mastodon 4.7.3Avatar image: a chameleon pin wearing Pride colours.
I’m Emma (she/they) 🏳️🌈. Pro #diversity human currently moonlighting as the Head Librarian of a magical library with flying books and dog-sized dragons fed exclusively on a fire-retardant diet.
IRL, I'm a science writer. I spend my days #writing, and as @OrbitalGardens@spacey.space I talk about growing plants in space. Yes, really.
Based in Oxfordshire, UK.
Every time I drive into town and see every single lampost festooned with a flag, it makes me so angry.
I’d love to read more #queernorm fiction, set in worlds where queer identities, relationships, and genders are fully normalised, accepted, and everywhere, operating without homophobia, transphobia, or the need for "coming out" narratives. Stories that offer a space for joyful, everyday queer existence.
Hit me up with some recommendations?
(And no, this has nothing to do with me spending the weekend with my bigoted parents. Why would you think that? 😱)
One of the things that happens to me a lot is that people seek me out when their life has gone off track. And that’s fine, I am always happy to help.
I just wish some of them would remember I exist once they’re all patched up and back out in the world.
No, I don't want to listen to your video with an AI voice.
Ryan & I were 100% adulting yesterday, talking to an independent financial advisor about our retirement planning, and it went surprisingly well.
Except, at one point, he was trying to ascertain what we might spend our retirement income on. And the only thing I could think of was "books".
And he said "Books are expensive."
???????
I sowed 4 courgette* seeds on 1 May. This morning, one of them has definitely germinated, although it's just a green loop in the soil so far.
*Rugosa friulana, more of a knobbly yellow cougette-shaped summer squash, really. The only courgettes hubby will eat, and the only thing I am trying to grow this year!
‘What does “family” mean, and whose family experiences get recognised?
A new UCL study is inviting non-binary adults in the UK to share their experiences of family life, in research that aims to address a significant gap in evidence.’
The survey takes around 30 minutes to complete and is open to non-binary people, aged 18+ living in the UK.
My office was a mess, and I couldn't find anything, so I tidied it up.
And now, of course, I can't even find the things I could find before.
I am tired of Adulting this week.
Unknown to me, Ryan was mowing the lawn. He comes in, distressed.
"It's really gone this time!"
Me: Huh?
He has lost some weight. His wedding ring (we have a matching pair of black LOTR rings) flew off when he shook his hand, pinged off the fence and disappeared.
He's searched. He'd raked.
Gone.
Now, we always said this would be no big deal. They're symbols, they're replaceable.
But Ryan was upset.🧵
Instagram seems to be as confused by my gender as I am. Today it thinks I am a butch lesbian. Yesterday, it was pretty convinced I am a gay man.
#nonbinary #queer
I have THREE things in my calendar today. THREE.
😱
This morning I have been amused by these depictions of scenes from modern life in an Ancient Egyptian art style:
https://www.nilemagazine.com.au/2016-february/2016/2/27/modern-ancient-egyptians
These biros were languishing in a drawer because they're not nice to write with - they're a bit too fluid, so they splotch. And they're an odd, triangular shape. But I thought they might be nice for scribbles.
There are no elections in my area today, but if there were I would be voting GREEN!
The New York Times is running a test to see whether people prefer human or AI writing. There are 5 pairs of passages across different genres.
I preferred the human writing in 4/5 (and I owe Carl Sagan an apology 😭)
The results seem to be pretty close for most genres, with only one strong preference for the AI writing.
I think that, in a lot of cases, AI writing is easier to read, but that doesn't equate to better.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/03/09/business/ai-writing-quiz.html
“In 1972, Avon Books published “The Flame and the Flower,” by Kathleen Woodiwiss — a hefty historical romance that traded chastity for steamy sex scenes. It arrived in the thick of the sexual revolution, and readers loved it: It was an instant bestseller that’s credited with birthing the modern romance genre.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/04/15/romance-novels-history/
You have to love waking up in a neurodivergent household. After a conversation about children's tv show theme tunes that were used in rave songs, Ryan is now unloading the dishwasher to Trip to
Trumpton.
