Thorn Wilde

Hey everyone. Hope you're all well. Snowing here. I had to be out in it cause I've been to a big dinner party thing at my mum's. Nothing like discussing language, politics and religion with a linguist, a theologian, a gay eastern orthodox deacon, and a painter while sipping good Finnish vodka. My mum has interesting friends. lol

With all due respect, those were other people. None of the people who did that to you were in that thread. Anything can be used politically. Doesn't mean it inherently is.

Yeah, the party was good while it lasted. It's good that people got something out of it before it ended. Not in the least. I was pretty sure it would happen from the moment the topic was posted. I've been here (on and off) for nearly 7 years; I know the ropes. lol

Or you could write for yourself and then, if you feel like it may be going somewhere, let your good friend Thorn give it a once over with his mad editing skillz.

Well, you never know if you can do it until you try. Take one of those ideas, start somewhere, and just write. What was that quote? 'Be brave enough to suck at something new'?

There are no rules on GA about political stories. Ask me in PM if you want to know about the project I'm working on...

'An Inclusive Word a Day Keeps Dr. Peterson Away'.

Of course you can. You've got this!

Consider the title your warning. This is my blog. I write what I want. Deal with it. I think it's a shame that we can't have philosophical discussions on ways to potentially expand and improve our writing horizons without someone taking it personally and ruining the party. This is supposed to be a website for authors and their stories. You'd think that discussing writing techniques and tools would be integral to that. When it comes to writing tools, techniques, and advice, you're free to take it or leave it. Nobody acts like you're trying to force them to do something when you talk about voice, plot building, world building, POV, whether prologues are good or bad, etc. But as soon as you so much as mention ways of measuring whether your writing is diverse and inclusive, people act like you're holding a gun to their head. This has happened before. Can we have a conversation about these things like adults, please? Can we bring up the mere existence of gender without someone throwing a hissy fit? To those of you who are so opposed to the mere idea that other people may want to make a conscious effort to make their work diverse and inclusive, maybe you should take a moment to think about why you feel so attacked by it? Nobody seems able to give an answer other than, 'Because I don't like people telling me what to do!' Even though nobody has told them what to do. When someone says they don't like stories written in the present tense, I don't get offended or think they're trying to tell me I can't write stories in the present tense. When someone says they prefer third person over first, I don't think they're trying to tell me I have to write in third person. Because they're not. If someone goes, 'Here's a handy way to avoid adverbs in your story,' I say, 'Well, I probably won't use it cause I actually like having some adverbs in my stories, but thanks, I'll put it in the box with the rest of my writing tools.' And maybe one day I'll decide that I should cut down on adverbs, and I'll take it out, dust it off, and use it. Or not. But if someone says, 'This is a test for measuring representation of women in fiction, isn't that interesting?' you can be damn sure someone will lose their shit and assume we're trying to force them into shoehorning more women into their work. And no amount of assurances that that isn't what's going on will convince them otherwise. If you're reading this and you have no idea what I'm talking about, consider yourself lucky. Suffice it to say, we had a party, someone got drunk, someone called the cops, and now the party's over.

That's a good point.

Would be better if they paid me. lol

Ah, yes. I know this feeling well. My choir's been talking about wanting to get recording equipment so we can make some decent recordings of ourselves to use to apply for funding and the like. I told them how you can't just get equipment and expect it to just work, you need a technician to make the recording, mix, master and so on. So apparently I've volunteered for the job of recording and mixing my choir...

Stay warm, tim. Not too windy here, but definitely cold. I let the cat out and she came running back in less than half an hour later. Writing is good! I'm getting some done too.

Hey everyone. Hope you're all having a good day.

Mmm, that sounds tasty! We had salmon green curry for dinner tonight, with coconut milk.

I'm glad to hear it! Well, I was missing you all... ❤️

Can't complain too much. How about you?

Not too bad. Got a bit of a headache today, but the weather's changing so that might be why. It's getting cold again.

Hey, everyone. Just wanted to stop by and say hi. I hope you're all well.

Well, I made one that should have the correct dimensions. It's here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EX79F12y8xjSF65Ufan5iTbf4ze2POqr/view?usp=sharing

Ooh, that makes sense!

Took me a while to figure it out myself, so I wouldn't worry.

Just FYI, you'll see the bottom of the banner if you click it. It's what happens when a banner doesn't have the correct dimensions.

Interestingly, the word sanguine, which has the same etymological roots, means optimistic or hopeful. Can't help but wonder how a word related to blood took on that meaning...

So if I want mine changed, I contact one of you? I could make one with the correct dimensions. Speaking of dimensions, I noticed when visiting @Dodger's stories page that it looks very odd, with the banner stretching past the 'edge' of the screen.