mastodon 4.7.2Mechanical engineer. Wannabe novellist. Does noise control for a living. All round nerdy type.
Currently living on Turrbal/Jagera land on the southern side of Meanjin (Brisbane), Australia.
#WritersCoffeeClub for 21st September 2026
21. What can a reader know to be true about you from your work?
I have no idea. Probably that I’m a bit old-fashioned?
I know what I’d like them to understand: that I wrote these stories myself, that I hope the reader(s) like them, and that the process of writing them brought me a great deal of satisfaction and joy.
#WordWeavers for 21st September, 2026
21. In your current WIP, which character do you relate to the least and why?
Well, the antagonist is a psychopathic demon that seems to delight in torturing its victims – that is *so* not me.
I see the landlord class are mounting yet another attack on stamp duty, one of the last barriers to them trading houses like shares...
Or maybe this is just boomers whinging about paying tax on an asset that's worth 20x more than they paid for it.
I thought it was the *buyer* that pays the stamp duty, anyway. So surely the only issue is the stamp duty they'd have to pay on a smaller (and presumably cheaper) house? Which they could easily cover out of the windfall profits they don't pay tax on?
If they hadn't driven house prices up to stratospheric levels, the stamp duty would be much more reasonable, too.
#PennedPossibilities 1134: What type of clothing does your MC typically wear?
Illara wears pants / trousers / breeches of usually wool or linen, depending on the season, and loose-fitting shirts (same sort of fabrics), comfortable boots with wool socks, and her 'trademark', a thigh-length sheepskin coat. It gets cold at altitude, so a dragon-rider needs to be prepared.
#WritersCoffeeClub for 1st August 2026
Firstly, a very big thank-you to @paris@wandering.shop for pulling these together - your efforts are greatly appreciated!
1. What are your goals for the month, writing-wise?
I would like to make some progress on the ‘business’ side of writing – figure out what I need to do, and actually do it – so that I can progress toward self-publishing some of my works. I’ve been putting it off for far too long because it all seems too hard, and writing new stories is much more fun!
#WordWeavers for 31st July, 2026
31. Does your MC have a role model they look up to? If so, who?
Yes indeed! Illara looks up to several people. She has an enormous respect for the Queen, who she got to know quite well during the events that took place at the capital a few years back. She also looks up to the Duchess Eolan of Kara, and Countess Idela of Firnesse – they both seem so confident and even-tempered, and she aspires to be like them.
(spoiler: *they* admire *her* ability to remain so self-possessed, even under very trying circumstances)
#PennedPossibilities 1086 — How do you find your inspiration? (Do you enjoy nature, books, games, films, shows, or all of the above?)
Yes.
To elaborate: inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere. All of our experiences go into the great mixing pot in our minds whence inspiration comes.
I do agree, though, that quiet thinking time is the best time to synthesise all these inputs into new ideas. Time spent away from the attention-consuming reality of modern life, even if it's only a few minutes.
Someone posted on the work bulletin board asking for help with a script not writing to a file on SharePoint.
The very first response: "Have you tried asking Copilot?"
🤦♂️
#PennedPossibilities 1087 — Friday Edition: In honor of a friend (@thatwriterellie), we’re using a word once per week. Write or share something from your WIP pertaining to: “struggle.”
This is from an earlier WIP, near the end, and describes the MC's reaction to some very bad news:
“I’m so sorry, Aelyn,” she dimly heard Sen say. Her despair was so deep that no tears came. The colour seemed to drain from the world, and sounds barely came to her ears. The cold wind blowing over the mountains seemed to pass her by, leaving her skin untouched. The reins held between her fingers lost all texture. Even Meryn, wriggling a little in the sling, seemed something distant, otherworldly.
#WritersCoffeeClub for 31st July 2026
31 End of the month roundup: What will you do differently next month?
I *hope* I will put a lot more effort toward the ‘business’ side of things: set up a website, perhaps, pull some earlier works into slightly better shape, maybe do something at long last about covers, and progress toward self-publishing… (I’m a terrible procrastinator when it comes to some things!)
WordWeavers for 6th May, 2026
6. What writing-related challenges have you encountered recently?
Lack of motivation. I’ve wanted to write, but when I get a chance to sit down at the PC, I’ve just not had the energy. I’ve enjoyed it when I’ve worked on it, and I’ve had some good ideas, but it’s the actual getting started that’s been difficult.
#WordWeavers
That ad I posted online offering to take surplus-but-still-functional solar panels was providing me a steady supply. Half a dozen panels one week, a dozen the next, as people around town upgraded their home solar setups.
And then I got a call, asking if I was interested in SawShed's panels, as they were upgrading to the new 40% efficient ones. I mean, I couldn't pass it up, especially when they offered me an at-cost-price discount on the hardware I needed to support the panels and wire them up (they still saved nearly a hundred grand on disposal fees!)
I have now set out on ground frames enough panels to cover a hundred and thirty-seven houses and another forty-three SawShed stores - yes, they had a *lot* of panels! - and I reckon I can fit plenty more on the back lawn.
Only...
I live on a 400m² lot. 🤔
(previously: @Bern@aus.social )
Writers’ Coffee Club for 29th April 2026
29. Share the best sentence you wrote this month.
Context is everything. Isolated sentences are often robbed of their meaning.
But here’s one, anyway:
“It was a bittersweet sort of smile, but a smile nonetheless.”
#WritersCoffeeClub
Writers’ Coffee Club for 9th April 2026
9. What is your favourite way to introduce a character's appearance?
Through the eyes of the beholder.
I generally don’t describe what they look like – I describe what another character sees, or how they react, or how *they* describe them.
Not always, but I also tend to be a bit light on description, unless there are specific characteristics I want to convey (such as a character having a particular hairstyle or colour, or a beard, or some other distinguishing feature).
#WritersCoffeeClub
Writers’ Coffee Club for 15th May 2026
15. Follow-up: and how little is not enough?
When the reader gets frustrated that they’re not getting more of that element (plot, characters, setting, etc) or if they feel that something is missing. If your story hinges on a particular aspect, then you need to make sure you give the reader enough material that they can appreciate that part of the story, or it will feel hollow or incomplete.
#WritersCoffeeClub
WordWeavers for 29th April, 2026
29. Can you describe your current WIP in three words?
Woman, dragons, demons.
#PennedPossibilities 980 — Have you ever had your work plagiarized or stolen?
Not that I'm aware of. I'm sure it'll happen as soon as I publish anything. Someone will upload it to one of the pirate sites and the AI techbros (being such sticklers for the rule of law and the sanctity of intellectual property) will siphon it up to feed their automatic plagiarism machines...
Writers’ Coffee Club for 30th April 2026
30. How was this month for you, in terms of writing?
A bit ‘meh’.
I made some progress at smoothing the rough edges of my current WIP. I sent a few chapters to a friend for some feedback. I realised I still have a couple of plot threads I need to do some significant work on, so they feel like part of the story.
I also wrote a few thousand words of draft scenes / notes for future projects, too.
And I continued to lack the self-discipline to actually spend the time working on my writing, rather than falling prey to the many distractions that haunt our existence...
#WritersCoffeeClub
WordWeavers for 1st of May, 2026:
1. How long have you been working on your WIP?
I started making notes for this story a couple of years ago while writing the previous two novels featuring this MC. A few scenes that came to mind, but I had nowhere to plug them into the stories I was writing at the time.
I began concentrating on this WIP at the beginning of 2025, after completing the previous novel I was working on. Last year was pretty bad for my writing productivity, though, so it's taken me ~15 months to get it close to completed. Glacially slow, compared to my previous efforts.
TFW I revisit some code I wrote ten years ago, and when I figure out what it does and why, think, "Ooh, that's quite clever!" 🤔
#PennedPossibilities 1001 — Is your MC confident or not? Tell us why.
Illara is full of self-doubt. She doesn't believe that she is capable enough and deserving of the trust and faith that people put in her. It comes of the sudden changes in her life that accompanied the adventures I have written about. Illara is a fish out of water, in many respects, though she's gradually becoming accustomed to her new surrounds. Perhaps her self-confidence will return in time.
Currently sitting at a desk in the office, and there are four people within five metres dialled into Teams meetings. 🙉
*So* conducive to concentration... 🙄
#CorporateLife
Writers’ Coffee Club for 1st May 2026
1. Workers' Day: What can we do to support and protect other writers, not only now, but in the future as well?
We can fight against the automatic plagiarism machines, and their callous disregard for authors' copyrights. We can make human-written prose worth something. We can encourage people to read, to take pleasure in the slightly-less-frenetic pace of life that is the written word.
I’m not ruling out dropping nukes from orbit on AI datacentres, though… 😏
#WritersCoffeeClub
WordWeavers for 30th April, 2026
30. What unhealthy beliefs are held by your MC?
I’ve not really considered that. I know she’s unfairly biased against goblins, based on some experiences when she was young (and she's going to have to work hard to fix that in the future). She doesn’t like spiders AT ALL, for a similar reason, but that’s not really ‘unhealthy’.
#WordWeavers
You know you're in trouble when the progress bar percentage complete number goes negative... 😑