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fan_writers2025-07-24 09:26 pmGetting Into The Zone
I feel like when I'm writing, there are two zones. The first is more plodding and difficult, where I'm using prompts of where I want to go in the story (such as an outline) and [I'm] sort of blind emotionally, if that makes sense, and it's very slow going. The writing really suffers as a result. The second is the true zone, where I've really percolated the story/universe in advance, and I'm so deep in the backstories, 'verse, and intent of the overarching plots that the writing kind of just rolls out of me, and individual threads I'm not even consciously aware of pop out and intertwine in a really kinetic way. That is the gold standard for me, but so much harder to achieve. I really wish I knew how to create that zone more readily, but it appears to be an almost accidental thing that occurs when I'm really into a story idea.
mific went on to say (paraphrasing, don't want to steal her words) that sometimes it's the story idea that gets her there, and sometimes it's the headspace she's in that makes the words really flow. What gets you into the right headspace for a good zone? One where the words come easily and you feel you're doing the kind of writing where synergy really happens?
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-07-24 10:24 pm
Activism
We can't get confused about what constitutes anti-Jewish prejudice.
[---8<---]
That's why we have to face a painful paradox: when it comes to the continuing agony of Gaza, Israel's most fervent defenders are the ones muddying the water. They seek to define criticism of the actions of Israel as anti-Jewish prejudice.
( Read more... )
jadelennox) wrote2025-07-24 10:27 pm
In a world more beautiful than this it would have mattered more.
This essay was alluded to and quoted from in several of the essays I read about Edna St. Vincent Millay. I correctly suspected I could find the journal issue (The Outlook, vol. 147 no. 10, 1927) on the Internet Archive, and I'm very glad I looked for it. Here's a couple-few excerpts.
This is also in reference to Sacco and Vanzetti.
( Read more... )
If I could meet one person from history I've always said it would be Millay, but right now I'm so enamored of her prose I can't even think what I'd say to her. To be able to write like that...!
catherineldf) wrote2025-07-24 09:29 pmReadercon write up
I also took Lyft for the first time - I was a loyal taxi rider until the local company I used for years abandoned Jana and me at the Amtrek station in downtown St. Paul on the way back from Chicon 8 and Jana tried to befriend the nice people smoking various substances and I had to call a friend to rescue us. The Lyft experience went quite smoothly and I expect to be using it again. Apart from that, the hotel was reasonably pleasant and I got some work underway. I do miss the days when there were things to watch on hotel TVs though; pickings were slim.
The convention kicked off on Thursday night and while wandering around the lobby after dinner with dave ring of Neon Hemlock, I ran into author Laura Antoniou and her wife Karen (Laura was one of my editors back in the day and I was in Laura's online play reading group during lockdown) and we had a delightful time hanging out. Friday morning, I was on the Sustaining the Small Press Ecosystem panel, which I thought went well - good discussion all around. My delightful roommate, Julia (SparkyMonster) arrived and got settled in and I went off to do the Broad Universe reading. That was a bit of a minor trainwreck as I had been added in the program, but the organizer was unaware of that fact and neither she nor I had signed me up for it. But apart from the that, the readings were good and someone fed me chocolate so that made up for the confusion.
I got into some good chats with Will Alexander, Cecilia Tan and various folks that I know from online and elsewhere. Con staff were very kind - I was sitting in the lobby waiting for something or other and a con staffer stopped by to see how I was doing, for example. My Saturday panels were fun as well and I loved having the chance to reconnect with Julia, who I've known for a zillion years. I also schmoozed a book dealer in hopes of getting us into the Worldcon Dealer's Room in Seattle and chatted with editor Julia Day for a bit. I got briefly swarmed by delightful fans of my werewolf books who had me sign copies and all, so that was extra cool.
All in all, got in a lot of quality time with old friends, met some delightful new ones, enjoyed the programming I went to, enjoyed the programming I was on and had a great time. 10/10 - would recommend!
landingtree) wrote2025-07-25 12:48 pmScintillation 6, Sunday panel notes
( The Underpinnings of the Future )
( Delany )
Then after lunch, an outdoor noodle experience, I went to Lila Garrott interviewing Sherwood Smith.
I did not take notes for this. Partly this is because Sherwood told some personal memories which she would already have put online if she wanted them there. But then I was simply too slow a writer to take any kind of useful notes while also being present in the stories she was telling. I will only say that Lila's last question to Sherwood was "Have you ever considered writing an autobiography?" and I will not argue with any of the good reasons she said she wouldn't, except for the last one, which was that it would just be Hollywood gossip and no one would be interested in reading it. I think I am not the one one in that rapt audience who was sitting there thinking "I would be interested in reading it!"
( Discovering Forgotten Writers )
( Why We Need Hopepunk More Than Ever )
And that was paneling! Raffle followed it. The table had been building up all weekend with beautiful and interesting things, and each winning ticket-holder could come up and choose something. I was minding someone else's tickets as well as my own, and while I turned out to be tired enough that comparing the called numbers against two lists of numbers instead of just one was like some imp's special project in hell, I was very pleased to get G. two of the things she most wanted! And she was taking me to the airport the next morning, which made for a very convenient exchange. Then there was low-key and restorative dinner, and enjoyable picnic, and that was Scintillation.
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-07-24 07:12 pmFrance Recognizes Palestine
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France will recognize Palestine as a state, in a bold diplomatic move amid snowballing global anger over people starving in Gaza. Israel denounced the decision.
Macron said in a post on X that he will formalize the decision at the United Nations General Assembly in September. “The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved,” he wrote.
Today, France is a hero. France is taking a stance that a lot of bigger, richer, meaner countries are going to hate. That's punching up. \o/ Let's put more pressure on Israel to stop the genocide.
( Read more... )
Challenge 196: Red
Ryu Tendo (Red Hawk) from Chojin Sentai Jetman
https://images.squidge.org/images/2025/07/24/iconthat-redhawk.png
Next color: Orange
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bloodydisgustingrss_feed) wrote2025-07-25 12:23 am‘The Strangers: Chapter 2’ Clip – The Nightmare Continues for Madelaine Petsch
“If the first movie was a home invasion, the second is a town invasion,” The Strangers: Chapter 2 director Renny Harlin teased at San Diego Comic-Con tonight. “The Strangers are among us, and they could be anyone.” Watch the first official clip for a sneak peek of the new sequel.
Just over one year after The Strangers: Chapter 1 kickstarted a new trilogy of terror tales, Lionsgate is getting set to unleash The Strangers: Chapter 2 in theaters on September 26.
Here’s the official synopsis: “The Strangers are back – more brutal and relentless than ever. When they learn that one of their victims, Maya (Madelaine Petsch), is still alive, they return to finish what they’ve started. With nowhere to run and no one to trust, Maya must survive another horrific chapter of terror as The Strangers – driven by a senseless, unceasing purpose – pursue her, more than willing to kill anyone who stands in their way.”
Learn more at VisitVenusOregon.com.
Renny Harlin (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Deep Blue Sea) directed both Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, as well as the upcoming The Strangers: Chapter 3.
Gabriel Basso and Ema Horvath also star in The Strangers: Chapter 2. Alan R. Cohen & Alan Freedland wrote the sequel’s screenplay, with producers including Courtney Solomon, Mark Canton, Christopher Milburn, Gary Raskin, Alastair Burlingham, and Charlie Dombek.
The post ‘The Strangers: Chapter 2’ Clip – The Nightmare Continues for Madelaine Petsch appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
jadelennox) wrote2025-07-24 09:13 pm
Did you think I was done with Millay? I was not done.
Conscientious Objector
I shall die, but
that is all that I shall do for Death.
I hear him leading his horse out of the stall;
I hear the clatter on the barn-floor.
He is in haste; he has business in Cuba,
business in the Balkans, many calls to make this morning.
But I will not hold the bridle
while he clinches the girth.
And he may mount by himself:
I will not give him a leg up.
Though he flick my shoulders with his whip,
I will not tell him which way the fox ran.
With his hoof on my breast, I will not tell him where
the black boy hides in the swamp.
I shall die, but that is all that I shall do for Death;
I am not on his pay-roll.
I will not tell him the whereabout of my friends
nor of my enemies either.
Though he promise me much,
I will not map him the route to any man's door.
Am I a spy in the land of the living,
that I should deliver men to Death?
Brother, the password and the plans of our city
are safe with me; never through me
Shall you be overcome.
jadelennox) wrote2025-07-24 08:42 pm
Time to head for the best tasting poem you have. It's Millay Time.
I posted "Justice Denied In Massachusetts" in poetry, and that led me into an absolute Millay spiral. (Also I ended up reading a few pieces like "On Edna St. Vincent Millay's 'Justice Denied in Massachusetts'", and I don't think I realized how many of the poems I already knew are Sacco and Vanzetti poems.)
I didn't feel like inflicting a whole bundle of Millay on everyone who reads poetry but I don't mind inflicting her on all of you. So here goes.
Two Sonnets In Memory
(Nicola Sacco—Bartolomeo Vanzetti)
Executed August 23, 1927
Ⅰ
As men have loved their lovers in times past
And sung their wit, their virtue and their grace,
So have we loved sweet Justice to the last,
That now lies here in an unseemly place.
The child will quit the cradle and grow wise
And stare on beauty till his senses drown;
Yet shall be seen no more by mortal eyes
Such beauty as here walked and here went down.
Like birds that hear the winter crying plain
Her courtiers leave to seek the clement south;
Many have praised her, we alone remain
To break a fist against the lying mouth
Of any man who says this was not so:
Though she be dead now, as indeed we know.
Ⅱ
Where can the heart be hidden in the ground
And be at peace, and be at peace forever,
Under the world, untroubled by the sound
Of mortal tears, that cease from pouring never?
Well for the heart, by stern compassion harried,
If death be deeper than the churchmen say,—
Gone from this world indeed what's graveward carried,
And laid to rest indeed what's laid away.
Anguish enough while yet the indignant breather
Have blood to spurt upon the oppressor's hand;
Who would eternal be, and hang in ether
A stuffless ghost above his struggling land,
Retching in vain to render up the groan
That is not there, being aching dust's alone?
fic_in_a_box_mod) wrote in ficinabox2025-07-24 08:42 pmFandom Transfer (Nominations Pre-Gaming)
Navigation: Rules/General Info | AO3 Collection
Mod Contact: ficinaboxmod@gmail.com OR Screened Mod Contact Post
Nominations Pre-Gaming
Nominations pre-gaming is the first stage of Fic In A Box. We transfer fandom and relationship tags from last year's tagset to this year's tagset by request. This year, pre-gaming will end on August 2nd, at which point we will move into normal nominations.
FAQ: How is this different from nominations? Should new participants transfer tags from last year's tagset? Wait, what are the tags even needed for? How does this work on the mod end?
How is this different from nominations?
Nominating is a lot more involved than this! Instead of giving us a list and having us go "Okay!" and adding tags immediately to the tagset, nominating involves participants typing out each tag they want in the correct format, then the mods and their helpers have to look at each tag to make sure there are no problems with it.
There are over 15,000 relationship-field tags in last year's tagset which have already been checked and approved last year or in years before. Since the format of our relationship nominations is always the same, transferring correctly formatted tags from last year's tagset to this year's tagset saves both participants and mods a whole ton of work, especially since many returning participants will want a similar slate of nominations this year as they did last year.
Should new participants transfer tags from last year's tagset?
Yes, please do! Last year's tagset is linked below. You can browse it to find tags you're interested in and transfer them just like returning participants.
Wait, what are the tags even needed for?
Tags are used during the sign up phase to fill out requests and offers. More about that here (link).
How does this work on the mod end?
We have a huge spreadsheet with all the tags and their associated fandoms into it, and AO3's tagset backend has a "batch load" page that lets us add in a bunch of tags at once as long as they're formatted correctly. The need for correct formatting is why we ask for individual tags in such a strange way below when you're asking for specific tags from a large fandom.
Reminders, Updates, & Queries
- Tags with "(s)" in them will not be transferred; you can nominate a replacement if you want one when nominations open.
- "WB: Any" tags do not need to be transferred; we add them automatically to every fandom during nominations cleanup.
- Untransferable fandoms: One fandom can't be transferred because we've been asked to split the fandom into two different fandoms in this year's tagset:
- Empires SMP splitting into Empires Season 1 and Empires Season 2
- Untransferrable relationship-field tags: Aside from relationship-field tags with "(s)" in them, there are a handful of other relationship-field tags from last year's tagset which can't be transferred. Specific reasons for each tag are listed in the linked list below.
- Spot any mistakes in last year's tagset? Wandering tags should be on the non-transferable tags list (linked above), but if you find something we missed, we'd love to know.
- Has something about your fandom changed? If there have been changes to your fandoms that would change the fandom tag, this is a good time to let us know about those. This is especially true if a fandom nominated separately last year is in danger of synning into a larger fandom this year.
- These fandoms have had their names changed from last year, many of them due to updated canonicals on AO3. Please ask for these by the new name, as they are already changed in the batch load list: Changed Fandom List
How to transfer
There are a few limits on what you can transfer:
- Each person can only request 10 fandoms be transferred. If you need more fandoms than that for some reason, please use the regular nominations process to nominate everything else. (If posting anon, please sign a name!)
- For fandoms with 39 or fewer relationship tags, we will transfer all relationship tags. Use the instructions under "Transferring Full Fandoms" below.
- For fandoms with 40+ relationship tags, you can only ask for 20 relationships to be transferred. Use the instructions under "Transferring Specific Tags From Fandoms" below.
- More than one person can ask for relationships to be transferred from a fandom!
Note that the transferring process will only work for tags that were in last year's tagset and will only transfer those tags exactly as they appeared in that tagset!
Tagsets
2024 Tagset: https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/20083
2025 Tagset: https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/24036
If I say your noms have been transferred but you can't find them in the tagset, please let me know!
Transferring Full Fandoms
Please reply to this post with your list with each fandom on a new line. Fandoms must be exactly as they appear in the tagset (not including the number in brackets) or the import will fail.
Transferring Specific Tags From Fandoms
Please reply to this post with your fandom and the tags you want transferred in batch load format (Fandom,Relationship,Relationship,Relationship), with each fandom on a new line. All tags must be exactly as they appear in the 2024 tagset (not including the number in brackets) or the import will fail.
Do not include "WB: Any"! These tags will be added to every fandom at the end of nominations, so do not need to be transferred here!
Full batch load format list of all fandoms from the 2024 tagset: (link)
marycatelli) wrote in books2025-07-24 08:01 pmFrieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 8
Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes
( Read more... )
pensnest) wrote2025-07-25 12:10 amSunshine Challenge #4
Fun House
Journaling: What is making you smile these days? Create a top 10 list of anything you want to talk about.
( List is in pretty random order )
For a wee bonus, https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DMrBhsi6e/?mibextid=wwXIfr Gorgeous.
Challenge 196: Violet
Super Mario series (Waluigi)
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mintteaNext color: Red
mrkinch) wrote2025-07-24 02:57 pm7/24/2025 Inspiration Trail
This morning's unexpected bird was a Western Tanager probably just passing through the gap in the hills at the north end of the trail.