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My work-in-progress has been stalled for eight weeks. Usually, I just power through, then go back and tidy the mess later ... but not this time.

Looking over past projects, I realize the issue is always the same: there comes a point at which the story refuses to go where I want it to go, and we fight.

So, it's time: If my characters have a plan they haven't shared with me, then maybe my best bet is just to ride along and see what they have in mind.

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Marketing scams aimed at writers via email are on the uptick. Here’s the latest list of scammers: Feramix Agency feramixagency8@gmail.com Kate Henshaw visionereric@gmail.com #bookmarketingscam #writingcommunity #author #writing #amwriting #writer #writerslife #indieauthor #shortstory #booksky

#ScribesAndMakers 2026.04.04 —How do you answer if someone asks you what you do? Is your answer different in person than it is online?

In person, I avoid the question. Before I was retired, I was a "programmer," and trust me, practically nobody is interested in finding out more about that. But. Now. Retired, and only in the case of what-do-you-do questions, sadly so. With nothing recently published and numerous works in progress, it's just too difficult (possibly embarrassing) for a shy autist to answer. Small talk is an anathema to me. I even have a gesture my spouse understands—touching my nose—to intervene before I might have a meltdown. It isn't that I don't want to communicate—I really do—and if I am comfortable with a person, or for example on a panel, meeting a fellow author, or needing the chat up a publisher, that's a totally different thing; it is something I can prepare for. I can become downright loquacious!

I am much more facile and neurotypical sounding when answering on-line. For starters, that I am a published SF author is all over my profile, with all the information the questioner needs to know to ask questions I am able to easily answer. Also, on-line, I can take my time or deflect questions.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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My weird queer horror novella, The Hand That Touches Flame, is DONE!

(And it ended up being five parts long. Oops. At 38.5k words it actually almost doesn't qualify as a novella at all, so that's fun.)

Anyway, if anyone was waiting until completion to read my strange story about a couple of traumatised idiots battling extra-dimensional demonic horrors, secretive representatives of a hostile government agency, cultists that may be a thinly disguised metaphor for capitalism, serious communication issues and like, SO much queer pining: now is your TIME.

It is FREE TO READ, ad- and tracker-free on AO3, at the link below. You can also download it as a PDF or EPUB or MOBI or HTML or whatever a AZW3 file is.

If you like it you can hit the Kudos button or you can yell at me in the comments or on here and I'd love you forever for it 💛

https://archiveofourown.org/works/78787056

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#WordWeavers Day 4. Choose a character to invite to a party. What kind of party is it? Does it have special rules (dress code, bring alcohol, etc.)?

Jhana would be more social than Tink. She'd dress elegantly, bring the alcohol and be very social. There would be lots of food and music.

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#WordWeavers Apr 4: Choose a character to invite to a party. What kind of party is it? Does it have special rules (dress code, bring alcohol, etc.)?

I'm not much of a party guy. I'd rather just have a nice dinner with friends.

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#writing For my current serial I'm doing its has portions laid out as a script and portions laid out as prose. Curious about how you all would handle the #wordcount ?

Chapter 34 of Princess of Kurg is available to read on #RoyalRoad: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/108234/jigsaw-city

Nicole experiments with Bevna's speed spell, to catch up to the Monkey King.

She's initially distracted by the beauty of the very nearly frozen world surrounding her, but soon begins to grow sick from the magic coursing through her body, getting back to the task at hand...

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#WordWeavers 20260403: For which characters do you come up with a backstory?

There's an implication in the wording of having come up with a backstory for various characters before writing.

I've come up with a backstory before writing so rarely, I think I can say I never really do that. As I write a story, backstories suggest themselves by the actions of the characters or reflections of the narrator, who's usually in 1st person. Almost every character has a backstory in my stories, and often some of it gets into the novel.

In one story, the narrator remembers being "used" by gangsters and inducted into the mob, and explains her PTSD, that can be triggered by what to them is analogous of the sounds gunfire, as having lived through a gang war, having lacked the courage to prevent it when she could have. I later wrote a full length novel about that one sentence induction and her PTSD as a prequel to the novel I was writing.

That's how I end up with backstories.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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