Notices by Asakiyume (asakiyume@wandering.shop)

There was a mysterious parcel on grandma's front step. On top it said, "To the fairest." On one side it said "to the wisest" and on another "to the bravest." On a third was "to the wittiest" and on the fourth, "to the forgivingest." Grandma raised an eyebrow at that. "I think I know who this is from."

"Who?" I asked.

"Your granddad. He forgot my birthday the other day." Inside the parcel was a six-pack of Moxie." Grandma laughed. "Your granddad's such a card."

#wss366 #microfiction #card

"It's a family heirloom," David said, "But no one used it when I was growing up. Too much effort to prepare." He held out the lidded ceramic jar for Danielle to inspect. She looked in.

"What's this stuff? Some kind of meal?"

David nodded. "My gran said sometimes it's wheat, sometimes corn, sometimes barley. The main thing is, it never runs out."

He poured all the meal into a saucepan ... but moments later the jar was full again.

"Cool! I'll definitely use it!"

#wss366 #microfiction #meal

The #exile never learned to speak our language fluently, never learned to cook our food, politely declined the spate of invitations she received in her first days in our small, northern town. By dint of assiduous, unrelenting effort, I made her my friend--more or less.
"How come you never mingle?" I asked once.
"I'm here just short time," she said, though the years stretched on.
Then one day a telegram came. She showed me, smiling a brilliant smile.
"I'm going home."

#wss366 #microfiction

@cstross Ooh noooo, my illusions are crushed. Okay--thanks! I will correct the post (something I can do here on Mastodon; love that functionality)

#WritersCoffeeClub 19 Dec (con't)

I've also known several people who published with a Big Four publisher, had modest success, and then were dropped, or who signed with a Big Four publisher and had their publishing date pushed away and away and away, or who signed and then the editor left and the orphan book came out with no publicity.

[Oh wait: I know more than one person who got success w/a Big Four publisher, and did it without tailoring her work to the market: Ann Leckie!] (2/x)

#WritersCoffeeClub 19 Dec, con't.

(re: Ann Leckie, I didn't realize that Orbit wasn't independent--it's part of Hachette Group. So--good for her!)

One person whose success really cheers me is Amal El-Mohtar. THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR, by her and Max Gladstone, came out from Tordotcom, a large indie publisher, and became a best seller. And she's had a subsequent book after that--THE RIVER HAS ROOTS. (3/4)

#WritersCoffeeClub 19 Dec: Did you find a way through the maze of traditional publishing to get your book published? What's your secret?

Most published writers I know, incl. myself, have a combo of indie-press published stuff & self-published stuff.

I've had only one acquaintance who went from aspiring writer to successful Big Four published writer. She worked her tail off and tailored her writing to what the market wants. (1/x)

Happy that I was able to switch my Microsoft subscription to Classic, which comes WITHOUT the awful, intrusive AI assistant. And I was able to talk to a real human to negotiate the switch.

I should be using different word processing software altogether, I know, but old habits and client expectations... Thinking I will use libreoffice for my personal writing, though, starting now.

Thinking of only writing on chalk on the sidewalk, frankly, but. #AI

Messages in a secret language

@nazokiyoubinbou @amanda @futurebird

ETA (sorry to do this to you, but!) Turns out this example does get real search results, so not the best illustration for my point but *in general* it's true.

Yes, it used to be if you searched on, say, 18th c. lace, you'd get articles on it, descriptions of it, history pieces, and yes, also people selling it. Now that last is the first two pages of any google results. If you want information, you pretty much always have to type [thing] + Wikipedia.

@futurebird @nazokiyoubinbou @amanda

Right: they will straight up ignore your search parameters. Why do you want to search on that thing? You want this other thing, surely.

Cory Doctorow on why he's on Mastodon and only Mastodon.

"Enshittification isn’t merely the result of greed or foolishness — it is the inevitable consequence of a captive userbase."

--thx @JoshuaACNewman for putting this in my timeline!

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/06/fool-me-twice-we-dont-get-fooled-again/

@lookitmychicken Aww, thanks for this--I liked both the song and the video. (and condolences on your loss...)

@vaurora Love especially the shine of light on the stalk!

@cstross Love that way of putting it: diagnosis rather than prescription!

Which oak leaf are you today?

Thin and sharp, edges honed to keen points?

Broad and wide, a surface on which others may place their needs, but a bit battered and stained?

Round and open-lobed, expansively and graciously symmetrical?

Anemone-like, your parts drifting across each other, more to you than you can account for or control?

(Feel free to respond with a different oak leaf that represents you today)

Post by @older reminding me to say that if you want a truly trenchant and also very funny, very smart novel that takes down all the goo surrounding elections and voting, read INFOMOCRACY. Loved that book. #Elections #Voting #PoliticalSystems #Democracy #Authoritarianism #PoliticalControl #Information

... And my friends, while I was gone, my story "Semper Vivens" went live at ANDROMEDA SPACEWAYS magazine. Look at the beautiful, Annihilation-esque cover! 🎶It's for my story!🎶

--a terraforming accident, a zone in constant biological ferment ....

https://andromedaspaceways.com/product/asm-95/ #ShortStories #AndromedaSpaceways #AmWriting

It was said that if someone in love stood on the balcony in the moonlight, the #scales would fall from their eyes & they'd see their beloved as they truly were. This brought joy to some, heartbreak to others.

To Magdalena the maid it brought continual wonder at the sorts of scales that people shed, which she swept up the following mornings. Hard, translucent fish scales; opaque, patterned snake scales. And today, the fragile, bright scales that graced butterflies' wings.

#wss366 #microfiction

"If it's out on the internet, it's out there forever."

--au contraire, my friend....

(Hat tip to @dogtrax for putting this research into my timeline!)

Pew Research: 38% of web pages from 2013 are no longer accessible.

https://www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/2024/05/17/when-online-content-disappears/