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David Todd McCarty<p>The Grift Of AI Writing</p><p>Having someone else do your work is unethical, especially when you’re representing it as your own. This includes having a computer write it for you. We can still rely on the fact that services like ChatGPT offer bad writing disguised as competent drivel to people who don’t know better. Those who do can spot bad writing quickly and easily and frankly we don’t care how you got there. You look stupid either way. You copied off the dumbest one in the room.</p><p><a href="https://me.dm/tags/Writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writing</span></a></p>
Kealoha<p>Got some really propitious news yesterday. The manuscript for my children’s novel is going to an intake editor for P/RH. This is the first time it has made it this far. I don’t want to get too excited, but it’s hard not to feel hopeful that I might finally realize this dream. <a href="https://shakedown.social/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://shakedown.social/tags/writersofmastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersofmastodon</span></a></p>
Steph (they/them)<p>My partner asked me yesterday "if you were offered a million quid advance but you had to make your MC straight, would you do it?"</p><p>And... that's a trick question. Because no, I wouldn't, and my partner knew I wouldn't. There's no amount you could offer me to betray my principles like that... at this moment in time.</p><p>Because right now, I don't have to worry about money, do I? Even with me unemployed we manage comfortably enough. If we were poor and struggling, would I?</p><p>I wouldn't judge anyone for doing what they needed to do if it meant escaping poverty. I know that.</p><p><a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/WritingCommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WritingCommunity</span></a></p>
Fictionable<p>Browse the <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://lor.sh/@fictionable" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>fictionable</span></a></span> <a href="https://lor.sh/tags/archive" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>archive</span></a> with more than 50 exclusive <a href="https://lor.sh/tags/ShortStories" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ShortStories</span></a> from writers including Samantha Harvey, Jenny Erpenbeck, <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@mjohnharrison" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>mjohnharrison</span></a></span> and more…</p><p><a href="https://www.fictionable.world/issues_front.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">fictionable.world/issues_front</span><span class="invisible">.html</span></a></p><p>Image: CM</p><p><a href="https://lor.sh/tags/books" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>books</span></a> <a href="https://lor.sh/tags/reading" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>reading</span></a> <a href="https://lor.sh/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://lor.sh/tags/translation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>translation</span></a> <a href="https://lor.sh/tags/comics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>comics</span></a> <a href="https://lor.sh/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://lor.sh/tags/blog" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>blog</span></a> <a href="https://lor.sh/tags/bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>bookstodon</span></a> <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/bookstodon" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>bookstodon</span></a></span></p>
Rage Rumbles 🏴‍☠️🫂🔞<p><a href="https://syzito.xyz/tags/WritersCoffeeClub" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WritersCoffeeClub</span></a> </p><p>March 16: What word or phrase do you tend to overuse?</p><p>In fact it's probably "in fact".</p><p><a href="https://syzito.xyz/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://syzito.xyz/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a></p>
Jon Sparks<p><a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/WritersCoffeeClub" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WritersCoffeeClub</span></a> 16/3: What word or phrase do you tend to overuse?<br>Hmm, would I even know?<br>A couple of possibilities, though:<br>Entirely.<br>Nod/nodded.<br>Apart from that, you tell me. <br><a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/books" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>books</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/writersofmastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersofmastodon</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/PennedPossibilities" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PennedPossibilities</span></a> 615 — What is the best time of day for you to write? (Early or late morning, midday, afternoon, or nighttime?) </p></blockquote><p>Any time I'm well rested, but that almost never happens. I've in my mind that early morning I'd get in the four hours a day, the four days a week, I did when I was young, but I've tried for almost a year now to wake reasonably early and the closest I've gotten is when I wake at 3 am with a story rattling around in my obviously empty skull preventing me from sleeping unless I write it RIGHT NOW.</p><p>Thus the not "well rested" bit. </p><p>C'est la vie. </p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/ScribesAndMakers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ScribesAndMakers</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/TTMD" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TTMD</span></a> 16 Mar 25 <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://indieauthors.social/@saposcat" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>saposcat</span></a></span> CW: Seriously out there </p><p>I'll admit being at first thrown by the present tense of Blivy, thinking it an excerpt not a blurb, but the language caught me up. Refocusing, I've reread it a few times. The blurb seems like an interesting concept, bringing two different people together in separate narrative threads and, if I get this right, a third person/thread by a narratively unnamed author who might be telling another story through margin notes. Not sure whether to think that's creepy, a leak from a parallel fantasy world, a monk escaped from a monastery who can't help himself, or a pesky student willing to deface a former library book to get a report done. Maybe not the later... you did say "not published." Maybe the author is kid, or someone locked away crying for help? Sorry. Ahem!</p><p>Could you clarify how you're going to handle this making the resulting book feel written in? What's the philosophy of your choice versus straightforward narrative? Is it maybe a mystery to find where Waldo is hiding? More background would be interesting. What about presenting a few paragraph excerpt?</p><p>In any case, I can relate. While I find myself completely unable to write in a paper book, and barely in workbooks meant to be filled it, I have a character who's always writing in them. She has a rainbow of gel pens and highlighters, will fill margins, writing around corners, even drawing sketches or little flowers. She's first caught writing in books writing in a 500 year old thaumaturgy book, with someone later remarking what she wrote was more useful. I'm intrigued what you're up to.</p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a> and <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/CommentingIsCool" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CommentingIsCool</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/photographer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>photographer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/chef" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>chef</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/cooking" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>cooking</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a></p>
Robert Kingett<p>How to enable DRM free downloads for your Book Funnel audiobooks, for authors. <a href="https://authors.bookfunnel.com/help/how-does-bookfunnel-deliver-audiobooks/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">authors.bookfunnel.com/help/ho</span><span class="invisible">w-does-bookfunnel-deliver-audiobooks/</span></a> <a href="https://caneandable.social/tags/Audiobook" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Audiobook</span></a> <a href="https://caneandable.social/tags/Audiobooks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Audiobooks</span></a> <a href="https://caneandable.social/tags/Writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writers</span></a> <a href="https://caneandable.social/tags/Writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writing</span></a> <a href="https://caneandable.social/tags/Books" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Books</span></a> <a href="https://caneandable.social/tags/Author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Author</span></a> <a href="https://caneandable.social/tags/Authors" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Authors</span></a></p>
Klepsis<p><a href="https://indieauthors.social/tags/WritersCoffeeClub" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WritersCoffeeClub</span></a><br><a href="https://indieauthors.social/tags/EpigraphCoffeeClub" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EpigraphCoffeeClub</span></a></p><p>"The quality of my output plummets if I try to keep writing for too long." — <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://toot.wales/@Dewines" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>Dewines</span></a></span></p><p>15 Are you aware of any fanfiction about your work?</p><p>Yes, I have my own category on AO3</p><p><a href="https://indieauthors.social/tags/Writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writing</span></a></p>
Jojo (they/them)<p>I got so caught up in writing upcoming Red Pens and Playwriting posts that I nearly forgot to share the one published today!</p><p>As I teased in my <a href="https://mastodon.nz/tags/ScribesAndMakers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ScribesAndMakers</span></a> post from a few days ago, here is the second half of Toil and Trouble, a short story in which a 1920s witch meets a distressed damsel with movie-star eyes...</p><p>(link to part 1 is in the post)</p><p><a href="https://red-pens-and-playwriting.ghost.io/toil-and-trouble-part-2/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">red-pens-and-playwriting.ghost</span><span class="invisible">.io/toil-and-trouble-part-2/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://mastodon.nz/tags/Writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writing</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.nz/tags/ShortStory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ShortStory</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.nz/tags/Sapphic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Sapphic</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.nz/tags/HistoricalFiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HistoricalFiction</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/PennedPossibilities" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PennedPossibilities</span></a> 614 — SC POV: What is one phrase that you would really like to hear right now?</p></blockquote><p>[SC:] It's wonderful and horribly embarrassing but I've got a crush on my new friend. She saved my life, but then I saved hers in a return, so maybe it's the intensity of that fateful 24 hours. I've only been with men before, even went to the trouble of flying tandem with the bad boy in high school to get him. Somehow she's different, so entirely smarter than me that it isn't funny, but oh so sexy and patient when she teaches a nobody like me things. Hormones don't lie, they just torment you! I know what I feel, and I don't flapping care that I've never felt this way before. </p><p>Unfortunately, she's got <em>boyfriends.</em> Two! They're rather important personages, despite being men—and for political reasons she's stated she's pregnant by one of them, but not by which. I think she's making it up, but I wasn't there. Worse, she's gushed about reconciling with her childhood sweetheart (okay, that had been a flapping mess) in that special way that says she's got further plans for the man, and I know for a fact that she's been eyeing her former teammate from the mob, the one I watched her give a kiss that could melt a mountain of ice. It helped melt my heart! I so want to be him, any of them, but I'm missing sir parts.</p><p>I'm going from being circumspect to stumbling over my words in an instant. I keep pretending the accidental contract is accidental, or misconstrued. Worse, as her bodyguard in training, I'm around her all the time and am sometime hands-on. I feel like I am going to explode!</p><p>[Author writes:] <em>If I ever write this sequel to the story the SC was developed in, it may be from her POV. I don't think it will ruin much to say that if the SC were simply to ask, the words she'd hear might really surprise her.</em></p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/mystery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>mystery</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/thriller" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>thriller</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/romance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>romance</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSReluctanceStory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSReluctanceStory</span></a></p>
Ab<p>In the seventies<br>blue jeans caused quite some fuss to<br>old fashion people</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.nl/tags/MastoPrompt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MastoPrompt</span></a> <br><a href="https://mastodon.nl/tags/indigo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>indigo</span></a> <br><a href="https://mastodon.nl/tags/haiku" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>haiku</span></a><br><a href="https://mastodon.nl/tags/senryu" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>senryu</span></a><br><a href="https://mastodon.nl/tags/poetry" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>poetry</span></a><br><a href="https://mastodon.nl/tags/SmallPoems" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SmallPoems</span></a> <br><a href="https://mastodon.nl/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <br><a href="https://mastodon.nl/tags/photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>photography</span></a> </p><p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.scot/@stevencudahy" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>stevencudahy</span></a></span> </p><p>Lady in Blue Jeans - Nastya Polen</p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/ScribesAndMakers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ScribesAndMakers</span></a> 2503.15 — How's your goal going? Is there anything you would like help with?</p></blockquote><p>I have written and posted a chapter on Mastodon each day for 15 days, so I'm really surprising myself. Seventeen days, seventeen installments to go. I wonder if Charles Dickens felt this way? A few were late, so I did two the next day. Today's installment (<a href="https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/114168750649288414" translate="no" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/11416875</span><span class="invisible">0649288414</span></a>) has the MC taking her 8-year-old on her first Mars walk, wearing the spacesuit she'd crafted for her daughter. The slice-of-life interlude with her monkey-like girl climbing a solar array is heart warming, as is her greeting her father who'd been away three months, saying rather precocious things. My goal is to write good gender fiction, and the main character suggesting her daughter be trained for men's work comes naturally in the situation I've built up to with foreshadowing over past chapters. <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeedWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeedWomen</span></a></p><p>About all I can ask for as help is that the writing challenge prompts keep coming! They've helped me keep focused and disciplined. They act as carrots for completing a day's work. It takes 1-2 hours to write the 800 words, and 4-5 hours to revise it. Feels like a full time job...</p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a> and <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/CommentingIsCool" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CommentingIsCool</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p>2503.28 /15 — Feather <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Writever" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writever</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Mars" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mars</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/SpaceOpera" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceOpera</span></a></p></blockquote><p>Today May Ri tested. Things she invented. A daughter she gave birth to.</p><p>The Meadowbrook rickshaw climbed the sandy hill strewn with rocks, the huge hoop wheels and isolated suspension rolling over obstacles with aplomb. She drove the tractor legs with her reins, to minimize jostling the cart, and got to the solar array minutes earlier than by taking the road compressed into the Martian regolith. </p><p>Marisela hopped out instantly, rolled upon landing to her feet, and rushed the blue and black panels. Though shy, she had taken to suit-qualification... like a duckling to water—a phrase the 4 Mars-year-old wouldn't understand, but her mother did. She stopped before touching, looked expectantly at her mother, her eyes gleaming in the coming sunset inside her glare-free helmet. May Ri's maker v3.2 made spacesuits, something they'd had to import from Earth—Mars was never meant to be isolated from EM Mars Corp. Bankruptcy changed things, maker manufacturing locks only making it worse.</p><p>At May Ri's nod, her daughter climbed the array, giggling, full of energy. Mars-refined metal platforms were simple tech, even gimbaled ones; the array wasn't fragile, only the sweepers and cables. Marisela had trained and given promises.</p><p>She was an inspector!</p><p>The girl's suit was a first production suit, and the only one sized for a child. Colonial planners hadn't thought through the implications of <em>kids.</em> May Ri patted the emergency balloon as she vaulted out of the tall cart and plopped down on the sand.</p><p>"What about this?" Her monkey girl pointed out a bent wire feather wiper over a windblown deposit of red five aisles in. May Ri noted it on the wrist-mounted book plate. The regolith crunched under her shoes. The wind whistled faintly, mixing with the hum of the comm. A massive dust devil spun in the distance, which was why they were here—not for testing the cart, tractor legs, or the pink-striped Mars-green suit her daughter wore. </p><p>Danger of a planetary dust storm was no joke. With a doubled population and dome construction, array efficiency was paramount; the anti-static feathers were her idea to replace fans.</p><p>Men prospected for Thorium, but aeolian monzonite deposits were rare. Finding the mineral deposits on 16 Psyche proved difficult, but the effort searching for them and the <em>Robinson Crusoe</em> disaster had brought them the dented maker her echo group dissected. At the slow orbital speed required for an asteroid, the ship had flipped and disintegrated, leaving rather gruesome remains of the men and partially intact machinery scattered over kilometers of cratered rusty metallic rock.</p><p>May Ri felt proud of her maker derivative. V4.1 had built a compact thorium reactor prototype (another restricted device). In a dust year, a working reactor would prevent starvation.</p><p>Mars grit and dust clung to everything, compromising moving parts. Together the two identified five repairables and reattached a cable. In the dusk, illuminated by bluish noctilucent clouds, May Ri drove the cart along the "paved" road. Marisela swayed and hummed happily to herself.</p><p>At their dome, May Ri got her chance at exuberance: Randy had returned days early. She jumped into his arms, but knocked him over.</p><p>Marisela said surprisingly dryly, "Momie's going to be making funny noises tonight." She quickly hid behind May Li's legs when she stood, peering apprehensively with green eyes as Randy smiled at her. It had been three months since his last visit, a lifetime ago to a kid.</p><p>Taking a deep breath, May Ri knelt and and pointed at her daughter. "This is Marisela, a brave little girl who today completed her first Mars surface expedition in a plus-plus fashion, the first suit-qualified girl to do that, helping her mother at the Array."</p><p>Randy scooted over. Pointing at him, she said, "This is Randolf, an illustrious Martian arbitrator and HR wunderkind, an all around loving fellow, and your Dadie."</p><p>He reached out a hand.</p><p>Marisela's reddened face screwed up in an expression May Ri couldn't predict, but when she reached out her little hand to his big one, she burst into wild giggles. They shook in the handshake ritual <em>du jour,</em> laughing, before she warned, "Momie loves you, so you keep her happy."</p><p>Martian nisei, besides being hoppy little frogs, were surprisingly open. Precocious. They had no Decath ministers to shame them, girls and boys lived and slept communally most days, and fathers were absent. Nobody bothered—or had time—to teach gender roles, so no nisei acted as either. </p><p>May Ri approved. <em>Which meant...!</em></p><p>"Marisela is suit-qualified. Take her on your next assignment to teach her your job." With ever fewer men, Mars needed women doing men's work. <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a> 15</p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/microfiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>microfiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/flashfiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>flashfiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/tootfic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>tootfic</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/smallstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>smallstory</span></a></p>
Rich Rubin<p>Spring has arrived in <a href="https://bookstodon.com/tags/Buffalo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Buffalo</span></a> This is my favorite weather! Cool enough to still wear a long sleeve thermal but warm enough if I just want to wear short sleeves. I should probably be <a href="https://bookstodon.com/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> but for now I’ll enjoy the day. Maybe tomorrow I’ll add more to my <a href="https://bookstodon.com/tags/WIP" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WIP</span></a></p>
Orion (he/him)<p><a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/ScribesAndMakers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ScribesAndMakers</span></a> Mar 15: How's your goal going? Is there anything you would like help with?</p><p>Come to my house and watch my kids so I can finish this draft.</p><p><a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/Writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writing</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/Writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writers</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/WritingCommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WritingCommunity</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/WritersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WritersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/AmWriting" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AmWriting</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/AmWritingSF" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AmWritingSF</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/AmWritingFantasy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AmWritingFantasy</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/AmWritingSFF" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AmWritingSFF</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/Scriberspace" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Scriberspace</span></a></p>
John Sandwolf<p><a href="https://meow.social/tags/writerscoffeeclub" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writerscoffeeclub</span></a> <a href="https://meow.social/tags/Writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writing</span></a> 15 Are you aware of any fanfiction about your work?</p><p>Wolf laughs! I could only wish for such. That would imply I have a following and am popular. Obscurity is the hardest part of the war of branding and publicizing your work. I've always thought my fiction would make great TV or movies, but I believe that only happens to best sellers and who you know.</p><p>But I suppose, in a way, the cooperative works that are the Riders of the Dream is sort of like fanfiction. We write about each other's characters.</p>
Orion (he/him)<p><a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/WordWeavers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WordWeavers</span></a> Mar 15: If your SC found a wallet full of money, what would they do with it?</p><p>"Hey, look at this!"</p><p>"What is that?"</p><p>"It's *money*. This is what it used to look like."</p><p>"Weird. It's like paper?"</p><p>"I guess. Who's face is that?"</p><p>"I don't know. She looks mean, though."</p><p>(NB: Canadian money has the Queen's face on it.)</p><p><a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/Writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writing</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/Writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writers</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/WritingCommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WritingCommunity</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/WritersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WritersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/AmWriting" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AmWriting</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/AmWritingSF" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AmWritingSF</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/AmWritingFantasy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AmWritingFantasy</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/AmWritingSFF" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AmWritingSFF</span></a> <a href="https://writing.exchange/tags/Scriberspace" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Scriberspace</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WritersCoffeeClub" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WritersCoffeeClub</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WCC" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WCC</span></a> 2503.15 — Are you aware of any fanfiction about your work?</p></blockquote><p>The author breaks out laughing and crying at the same time, and can be heard murmuring, "One day I hope someone will like it that much."</p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a></p>