Professional writer organizations should not send out pro-AI propaganda in the form of tantrum-having "essays" to their members, and I don't think that's controversial.

Regarding The Pro-AI Tantrum In The HWA Newsletter

Today I, and every other HWA member, received the HWA newsletter in our inboxes. In that newsletter was an essay (“essay”) of pro-AI propaganda that made a number of specious points in …

terribleminds.com

If you're using AI and ChatGPT to write ostensibly "creative" works, you're a thief riffing off the stolen work of people who did the work and who actually know shit and have skills. Do the work. Your brain will thank you.

GOP talking points today. Beat a woman - it's a family issue. Have an unwanted pregnancy or want to play sports - the government should set up camp in your vagina.

Okay, first a hummingbird shows up at my door. Now I've found a sock that was missing for months. If I were superstitious, I'd be pretty psyched for the next omen.

Very short notice, but I just saw this. The MyPillow guy is getting dragged into Minnesota's campaign finance court for giving away pillows as campaign promotions at a 4th of July parade, allegedly in violation of a law prohibiting the provision of monetary value to win votes. Hearing in 10 mins!

A hummingbird just flew right up to my deck door (not into), which is covered in anti-collision bird deflecting decals - hummingbird-shaped. Sorry, dude, didn't mean to confuse you.

It's always a little startling on Bluesky when people pop up with bigoted opinions about transgender women playing in women's sports. I'm not interested in sports, but I'm even less interested in weirdos who have shit opinions about it. Blocking is my sport.

Woke up mad. Seems like I might be that way for awhile. I'm going to sit grumpy in my corner until I get this attitude sorted.

"girl dad", "boy mom". People are so weird. You're not special. You don't have special knowledge, skills, or insight. You had sex, you had a kid. Try not to fuck it up. And maybe stop using your little darling to justify saying weirdly sexist shit.

i think people advising that authors are going to be ok because they can explain their creative choices better than a slopper are coming from a good place (and prob mostly right!). but boy do i hate the presumption that writers have to rationally talk through the minutiae of their creative choices.

OK. Dem politicians. I'm going to be pissed if every time I go to my mailbox, you've plastered that demented fuck's face all over your literature. Knock it off. Stand on your own forward-thinking policy - that's what I want to see. I'm not voting for him - I'm trying to decide to vote for you.

Is it bad etiquette to answer someone's post that has a marvelous picture with one of your own pics? I get a little excited about birds, but then I wonder if I'm stepping on toes. I've done that a couple of times the last few days and don't know if it's considered bad form.

I love the scammer emails saying they're famous authors who are in love with my work. Really - which illegible notebook did you read? Or was it that one short story in a poorly edited anthology from a defunct writing group? Or the 3 dust-covered unpublished novels? Clue me in! #writingcommunity

Adrienne Rich's "A Mark of Resistance" is one of the reasons I'm so grateful to writers. Sometimes they find the words when you can't. Go find your words. #writingcommunity www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...

First communiqué of the day: I have requested now several times that ****** stop sending me these emails. I can only assume your systems are automated to the point of lunacy. It’s a great way to lose a customer. I’m not reviewing anything. I already paid for the product. Leave me alone.

It's been kind of a rough day. When these days come - and they will - it's good to be reminded to be kind to oneself, to not save your most soothing words & tender thoughts for others, leaving you, with your battered soul, adrift. Anchor yourself to a good book, a hot shower, a moment of rest.

Woo-hoo! Got a rejection today! The gods of success can suck it.

When I think about Covid, I think about my fear. My child was going through chemotherapy after major tumor surgeries (she's well now). I learned a lot about my fellow Americans (not good things), but the president & his hobgoblins are responsible for thousands of deaths. Never forgive, never forget.

Two poems by Keng Xiong about the ghosts you might encounter during a Minnesota winter. buff.ly/3wlzC8d

This is absolutely the right thing to do. These grasping, whining wingnuts are, in part, responsible for the deaths of many Americans. Deny them the oxygen/life that they so willingly wanted to deny others.

PBS News@pbsnews.org · last wk.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, a former top official and scientist at the National Institutes of Health, said he would invoke the Fifth Amendment and decline to answer questions during a hearing Wednesday held by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. https://to.pbs.org/4x4aL7f

I'm not letting AI horseshit maneuver me into a defensive position with my writing. I write like I write. I love emdashes. I keep using emdashes. Whatever we write, AI will take and copy it -- all you can do is keep writing the best shit you can write in the form you want it to take, and fuck it.

Manisha Krishnan@manishakrishnan.bsky.social · last wk.

Authors and journalists are doing more first-person (hello 2010s blogging) and embracing "mistakes" in writing to prove they're not chatbots. There's even an “anti-Grammarly" app that leaves in typos and signs off "sent from my iPhone" to create more authenticity: www.wired.com/story/more-t...

Epitaph: She had a very clean house and 345 unfinished novels. #writingcommunity

"Are we being too mean to pervert glasses?" No. And stop saying "too mean" like it's the 2nd grade & not creepers with the money to spend on this tech, to dominate other people's experiences. I wish people would stop this shit with their phones, too. CONSENT matters. archive.is/tOanQ#select...

Glasses steaming up and windows dripping on the outside in the summer. That's new. And doesn't bode well. Stay safe and hydrated out there!

Tepid progressive responses for Bernie Sanders again showing his ass on morning TV. Just because someone says a few correct things doesn't give them a pass for blithely ignoring misogyny & racism. So tired of old white men in power. Why do people keep acting like politicians are their saviors?

Any field of study that offers students an opportunity to rigorously interrogate, critically think, and creatively imagine a more just world is an easy target in Trump’s war on higher education. womensmediacenter.com/news-feature...

Women’s and Gender Studies Under Attack - Women’s Media Center

As a field that helps college students “rigorously interrogate, critically think, and creatively imagine a more just world,” women’s studies has been targeted by both the Trump administration and…

womensmediacenter.com

About epic writers: "...to a degree their significance arises out of their interest in the people who didn’t rule, reign, or command." #writingcommunity lithub.com/michael-cunn...

Michael Cunningham on the Question of Scale in Writing

This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. I don’t work on an epic scale, though my ambitions run more to epic proportions than I like to admit. ​ It’s a question of…

lithub.com

This is a cool story - a startup, a large institution saying yes, & healthcare workers being cared for - respectful inclusion.

Sahan Journal@sahanjournal.bsky.social · 2w ago

The disposable hijabs, developed by a Minnesota startup, are a more modest alternative than traditional bouffant surgical caps. By Katrina Pross.

Somebody's watching you. www.atlasofsurveillance.org

Atlas of Surveillance

Documenting Police Tech in Our Communities with Open Source Research

atlasofsurveillance.org

Finally reading George Saunders' A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life. It's a challenging read, but for writers, you might find yourself taking a few notes. #writingcommunity www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/609280...

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders: 9781984856036 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo and Tenth of December comes a literary master class on what makes great stories work and what they can...

penguinrandomhouse.com