sfwrtr

Maiko, 1 month ago to animals

She woke up like this

#DailySerra #DogsOfPixelfed #DogsOfMastodon

sfwrtr, 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago) to 13thFloor

2/2 Poll Intro There are "Edit" notification settings in the Notification column of your instance web app for Mastodon. This notifies you if a post you starred or boosted was modified by the poster.

Question Do you get upset when someone modifies their post? Please take a moment to explain what you think in a reply.

Please boost for the widest possible sample size.

#hashtags: #fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion #poll #fedi #fediTips #fediVerse #mastodon

sfwrtr, 11 months ago to mastodon

Introduction (#writingWonders 6.1 — Intro Day)

I am a feminist SF writer, more details on my profile. I'm planning on pinning this post to my profile, so it will change over time. Since I write a lot of #microfiction / #suddenfiction for #Mastodon, here is a pinned post of links to those stories: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/110470537747067765

On Mastodon, I am building a network of other writers by being both entertaining and informative, sharing what I learned the hard way. My motto: There Shall Be Content! My community goal is to help people with writing and to help them get over what's keeping them from completing stories. I'm also learning self-publishing as a business. I hope to push back the loneliness that's part and parcel of a solitary profession.

I follow serious authors, which means people diligently writing or working at completing stories or articles or anything containing words with the intent to publish. Whether that's #fiction, #nonfiction, #scripts, #comics or #manga, or #games, that's probably you. I read everyone's profile before following, and generally require some posts to ensure I'm making the right choice. DM me if your posts didn't follow you when switching instances. My timeline is full, so please don't feel bad if I miss something.

I will follow an #artist based on seeing interesting work. This can be #photography or hand drawn/painted #art. I am partial to #charcoals and #pastel, appreciate #sketch art, but love #watercolor (because I can't do that!), or just really good visuals. I will discuss what's great in what you post if wowed, or #critique if you're really close and I think I can help. I occasionally commission cover and interstitial art. I do fine art photography and have done wedding and event photography (https://sfwrtr.zenfolio.com).

Last: *Did you entertain me? Did you make me think?" I may follow you. I have a weird sense of humor, which follows since many of my characters are snide and cynical.

That brings me favorites, that little star button. I do my very best never to click it to acknowledge I've simply read your post. My favorites generally mean something caught my attention, was particularly apropos to the idea, was entertaining, or somehow pithy. If I favorite replies in a conversation, that could be an acknowledgment. If I reply to your post, I've definitely noticed something!

I believe boosting is sharing, and I sometime wait a while to provide them better visibility. I appreciate when people boost my posts when they affect them in return.

#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool

#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writingWonders 6.1 Intro

sfwrtr, 7 months ago to 13thFloor

#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 2 Nbr 16 — How do you feel about flashbacks? Do you use them? /Guess./

I was looking through my October Pages file where I keep all the writing prompts I've answered, amazed at my current output. 16,000 words so far this month. Then I thought back to November of last year...

I'd spent almost a month noodgying my open source Linuxy friend in /Missourah/ about creating an online presence. He had been talking about this thing called "Masto... Don? For all I knew, it had tusks. Actually, he had been noodgying me, so... finally... I said, "Let's do this."

He talked about "instances" and things that went swoosh over my head, but I tried. Every time I picked one sounding creative or authorial, I got, /Sorry, we're not accepting new accounts now./ Eventually, he invited me to his favorite instance. With a name like "Eldritch" and lots of French speakers, it sounded fun and appropriate for an SF writer. I still got all sorts of confused, but people saw I was a newbie and were helpful, and that was nice. I quickly learned about following people, using hashtags people followed, and followed those hashtags. I started telling about my life as a (somewhat autistic) writer, and what it felt like to burn out and come back.

Eventually, I stumbled into hashtags like #WritingWonders and #RomanceWonders, then new ones like #PennedPossibilities and #WritersCoffeeClub, not to mention #Writever which is costing me on average two hours a day, attempting to write new 800 word stories—31 of them.

Today, I can barely remember my life without Mastodon. I've learned so much, felt so supported, and gotten my short writing so together. I don't wanna ever go back.

#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool

#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion #Mastodon #fediverse

sfwrtr, 1 month ago to 13thFloor

#PennedPossibilities 294 — What, to you, are the most important elements of good writing?

I'll keep it simple and singular: /Transparency./ Good writing fades into the background and lets the story flow into the reader's mind with a minimum of friction. Anything that makes the reader aware of the words on the page instead of the story interferes with getting your message across, and should be avoided. All good writing stems from this principle. How you implement it is up to you.

[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#fiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion

sfwrtr, 6 months ago to 13thFloor

#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 3 Nbr 21 — What things make a good book cover design?

Something that will intrigue readers into buying the book. I'm no designer and suspect I'll seek professional advise if I self-publish. If I conventionally publish, the publisher will consider such a thing advertising and I will consider myself lucky if they ask for suggestions.

Once I was asked. Two main characters got on the cover, a Japanese teenager and a sheepdog/human chimera. What was drawn were a caucasian vogue model and a wookie. The book sold out the printing, so I guess I can't complain.

#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool

#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion

sfwrtr, 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago) to 13thFloor

1/2 Poll Intro There are "Edit" notification settings in the Notification column of your instance web app for Mastodon. This notifies you if a post you starred or boosted was modified by the poster.

Question Is Edit notification on or off? Please take a moment to say whether you turned it on or off in a reply. Feel free to comment about what you think of this setting.

Please boost for the widest possible sample size.

#hashtags: #fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion #poll #fedi #fediTips #fediVerse #mastodon

sfwrtr, 4 months ago to writing

#WordWeavers 2401.7 — Excluding common most used words, which word do you use too much in your writing? Why?

I was just going to skip this one, then I had a thought: Today I was syndicating a chapter and I stopped when I spotted "just." I think "just" probably has more synonyms than any other word. Feels like it. Am I right? It's also my first hunt and destroy word during revision. Not sure how I missed it, them...

I found 4 instances of "just" in the chapter.

1. Just => Barely
2. Just => Simply
3. Just => Only
4. Just => A moment ago

I could have just left the last "just," but after 10 seconds fighting in a hallway of a frigate, 15 paragraphs worth, "a moment ago" felt better than just "just."

#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool

#writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion

davidaugust, 1 month ago to sketch

Did I just check the weather on Saturday in Tehran for a script I'm writing so I could have a character mention the nice weather? Yes.

Will anyone else ever check the weather to be sure it was, in fact, nice? No.

So will anyone else know whether I made up the good weather or not? No, but I'll know. I'll know.

(it was in the 60s [high teens in C])

#sketch #comedy #SketchComedy #screenwriting #writing #script #research

sfwrtr, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to Dog

As an #author I often assume knowledge that I should ask about. So, here's the ask: As an average person, if you saw a woman in an urban situation with a #wolf (it is a wolf but nobody is saying it is a wolf), would you assume it was a #dog?

Please boost for maximum sample size.

Feel free to comment if you have experience with telling the difference or studying #wolves.

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#Writer #Writing #WritingCommunity #WritersAMastodon #Fiction #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy
#WordWeavers #WritersCoffeeClub
#RSInklingsStory #poll

sfwrtr, 4 months ago to journalism

There are reasons why you need copy editors and paid staff to run a news organization. Can you spot the hilarious mistake on the #npr page? 😂

My answer to the headline is they got lucky?

#journalism #Writing #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #Nonfiction #Humor #Funny

golgaloth, 26 days ago to writing

Have you ever written anything entirely in the second person? I've a couple of short stories come out this way. It's hard to properly wrap things up unless its some sort of vignette/ slice of life story.

#WritingCommunity #AmWriting #writing

sfwrtr, 4 days ago to science

A flu vaccine has a side effect... no, not what antivaxxers think... a reduced chance of Alzheimer's? Interesting. Studies, only, but still...

#science not fiction

https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/scientists-found-a-significant-link-between-vaccinations-and-alzheimer-s-disease

sfwrtr, 1 month ago to 13thFloor

#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 8 Nbr 29 — Do you share your name with other writers?

Now, in publications or on the Internet, no. People do call me R.S. I first used this pen name when I went to Clarion. I used it to obfuscate my gender in email before the workshop for reasons of what I write. The gender of the author adds subtext to gender fiction. Statistically, most people guess wrong. In person, and when money is involved, it's inescapable and I share my name. I use a different name in photography and a different ungendered pen name when writing non-speculative fiction. Who I am isn't hidden, but I'd ask you not to investigate or reveal it for the reasons stated above.

[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion

sfwrtr, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to 13thFloor

#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 8 Nbr 21 — Do you agree with Rose Tremain, who says you shouldn't plan a book's ending; it must be earned?

These two quotes of hers go together:

Respect the way characters may change once they’ve got 50 pages of life in them. Revisit your plan at this stage and see whether certain things have to be altered to take account of these changes.

In the planning stage of a book, don’t plan the ending. It has to be earned by all that will go before it.

In the planning stage of a book, I gather:

1. Knowledge about the character, especially their problem and their desires.
2. Detail of what eventually needs to happen so I know when the story ends. It allows me to know what I am writing toward.

As such, I don't agree with her statement about not planning the ending. I do agree with the sentiment that a writer should respect how the character has changed as you write the story. Character development can change the ending. For that reason, sometimes it's good to nip certain changes in the bud and get the story back on track. Usually, I don't change the ending I've planned; however, in the current WiP, the story metamorphosed from a one act story to a three act story. Based on story events, it got a new ending. Twice.

Note, however, "new ending." Composing a story never ends well (pun intended) when I don't know /an/ ending for the story I am writing.

Pantser forever... Yay!

[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#fiction #fantasy #sff #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSInklingsStory\

sfwrtr, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to 13thFloor

#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 8 Nbr 24 — When older novels use outdated or racist language, should they be edited for the modern world or left alone and viewed in context?

Every author is welcome to come to their own decision about their own works. As a reader, however, were I to learn a previously published story had been changed to assuage modern readers' sensibilities, I'd refuse to buy or read it—but that's me.

My stories address things like racism, elitism, misogyny, patriarchy, and willful ignorance. Whilst they are completely made up worlds with made up people and social systems, they are by no means perfect or utopian. People baldly use epithets that are demeaning. People are discriminated against for their gender. It can be worse. It's all to make a point, and is never gratuitous. I'd never change what I'd written, lest the message be lost, or worse, corrupted.

When you change a story so it offends no-one, you teach nothing. Unvaccinated, these readers become vulnerable to viral manipulation by the unscrupulous.

I feel that novels that are written for their time, with all the worts and an inequities that were considered normal (or not understood) at the time are instructive to modern audiences. People change. People unenlightened living in their own "modern" context can become enlightened, or can in their foibles enlighten newer audiences.

With that said, to ensure modern audiences would buy and read "difficult" subject matter, I'd be okay with me (not the publisher) writing content warnings. Furthermore, I think a preface (or afterward) addressing the content isn't a bad idea. I might write one for challenging stories. I'd make sure it didn't pander to unthinking idiots, however.

That's me, though.

[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion

sfwrtr, 28 days ago to 13thFloor

#WordWeavers 2405.01 — Introduce your setting as if it’s a character in your story.

[/Well, I decided to jump ahead in the WiP and write what might be the start of the next chapter. The title may be named: You Have Mail. Pardon the Dickensian texture; this is a first draft. —RS/]

I never expected a human habitation to feel as protective as my dorm room did. Sure, my lodgepole tent protected me through the blizzardy winters in the Fell Wood, as it did the wolf pack that had adopted me. I provided the tent, though. I repaired it, stored it, and raised it year after year. I maintained the cooking fire for all the wolves and cubs. It was I who was being protective, not it—or so it felt.

My dorm room wanted me to know that for the next few years, at least, it existed solely to protect /me,/ to comfort /me./ Increasingly, it did so as I added memories. Mother Wolf and I used one of the two small beds, the left one, piled with fuzzy brown blankets as needed or clothed with luxurious white cotton sheets that felt cool against cheek or jowl. Since I was tasked with the cleaning instead of the dorm servants, my room smelled of us, faintly of yeast, sweat, and a wolf that occasionally hunted rabbits but favored the cafeteria's pasture-beast stew.

The little red iron stove kept us warm through winter; the room's wood panel walls kept us shaded from the hot summer sun. It lovingly provided a rare enclosure—almost like walking within the orange and white rock walls of the slot canyons of the south woods—creating a remarkable silence in a land of noisy humans and huffing machines. This and its soft radiant cloud-light ceiling made me feel... what? Swaddled? Like being /home,/ as my parents would have used the word back on the farm when I was a child. My spirit books, fashion magazines, and papers cluttered the worn ink-stained blond pine desk. I ran my bare feet over the oval tapestry rug letting the patterns of wands and dryad trees caress my toes. My skin stuck to the cushy tan leather chair as I stood, but I knew that was it hugging me.

Situated to the rear of the building on the first floor, the casement window at the end of the rectangular space opened to the clay roof of a shed. Crisp autumn breezes fluttered the gauzy drapes as I looked out at the barrier forest beyond the stables, lit by the setting sun. The window conveniently allowed Mother Wolf to jump up, as she did right now, and clatter into the room as she pleased. She greeted me with an ever-wet red tongue on my face and backside. (A white wolf opening the front door of the women's dorm, with a key in her mouth, and walking in always frightened at least one student or professor. People called me their Wild Woman, but still never got used to the implications of the name.)

Best of all, as the special guest of Her Highness, nobody dared inspect my room. Everyone knocked, no exceptions. Wolf inside, right? Framed pictures of my boyfriend hung suspended by single powder blue silk ribbons, and they were /very/ inappropriate. Looking at him warmed me deeply, reminding me of being /us,/ together—so I didn't care that my foolish "civilized" human brethren might think. People existed to enjoy themselves, regardless of what nosy people might say. This room supported me as I lived here, trapped in the Townships because circumstance required me to learn to be "more human" as Her Highness was fond of saying. My little supportive enclave encouraged me to be me, and allowed me to dress or not dress as I pleased behind its closed oaken door.

When the House Mother knocked, I simply threw on a dressing gown. I turned the pictures around before answering—to be respectful. It tickled me that she never asked why I always smiled when I opened the door.

[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R..S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#fiction #romance #fantasy #sff #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSInklingsStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

sfwrtr, 16 days ago (edited 16 days ago) to ai

#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 9 Nbr 12 — When does AI cross the line between helpful tool and problematic tech for writing and publishing? CW: Some sarcasm and cynicism.

When? That happened a few years ago. All over the web. Whether you realize it or not, writers are being supplanted in most all minor writing jobs on lots of lesser and not so minor websites. Have you noticed that some stories are circular, seem to be written by authors of questionable fluency, miss a glaring argument or get a fact wrong, and in the end really make no good points or teach you anything? They seem to regurgitate what you've seen elsewhere?

Yep. AI written.

AI's a free tool! Managers love free. Let those freelancers go; just write some good prompts. So many good articles (likely AI written) to teach you how! All we need is good clickbait headlines, anyway. Feed the search engines! Serve up those display ads nobody clicks. Get us those micro-cents per page view.

Riiiight.

Sheesh. This Rubicon... Has... Been crossed. Mostly. Some have tripped. Many have drowned.

What I'd really like is for AI enhanced software to notice little things like misusing led and lead, finding missing words, pointing out when I leave out the 'nt in wouldn't changing the meaning of everything I wrote, even capitalizing based on context when dictating... thus and such. Yeah. Too difficult.

I won't repeat what everyone else is saying. Yep. True all that. It's all wrong headed at the moment and if you don't know how to write OR you could do it yourself if you weren't soooo lazy, #AI's just going to make you into a fool.

You get to make yourself into a fool in front of a publisher only once.

[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion

sfwrtr, 12 days ago to 13thFloor

#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 9 Nbr 17 — Other than writing, what's your go-to creative outlet?

Photography. You can check my feed. I called it my short form until I decided I could write short short stories. I also have a site where I sell them.

[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion

sfwrtr, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to 13thFloor

#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 8 Nbr 18 — How important is social media in promoting your work?

You're reading this post. It's social media. So, answer the poll and we'll see.

Have you read any of my sample short fiction I've posted here on Mastodon? No need to say whether you liked it.

[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #poll
#RSdiscussion

sfwrtr, 3 days ago (edited 3 days ago) to Artist

This is a very good comic, and it describes every author (or #artist) who is unsure of themself. Don't let this be you!

• Complete stories (your vision) regardless of the merit you see in them.
• Start a next one. Full stop. Then another.
• Complete and send out more stories even if some editor (or commenter) doesn't buy or like them.
• It's all practice, every single failure or not-good-enough. Practice makes you better, whatever they think, or you think. Keep practicing.
• Take from criticism only whatever helps you identify or fix problems; reject being put in your place or ridiculed. It's practice. Your art is unique to you. Be truthful with yourself, though.
• Keep starting and completing stories. Statistically, some will be good—and you will start to recognize the wheat in the chaff.
• Their first stories weren't fabulous. Neither may be yours. The difference? They kept on starting, completing, sending (or posting), until they found success. Let that be you.

Please remember: #boostingIsSharing and boost to give others a moral boost.

#Writer #Author #Writers #Writing #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity #Fiction #Nonfiction #peptalk #art #fineart #photography #painting #watercolor #watercolour #sketch #comics #photographer #painter

https://www.gocomics.com/speedbump/2008/07/31

sfwrtr, 11 days ago (edited 10 days ago) to 13thFloor

#WordWeavers 2405.19 — How did you settle on your MC’s appearance?

Historically, I wrote my characters such that I found them attractive. I don't do that anymore.

Sometimes I don't have control, except for hair styles and clothes, or the lack thereof. The story or character may have certain in-the-moment requirement, like when the MC needed to train in an almost all-male fight gym as a prizefighter (she'd later win a championship). Of course she had tailored pink and black gym wear made of technical fabric that outlined every curve—which proved interesting.

These days I do the best not to assign an appearance at all, instead keeping things vague and sticking to describing only what's absolutely necessary. My experiences with publishers is that'll they'll ignore your descriptions for cover art and promotion anyway. In any case, doing this allows the reader to imagine someone they would find attractive(†). The MC in the current WiP is described physically only as tall, shy, so beautiful that both sexes fall for her, and that she has "winter eyes," whatever that is. In the other story, the only thing I'm settled on is described by the devil-girl something like this:

"Take two finger length pieces of rusty rebar, sharpen one end, bend it ninety degree, and stick one above each temple, pointing backwards. Makes wearing hats problematic. Yeah. Gets messy when they try to grab you by the head in a fight, especially if it sticks in..."

She's also describes her very olive complexion; she's mentioned green eyes in a mirror and red hair everywhere. It could easily change in revision.

(†) A recent writer's prompt asked about my target audience. Can I say "imaginative?"

[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R..S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSInklingsStory #RSReluctanceStory

sfwrtr, 11 days ago to 13thFloor

#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 9 Nbr 18 — Have you written sections where the action occurs against the clock? How did you do it?

My current story segment in serialization takes place over a very short time period, after the last third of the previous story taking place between dusk and dawn. The other story I am working on is a three act story, each act taking place over very few hours.

Writing stories in compressed time isn't much different than writing stories that take place more episodically over longer periods of time. In both cases, I write about what is important for the character and how they deal with events. An example may help.

In the serialization (obviously spoilers if you know which story I'm referring to), the MC realizes that though the leader has left on a military adventure to handle a "guerrilla insurgency," she sees evidence that same foe may attack the capital city. In theory, she's politically second in command. In practice, she has no real power. How she spends that day scheming and conniving with only a title to get a single frigate on patrol drives the story and the clock. It starts with a PTSD episode where she realizes she may be responsible again for innumerable deaths without the power to prevent them, then her working every contact she knows, butting heads with the generals who discount her experience running a crime syndicate (briefly), convincing a discriminated against officer who wants to accept discharge to instead command a museum-piece frigate, getting into a bloody fight with the XO, avoiding what the reader will see as assassination attempts, and it just gets worse with her love interests (plural!) pulling at her heart.

All in 12 hours. Tick-tock! That's one day of three days of escalating existential threats. The fourth day's events take place over one hour, which is about the time it would take to read.

It's no different than writing any other novel.

[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion

writerobscura, 26 days ago to Writers

1/5 Got tagged by @madikonrad over at Tumblr for the 'Questions For Your OC'!! – answer 3 questions as your main OC(s) – since we’re #writers, we can write this as a narrative, first-person, or RPG style - anyway we wish.

When done, provide 3 new questions to pass on to the next creator. (you then tag others with 3 new questions)

My main OC’s are Aedan the Ancalite and Lucius Scipio Servius, and the following questions are from sapphic author, Madeline Konrad.

#WritersCoffeeClub #writerdons

sfwrtr, 4 months ago to business

Got down to #author stuff, now that I'm retired and can devote time to the #business of #writing #fiction. First order of business: catalog the unsold novels from after the burn out that need revision and rewrites.

Turns out that disconnecting my Mac from my work VPN messed up my folders. I had somehow mapped (don't know the Mac term) my work Windows computer folders to the Mac, and when I look in documents it tries to find it on the network and fails. If I reboot, so long as I go directly from my user's directory to documents directory, I'm good. If I click on Documents in Finder, it redirects and I'm screwed.

First thing I did was copy all my writing folders to the desktop. At least I've lost none of my old novels and short work.

I thought there were 7 completed books, and I said so online. There are actually 9, three that form a trilogy and one novel with a sequel in the mix. There are two incomplete novels.

Some works are older than others. Pages refuses to open one novel from 1996, a fun space opera that possibly has the highest chance of early sales. I haven't tried the others. Now I gotta install Word, of which I am not a fan, and investigate programs that'll open the really old files. If anyone wants to chime in with suggestions, please do! (I can always find someone with a Windows machine if need be.) Putting Google on TODO. I actually have original copies of chapters from my Apple ] days, but thankfully I updated those to the Mac and to a new millennium version of Word in what were my PowerPC days.

Incidentally, there really are three novellas in good shape.What surprises me though? There looks like about 15 short stories, many complete because I see multiple submissions in the various folders. I completely forgot about these, and was sure I never wrote short-form.

Baby steps, I guess.

[#writingLife #writingCommunity #writersOfMastodon