grrgyle

I've been getting away with this for many years, and would like to pass it on to you now. It's like an intrusive thought, but a fun one.

For instance when writing to a friend:

Make sure to save yourself some Halloween candy!

Take a moment to muse over the modification:

Make sure to save Yousef some Halloween candy!

Who is this Yousef and why does he get your friend's candy?? Take a moment to enjoy this incongruity, then send the original message. Congratulations, you've just had a moment of whimsy, and no one's the wiser.

You'll find there's no end to what these Yousefs get themselves involved in. May also work with variants of the name like Joseph, I haven't tried.

Okay. Enjoy!

So I had it all wrong when I thought of "cli-fi" as a subset of sci-fi. The article makes a good case for normalising climate fiction - after all, climate change hasn't been only speculative for a long time.

Welcome to the fifth writing club update!

As I'm sure is the case with many of you, the news on my feed has been getting greyer along with the clouds outside, and so I find myself looking to solar punk as a glimpse through those clouds, at a better possible present.

I hope you are keeping safe and warm, and that your projects have been a source of strength and comfort for you.

Onward to our Participants!

• @JacobCoffinWrites - October goal
• @hazeebabee - October goal
• @grrgyle - October goal
• @okasen - October goal

As always, anyone and everyone is extremely welcome to comment or share their own work. And if you'd like to be included in the next writing club update, simply say what you're working on this month.

Have a good November, folks. :)

TIL

Welcome to the fourth writing club update! See previous writing clubs here. I hope you have all been able to charge up your batteries in the sunshine, and got the chance to step on some extra crunchy leaves.

Here are our participants! People who have stated their writing goals in the previous writing club post in September:

Participants!

• @JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net - September goal
• @grrgyle@slrpnk.net - September goal
• @hazeebabee@slrpnk.net - September goal

As always, anyone and everyone is super duper welcome to comment or share their own work. And if you'd like to be included in the next writing club update, simply say what you're working on this month.

Have a great October!

Description: A skillet with roughly breaded triangular chunks of tofu cooking in it. The pieces of tofu are arranged so that they're laying in the the skillet on a short side with a point sticking up.

I feel like I've attained a new level in veg/an cooking (this is 100% vegan, to be clear): crisping the tofu on three sides.

Normally I'll just jostle the pan and let nature take its course, but I was trying a new breading (crushed up some stale woven wheat crackers + spices). It turned out really well.

Tofu marinade was nothing extra: sesame oil, spicy mustard, and splash of sauce soya.

Self explanatory.

Just something I heard years ago, and it's been rolling around in my head ever since.

Hoping to pass it along. Rid myself of it.

Welcome to this our third writing club update! See previous writing clubs here. As always I hope you have all had a great month, with a good balance of outdoors and indoors activities.

Here are our participants with stated goals from last month, although anyone is free comment with their own writing progress. If you'd like to join this list of participants, just say so in a comment, with a description of what you're working on and what you'd like to do this month. Easy as pie!

Okay, without further delay, our...

Participants!

• @JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net - August goal
• @grrgyle@slrpnk.net - August goal
• @hazeebabee@slrpnk.net - August goal

Hey sobernauts out there on the clear dry seas lol. The pink cloud is gone, so now I'm just in the daily living part (7mos), but even still, had a bit of a realisation recently.

I got unexpectedly laid off from my job recently, which previously would have been a big trigger to hit the bar. But this time I was thankful that I didn't drink anymore (or smoke for that matter). Not even for the money (although that is one factor), but that despite all my problems at least I don't have to deal with the ravages of booze on top of everything else. I can move forward with real world solutions to my actual problem with a clear head.

It especially hit me when shortly after my layoff, a friend came over with a "care package" of junk food and a light beer, saying to my partner "c'mon not even one beer." But I realised that I wasn't even tempted (though the inertia from old habits could have easily led me to drink).

Anyway, this friend doesn't know how much I value my sobriety (we used to drink together a lot a lot), so I thanked him for the thought, but gave the beer to another friend of mine.

That's the story. My physical addiction to alcohol isn't that great thankfully, so it's not that dramatic, but it still felt like a nice reinforcement that I'm on the right path.

Welcome to the second writing club update! (See the previous update here.) I hope you've had a pleasant month, and are managing to stay cool (this is me presuming northern hemisphere anyway). One short month ago, a month seemed like such a long time. But now I see it for a just a couple of weekends, and a sprinkling of free evenings.

I'm keeping this update brief, since I'm behind on my own goals. But it's raining here, and I don't have to go to work (at my job anyway) today, so I'm excited to get back to it! May you be similarly blessed with dreary weather and lack of responsibilities on this Monday.

Participants

• @JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net - July goal
• @grrgyle@slrpnk.net - July goal
• @hazeebabee@slrpnk.net - July goal
• @Pip@slrpnk.net - June goal

As always, there is no pressure to have completed your goals. But sharing how your month went is super beneficial not just personally, but for the rest of us. Additionally, participants and guests are encouraged to chime in with any comments or questions they may have on project projects, writing club, etc.

Welcome to the inaugural writing club update! This is a brand new writing club, first proposed here. I have some ideas about what I want from this club, but where we go from here is open ended.

So feel free to start new posts or spinoffs in between my monthly posts, as long as they jive with the rules in our gracious host community's sidebar, you have my full support. :)

On to the whole point of this club! The following brave things set to text concrete goals for themselves (linked beside their names, just below). If you'd like to join their number, simply say so in the comments, along with your goal for this month. Okay, here are the stars of our show: 👏👏👏👏

Participants

• @JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net - June goal
• @grrgyle@slrpnk.net - June goal
• @hazeebabee@slrpnk.net - June goal
• @Pip@slrpnk.net - June goal

You don't have to share any of the actual material you've worked on unless you want to (you could even use our local Etherpad to share writing stuff - for example).

Here are some questions to start you off. I'm genuinely interested in your answers, but don't feel you need to follow my script. This is just a prompt:

• How do you think you did on your goal(s)?
• What would you like to accomplish for our next check-in in August?
• Is there a part of your project that you'd especially like feedback on?
• Is there anything about this writing club you'd like us to do differently?

No stress if you didn't accomplish everything you set out to (I fell short and I'm still here hehe). I would love to hear your updates no matter how things went!

I'll share my own progress in a comment below. What I'm hoping from this step is that we treat this as part check-in, and part conversation. This is your chance to really dig into each others' projects (and if someone has done so for you, maybe it would be nice to return the favour and take an interest in their own project? ;))