@ashtardeza@mas.to
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ashtardeza

@ashtardeza@mas.to

Fiction author (speculative fiction with a sinister bent), software dev, armchair philosopher.

I enjoy writing articles about things that interest me. General geekiness is implied.

Neurodivergent, living polyamourously and active in the kink community. #AuDHD

Discord: AshtarDeza

Header: library shelves with lightbulbs which cast a warm light. Photo by Janko Ferlič on Unsplash.

Profile picture: Ash in thought. A white man with a bald head and a beard, wearing a white shirt.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

ashtardeza, to random
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12May- How do you market your work?

Poorly 🤣

My one good trick is to offer free copies of the book to books channels on Instagram, no strings attached. That has provided me with some lovely reviews.

Apart from that most of my sales have been to people I've interacted with on social media.. so I guess my strategy is to be likeable? 😅

ashtardeza, to random
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This rings so true for me. I never got math the way it was taught, since it was "principle first, then examples", whereas I always generalise from concrete examples. I'm great at finding patterns.

In fact, I build software bottom-up too. I've always struggled to do plans and outlines.

https://autisticphd.com/theblog/what-is-bottom-up-thinking-in-autism/

ashtardeza, to Horror
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Had some fun redesigning my anthology cover. Just need to decide when to actually release it! 😅

ashtardeza, to random
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Well fuck.. checked the weather reports for next week, and the days I had planned for my bicycle trip are all rain 🙄

ashtardeza, to random
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5.7 Do you add a copywriting statement to your work? How comprehensive is it?

Copyright is automatic under Dutch law, but it still helps a lot to have to declared in the front of the book. I just looked up a general copyright statement and adapted that.

ashtardeza, to random
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305 — Are there any characters of yours that you wound up HATING once you were finished with a story or WIP?

The MC of my novella is an asshole, so I never liked him much... but that did make him fun and interesting to write.

My current WiP again has an unlikeable protagonist, and a friend remarked that I have a knack for writing those 😅

ashtardeza, to random
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So, I bought a new laptop and the hardware was new enough that it really needed Ubuntu 24.04 for everything to work properly... the one catch: Regolith desktop isn't available for 24.04 yet.

This means I'm using the vanilla Ubuntu desktop for the first time in years, and I have to admit... it's rapidly growing on me.

It's mostly a Mac copycat, but with some custom shortcuts my muscle memory is mostly happy.

ashtardeza, to random
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4/29. Do you share your name with other writers?

Not my passport name and definitely not my pen name.. I made sure if that before picking it.

ashtardeza, to random
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24 April - When older novels use outdated or racist language, should they be edited for the modern world or left alone and viewed in context?

Definitely viewed in context. Often it's not just the language either. If you read Lovecraft, the racism seeps into many aspects of the story, and you'd be essentially rewriting it completely.

We shouldn't hide the past, that prevents us from learning from it.

ashtardeza, to random
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April 22. What two senses are the most natural for you to include in your description?

I was going to say sound and smell, but on closer consideration it's probably sound and internal state. I spend a lot of words describing how my MCs feel in their body and how emotions physically affect them.

ashtardeza, to random
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18 Apr: How important is social media in promoting your work?

It's pretty much the only way I got sales at all, except for friends and people who know me personally.

I haven't been promoting my book lately, and that caused sales to drop to pretty much nothing.

At the moment I prefer to focus on writing new material, though I intend to do a new promotion push when I release the updated edit of the book.

ashtardeza, to random
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Really good article about the realities of writing in the 21st century:

https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a45751827/make-a-living-as-a-writer/

ashtardeza,
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@Firlefanz the thing that saddens me is that many of those self-pub successes found an audience 10 years ago, and have loyal readers.

Now, you have to try not to drown in the ocean of auto-generated crap.

ashtardeza, to random
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How effective are your newsletters in creating sales?

Maybe if I was better at sending out newsletters 😅

I've sold roughly 50 copies of my book online total anyway, most of it in the 3 months right after I released it.

That's ok though, this isn't my job, it's something I do because I enjoy it.

The only reason I don't put all my short fiction online for free is that many magazines won't accept reprints.

ashtardeza, to random
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It's so funny: the best way for me to get writing is to move my body.

Yesterday I went out of a bout of inline skating, and ended up furiously typing on my phone on the side of the road. I pretty much finished the story I was working on.

Sit me down at a desk? Nope, nothing.

ashtardeza, to random
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09/04/2024 Do you use a dedicated proofreader, or is one provided by your publisher?

I'm self-published, so I had to make my own arrangements.

Luckily, I have some friends who are willing to proofread and provide feedback.

ashtardeza, to random
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OK, so... before I burn several hours building it myself: does anyone happen to have a LaTeX template for Shunn modern / classic manuscript format?

https://www.shunn.net/format/story/

ashtardeza,
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So, since apparently it didn't exist, I did spend the time to create a LaTeX configuration and scripts.

Ping me if you'd like a copy.

ashtardeza, to random
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02/04/2024 Do you keep a journal? Would you?

I do: I'm an avid Bullet Journal user, it's how I manage my ADHD.

I do also have a long-form journal, but I only write in there if I have big life-stuff to process.

For my writing, I also keep a separate BuJo-style notebook per project, where I jot down character notes, plot ideas, etc.

ashtardeza, to Horror
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So, early warning: if you have been reading along with my novella on my blog, but didn't finish yet: you have a yew more days to do so.

I posted it per chapter to allow people to read along, but now the whole thing is online it has served its purpose. I'll be taking it down soon.

https://ashtardeza.com/fiction/only-the-living-ch1/

ashtardeza, to random
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Mar. 27 - How does it feel knowing that strangers will read your work?

It's weirdly vulnerable... basically, you're inviting people to take a stroll through the darkest corners of your soul, and inviting them to tell you what they think.

In a sense it is easier for complete strangers than people close by.

My mum asked "where did you get all those dark ideas?", and that was... uncomfortable 😅

ashtardeza, to random
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OK, people who prefer keyboard driven interfaces... I can use my 'j' and 'k' keys to browse my timeline (awesome!), but I always need to click a toot first to focus it.

I have been unable to find a shortcut that focuses my timeline. What am I missing?

Talking about the default web interface.

ashtardeza,
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@miblo those do nothing for me.... hmm, maybe that doesn't work in Firefox?

I'd seen those keys in the help, but they don't seem to work properly for me.

ashtardeza,
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@miblo I can use 'gh' to go to the home feed, but it doesn't focus anything.

ashtardeza,
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@miblo Ahh, wait. In the advanced interface they do.

I preferred the single column layout of the regular interface, but I'll see if I can customize this to my liking.

Thank you!

ashtardeza,
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@miblo yeah, and I'm pretty sure the developers assumed that anyone using VIM style keyboard shortcuts would be on the advanced thing... not an unreasonable assumption 😅

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