@stevendbrewer@wandering.shop

Rex began the geomantic assessment, but then turned white.
"What is this? What am I seeing here?" he said, in a strangled whisper.
Veronica pushed her awareness down into the ground. She began to see skeletons — hundreds of skeletons — piled on top of one another in what had been a long trench.

Today is the last day of #WritingMonth. I'm starting the day at 20,418 words. I'm going to see how many more I can get done before the end of day…

#WritersCoffeeClub As of now, how many stories have you written? How many more do you have planned?

It would be too annoying to actually count. I've written stories in a bunch of different universes, including the Mary stories, *Better Angels*, *Revin's Heart* (and associated *Lady Cecelia's Journey*), and Destroyers. I have a new book coming out in January, *A Familiar Problem*. My current WiP is *Ground Never Lies*. I have thought of follow-on stories I could write in most of those.

I noticed recently I reached 1k followers on Mastodon. I am very gratified! What I really value, however, is the *quality* of engagement I find here. Thank you, friends, for coming on this journey with me!

#PennedPossibilities “descriptive”? Sometimes…

Cecelia was in a high room of a grand chateau that was situated along the side of a mountain valley. In the depths, she could see a cascading whitewater river that tumbled over immense boulders. Looking upward, she could see the tips of snow-capped mountains peeking up out of a vast evergreen forest. She opened the window & let the crisp, cool air into the stuffy room. It was scented with a delightful piney smell. She breathed in deeply & smiled.

If you're attending LOSCon this weekend, you can (probably) find my books "Revin's Heart" and "Better Angels: Tour de Force" at the Water Dragon Publishing table in the dealer room. And, of course, many other interesting tales of fantasy and wonder.

"Looking for something, little lady?" said a handsome young constable.
"I'm looking for the constabulary," Veronica said.
"Do you need to report a crime?" he asked, concerned.
"No, I'm looking for Nila."
He recoiled with an expression of horror twisting his features.
"The constabulary is there," he said, pointing it out with a trembling hand. "You'll find her in the back."

#wss366

#WritersCoffeeClub What did you edit out of your most recent book?

One of my biggest challenges as a writer is my tendency to want to resolve tension too early. I frequently start to write scenes to resolve tension. Once I realize this, I stick in a few linebreaks and start writing again.

The other thing I look for is anything in narrator voice: these often use the verb "to be". I don't necessarily remove these, but try to always try to consider whether showing is better than telling.

#EngenderedWriting Were you to write a trans character in a POV role, would you need them to present as your own gender? Why or why not?

I have written both female-to-male & male-to-female trans characters. I don't think my gender as the author has much to do with writing characters. I think it has more to do with the people I've known & learned from. I've had more female-to-male trans friends. But I've known both. Being able to find the common, shared humanity in all of my characters is key.

#WritersCoffeeClub Do you try to give readers what they want or strive for originality? A balance?

I always try to write for my audience: myself.

Note that these are really a continuation of these: https://wandering.shop/@stevendbrewer/113532006041706251

Read more about Bebe and Nene in *Better Angels: Tour de Force*, only at the Truck Stop at the Center of the Galaxy. https://truckstop.waterdragonpublishing.com/product/better-angels-tour-de-force/

"Nene," David said, picking up Bebe's teddy bear. "What does Bellotrix say?"
Bebe stopped and looked seriously at Bellotrix.
Nene glared at David. "Bellotrix says it's not friendly to take things," Nene said.
"Bebe's sorry," Bebe said. "Here!" She took off her cape and handed it to Nene.

#wss366

Bebe laughed hysterically, whirling in circles, wearing a pink cape.
"This isn't a #game!" Nene snarled, fists clenched.
"Angels! Angels!" said David. "What's the problem?"
"Bebe took my…" Nene's voice trailed off. "She took my…"
"Your…" David prompted.
"My blankie," she said in a very small voice.

There are a significant number of "book marketing professionals" trying to hook up with authors on bluesky, hoping to get you to let them DM you so they can try to sell you their "services." Ick.

I'm at 17,941 words for #WritingMonth.

I've been SFWA Secretary for almost a month now, so I took a few minutes to reflect on how things are going: They're going pretty well. https://stevendbrewer.com/board-leadership/

"By Hod! I can't stand that bear," grumbled a man, headed to his SkyJumper, getting ready to fly back to Volpex One.
"Who? Stogie?" A stylish woman paused as she climbed into her fancy SkyHopper.
"Stogie?"
"Stogie the Bear. I think he's #sweet."
He grimaced. "Sweet like propylene glycol…"

#wss366

@asakiyume We were talking about all the ways in English you can express qualified agreement, e.g. yeah, uh-huh, hmph, you don't say?, is that so?, etc., etc.

We had several interesting conversations about this today and I thought @asakiyume might find it interesting/funny https://mastodon.social/@deivudesu/113554501680327948