So in conclusion, women don't stop existing after they're no longer young or whatever version of 'attractive' is currently in vogue. Stories should reflect that. And my mom is awesome.
Just last year she decided to use a senior citizen incentive to take a free complex mathematics course at the local college.
I credit a lot of my attitude to my mother's example. She never expressed horror at the notion of wrinkles, she started a new career in her forties, she's four years older than my dad and they have always been equal partners.
I didn't suddenly start caring about this problem when I turned 40 myself. It's always bothered me. I was already working on a story with post-menopausal superwomen back in my early thirties. It delighted me to imagine a world where people throw you a party when you spot your first gray hair.
Noting yet another film with a 20-year gap between the male and female leads (blechh) only strengthens my resolve to populate my stories with lots and lots of women over the age of 40, who are somehow, miraculously, still relevant and interesting.
#writesky #writingcommunity #womenover40
In which I go full word-nerd.
#writesky #writingcommunity #books
cynthiaailshie.wordpress.com/2026/02/27/a...
Then there was the dual-dystopia I wrote over a decade ago (an early novel that is best left in the trunk), with virtually no inspiration from current events. Feels very strange to look back on the mindspace I was in, back then.
I wrote the first draft of A Cosmic Labor, whose setting has some dystopian elements, in 2022-23. Things were different back then, in the Before-Times. 🫤
I can't decide whether it would make me feel better or worse to write about a fictional dystopia while currently witnessing the makings of an actual one....
#writersky #writingcommunity
I'm still writing. Collaborating on a fun story with my husband, actually. But when I go online, it's hard to think of anything but the mess my country is in. Hard to feel like my little ambitions matter in the face of all this. How do I keep caring without getting completely burnt out?
#writersky
....and I forgot to include the title. Hello, I am an obvious novice at this.
It's called A COSMIC LABOR.
EASTWARD SINGS THE WIND
In a land of song-based magic, a musician forges a friendship with an enigmatic foreigner and causes him to question his secret allegiance to the tyrannical god-king who plans to invade her land.
#Bluepit 📖 #YA #F #Q #DIS
Alien worlds and red tape. I love the juxtaposition.
Sounds trippy, in all the best ways!
Sounds like a lot of fun! (For the reader, not for poor Tai trapped with a friendly human)
A pair of interplanetary librarians become entangled in the disappearance of a powerful government official on a world ruled by oppression and censorship.
#BluePit 📖 #A #SF #Q
I'm still a little uncertain of the mechanics of all this, but I'll do my best to participate and contribute tomorrow!
#BluePitHype #writingcommunity #writersky
Zava is a twenty-year veteran at the Institute, which is especially notable considering she started adulthood as a extremist insurgent exiled from her homeworld. It took some growing up to realize she could enact change in a subtler, more lasting way.
#BluePitHype #writingcommunity #writesky
Zava loves her job at the Interplanetary Institute. Traveling across the cosmos, providing free access to a vast archive of information and materials -- what could be better? (Well, maybe if they'd stop asking her to train all these hapless novices...)
#BluePitHype #writersky #writingcommunity
Fears? Oh, yes. Anything that could threaten Zava's position as itinerant Curator. The Institute is perpetually underfunded, she has frequent clashes with the Board of Directors, and worst of all, she could get "promoted" to somewhere permanently onplanet.
#BluePitHype #writersky #writingcommunity
On the left, a section of a city grid labeled 'Tseyar.' The Tsey River runs at an angle through the northwest. Features include 'The Spartan,' 'Manufacturing District,' 'Bezing Theater' 'Olo Tower' and 'Ministry District.' On the right, with the label 'Gretying, Eastern Hemisphere,' two separate areas connected by monorail lines: Yevinrin District, with the city Ulaan and a collection of mines, and the Capital District with the city Nogori and the shuttle platform.
A depiction of a vast continent, with a larger and smaller peninsula separated by 'turbulent seas.' The smaller eastern one is called Tanakune and its primary feature is the city of Bellport in the southeast corner, including the Academy. The larger western one is the center of the Realm of the God-King, marked by three arcane symbols. Surrounding the 'Boundless City' are multiple tributary territories, and farther north is the Silver Lakes region.
Hmm... art, you say? Obviously not my strong point, but I do love creating maps. I look forward to one day having a professional rendition of them. The first image is for my interplanetary librarians novel, and the second is for a YA fantasy trilogy.
#BluePitHype #writesky #writingcommunity
A view of the castle library, with graceful arches and a tower. I'm not an architect, so my best description is that it's very pretty and fancy.
Hello fellow writers! I'm a SFF author, pursuing publication. Great stories are a source of boundless joy for me. I've been creating my own since childhood, wanting to share the joy. I also have the enviable privilege of working at a library that looks like a castle.
#BluePitHype #writingcommunity
I'm far better at handling rejections than when I sent out my first tentative queries, back when my manuscripts were much worse and my skin was much thinner. Which means that there's only a few minutes of weeping and rending my garments rather than three straight days.
#writingcommunity #amquerying
A new blog post that gets rather personal.
#writingcommunity #amwriting #writersky
2. Mortal terror at the abject humiliation of being caught in a typo, driving me to proof-read everything approximately 21,000 times before hitting the post/send button.
(Dramatic irony requires this post to contain a glaring typo that I've missed)
#amwriting #amediting #amquerying
Two reasons why technical errors are fairly rare in my writing:
1. An inborn obsession with proper spelling and mechanics, which I've fostered and grown over many long years, and...
#amwriting #amediting #amquerying
A series of posts I wrote this summer about diversity in worldbuilding and writing. I'm no expert by any measure, but I'm very invested in learning how to do it right.
#writingcommunity #amwriting #diversity
In a similar vein, I know I tend to overuse -ly adverbs and it's always a struggle to decide whether the adverb can stay, or if I should find a stronger descriptor or just rewrite the entire section.
#writingcommunity #writersky #amediting
Stylistic musings: how often can the same word be included in a passage without being repetitive? Obviously not referring to generic words like "the" -- more like, for example, "expedition." Sometimes synonyms help, sometimes not. A tricky balance to maintain.
#writingcommunity #writesky #amediting
