the community’s mounting resentment.

The Streisand Effect: How Censorship Becomes a Signal

The failure of the “Microslop” ban is a textbook example of how heavy-handed moderation can amplify the very information it seeks to suppress. In the context of AI builders, this incident highlights the danger of using automated tools to sanitize discourse, as it inadvertently creates a “badge of resistance” for the user base. Every bypassed filter and every subsequent ban on the Copilot Discord became a signal to the broader industry that there was a significant rift between Microsoft’s narrative of AI “sophistication” and the community’s lived experience with the product. Furthermore, by escalating from keyword filtering to a full server lockdown, Microsoft effectively confirmed the power of the “Microslop” label. This elevated the term from a minor annoyance to a headline-grabbing symbol of corporate insecurity, demonstrating that the more a corporation tries to hide a piece of information, the more the public will seek it out and amplify it.

This phenomenon is particularly dangerous for AI-centric companies because the technology itself is already under intense scrutiny for its reliability and ethical implications. If a builder cannot manage a community hub without resorting to blunt-force censorship, it raises uncomfortable questions about how they manage the more complex, nuanced guardrails required for the Large Language Models (LLMs) themselves. The internet rarely leaves such attempts at suppression unpunished; in this case, the ban led to the creation of browser extensions and scripts specifically designed to spread the nickname across the web. This demonstrates that in 2026, community management is no longer just an administrative task; it is a critical component of brand integrity that requires a much more sophisticated approach than a simple “find and replace” blocklist. Builders must recognize that transparency is the only effective dampener for the Streisand Effect, as any attempt to use automation to hide dissatisfaction only serves to validate the critics.

Why the “Slop” Narrative Resonates: The Technical Quality Gap

At the heart of the “Microslop” controversy lies a deeper, more substantive issue regarding the growing perception that AI integration has entered a period of diminishing returns, often referred to as the “slop” era. The term “slop” gained significant cultural weight after major linguistic authorities and industry analysts began using it to specifically define the flood of low-quality, mass-produced AI content clogging the modern internet. When users apply this term to a tech giant, they are not merely engaging in schoolyard insults; they are expressing a technical frustration with the way generative AI features have been integrated into a legacy operating system. Analyzing the user feedback leading up to the Discord lockdown reveals a clear pattern of “quantity over quality” in the deployment of Copilot. Developers and power users have documented numerous instances where AI components were perceived as being forced into core OS functions like Notepad, File Explorer, and Task Manager, often at the expense of system latency and overall stability.

This quality gap is precisely what gave the “Microslop” nickname its viral potency, as it hit upon a verifiable truth regarding the current state of the software. If the AI integration were universally recognized as seamless, high-value, and technically flawless, the derogatory label would have failed to gain traction among the engineering community. However, because the term captured a widespread sentiment that the software was becoming bloated with unrefined, “sloppy” code that prioritizes corporate AI metrics over actual user utility, the attempt to ban the word felt like an attempt to ban the truth itself. For AI builders, this serves as a critical warning that one cannot moderate their way out of a fundamental quality problem. If a community begins to categorize a product’s output as “slop,” the correct response is not to update the server’s AutoMod settings to include the word on a prohibited list; the solution is to re-evaluate the product roadmap and address the technical regressions causing the friction.

Root Cause Analysis: The Failure of Brittle Automation in Community Governance

The technical root cause of the Discord meltdown can be traced back to the implementation of “naive” or “brittle” automation—a common pitfall for organizations that treat community management as a purely administrative task. Microsoft’s moderation team relied on a basic fixed-string match filter, which is the mos

Furthermore, the automation failed to account for context, which is the most vital component of any successful moderation strategy. The bot reportedly flagged every instance of the word “Microslop,” regardless of whether the user was using it as an insult, asking a question about the controversy, or providing constructive criticism. By labeling a corporate nickname with the same “inappropriate” tag usually reserved for hate speech or harassment, the automated system actively insulted the intelligence of the user base. This lack of nuance in the AI-driven moderation stack created a pressure cooker environment where every automated deletion was viewed as an act of corporate censorship. For AI builders, the lesson is that any automation deployed for community governance must be as sophisticated as the product it supports. Relying on 1990s-era keyword filtering to manage a 2026-era AI community is a recipe for disaster, as it signals a lack of technical effort that only further reinforces the “slop” narrative the organization is trying to escape.

The Strategic Shift: Moving Beyond Blunt Force Suppression

The failure of the “Microslop” ban highlights a critical strategic inflection point for AI builders who must navigate the increasingly volatile waters of developer communities. Relying on blunt-force suppression as a first-line defense against product criticism is a strategy rooted in legacy corporate communication models that are incompatible with the transparent, decentralized nature of modern technical hubs. When a tech giant attempts to scrub a derogatory term from its digital ecosystem, it effectively abdicates its role as a collaborator and assumes the role of an adversary. This shift in posture is particularly damaging in the context of generative AI, where the success of a platform like Copilot is heavily dependent on the feedback loops and integrations created by the very developers who feel alienated by such heavy-handed moderation. Instead of viewing these “slop” accusations as a nuisance to be silenced, sophisticated AI organizations should view them as high-fidelity data points indicating where the gap between marketing hype and functional utility has become too wide to ignore.

Consequently, the move toward resilient community management requires a transition from “policing” to “pivoting.” Analyzing the fallout from the March 2026 lockdown reveals that the most effective way to neutralize a pejorative nickname is to address the technical deficiencies that gave the name its power. For instance, if users are labeling an AI integration as “slop” due to high latency, resource bloat, or inconsistent output, the strategic response should involve a public-facing commitment to performance benchmarks and a transparent roadmap for optimization. By engaging with the substance of the criticism rather than the semantics of the label, a builder can naturally erode the legitimacy of the mockery. Microsoft’s decision to hide behind a locked Discord server suggests a lack of preparedness for the “friction” that inevitably accompanies the rollout of transformative technologies. To avoid this pitfall, builders must ensure that their community teams are empowered with technical context and the authority to translate community outrage into actionable product requirements, rather than being relegated to the role of digital janitors tasked with sweeping dissent under the rug.

Building Resilience: Lessons in Context-Aware Governance

For AI startups and established enterprises alike, the “Microslop” debacle provides a definitive masterclass in the necessity of context-aware governance. The primary technical takeaway is that community moderation in 2026 must be as intellectually rigorous as the models being developed. A sophisticated governance stack would utilize sentiment analysis and intent recognition to differentiate between a user engaging in harassment and a user expressing a legitimate, albeit sarcastically phrased, grievance. By failing to integrate these more nuanced AI capabilities into their own moderation tools, Microsoft inadvertently signaled a lack of confidence in the very technology they are asking the world to adopt. If an AI leader cannot trust its own systems to handle a Discord meme without resorting to a total server blackout, it becomes significantly harder to convince enterprise clients that the same technology is ready to handle mission-critical business logic or sensitive customer interactions.

Furthermore, building a resilient community requires a fundamental acceptance of the “ugly” side of product development. In the age of social media and rapid-fire developer feedback, mistakes will be memed, and failures will be christened with catchy, derogatory nicknames. Attempting to legislate these memes out of existence is a losing battle that only serves to accelerate the Streisand Effect. Instead, AI builders should focus on creating “high-trust environments” where users feel that their feedback—no matter how unpolished or “sloppy” it may be—is being ingested as a valuable resource. This involves maintaining open channels even during a PR crisis and resisting the urge to implement “emergency” filters that treat your most vocal users like hostile actors. By prioritizing stability, transparency, and technical excellence over brand hygiene, organizations can transform a potential “Microslop” moment into a demonstration of corporate maturity and a commitment to long-term product quality.

From Damage Control to Product Discipline: Reclaiming the Narrative

The ultimate fallout of the Microsoft Discord lockdown serves as a definitive case study in why AI builders must prioritize technical discipline over narrative control. When a corporation attempts to “engineer” a community’s vocabulary through restrictive automation, it inadvertently signals a lack of confidence in the underlying product’s ability to speak for itself. Analyzing the broader industry trends of 2026, it becomes clear that the “slop” label is not merely a social media trend but a technical critique of the current state of LLM integration. For a developer audience, the transition from “Microsoft” to “Microslop” in common parlance was a direct reaction to perceived regressions in software performance and the intrusion of non-essential AI telemetry into stable workflows. By focusing on the removal of the word rather than the remediation of the code, Microsoft missed a critical opportunity to demonstrate the “sophistication” that CEO Satya Nadella has publicly championed. Builders must realize that in a highly literate technical ecosystem, the only way to effectively kill a derogatory meme is to make it irrelevant through superior engineering and undeniable user value.

Furthermore, the “Microslop” incident underscores the necessity of a unified strategy between product engineering and community management. In many large-scale tech organizations, these departments operate in silos, leading to situations where a community manager implements a blunt-force keyword filter without realizing it contradicts the broader corporate message of AI-driven nuance and intelligence. This strategic misalignment is what allowed a minor moderation decision to balloon into a global PR crisis that dominated tech headlines for a week. To build a resilient AI brand, organizations must ensure that their automated governance tools are reflective of their core technological promises. If your product is marketed as an “intelligent companion,” your moderation bot cannot behave like a primitive 1990s-era blacklist. Moving forward, the industry must adopt a “feedback-first” architecture where automated tools are used to categorize and elevate user frustration to engineering teams, rather than acting as a digital firewall designed to protect executive sensibilities from the harsh reality of user sentiment.

Conclusion: The Lasting Legacy of the “Slop” Era

The March 2026 Discord lockdown will likely be remembered as the moment “Microslop” transitioned from a niche joke to a permanent fixture of the AI era’s vocabulary. Microsoft’s attempt to use automated moderation as a shield against criticism backfired because it ignored the fundamental law of the digital age: the more you try to hide a grievance, the more you validate its existence. For those of us building in the AI space, the lessons are clear and uncompromising. We must build with transparency, moderate with context, and never mistake a blunt-force keyword filter for a comprehensive community strategy. If we want our products to be associated with innovation rather than “slop,” we must earn that reputation through technical excellence and genuine engagement, not through the silent deletion of our critics’ messages. In the end, Microsoft didn’t just ban a word; they inadvertently launched a movement, proving that even the world’s most powerful tech companies remain vulnerable to the power of a well-timed, nine-letter meme and the undeniable force of the Streisand Effect.

Call to Action

If this breakdown helped you think a little clearer about the threats out there, don’t just click away. Subscribe for more no-nonsense security insights, drop a comment with your thoughts or questions, or reach out if there’s a topic you want me to tackle next. Stay sharp out there.

D. Bryan King

Sources

• PCMag: Microsoft Effort to Ban ‘Microslop’ on Copilot Discord Didn’t Go As Planned
• Windows Latest: Microsoft Locks Copilot Discord After Moderation Backlash
• Futurism: Microsoft Bans “Microslop” on Discord, Gets So Humiliated It Locks Server
• Gizmodo: Microsoft Bans Term ‘Microslop’ From Official Discord Server
• PC Gamer: Microsoft banned the word ‘Microslop’ in its Copilot Discord server
• It’s FOSS: Microsoft Locks Down Discord Server Over “Microslop” Posts
• Slashdot: Microsoft Bans ‘Microslop’ On Its Discord, Then Locks the Server
• Ground News: Microsoft Locks Down Discord Server After Microslop Ban Backfires
• Mysterium VPN: Microsoft Banned “Microslop” on Discord, Then Panicked
• Kotaku: Flood Of ‘Microslop’ Messages Forces Microsoft’s Official Copilot AI Discord Into Lockdown
• WinBuzzer: Microsoft Bans ‘Microslop’ on Discord, Locks Server After Backlash
• NIST: AI Risk Management Framework
• CISA: Secure by Design Principles for AI

Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author. The information provided is based on personal research, experience, and understanding of the subject matter at the time of writing. Readers should consult relevant experts or authorities for specific guidance related to their unique situations.

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Wed. March 4, 2026: Physical and Metaphorical Slush

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Last Day of Full Moon

Jupiter and Mercury Retrograde

Slushy and cold

And here we are, mid-week. Because Tuesday’s posts tend to be long, Wednesday always feels like it comes up very fast.

Hillary Clinton’s deposition is a master class in the smart person having to school a room full of dumb asses. We could have, by now, had two strong, intelligent, competent women running things. Instead, we get a cabinet full of drug-addled, alcoholic, syphilitic dementia crazypants.

This administration started a war without Congressional approval, and just leaves Americans stranded all over the world. Because they don’t care. People don’t matter to them. Now, I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for people who think it’s cool to “vacation” in Dubai – I have huge issues with Dubai, which are stories for another day. That doesn’t mean I think they should be stranded in a war zone. The administration started this clusterfuck, and it is their obligation to evacuate Americans from any and all danger zones. The US embassy in Israel flat out posted on social media that they’re not going to do anything to help anyone. According to NPR, some diplomats have been evacuated and embassies shut around the world. So they’re just leaving regular people to die? So typical of this administration. “People” don’t exist, unless they’re wealthy and momentarily useful to the politicians.

I’m sure they’re lying to us about the casualties. There are many, many more casualties already than they admit. They figure they can disappear people all over this country, so when people are killed overseas, just ignore it. No one will notice!

Great that Noem is in front of Congress, but it’s obvious she’s broken the law. Arrest her. Have consequences, for crying out loud.

And why hasn’t Congress voted on the War Powers act yet?

Meanwhile, Schumer smirks all the way to the bank. The level of his betrayal is disgusting.

I need to have a little chat with D2D in a week or two. They upped the “threshold” for payouts. I’ve surpassed it the last couple of months, but haven’t been paid since October. They usually pay out around the 15th of the month, so I will wait until March 15, and if there’s nothing in the account, I will have a little chat with them, in writing. It’s not like I can retire on the money, but it’s actually enough to pay a couple of bills from each of the intervening months.

In other words, when I market steadily, I sell. Which makes me feel guilty about dropping the ball on the marketing last week and this week, so one of the things I have to do is make a new content calendar and get on with it.

And make sure I get the royalties I’m due.

Back in Twitter’s heyday, when I marketed regularly, sales of the Topic Workbooks alone paid a couple of bills a month. I’m finally getting back to regular and growing sales. I don’t want to drop the ball (which means steady marketing and also enough new releases to keep people engaged), but I also have to make sure I’m paid what I’m due. The small publishers pay twice a year (mid-February and mid-August). The stuff I do on my own, such as the Topic Workbooks and Nina Bell, are supposed to pay monthly (when they hit the threshold, and if they don’t, pay out the month they do). Artists are small businesses, and have to run that part of their worklife as such.

I am deeply grateful to the A4A workshops for giving me tools and systems that work for that.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but once I stopped buying Facebook ads, I sold more. And less was stolen to be used for AI training (looking at you, Anthropic).

Sat down and did the content calendar for March. I have a few things to prep for it by midmonth, but hopefully, I can stay on track.

I wrote a chapter of BETTING MAN, a little over 2400 words. So that was a good session.

It started snowing a little before twelve noon, steadily, well into the evening.

I’m very happy with the day’s ghostwriting session. I’m almost where I wanted to be by today, and back on track.

Got some reading done on the May Morris project. Since those books all came in at once through Commonwealth Catalog and can’t be renewed, I need to focus on them first.

I watched primary election results in the states with primaries with one eye up until I went to bed. I think our primaries are in May or something. We finally got our yearly census from the city, which we signed and returned, along with the request for mail-in ballots for all elections this year. So we should be all set (our Town Clerk and State Secretary are good). When we get ballots, I do walk them down to the ballot box at City Hall rather than mailing them, though, because of the changes to the postal system that intentionally delay sorting, delivery, and delay stamping everything for accurate date-stamping.

Slept moderately well, although my back and hip are still giving me trouble. We got much more snow than predicted, about double. It’ warming up a bit, so everything is mushy. I’ll be shoveling snow as much as slush.

Morning routine was fine. I figured out the characters and general arc of the plot for the commission pitch. I’ll be able to hone it for the next few weeks, so it’s in good shape to send off when Mercury goes direct. It’s dark comedy, passes the Bechdel test (a requirement), and also contains the specific kind of action this company is known for. It’s worth a shot.

This morning, I need to take out the garbage, run an errand about a block away, dig out the car, write. In the afternoon, around the ghostwriting, I have a meeting with my dramaturg about THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE, which Athena Project features in their series on March 16. I’m happy to work with this dramaturg again.

My back is very unhappy today. Part of that is probably a reaction to knowing I have to shovel more.

Onward.

Wed. March 4, 2026: Physical and Metaphorical Slush

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Last Day of Full Moon

Jupiter and Mercury Retrograde

Slushy and cold

And here we are, mid-week. Because Tuesday’s posts tend to be long, Wednesday always feels like it comes up very fast.

Hillary Clinton’s deposition is a master class in the smart person having to school a room full of dumb asses. We could have, by now, had two strong, intelligent, competent women running things. Instead, we get a cabinet full of drug-addled, alcoholic, syphilitic dementia crazypants.

This administration started a war without Congressional approval, and just leaves Americans stranded all over the world. Because they don’t care. People don’t matter to them. Now, I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for people who think it’s cool to “vacation” in Dubai – I have huge issues with Dubai, which are stories for another day. That doesn’t mean I think they should be stranded in a war zone. The administration started this clusterfuck, and it is their obligation to evacuate Americans from any and all danger zones. The US embassy in Israel flat out posted on social media that they’re not going to do anything to help anyone. According to NPR, some diplomats have been evacuated and embassies shut around the world. So they’re just leaving regular people to die? So typical of this administration. “People” don’t exist, unless they’re wealthy and momentarily useful to the politicians.

I’m sure they’re lying to us about the casualties. There are many, many more casualties already than they admit. They figure they can disappear people all over this country, so when people are killed overseas, just ignore it. No one will notice!

Great that Noem is in front of Congress, but it’s obvious she’s broken the law. Arrest her. Have consequences, for crying out loud.

And why hasn’t Congress voted on the War Powers act yet?

Meanwhile, Schumer smirks all the way to the bank. The level of his betrayal is disgusting.

I need to have a little chat with D2D in a week or two. They upped the “threshold” for payouts. I’ve surpassed it the last couple of months, but haven’t been paid since October. They usually pay out around the 15th of the month, so I will wait until March 15, and if there’s nothing in the account, I will have a little chat with them, in writing. It’s not like I can retire on the money, but it’s actually enough to pay a couple of bills from each of the intervening months.

In other words, when I market steadily, I sell. Which makes me feel guilty about dropping the ball on the marketing last week and this week, so one of the things I have to do is make a new content calendar and get on with it.

And make sure I get the royalties I’m due.

Back in Twitter’s heyday, when I marketed regularly, sales of the Topic Workbooks alone paid a couple of bills a month. I’m finally getting back to regular and growing sales. I don’t want to drop the ball (which means steady marketing and also enough new releases to keep people engaged), but I also have to make sure I’m paid what I’m due. The small publishers pay twice a year (mid-February and mid-August). The stuff I do on my own, such as the Topic Workbooks and Nina Bell, are supposed to pay monthly (when they hit the threshold, and if they don’t, pay out the month they do). Artists are small businesses, and have to run that part of their worklife as such.

I am deeply grateful to the A4A workshops for giving me tools and systems that work for that.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but once I stopped buying Facebook ads, I sold more. And less was stolen to be used for AI training (looking at you, Anthropic).

Sat down and did the content calendar for March. I have a few things to prep for it by midmonth, but hopefully, I can stay on track.

I wrote a chapter of BETTING MAN, a little over 2400 words. So that was a good session.

It started snowing a little before twelve noon, steadily, well into the evening.

I’m very happy with the day’s ghostwriting session. I’m almost where I wanted to be by today, and back on track.

Got some reading done on the May Morris project. Since those books all came in at once through Commonwealth Catalog and can’t be renewed, I need to focus on them first.

I watched primary election results in the states with primaries with one eye up until I went to bed. I think our primaries are in May or something. We finally got our yearly census from the city, which we signed and returned, along with the request for mail-in ballots for all elections this year. So we should be all set (our Town Clerk and State Secretary are good). When we get ballots, I do walk them down to the ballot box at City Hall rather than mailing them, though, because of the changes to the postal system that intentionally delay sorting, delivery, and delay stamping everything for accurate date-stamping.

Slept moderately well, although my back and hip are still giving me trouble. We got much more snow than predicted, about double. It’ warming up a bit, so everything is mushy. I’ll be shoveling snow as much as slush.

Morning routine was fine. I figured out the characters and general arc of the plot for the commission pitch. I’ll be able to hone it for the next few weeks, so it’s in good shape to send off when Mercury goes direct. It’s dark comedy, passes the Bechdel test (a requirement), and also contains the specific kind of action this company is known for. It’s worth a shot.

This morning, I need to take out the garbage, run an errand about a block away, dig out the car, write. In the afternoon, around the ghostwriting, I have a meeting with my dramaturg about THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE, which Athena Project features in their series on March 16. I’m happy to work with this dramaturg again.

My back is very unhappy today. Part of that is probably a reaction to knowing I have to shovel more.

Onward.

Wed. March 4, 2026: Physical and Metaphorical Slush

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Last Day of Full Moon

Jupiter and Mercury Retrograde

Slushy and cold

And here we are, mid-week. Because Tuesday’s posts tend to be long, Wednesday always feels like it comes up very fast.

Hillary Clinton’s deposition is a master class in the smart person having to school a room full of dumb asses. We could have, by now, had two strong, intelligent, competent women running things. Instead, we get a cabinet full of drug-addled, alcoholic, syphilitic dementia crazypants.

This administration started a war without Congressional approval, and just leaves Americans stranded all over the world. Because they don’t care. People don’t matter to them. Now, I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for people who think it’s cool to “vacation” in Dubai – I have huge issues with Dubai, which are stories for another day. That doesn’t mean I think they should be stranded in a war zone. The administration started this clusterfuck, and it is their obligation to evacuate Americans from any and all danger zones. The US embassy in Israel flat out posted on social media that they’re not going to do anything to help anyone. According to NPR, some diplomats have been evacuated and embassies shut around the world. So they’re just leaving regular people to die? So typical of this administration. “People” don’t exist, unless they’re wealthy and momentarily useful to the politicians.

I’m sure they’re lying to us about the casualties. There are many, many more casualties already than they admit. They figure they can disappear people all over this country, so when people are killed overseas, just ignore it. No one will notice!

Great that Noem is in front of Congress, but it’s obvious she’s broken the law. Arrest her. Have consequences, for crying out loud.

And why hasn’t Congress voted on the War Powers act yet?

Meanwhile, Schumer smirks all the way to the bank. The level of his betrayal is disgusting.

I need to have a little chat with D2D in a week or two. They upped the “threshold” for payouts. I’ve surpassed it the last couple of months, but haven’t been paid since October. They usually pay out around the 15th of the month, so I will wait until March 15, and if there’s nothing in the account, I will have a little chat with them, in writing. It’s not like I can retire on the money, but it’s actually enough to pay a couple of bills from each of the intervening months.

In other words, when I market steadily, I sell. Which makes me feel guilty about dropping the ball on the marketing last week and this week, so one of the things I have to do is make a new content calendar and get on with it.

And make sure I get the royalties I’m due.

Back in Twitter’s heyday, when I marketed regularly, sales of the Topic Workbooks alone paid a couple of bills a month. I’m finally getting back to regular and growing sales. I don’t want to drop the ball (which means steady marketing and also enough new releases to keep people engaged), but I also have to make sure I’m paid what I’m due. The small publishers pay twice a year (mid-February and mid-August). The stuff I do on my own, such as the Topic Workbooks and Nina Bell, are supposed to pay monthly (when they hit the threshold, and if they don’t, pay out the month they do). Artists are small businesses, and have to run that part of their worklife as such.

I am deeply grateful to the A4A workshops for giving me tools and systems that work for that.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but once I stopped buying Facebook ads, I sold more. And less was stolen to be used for AI training (looking at you, Anthropic).

Sat down and did the content calendar for March. I have a few things to prep for it by midmonth, but hopefully, I can stay on track.

I wrote a chapter of BETTING MAN, a little over 2400 words. So that was a good session.

It started snowing a little before twelve noon, steadily, well into the evening.

I’m very happy with the day’s ghostwriting session. I’m almost where I wanted to be by today, and back on track.

Got some reading done on the May Morris project. Since those books all came in at once through Commonwealth Catalog and can’t be renewed, I need to focus on them first.

I watched primary election results in the states with primaries with one eye up until I went to bed. I think our primaries are in May or something. We finally got our yearly census from the city, which we signed and returned, along with the request for mail-in ballots for all elections this year. So we should be all set (our Town Clerk and State Secretary are good). When we get ballots, I do walk them down to the ballot box at City Hall rather than mailing them, though, because of the changes to the postal system that intentionally delay sorting, delivery, and delay stamping everything for accurate date-stamping.

Slept moderately well, although my back and hip are still giving me trouble. We got much more snow than predicted, about double. It’ warming up a bit, so everything is mushy. I’ll be shoveling snow as much as slush.

Morning routine was fine. I figured out the characters and general arc of the plot for the commission pitch. I’ll be able to hone it for the next few weeks, so it’s in good shape to send off when Mercury goes direct. It’s dark comedy, passes the Bechdel test (a requirement), and also contains the specific kind of action this company is known for. It’s worth a shot.

This morning, I need to take out the garbage, run an errand about a block away, dig out the car, write. In the afternoon, around the ghostwriting, I have a meeting with my dramaturg about THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE, which Athena Project features in their series on March 16. I’m happy to work with this dramaturg again.

My back is very unhappy today. Part of that is probably a reaction to knowing I have to shovel more.

Onward.

Wed. March 4, 2026: Physical and Metaphorical Slush

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Last Day of Full Moon

Jupiter and Mercury Retrograde

Slushy and cold

And here we are, mid-week. Because Tuesday’s posts tend to be long, Wednesday always feels like it comes up very fast.

Hillary Clinton’s deposition is a master class in the smart person having to school a room full of dumb asses. We could have, by now, had two strong, intelligent, competent women running things. Instead, we get a cabinet full of drug-addled, alcoholic, syphilitic dementia crazypants.

This administration started a war without Congressional approval, and just leaves Americans stranded all over the world. Because they don’t care. People don’t matter to them. Now, I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for people who think it’s cool to “vacation” in Dubai – I have huge issues with Dubai, which are stories for another day. That doesn’t mean I think they should be stranded in a war zone. The administration started this clusterfuck, and it is their obligation to evacuate Americans from any and all danger zones. The US embassy in Israel flat out posted on social media that they’re not going to do anything to help anyone. According to NPR, some diplomats have been evacuated and embassies shut around the world. So they’re just leaving regular people to die? So typical of this administration. “People” don’t exist, unless they’re wealthy and momentarily useful to the politicians.

I’m sure they’re lying to us about the casualties. There are many, many more casualties already than they admit. They figure they can disappear people all over this country, so when people are killed overseas, just ignore it. No one will notice!

Great that Noem is in front of Congress, but it’s obvious she’s broken the law. Arrest her. Have consequences, for crying out loud.

And why hasn’t Congress voted on the War Powers act yet?

Meanwhile, Schumer smirks all the way to the bank. The level of his betrayal is disgusting.

I need to have a little chat with D2D in a week or two. They upped the “threshold” for payouts. I’ve surpassed it the last couple of months, but haven’t been paid since October. They usually pay out around the 15th of the month, so I will wait until March 15, and if there’s nothing in the account, I will have a little chat with them, in writing. It’s not like I can retire on the money, but it’s actually enough to pay a couple of bills from each of the intervening months.

In other words, when I market steadily, I sell. Which makes me feel guilty about dropping the ball on the marketing last week and this week, so one of the things I have to do is make a new content calendar and get on with it.

And make sure I get the royalties I’m due.

Back in Twitter’s heyday, when I marketed regularly, sales of the Topic Workbooks alone paid a couple of bills a month. I’m finally getting back to regular and growing sales. I don’t want to drop the ball (which means steady marketing and also enough new releases to keep people engaged), but I also have to make sure I’m paid what I’m due. The small publishers pay twice a year (mid-February and mid-August). The stuff I do on my own, such as the Topic Workbooks and Nina Bell, are supposed to pay monthly (when they hit the threshold, and if they don’t, pay out the month they do). Artists are small businesses, and have to run that part of their worklife as such.

I am deeply grateful to the A4A workshops for giving me tools and systems that work for that.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but once I stopped buying Facebook ads, I sold more. And less was stolen to be used for AI training (looking at you, Anthropic).

Sat down and did the content calendar for March. I have a few things to prep for it by midmonth, but hopefully, I can stay on track.

I wrote a chapter of BETTING MAN, a little over 2400 words. So that was a good session.

It started snowing a little before twelve noon, steadily, well into the evening.

I’m very happy with the day’s ghostwriting session. I’m almost where I wanted to be by today, and back on track.

Got some reading done on the May Morris project. Since those books all came in at once through Commonwealth Catalog and can’t be renewed, I need to focus on them first.

I watched primary election results in the states with primaries with one eye up until I went to bed. I think our primaries are in May or something. We finally got our yearly census from the city, which we signed and returned, along with the request for mail-in ballots for all elections this year. So we should be all set (our Town Clerk and State Secretary are good). When we get ballots, I do walk them down to the ballot box at City Hall rather than mailing them, though, because of the changes to the postal system that intentionally delay sorting, delivery, and delay stamping everything for accurate date-stamping.

Slept moderately well, although my back and hip are still giving me trouble. We got much more snow than predicted, about double. It’ warming up a bit, so everything is mushy. I’ll be shoveling snow as much as slush.

Morning routine was fine. I figured out the characters and general arc of the plot for the commission pitch. I’ll be able to hone it for the next few weeks, so it’s in good shape to send off when Mercury goes direct. It’s dark comedy, passes the Bechdel test (a requirement), and also contains the specific kind of action this company is known for. It’s worth a shot.

This morning, I need to take out the garbage, run an errand about a block away, dig out the car, write. In the afternoon, around the ghostwriting, I have a meeting with my dramaturg about THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE, which Athena Project features in their series on March 16. I’m happy to work with this dramaturg again.

My back is very unhappy today. Part of that is probably a reaction to knowing I have to shovel more.

Onward.

Tues. March 3, 2026: And There’s More Snow Coming In

Tuesday, March 3, 2026

Full Moon

Jupiter & Mercury Retrograde

Lunar Eclipse

Cloudy and cold, more snow incoming

Happy full moon lunar eclipse in a new month during Mercury Retrograde. Enough astrological chaos going on for you? Sheesh!

Hop on over to Silver Birch Press to read my friend Joanne’s tanka “Natives.” It’s lovely!

The Community Tarot Reading for the Week is here. This month, we are using the Mystic Storyteller Tarot, which I received as a Solstice gift. Lots of pencils and typewriters and notebooks involved in it.

The February Got Done list is up on the GDR site here.

On Friday, I struggled to get going, even though it was sunny. It was so easy to be cat furniture as they stretched out in the sun and purred!

I managed to catch up a little bit on email. Even though I’m unsubscribing from a bunch of stuff, there are still a couple of hundred emails coming in every day, and it’s hard to get on top of it, and then stay on top of it. I also had to deal with a slew of AI “emails” claiming to want to feature work of mine, pretending the sender had actually read it, only the details made it clear that it was AI/fake. Which is exhausting. Then, I’ve gotten several letters recently claiming I owe debts (which I don’t, I am currently debt-free. I may have to be very careful, at times, financially, but I’m not carrying debt), even though those supposed, non-existent “debts” are far past the statute of limitations in this state. So I guess I’m sending dispute/don’t contact me again letters. I will keep track and loop in the AG as needed. I already have to have the AG intervene in something shady a NY-based company that our family has used for a long time (we started with them when they were actually solid and had integrity) is trying to pull, claiming MA is “making” them do it. Bite me.

The rot comes from the top.

It uses up a lot of time and energy that could be put toward creative work.

I put in the Instacart order early in the morning, as I always do. The first three times I used Instacart, shopping was done briskly and things were delivered early in the 2-hour shopping window. Yesterday’s order was in early, and it came near the end of the window, which was okay, because it was efficient. I was a little irritated when Friday’s delivery was past the window.

I don’t understand why male shoppers don’t know the difference between bone-out and bone-in and always get the bone-in. . .um, I’m opening a door here for entendre, aren’t I? Never mind.

Anyway, it was fine, I just need to get back to doing my own shopping.

Late lunch, running late, made it to the gallery, helped where I could for a few hours, within my skill level. The mural is amazing, and there’s so much brilliant work in there. It was a little intimidating, but I did what I could, and I enjoyed myself.

My hip and back were in bad shape by the time I headed back. I took some Motrin and cooked dinner, then used the heating pad in the evening.

Nothing like waking up on a weekend to find out your country is illegally bombing another country. And Congress does nothing. We shouldn’t be paying them to be so useless.

Saturday morning, I hauled myself out the door and humped the laundry down to the laundromat. I’d prioritized the laundry, since it’s been way too long, and took the most important load. Everything was fine, I sat and read, humped it all back, got it upstairs, got it folded and put away, and did the Saturday morning housework.

I headed out to run an errand on the way to the gallery, and my back went out. I managed to get home, and let the gallery know (feeling terribly guilty) and was pretty much immobile all evening. I cooked by hauling a stool into the kitchen and sitting on a high stool in front of the stove.

I was worried about the SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE decision to put the Hughes brothers on to rehab their images – again, putting the work on everyone except the Hughes brothers, especially with Connor Storrie of HEATED RIVALRY as the host. They’re all handled by the same agency, so you know there were all kinds of nasty backroom whatevers going on. But the wonderful surprise guests were Hilary Knight and Megan Keller of the women’s team, who were funny and gracious and witty, while the Hughes brothers stood there looking like, well, what they are. Again, they had the chance to do something on a huge international stage to make things right, and they just stood there. They couldn’t even read the teleprompter properly. The women and the actors did the heavy lifting. Which showed the Hughes brothers for who they are. Again. It showed that all the “Hughes brothers are hockey’s good guys” is a PR crock. And the audience response, the cheers the women got, was wonderful.

Connor Storrie and his co-star, Hudson Williams, are around the same age as the Hughes brothers (one of the Hughes guys is, I think, a little younger). If you’ve ever listened to Storrie and Williams in interviews, they are bright, witty, thoughtful, with great senses of humor, and both have a lot of depth, understanding, and curiosity. The joy they take in each other’s presence and success is beautiful. Compare that to the Hughes brothers, who slap on MAGA hats and double down on misogyny.

It comes down to character.

“Character” is always tossed around in hockey as the bedrock of all of it, beyond even skill. Can you imagine how different this win would have been had there been anyone with character in that locker room? A team made up of men of character would have shut down the misogyny and celebrated their teammates – because Team USA is supposed to be a single team. They would have gracefully declined the trip to DC (especially on a taxpayer-funded jet). I mean, the team was dissed after their photo op when they were fed fast food with ketchup packets in the conference room of a building that has the capacity to turn out some of the best cuisine in the world. (As someone who has reviewed cookbooks on White House cuisine, some amazing meals have come out of that kitchen).

It’s not because the players were young. There were men who weren’t so young in that room. It has to do with the lack of character of the coach and his staff who put the team together, and the quality of individual they chose. And now the coach, Bill Guerin, runs around giving interviews that he doesn’t care. In Minnesota, of all places. May his tenure there be shortened.

So many joyful celebrations could have rippled across the country, had there been men of character in that room.

Maybe those involved will start to understand that people are done with them. There might be a few left in the hockey bubble to give them a pass, but not many beyond. Choices and consequences. Even if what happened in the locker room was “being caught up in the moment,” everything since then to continue to be douche canoes has been a choice.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Torrent of the PWHL sold out their arena for the first time this weekend. Three out of four PWHL games were sold out this weekend. May that wave only continue to grow.

I slept reasonably well, although I woke up a few times due to discomfort/pain. I am having a progressive dream over the past few weeks about different stages of working on a big gala-type project with people that I know in the dream, but don’t yet in real life, which is an adventure, but I wake up feeling like I put in a full day.

I did the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here, and enjoy working with the Mystic Storyteller deck.

I had a lot of paperwork to deal with on Sunday, a good bit of it unpleasant, but that’s out of the way.

The rest of the day, I made like a Victorian invalid on the sofa. I finished reading the second book in a delightful series, and I hope there’s a third coming. I also read MAGPIE MURDERS by Anthony Horowitz, a fascinating literary mystery that has a book within the book. There are lots of references and nods to other works in it, and then nods to the nods, if that makes any sense. The book kept surprising me in lovely ways, and the writing is terrific. And yes, I did figure out whodunit before the protagonist did, but not by much.

I alternated between stretching and resting the hip and back, and moving between pain and discomfort all day and night. I need to come up with a stretching/asana sequence that gives relief, and then also start building core exercises back into the routine. I’ve slacked off on those, and the back can’t be supported if the core isn’t strong. I will add those in slowly. If I add too much too fast, I won’t be able to build and sustain. I also want to adjust some nutritional stuff, which will be easier as we get into spring and summer, and there’s a better quality of produce available. Hopefully, I can add in acupuncture again over the next few months. That works the best for me.

I’m paying the price for the physical demands of my theatre career. I’m not going to whine about it (much. I’ll whine a little). I am going to hope that the unions keep working to make conditions better for the current and future generations.

I did not sleep particularly well Sunday night into Monday, mostly due to discomfort.

Morning routine. I had to wrap up to tromp to the post office to mail bills and send something via certified mail, and ran a few errands on the way home. I was in a lot of pain by the time I got back.

So, US Military bombed a girls’ school in Iran – you don’t do that by accident when you have precision missiles. This isn’t a video game. On top of that, Kuwait shot down 3 of our military jets in “friendly fire” because no one can be bothered to coordinate with our supposed allies. Then you have the alcoholic head of the military claiming, “we didn’t start this war” – yes, you did, and without Congressional approval. Meanwhile, That Thing talks about drapes in the address where he’s supposed to reassure the country about what actually is going on and mourn dead soldiers. But, of course, That Thing doesn’t care.

By then, it was time to knuckle down to work.

An invitation to submit a pitch for a full-length play commission landed in my inbox. I have until May 1 to come up with something. It’s already percolating. It’s a company I really want to work with, so I want to do a good job on the pitch. I also have to get moving on the Creative Capital grant proposal. Their grant program opened yesterday. I have ideas for both percolating, but I need to put them into shape. But at least they are percolating. Mercury Retrograde is not a good time to submit to things like this.

I got about 1000 words done on BETTING MAN. I’m going to have to rework this chapter somewhat for pace, I think, in the next draft.

I did some more work in the DNA/Forensics class, which is directly relevant to something I’m currently working on, so I even got to apply it.

I had a really good session on the ghostwriting. I’m still behind where I’d like to be, but the quality of the work was good, and that’s worth being a bit behind.

Made some leftovers interesting, and then read a bit in the evening. Another book for review showed up. I need to get going on those. I have two due next week, and one due the following, so I will focus on them over the weekend, I think, although I’ll try to get some of it done during the week. I mean, it’s only Tuesday.

Went to bed too early because I could not keep my eyes open, which meant I woke up around 2. But I got back to sleep, and got up at the usual time. The 3:33 eclipse time was for the West coast. Out here, it was 6:30-ish for the full effect. The woman who owns the local bookshop, who is also a wonderful photographer and scientist, took a photo early on, when it was still dark, and it’s beautiful. It’s over on IG.

Morning routine was fine, I figured out some stuff in the free write, and I’m getting ready to start the day. BETTING MAN and the ghostwriting are the priorities, with maybe some work on the commission pitch.

My back and hip are uncomfortable, so I’m sure I will take lots of breaks to try to ease them.

We have another weather alert, and it’s supposed to snow from midday until about 5 AM tomorrow morning. I love winter, I love snow, but I am tired.

Have a good one!

Tues. March 3, 2026: And There’s More Snow Coming In

Tuesday, March 3, 2026

Full Moon

Jupiter & Mercury Retrograde

Lunar Eclipse

Cloudy and cold, more snow incoming

Happy full moon lunar eclipse in a new month during Mercury Retrograde. Enough astrological chaos going on for you? Sheesh!

Hop on over to Silver Birch Press to read my friend Joanne’s tanka “Natives.” It’s lovely!

The Community Tarot Reading for the Week is here. This month, we are using the Mystic Storyteller Tarot, which I received as a Solstice gift. Lots of pencils and typewriters and notebooks involved in it.

The February Got Done list is up on the GDR site here.

On Friday, I struggled to get going, even though it was sunny. It was so easy to be cat furniture as they stretched out in the sun and purred!

I managed to catch up a little bit on email. Even though I’m unsubscribing from a bunch of stuff, there are still a couple of hundred emails coming in every day, and it’s hard to get on top of it, and then stay on top of it. I also had to deal with a slew of AI “emails” claiming to want to feature work of mine, pretending the sender had actually read it, only the details made it clear that it was AI/fake. Which is exhausting. Then, I’ve gotten several letters recently claiming I owe debts (which I don’t, I am currently debt-free. I may have to be very careful, at times, financially, but I’m not carrying debt), even though those supposed, non-existent “debts” are far past the statute of limitations in this state. So I guess I’m sending dispute/don’t contact me again letters. I will keep track and loop in the AG as needed. I already have to have the AG intervene in something shady a NY-based company that our family has used for a long time (we started with them when they were actually solid and had integrity) is trying to pull, claiming MA is “making” them do it. Bite me.

The rot comes from the top.

It uses up a lot of time and energy that could be put toward creative work.

I put in the Instacart order early in the morning, as I always do. The first three times I used Instacart, shopping was done briskly and things were delivered early in the 2-hour shopping window. Yesterday’s order was in early, and it came near the end of the window, which was okay, because it was efficient. I was a little irritated when Friday’s delivery was past the window.

I don’t understand why male shoppers don’t know the difference between bone-out and bone-in and always get the bone-in. . .um, I’m opening a door here for entendre, aren’t I? Never mind.

Anyway, it was fine, I just need to get back to doing my own shopping.

Late lunch, running late, made it to the gallery, helped where I could for a few hours, within my skill level. The mural is amazing, and there’s so much brilliant work in there. It was a little intimidating, but I did what I could, and I enjoyed myself.

My hip and back were in bad shape by the time I headed back. I took some Motrin and cooked dinner, then used the heating pad in the evening.

Nothing like waking up on a weekend to find out your country is illegally bombing another country. And Congress does nothing. We shouldn’t be paying them to be so useless.

Saturday morning, I hauled myself out the door and humped the laundry down to the laundromat. I’d prioritized the laundry, since it’s been way too long, and took the most important load. Everything was fine, I sat and read, humped it all back, got it upstairs, got it folded and put away, and did the Saturday morning housework.

I headed out to run an errand on the way to the gallery, and my back went out. I managed to get home, and let the gallery know (feeling terribly guilty) and was pretty much immobile all evening. I cooked by hauling a stool into the kitchen and sitting on a high stool in front of the stove.

I was worried about the SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE decision to put the Hughes brothers on to rehab their images – again, putting the work on everyone except the Hughes brothers, especially with Connor Storrie of HEATED RIVALRY as the host. They’re all handled by the same agency, so you know there were all kinds of nasty backroom whatevers going on. But the wonderful surprise guests were Hilary Knight and Megan Keller of the women’s team, who were funny and gracious and witty, while the Hughes brothers stood there looking like, well, what they are. Again, they had the chance to do something on a huge international stage to make things right, and they just stood there. They couldn’t even read the teleprompter properly. The women and the actors did the heavy lifting. Which showed the Hughes brothers for who they are. Again. It showed that all the “Hughes brothers are hockey’s good guys” is a PR crock. And the audience response, the cheers the women got, was wonderful.

Connor Storrie and his co-star, Hudson Williams, are around the same age as the Hughes brothers (one of the Hughes guys is, I think, a little younger). If you’ve ever listened to Storrie and Williams in interviews, they are bright, witty, thoughtful, with great senses of humor, and both have a lot of depth, understanding, and curiosity. The joy they take in each other’s presence and success is beautiful. Compare that to the Hughes brothers, who slap on MAGA hats and double down on misogyny.

It comes down to character.

“Character” is always tossed around in hockey as the bedrock of all of it, beyond even skill. Can you imagine how different this win would have been had there been anyone with character in that locker room? A team made up of men of character would have shut down the misogyny and celebrated their teammates – because Team USA is supposed to be a single team. They would have gracefully declined the trip to DC (especially on a taxpayer-funded jet). I mean, the team was dissed after their photo op when they were fed fast food with ketchup packets in the conference room of a building that has the capacity to turn out some of the best cuisine in the world. (As someone who has reviewed cookbooks on White House cuisine, some amazing meals have come out of that kitchen).

It’s not because the players were young. There were men who weren’t so young in that room. It has to do with the lack of character of the coach and his staff who put the team together, and the quality of individual they chose. And now the coach, Bill Guerin, runs around giving interviews that he doesn’t care. In Minnesota, of all places. May his tenure there be shortened.

So many joyful celebrations could have rippled across the country, had there been men of character in that room.

Maybe those involved will start to understand that people are done with them. There might be a few left in the hockey bubble to give them a pass, but not many beyond. Choices and consequences. Even if what happened in the locker room was “being caught up in the moment,” everything since then to continue to be douche canoes has been a choice.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Torrent of the PWHL sold out their arena for the first time this weekend. Three out of four PWHL games were sold out this weekend. May that wave only continue to grow.

I slept reasonably well, although I woke up a few times due to discomfort/pain. I am having a progressive dream over the past few weeks about different stages of working on a big gala-type project with people that I know in the dream, but don’t yet in real life, which is an adventure, but I wake up feeling like I put in a full day.

I did the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here, and enjoy working with the Mystic Storyteller deck.

I had a lot of paperwork to deal with on Sunday, a good bit of it unpleasant, but that’s out of the way.

The rest of the day, I made like a Victorian invalid on the sofa. I finished reading the second book in a delightful series, and I hope there’s a third coming. I also read MAGPIE MURDERS by Anthony Horowitz, a fascinating literary mystery that has a book within the book. There are lots of references and nods to other works in it, and then nods to the nods, if that makes any sense. The book kept surprising me in lovely ways, and the writing is terrific. And yes, I did figure out whodunit before the protagonist did, but not by much.

I alternated between stretching and resting the hip and back, and moving between pain and discomfort all day and night. I need to come up with a stretching/asana sequence that gives relief, and then also start building core exercises back into the routine. I’ve slacked off on those, and the back can’t be supported if the core isn’t strong. I will add those in slowly. If I add too much too fast, I won’t be able to build and sustain. I also want to adjust some nutritional stuff, which will be easier as we get into spring and summer, and there’s a better quality of produce available. Hopefully, I can add in acupuncture again over the next few months. That works the best for me.

I’m paying the price for the physical demands of my theatre career. I’m not going to whine about it (much. I’ll whine a little). I am going to hope that the unions keep working to make conditions better for the current and future generations.

I did not sleep particularly well Sunday night into Monday, mostly due to discomfort.

Morning routine. I had to wrap up to tromp to the post office to mail bills and send something via certified mail, and ran a few errands on the way home. I was in a lot of pain by the time I got back.

So, US Military bombed a girls’ school in Iran – you don’t do that by accident when you have precision missiles. This isn’t a video game. On top of that, Kuwait shot down 3 of our military jets in “friendly fire” because no one can be bothered to coordinate with our supposed allies. Then you have the alcoholic head of the military claiming, “we didn’t start this war” – yes, you did, and without Congressional approval. Meanwhile, That Thing talks about drapes in the address where he’s supposed to reassure the country about what actually is going on and mourn dead soldiers. But, of course, That Thing doesn’t care.

By then, it was time to knuckle down to work.

An invitation to submit a pitch for a full-length play commission landed in my inbox. I have until May 1 to come up with something. It’s already percolating. It’s a company I really want to work with, so I want to do a good job on the pitch. I also have to get moving on the Creative Capital grant proposal. Their grant program opened yesterday. I have ideas for both percolating, but I need to put them into shape. But at least they are percolating. Mercury Retrograde is not a good time to submit to things like this.

I got about 1000 words done on BETTING MAN. I’m going to have to rework this chapter somewhat for pace, I think, in the next draft.

I did some more work in the DNA/Forensics class, which is directly relevant to something I’m currently working on, so I even got to apply it.

I had a really good session on the ghostwriting. I’m still behind where I’d like to be, but the quality of the work was good, and that’s worth being a bit behind.

Made some leftovers interesting, and then read a bit in the evening. Another book for review showed up. I need to get going on those. I have two due next week, and one due the following, so I will focus on them over the weekend, I think, although I’ll try to get some of it done during the week. I mean, it’s only Tuesday.

Went to bed too early because I could not keep my eyes open, which meant I woke up around 2. But I got back to sleep, and got up at the usual time. The 3:33 eclipse time was for the West coast. Out here, it was 6:30-ish for the full effect. The woman who owns the local bookshop, who is also a wonderful photographer and scientist, took a photo early on, when it was still dark, and it’s beautiful. It’s over on IG.

Morning routine was fine, I figured out some stuff in the free write, and I’m getting ready to start the day. BETTING MAN and the ghostwriting are the priorities, with maybe some work on the commission pitch.

My back and hip are uncomfortable, so I’m sure I will take lots of breaks to try to ease them.

We have another weather alert, and it’s supposed to snow from midday until about 5 AM tomorrow morning. I love winter, I love snow, but I am tired.

Have a good one!

Tues. March 3, 2026: And There’s More Snow Coming In

Tuesday, March 3, 2026

Full Moon

Jupiter & Mercury Retrograde

Lunar Eclipse

Cloudy and cold, more snow incoming

Happy full moon lunar eclipse in a new month during Mercury Retrograde. Enough astrological chaos going on for you? Sheesh!

Hop on over to Silver Birch Press to read my friend Joanne’s tanka “Natives.” It’s lovely!

The Community Tarot Reading for the Week is here. This month, we are using the Mystic Storyteller Tarot, which I received as a Solstice gift. Lots of pencils and typewriters and notebooks involved in it.

The February Got Done list is up on the GDR site here.

On Friday, I struggled to get going, even though it was sunny. It was so easy to be cat furniture as they stretched out in the sun and purred!

I managed to catch up a little bit on email. Even though I’m unsubscribing from a bunch of stuff, there are still a couple of hundred emails coming in every day, and it’s hard to get on top of it, and then stay on top of it. I also had to deal with a slew of AI “emails” claiming to want to feature work of mine, pretending the sender had actually read it, only the details made it clear that it was AI/fake. Which is exhausting. Then, I’ve gotten several letters recently claiming I owe debts (which I don’t, I am currently debt-free. I may have to be very careful, at times, financially, but I’m not carrying debt), even though those supposed, non-existent “debts” are far past the statute of limitations in this state. So I guess I’m sending dispute/don’t contact me again letters. I will keep track and loop in the AG as needed. I already have to have the AG intervene in something shady a NY-based company that our family has used for a long time (we started with them when they were actually solid and had integrity) is trying to pull, claiming MA is “making” them do it. Bite me.

The rot comes from the top.

It uses up a lot of time and energy that could be put toward creative work.

I put in the Instacart order early in the morning, as I always do. The first three times I used Instacart, shopping was done briskly and things were delivered early in the 2-hour shopping window. Yesterday’s order was in early, and it came near the end of the window, which was okay, because it was efficient. I was a little irritated when Friday’s delivery was past the window.

I don’t understand why male shoppers don’t know the difference between bone-out and bone-in and always get the bone-in. . .um, I’m opening a door here for entendre, aren’t I? Never mind.

Anyway, it was fine, I just need to get back to doing my own shopping.

Late lunch, running late, made it to the gallery, helped where I could for a few hours, within my skill level. The mural is amazing, and there’s so much brilliant work in there. It was a little intimidating, but I did what I could, and I enjoyed myself.

My hip and back were in bad shape by the time I headed back. I took some Motrin and cooked dinner, then used the heating pad in the evening.

Nothing like waking up on a weekend to find out your country is illegally bombing another country. And Congress does nothing. We shouldn’t be paying them to be so useless.

Saturday morning, I hauled myself out the door and humped the laundry down to the laundromat. I’d prioritized the laundry, since it’s been way too long, and took the most important load. Everything was fine, I sat and read, humped it all back, got it upstairs, got it folded and put away, and did the Saturday morning housework.

I headed out to run an errand on the way to the gallery, and my back went out. I managed to get home, and let the gallery know (feeling terribly guilty) and was pretty much immobile all evening. I cooked by hauling a stool into the kitchen and sitting on a high stool in front of the stove.

I was worried about the SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE decision to put the Hughes brothers on to rehab their images – again, putting the work on everyone except the Hughes brothers, especially with Connor Storrie of HEATED RIVALRY as the host. They’re all handled by the same agency, so you know there were all kinds of nasty backroom whatevers going on. But the wonderful surprise guests were Hilary Knight and Megan Keller of the women’s team, who were funny and gracious and witty, while the Hughes brothers stood there looking like, well, what they are. Again, they had the chance to do something on a huge international stage to make things right, and they just stood there. They couldn’t even read the teleprompter properly. The women and the actors did the heavy lifting. Which showed the Hughes brothers for who they are. Again. It showed that all the “Hughes brothers are hockey’s good guys” is a PR crock. And the audience response, the cheers the women got, was wonderful.

Connor Storrie and his co-star, Hudson Williams, are around the same age as the Hughes brothers (one of the Hughes guys is, I think, a little younger). If you’ve ever listened to Storrie and Williams in interviews, they are bright, witty, thoughtful, with great senses of humor, and both have a lot of depth, understanding, and curiosity. The joy they take in each other’s presence and success is beautiful. Compare that to the Hughes brothers, who slap on MAGA hats and double down on misogyny.

It comes down to character.

“Character” is always tossed around in hockey as the bedrock of all of it, beyond even skill. Can you imagine how different this win would have been had there been anyone with character in that locker room? A team made up of men of character would have shut down the misogyny and celebrated their teammates – because Team USA is supposed to be a single team. They would have gracefully declined the trip to DC (especially on a taxpayer-funded jet). I mean, the team was dissed after their photo op when they were fed fast food with ketchup packets in the conference room of a building that has the capacity to turn out some of the best cuisine in the world. (As someone who has reviewed cookbooks on White House cuisine, some amazing meals have come out of that kitchen).

It’s not because the players were young. There were men who weren’t so young in that room. It has to do with the lack of character of the coach and his staff who put the team together, and the quality of individual they chose. And now the coach, Bill Guerin, runs around giving interviews that he doesn’t care. In Minnesota, of all places. May his tenure there be shortened.

So many joyful celebrations could have rippled across the country, had there been men of character in that room.

Maybe those involved will start to understand that people are done with them. There might be a few left in the hockey bubble to give them a pass, but not many beyond. Choices and consequences. Even if what happened in the locker room was “being caught up in the moment,” everything since then to continue to be douche canoes has been a choice.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Torrent of the PWHL sold out their arena for the first time this weekend. Three out of four PWHL games were sold out this weekend. May that wave only continue to grow.

I slept reasonably well, although I woke up a few times due to discomfort/pain. I am having a progressive dream over the past few weeks about different stages of working on a big gala-type project with people that I know in the dream, but don’t yet in real life, which is an adventure, but I wake up feeling like I put in a full day.

I did the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here, and enjoy working with the Mystic Storyteller deck.

I had a lot of paperwork to deal with on Sunday, a good bit of it unpleasant, but that’s out of the way.

The rest of the day, I made like a Victorian invalid on the sofa. I finished reading the second book in a delightful series, and I hope there’s a third coming. I also read MAGPIE MURDERS by Anthony Horowitz, a fascinating literary mystery that has a book within the book. There are lots of references and nods to other works in it, and then nods to the nods, if that makes any sense. The book kept surprising me in lovely ways, and the writing is terrific. And yes, I did figure out whodunit before the protagonist did, but not by much.

I alternated between stretching and resting the hip and back, and moving between pain and discomfort all day and night. I need to come up with a stretching/asana sequence that gives relief, and then also start building core exercises back into the routine. I’ve slacked off on those, and the back can’t be supported if the core isn’t strong. I will add those in slowly. If I add too much too fast, I won’t be able to build and sustain. I also want to adjust some nutritional stuff, which will be easier as we get into spring and summer, and there’s a better quality of produce available. Hopefully, I can add in acupuncture again over the next few months. That works the best for me.

I’m paying the price for the physical demands of my theatre career. I’m not going to whine about it (much. I’ll whine a little). I am going to hope that the unions keep working to make conditions better for the current and future generations.

I did not sleep particularly well Sunday night into Monday, mostly due to discomfort.

Morning routine. I had to wrap up to tromp to the post office to mail bills and send something via certified mail, and ran a few errands on the way home. I was in a lot of pain by the time I got back.

So, US Military bombed a girls’ school in Iran – you don’t do that by accident when you have precision missiles. This isn’t a video game. On top of that, Kuwait shot down 3 of our military jets in “friendly fire” because no one can be bothered to coordinate with our supposed allies. Then you have the alcoholic head of the military claiming, “we didn’t start this war” – yes, you did, and without Congressional approval. Meanwhile, That Thing talks about drapes in the address where he’s supposed to reassure the country about what actually is going on and mourn dead soldiers. But, of course, That Thing doesn’t care.

By then, it was time to knuckle down to work.

An invitation to submit a pitch for a full-length play commission landed in my inbox. I have until May 1 to come up with something. It’s already percolating. It’s a company I really want to work with, so I want to do a good job on the pitch. I also have to get moving on the Creative Capital grant proposal. Their grant program opened yesterday. I have ideas for both percolating, but I need to put them into shape. But at least they are percolating. Mercury Retrograde is not a good time to submit to things like this.

I got about 1000 words done on BETTING MAN. I’m going to have to rework this chapter somewhat for pace, I think, in the next draft.

I did some more work in the DNA/Forensics class, which is directly relevant to something I’m currently working on, so I even got to apply it.

I had a really good session on the ghostwriting. I’m still behind where I’d like to be, but the quality of the work was good, and that’s worth being a bit behind.

Made some leftovers interesting, and then read a bit in the evening. Another book for review showed up. I need to get going on those. I have two due next week, and one due the following, so I will focus on them over the weekend, I think, although I’ll try to get some of it done during the week. I mean, it’s only Tuesday.

Went to bed too early because I could not keep my eyes open, which meant I woke up around 2. But I got back to sleep, and got up at the usual time. The 3:33 eclipse time was for the West coast. Out here, it was 6:30-ish for the full effect. The woman who owns the local bookshop, who is also a wonderful photographer and scientist, took a photo early on, when it was still dark, and it’s beautiful. It’s over on IG.

Morning routine was fine, I figured out some stuff in the free write, and I’m getting ready to start the day. BETTING MAN and the ghostwriting are the priorities, with maybe some work on the commission pitch.

My back and hip are uncomfortable, so I’m sure I will take lots of breaks to try to ease them.

We have another weather alert, and it’s supposed to snow from midday until about 5 AM tomorrow morning. I love winter, I love snow, but I am tired.

Have a good one!

Thurs. Feb. 27, 2026: A Hint of Sunshine

Friday, February 27, 2026

Waxing Moon

Jupiter and Mercury Retrograde

Sunny and cold

And it is Friday, the end of another week. Almost the end of the month.

Online meditation group yesterday was good, and it made Charlotte very happy.

After breakfast, I walked to the pharmacy to pick up my mom’s prescription, and then ran another errand on the way back. I had tried to arrange for prescription delivery, but the system just sent me around in loops. It was flurrying lightly, but not bad, although the sidewalks weren’t fun. But I made it, it’s only about a mile and a half roundtrip.

I dropped everything off, grabbed the rolly cart and some insulated bags, and rolled in the street up to the library, because the sidewalks on Church St. were impossible.

There were 22 books waiting for me. I was in shock. There were a bunch of books from Commonwealth Catalogue that came in – all of which had sent notifications telling me that they weren’t available, so I’d tried to find other CC books that covered the same info, only to be told they couldn’t send them—and then all of them showed up at once. And can’t be renewed. So I will have to be very productive in my research time over the next 30 days. Another trip just over a mile (roundtrip). Commonwealth Catalogue is the books available all over the state of Massachusetts, beyond the regional CW Mars network. ILL (Interlibrary Loan) would be books from other states.

I mean, yeah, Mercury Retrograde, but it’s books, so I’m going to be grateful instead of cranky!

I managed to do all of those errands on foot in just under two hours, and I’m kind of proud of myself. But I was pretty worn out by the end of it.

WAM announced their 2026 season! I’m so thrilled to have been part of the literary committee that got to champion these scripts. I can’t wait to see the production and the readings. It’s so exciting. And I’m excited to be a part of the committee again (we start back up in April).

The #FreelanceFriends chat was fun. The hour just flew past.

I buckled down on the ghostwriting in the afternoon, interrupted a couple of times for the Instacart delivery. I split the order I needed. Part of it was ordered yesterday, and the other part will be done today. The shopper only had to swap out one thing, which was fine. It got here, all was good, it just interrupted the ghostwriting here and there, so it was hard to get a flow in.

But things got done.

I handled a bunch of email. I’m so far behind on email, it’s not funny. And I’m usually pretty good about keeping up. I’m on top of the work-related emails, but some of the personal stuff has fallen between the cracks.

Read some of the research in the evening. The PWHL teams were playing, so I kept an eye on those games, rather than the N. Since the women’s team continue to act with class and professionalism and the men continue to act like douche canoes. Someone mentioned that, this spring, a professional women’s baseball league starts up. I don’t follow baseball much, but I may check that league out. Never got into it as a kid, and when I was covering sports, baseball players were the biggest assholes and worst interviews. So I quickly stopped covering that sport. Lacrosse players were usually pleasant enough, but they could be somewhat odd. Still, I enjoyed covering lacrosse, although I didn’t do it very long.

Slept pretty well, good morning routine. I was surprised that my hip and lower back weren’t screaming after yesterday, but they were doing okay.

Morning routine was fine (Day 190 of the free write). On today’s agenda: the rest of the grocery order for delivery, following up with the mechanic, writing, ghostwriting, reading the next book for review. I have to stop mid-afternoon to head out to the gallery. I’m going to put in a few hours today and tomorrow to help paint the wall mural. It’s the annual “Glow” show, which is done in glow-in-the-dark paint. It’s difficult to describe – windows are blacked out and black light is used, and it’s all really cool. I haven’t worked in that medium before, so I figured I would help paint the mural this year, and then maybe build something for it next year.

We’ve also gotten our information for the April show. I’ve figured out both pieces. I just have to put them together, so I will be gathering materials in the next couple of weeks and getting to work on that, too.

Tessa decided she wants to be fed first (because of the way the food stations are set up, Willa and Charlotte are fed first in the kitchen – all of them get their bowls down on the floor within three minutes of each other, but. . .), so she stole Willa’s breakfast this morning. Sigh.

Weekend – tomorrow is housework, maybe some writing, maybe some of the DNA workshop, and then painting in the late afternoon again. Sunday is who knows what – more snow coming in. If it’s light enough, I want to do some stitching. And of course, the tarot reading for the week. I’m using a new deck for March, stay tuned.

Sunday is also the start of a new month! Have a great weekend, and we’ll catch up next week.

The Conversation: Whether it’s Valentine’s Day notes or emails to loved ones, using AI to write leaves people feeling crummy about themselves. “We research the intersection of consumer behavior and technology, and we’ve been studying how people feel after using generative AI to write heartfelt messages. It turns out that there’s a psychological cost to using the technology as your […]

The Conversation: Whether it’s Valentine’s Day notes or emails to loved ones, using AI to write leaves people feeling crummy about themselves. “We research the intersection of consumer behavior and technology, and we’ve been studying how people feel after using generative AI to write heartfelt messages. It turns out that there’s a psychological cost to using the technology as your […]

The Conversation: Whether it’s Valentine’s Day notes or emails to loved ones, using AI to write leaves people feeling crummy about themselves. “We research the intersection of consumer behavior and technology, and we’ve been studying how people feel after using generative AI to write heartfelt messages. It turns out that there’s a psychological cost to using the technology as your […]

The Conversation: Whether it’s Valentine’s Day notes or emails to loved ones, using AI to write leaves people feeling crummy about themselves. “We research the intersection of consumer behavior and technology, and we’ve been studying how people feel after using generative AI to write heartfelt messages. It turns out that there’s a psychological cost to using the technology as your […]

Thurs. Jan. 22, 2026: Getting Colder

Thursday, January 22, 2025

Waxing Moon

Uranus and Jupiter Retrograde

Cloudy and cold

You can read the latest about the garden over on Gratitude and Growth.

Yesterday, I caught up on some admin and email. I saw a project call I really want to submit a proposal to – I have until February 1, so it can percolate. It’s site-specific, and I think I could really run with it. No pun intended.

I had trouble settling into the ghostwriting. My mind wanted to wander to other things. There’s so much to worry about right now that it’s difficult to settle in and work.

But showing up and doing the work matters. The free writing is another tool for that, as it the art journaling. Show up. Do the work. Throughout my theatre career (and my writing career), there have always been others who have more talent and greater skills. But I show up and do the work, which is how I can actually build a career. Does it take a toll? On some days, a big one. But that’s the trade-off. And I hope that our generation can set a healthier foundation for future generations. In spite of what’s going on right now.

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that my invoice for the book reviews was paid, so that was a relief. I still have to worry about the car inspection next week. Hopefully, I will get paid on one of the ghostwriting assignments before the end of the month.

There’s an intriguing job listing at a company with whom I’ve wanted to work since I moved out this way, so I need to put together an LOI today.

I worked on the ghostwriting all day, and submitted it a little after 4 PM. And then my brain ached!

I tried to read a little. I gave up on a book that presents itself as a cozy mystery but is a bundle of right-wing garbage. I gave up on another supposed cozy mystery with older characters because it was full of overused clichés. I’m finally reading another mystery that’s okay, but not great.

The human trafficking of a five-year-old child wearing a spiderman backpack and a bunny hat still isn’t enough for Congress to get off its entitled ass and do something. I am so disgusted. They are just going to let these goons run rampant and kill or imprison thousands of people. They can all go to hell. I don’t want to see anymore posts from Congress people about “this is so horrible!” Yes, mofo, we know, and it is LITERALLY your JOB to stop it. So do it.

I played with some poem ideas that I hope I can work on in more detail over the weekend.

Slept reasonably well, although I woke up a few times. Morning routine was fine, including the free write and the art journaling. The sketches in the latter are rather chaotic, but reflective of current times and emotions.

On today’s agenda: meditation, dig out the car, go to the grocery store and the library, #FreelanceFriends, turn around the edits on the 2027 Spell-A-Day, get some work done on BETTING MAN, and start the next ghostwriting assignment.

I am the only one who hasn’t dug out the car yet, and I dread it. It’s supposed to be in the mid-30’s, so I hope it won’t be too bad. I want to do my errands and bivouac for the weekend. Tonight, it’s supposed to get brutally cold, -10F with windchills in the -30s. I want to be in for the weekend before noon today, if at all possible.

#books #disgust #fiction #freelance #FreelanceFriends #ghostwriting #reading #weather #writing

Thurs. Jan. 22, 2026: Getting Colder

Thursday, January 22, 2025

Waxing Moon

Uranus and Jupiter Retrograde

Cloudy and cold

You can read the latest about the garden over on Gratitude and Growth.

Yesterday, I caught up on some admin and email. I saw a project call I really want to submit a proposal to – I have until February 1, so it can percolate. It’s site-specific, and I think I could really run with it. No pun intended.

I had trouble settling into the ghostwriting. My mind wanted to wander to other things. There’s so much to worry about right now that it’s difficult to settle in and work.

But showing up and doing the work matters. The free writing is another tool for that, as it the art journaling. Show up. Do the work. Throughout my theatre career (and my writing career), there have always been others who have more talent and greater skills. But I show up and do the work, which is how I can actually build a career. Does it take a toll? On some days, a big one. But that’s the trade-off. And I hope that our generation can set a healthier foundation for future generations. In spite of what’s going on right now.

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that my invoice for the book reviews was paid, so that was a relief. I still have to worry about the car inspection next week. Hopefully, I will get paid on one of the ghostwriting assignments before the end of the month.

There’s an intriguing job listing at a company with whom I’ve wanted to work since I moved out this way, so I need to put together an LOI today.

I worked on the ghostwriting all day, and submitted it a little after 4 PM. And then my brain ached!

I tried to read a little. I gave up on a book that presents itself as a cozy mystery but is a bundle of right-wing garbage. I gave up on another supposed cozy mystery with older characters because it was full of overused clichés. I’m finally reading another mystery that’s okay, but not great.

The human trafficking of a five-year-old child wearing a spiderman backpack and a bunny hat still isn’t enough for Congress to get off its entitled ass and do something. I am so disgusted. They are just going to let these goons run rampant and kill or imprison thousands of people. They can all go to hell. I don’t want to see anymore posts from Congress people about “this is so horrible!” Yes, mofo, we know, and it is LITERALLY your JOB to stop it. So do it.

I played with some poem ideas that I hope I can work on in more detail over the weekend.

Slept reasonably well, although I woke up a few times. Morning routine was fine, including the free write and the art journaling. The sketches in the latter are rather chaotic, but reflective of current times and emotions.

On today’s agenda: meditation, dig out the car, go to the grocery store and the library, #FreelanceFriends, turn around the edits on the 2027 Spell-A-Day, get some work done on BETTING MAN, and start the next ghostwriting assignment.

I am the only one who hasn’t dug out the car yet, and I dread it. It’s supposed to be in the mid-30’s, so I hope it won’t be too bad. I want to do my errands and bivouac for the weekend. Tonight, it’s supposed to get brutally cold, -10F with windchills in the -30s. I want to be in for the weekend before noon today, if at all possible.

#books #disgust #fiction #freelance #FreelanceFriends #ghostwriting #reading #weather #writing

TIL that Hans Zimmer is well known in the music composing industry for doing ghostwriting: taking credit over other people's written music. Shit, it's best not to know about stuff often.
#ghostwriting