Notices by Asakiyume (asakiyume@wandering.shop)

During our Amazon Rain Forest unit, we spent a class period learning about tapirs. "Look," our teacher said. "They have noses sort of like elephants. I mean, not as long, but still."

"Did you know that the name 'tapir' comes from the Tupi word 'tapira'?" asked Claudio, who was from Brazil and had been sharing information like this all unit.

"Wrong!" said our teacher. "It's because their nose is #tapered. Really, Claudio, I would have thought you'd have known that."

#wss366 #microfiction

My ESL tutee just started a voice message to me w/salaam, and I feel blessed because I feel like that means she's comfortable with me.

Every day at 2:46 pm, a bell is struck in Ōfunato to commemorate the 2011 Tōhoku tsunami. The #sound spreads out over the land and the water.

A bell ringer noticed that even on days when the sea was choppy--even on stormy days--when the bell rang, the waters grew calm & still. Was it respect? Remorse? He wrote the question a stone and tossed it into the waves.

That night he dreamed the waves were speaking to him. "It's like a lullaby," they said. "It calms us."

#wss366 #microfiction #Japan

I am sending the wind to pester you. I am sending it to make the loose shutter bang against the house and to tangle the washing on the clothesline. I'm sending it to #rifle your papers and leave them in a mess on the floor. But I am also asking it to lift your hair, kiss your neck, and sing you a haunted song through the needles of the pines. May it impede you, distract you, touch you, until such time as I myself again am able to. When the wind comes, think of me.

#wss366 #microfiction #love

A cosmic incursion--at this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely on the ceiling of my bedroom?!

Yes

Ever since walking along a beaver dam in childhood, Violet had engineering #aspirations, but the #terminal degree at the community college was an associate's degree--not a good enough qualification.

"You could work with Smitty," her dad said. "He builds houses."

But Violet dreamed bigger: bridges. road systems. environmental landscaping.

She knew what she had to do. One night when the moon was waxing, she went to the beaver pond. Maybe they'd take an apprentice.

#wss366 #microfiction

@StillIRise1963 Yes: what would suit them is a population of hungry, ill, uneducated serfs who can pressed into compulsory labor and worked to death. Not exaggerating; I think that's what they're after.

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...)