@stevendbrewer@wandering.shop

I did learn a lot about composing pictures: getting the horizon level, choosing portrait versus landscape, using the rule of thirds, having the subject face into the middle, positioning the shot so action is moving into the middle, positioning people correctly in the frame, etc, etc, etc.

What really astonished me was to discover how poorly this prepared me for shooting video, which requires not just framing the shot, but thinking through how to capture an entire scene, from beginning to end.

#ScribesAndMakers Do you feel you have a good eye for composing photos?

I got a 35mm SLR back in the day and did a lot of photography as a young man. I dreamed of being a serious photographer until I saw the difference between what I was doing (taking carefully-composed pictures) and a serious photographer (returning to a location year after year to get time-of-year, time-of-day, weather, and everything else utterly perfect, which is what's required to take the award winning picture.)

As I approach retirement, I keep looking at things and thinking, "I'm sure glad I don't have to do *that* as a career anymore." Like sysadmin shit. I dread updating my linux box for fear it will break something and I will have to play sysadmin to make it work again. It's not enough to make me switch to a Mac, but the fear is real.

My wife wanted to see some ponies, so we came to Carr's Cidery. #WesternMass

#WritersCoffeeClub How might your work be seen as a criticism of the present moment?

Even though my work is all set in different times and places, many of the characteristics of those places are drawn from our current circumstances. And so people that are mean to trans people, or attack children in gender-affirming hospital clinics, get what's coming to them. And magarats get eaten. *Et cetera*.

Brunhilde began snapping her fingers in time to a popular Better Angels PuzzyCure cover.
The bear held up his paw and tried, then put it down.
"Nope," he said.
"Hey! Hey!" Forrest called. "She didn't ask if you could snap your toes."
"I could probably snap your neck," the bear replied. (2/2) #wss366

It was afternoon at the Volpex Picnic Park and the lunch rush was over. Today, Brunhilde was wearing a Magical PuzzyCure costume while she rode on the bear's shoulders as he ambled between the picnic tables.
"Hey! Hey! Can you #snap your fingers?" she asked. (1/2) #wss366

The Hendersons Blues Band is back at BBC and the weather is perfect. It's a good day for a Foxglove DIPA #beer and some foot stompin' blues!

"What the hell is this?"
"Bacon."
He picked up a piece on his fork, inspected it limply dangling, and pretended to listen to it.
"Hear that? The little trypanosomes are saying, 'My, but that was hot! Almost hotter than I could stand.'"
He rejected the bacon and took a sip of coffee. (2/2) #wss366

In the morning, he got up early and started the camping stove. He put on a pot of water to boil, then added a pan above it and put the bacon in it, Dutch-oven style.
When his father awoke, he offered him breakfast: instant coffee and bacon.
His father looked at the pale rubbery bacon. (1/2) #wss366

I was showing someone at my writing group *Poŝtmarkoj el Esperantujo* last night and, since the tab was still open, I was looking through some of my old haiku this morning. (The book is from 2010).

The world has changed. I was looking at this haiku and realized that now the hallways in Morrill Science Center all have LED lighting so no more fluorescent hum. Weird.

You can read *Poŝtmarkoj el Esperantujo* for free at Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Po%C5%9Dtmarkoj_el_Esperantujo/V51TBEhTHVYC?gbpv=1

"Do you hear that?"
"What."
"What bird #call is that?"
"Is that the one that says 'Drink your teabody, teabody, teabody?'"
"Argh! No. It doesn't sound like that at all. And, you're mixing them up!"
"Actually, I think it's your cell phone. Are you getting a #call?"
"What? Oh! You're right!" #wss366

#WritersCoffeeClub Have you written something blasphemous? Tell us about it.

As an atheist, the word "blasphemous" doesn't really mean anything to me. Of course, even those who are religious are atheist with respect to the thousands of other religions that exist. I expect that some religions would consider much or all of what I've written to be blasphemous. My Better Angels stories about the HodFollowers would probably be right up there. As is this story fragment: https://wandering.shop/@stevendbrewer/111627351548007353

Looking for story titles, I used a regular expression to find words that end with -lands. https://stevendbrewer.com/regular-expressions-are-magic/ #Writing

"How about dessert?" Sisi asked.
"What would you like?"
The Angels all spoke at once. Five said, "Lollipops!" and four said, "Bubblegum!"
"Anything else?"
Bebe raised her hand.
"Yes, Bebe?"
She raised up her teddy bear. "Bellotrix would like a Fun Meal and lollipop too."
David sighed. (2/2) #wss366

"I'm making a #list of what to bring for our picnic," David said to the Better Angels. "What do you want? Zaza?"
"A Fun Meal."
David made a note on his device.
"Anyone else want a Fun Meal?"
All of the other Angels raised their hands. David rolled his eyes.
"Nine Fun Meals. What else?" (1/2) #wss366

I'm simultaneously working on manuscripts for a scientific article, an article about bookselling, a blog post, and a horror short story. It makes for weird context switches when I move from one to another. #amwriting

#WordWeavers Share a snippet with a color in it

Here's a bit with 2 for the price of 1:

Curtiss arrived at the aerodrome where he saw an airship being readied. She was a small craft with the name, *Cherry's Chastity*, painted in red on her white envelope. A heavy-set, bearded man met him at the ramp and gruffly directed him to a tiny cabin for the flight. Within minutes, the blue towlines of the remmers appeared and the craft rose silently into the calm, evening air, turning north and west.

#WritersCoffeeClub How do your immediate surroundings influence your work?

I don't think surroundings make much difference at all. I do have a truly magical place to write in the summer: https://stevendbrewer.com/a-truly-magical-place-to-write/ In the winter I'm in my windowless office in the basement. But my productivity doesn't change much.

What does impact my productivity is other life circumstances, although it's complicated. Stress can either decrease or increase my productivity — or both. Or change what I want to write.

#WordWeavers Do any of your characters create any form of art?

In *The Better Angels and the Absolutely Apropos Arrangement* (in *Better Angels: Tour de Force*), the Angels participate in an ikebana (Japanese flower arranging) contest. To their surprise, Sssindy (a 10-meter long, thicc, pink snake) has also contributed an entry.