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emotethis.net
Benjamin X. Wretlind
@emotethis.net
98 followers 290 following 53 posts
Writer 1st. bxwretlind.com He/Him. Researching how emotional intelligence shapes storytelling. Founder of Emote This (emotethis.net). Helping writers understand the emotional patterns behind strong fiction. Bob Ross fanboy.
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emotethis.net
Benjamin X. Wretlind @emotethis.net · 7d
Emotional intelligence won’t get you published.

But it might help you write something worth publishing.

What Emotional Intelligence Really Means for Fiction Writers emotethis.net/what-emotion...

#WritingCommunity #amwriting #WriteSky
What Emotional Intelligence Really Means for Fiction Writers
Emotional intelligence won’t get you published, but it will help you write characters who feel real and craft emotional arcs that resonate. Learn how the ability-based model of emotional inte…
emotethis.net
emotethis.net
Trying to get this first draft good enough that I can tack on "v1" at the end before other things take over my time. It's going better than I thought.

Eventually, I'll have TL_v34_final_final_really_final_v12.docx ready to submit.

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky
What idiot wrote this? Oh... I did.
January 18, 2026 at 6:27 PM
emotethis.net
Are you an #author with a #newsletter? Would love to see what other folks do (and yes, subscribe).

Share the details!

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity
January 17, 2026 at 7:56 PM
emotethis.net
Today's reading... an 1895 version of The Iliad in Greek.

One. Word. At. A. Time.

#amreading
Greek text of The Iliad, 1895
January 17, 2026 at 1:52 PM
emotethis.net
So last night's dream involved a biplane that crashed, a dinosaur, talking about my first job at Jack-in-the-Box, getting blood drawn for a heart test, and a newbie lab tech.

Interpretations, please. There's gotta be a novel in there.

#dream #WritingCommunity #WriteSky
January 16, 2026 at 1:33 PM
emotethis.net
End of Movement II. Yes, my #WIP has Movements, not Acts, not Chapters. I want to say there's a reason for this, but I haven't yet come up with anything other than "I like movements."

Now I have some Madagascar song in my head.

Great.

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky
January 15, 2026 at 11:44 PM
emotethis.net
It was 139°F in Houston yesterday.

In my dream.

On a weather map.

It's great when your obsession with whatever #writing project you're working on leaks into your subconscious and colors dreams.

#WritingCommunity #WIP
January 15, 2026 at 7:38 PM
emotethis.net
Cloud, Creek, Chateau - July 2020 - 24 x 24, acrylic on canvas

Never was good at titles of anything.

#art
Cloud, Creek, Chateau - July 2020 - 24 x 24
January 15, 2026 at 7:36 PM
emotethis.net
I don't always wake up late, but when I do, I had to be up 2 hours earlier. I just hope to be able to calm my nervous system down enough by this afternoon to write.
#WritingCommunity
January 15, 2026 at 5:51 PM
emotethis.net
Thanks to everyone who has signed up for the #newsletter. There's a lot coming in 2026, and I'd like you to be a part of it.

It's all info without sales, the way a newsletter should be.

emotethis.net/newsletter/

#WritingCommunity #writing #writers #newsletter #authors
Newsletter
Emote This Newsletter Emotional Intelligence for Writers, in Manageable Sips. This newsletter offers steady, thoughtful guidance for writers who want to understand the emotional side of their craft…
emotethis.net
January 15, 2026 at 12:04 AM
emotethis.net
A whisper uncaught
Impossible to repeat
A breeze in tall grass

#haiku #poetrycommunity #WritingCommunity
January 14, 2026 at 9:50 PM
emotethis.net
A paper that showed up in my Google Scholar feed the other day.

Oof.

"...literary creation in the age of #AI demands a reconfiguration of aesthetic and epistemic assumptions about what it means to 'create...'”

research.adra.ac.id/index.php/hu...

#WritingCommunity #writers #Creativity
The Post-Human Author: Deconstructing Narrative Identity And Creativity In Ai-Generated Literary Works | Journal of Humanities Research Sustainability
research.adra.ac.id
January 14, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by Benjamin X. Wretlind
sptroweresq.bsky.social
#BluePit📖
Where Do All The Calculators Go: The Gospel According to #RedDwarf

🤖 Silicon heaven
😸 Cat religion
✝️ Deep theology
⏳️ Time travel
⚖️ Justice
🥪 State of the art sarnies
📚 Non fiction

#BluePit #P #NF
Ebook available everywhere books2read.com/u/49VPy8
Paperback available from the author
Cover art for Where do all the Calculators Go? by Steve Trower. A 1980s style red calculator flies toward the reader against a purple and black space background. Old style digital wording on the calculator's screen reads 'The Gospel According to Red Dwarf'.
January 13, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Benjamin X. Wretlind
elizabethtitus.bsky.social
🔥WHAT will GROW from the ASHES?

A young woman's quest across ruins of former US becomes larger than saving her village from raiders. It offers humanity a way forward in a world desperately in need of change.

Nature will reclaim the land🌱We create anew
#CliFi
#Hopepunk
#BluePit
#BluePit📖
#Q
#A
#SP
a Death tarot card I drew titled "What rises from the ashes" with death on a moped, a sun tarot card, a lovers tarot card, a color Hermit tarot card (I did all the art) quotes: "Every end is a beginning" - Tai Gong Diao "Protect your spirit, for you are in a place where spirits get eaten" - John Trudell a variety of photos from my travels (+one dilapidated shack I did not capture myself) of reflective water in various landscapes and urban decay and plants growing through, swamp, fire, bridges tarot cards from my novel, created by me fantasy map of the US post 60 m sea level rise in background over a sunset sky with leaves growing from dead branches elemental magic visions survival skills climate fiction #clifi indigenous futurism plant medicine meditation wilderness permaculture neotribalism community backpacking post-apocalyptic hopepunk
January 13, 2026 at 5:00 AM
Reposted by Benjamin X. Wretlind
catherinewinters.com
“Humans. I’d seen them before: one or two here and there over the years, a small pack once. It was always the same: crowds silently parting to make way for a lone hunter, dock workers going out of their way to avoid a human ship’s berth. But this one wanted to talk to me.” #BluePit #Q #SF #LGBT #A
An orange, black, and white movie poster for my manuscript Cargo, inspired by Saul Bass's famous vintage posters for Vertigo and The Man With the Golden Hand: "Tai's terrified of humans. Everyone is. So why did their captain just hire one, and why can't Tai stop thinking about her?" Now Querying: Cargo The credits section is as follows: CATHERINE WINTERS AND COREWARD BAKER PRODUCTIONS LTD PRESENT A CATHERINE WINTERS NOVEL ‘CARGO’ STARRING TAI OF MICAPA THYLLIS CHAUMEDEROT TALATAGARI QUIRIN TALATAGARI ANENTO FRANK THE CAT JEREL BESKROS CHOST MOL RAZIK FEATURING COOL MOSS ABOVE STILL WATER AND INTRODUCING CLARKE SHIPS BY SETEBO-URANQ AND CONSTANT VERIDITY INTERSTELLAR COSTUMES BY UPPER CORE ATELIER “HUMAN” CREATURE EFFECTS BY 3.8 BILLION YEARS OF EVOLUTION CASTING BY THE TRADE AUTHORITY WRITTEN BY CATHERINE WINTERS DIRECTED BY CATHERINE WINTERS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER CATHERINE WINTERS WITH APOLOGIES TO SAUL BASS Catherine Winters dot Com
January 13, 2026 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by Benjamin X. Wretlind
arachnereid.bsky.social
When marauders menace her village, an empath-scholar leads a tarot-themed odyssey across the climate-ravaged former US to retrieve a key to peace, using meditation powers, survival skills, and archaic tech in the race to save her people.

#BluePit #BluePit📖 #Q #A #SP #hopepunk #CliFi #witchsky
a spread of hand drawn tarot cards (chapter art by me) - The Fool, The Magician, The Lovers, Death, The Moon, & The Sun, with elemental frames in the background, a fantasy map of the US with swollen coastine, colorful version of tarot cards, and colorful flames elemental magic visions survival skills climate fiction #clifi indigenous futurism plant medicine meditation wilderness permaculture neotribalism community backpacking post-apocalyptic hopepunk
January 13, 2026 at 5:00 AM
Reposted by Benjamin X. Wretlind
honeycombhermit.bsky.social
Arabian Nights x Bluebeard
Makin can have whatever he wants - that’s the whole point of being a supreme ruler. But when he is consumed by a desire to be loved, he can crush or be crushed. Can his songbird slave girl live long enough to bring him redemption?
#BluePit #BluePit📖 #Q #A novella #R #DIS
January 13, 2026 at 8:10 PM
Reposted by Benjamin X. Wretlind
muzetrigger.bsky.social
✨Magical Academia!
💜Disaster Sapphics!
🔥 Arson!
😭Misbegotten Curses struggling to do "the Right Thing™️"

Lion Girl and the Ember Maiden is about being wrong, loving others, and fighting for your truth amidst the laws of a magic library!

#BluePit #BluePit📖 #MG #YA #F #SP #W #OV #LGBT #POC #TR
A mood board featuring (from top left to bottom right) a shot of flooded rice terraces, the card art from "Royal Magic Library", the alpine wildflowers of Mt. Rainier at sunset, a shot of Fountaine from Genshin Impact, the character Ajna from Indivisible, concept art of the Imperial City from the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, a sunset photo of the sunflower fields in Hakodate Japan, art from the promotional video of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree of Miquella riding Torrent, and a tulip field from the Puyallup Tulip Festival
January 13, 2026 at 7:45 PM
emotethis.net
THE DELUGE X THE WATER KNIFE X PARABLE OF THE SOWER

A municipal engineer keeps a city’s water system “within tolerance” during an unbroken heat wave. Pressure drops. Adjustments hold. Until holding becomes a choice about who dies.

#BluePit📖 #W #A #SF #ND
A water pressure gauge in the sun reading 0
January 13, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Benjamin X. Wretlind
alexfromawen.bsky.social
AN EDUCATION IN MALICE x PETER PAN

A cranky immortal & a smug pirate are forced to work together in order to save their loved ones from their common enemy: Peter Pan.

⚔️Enemies to Lovers
💀Dark Reimaginings
👩‍❤️‍👩Bi FMC × Lesbian FMC
🫂Found family
🌶️Spicy Sapphics
🩸Pan-pires
#BluePit📖 #A #W #F #H #LGBT
FOREVER IS A VERY LONG TIME The Pitch When Gwen was a girl called Wendy Darling, she met someone who promised her freedom and love, and all it cost her was her humanity and everyone she ever loved. A century later, she’s trying to claw some of it back thanks to a 15yo named Mona, who’s awakened a long lost sense of family. When Capt Hook was a girl called Rosie, she met someone who promised her adventure, and all it cost her was her family and sense of security. After twenty years of fighting monsters shaped like children, this pirate captain is running out of steam, until her long-time nemesis gives her an ultimatum she can’t refuse. Forced to work together, the cranky immortal and smug pirate will have to put aside their animosity and work together to save a family neither knew they needed. Along the way, they might find the love of a lifetime…if they don’t kill each other first. Artwork from Peter & Wendy (1911 ed.) by J.M. Barrie, illustrated by F.D. Bedford FOREVER IS A VERY LONG TIME Comps & Tropes The cover image of the 1911 edition of Peter and Wendy by J.M. Barrie X The cover for An Education in Malice by ST Gibson *Wendy Darling (but not like you remember her) *Captain Hook (but she's a masc lesbian) *Non-binary Peter Pan *What happened after... *Pirate Disaster Gays! *Dark Reimaginings *Spicy Sapphics *Dual POV *Enemies to Lovers *Vampire (Pan-Pires?) *Hurt & Comfort *Generational Trauma *Found Family Artwork from Peter & Wendy (1911 ed.) by J.M. Barrie, illustrated by F.D. Bedford
January 13, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by Benjamin X. Wretlind
jpspalding.com
PlanetSide Consulting: The Possession Of Ares

Murderbot x Firefly
#Bluepit
When terraforming stalls, you call in the consultants. The men and women of PlanetSide are guaranteed to get your planetary engineering moving again.

A snarky, swashbuckling, gunslinging western-in-space 🚀
#SF #W #A #scifi
Planetside consulting the possession of ares
January 13, 2026 at 3:21 PM
Reposted by Benjamin X. Wretlind
scarletvmitchell.bsky.social
Bayle, the butler, needs to help turn his employer's antique orbital into an academy. Nora is determined to protect her cottage from a corporate land-grab. If they put their heads together, they could solve each other's problems.🥰
Unfortunately, it may also tear them apart.💔
#BluePit 📖
#A #R #SF #W
A baroque sitting room, a butler' uniform, an apple tree, a couple of space stations over a planet, a grand imperial staircase, a cozy thatched room cottage, a well-dressed prim and proper secretary
January 13, 2026 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Benjamin X. Wretlind
chriswinters.bsky.social
Commander Revera must recover valuable intel from a wrecked enemy warship found drifting in space. But her mission is sabotaged, and the dead ship’s secrets will force her to decide if fulfilling it is worth losing her honor or restarting a horrific war. #BluePit📖 #A #SF #Q #BluepitHype #amquerying
A tiny spacesuited figure drifts near an enormous dark structure. (Collage of images by Ben Kim and Markus Spiske via Unsplash.com)
January 13, 2026 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Benjamin X. Wretlind
chrisakins.bsky.social
EARTHLINGS!

BODY SNATCHERS x THE RUNAWAYS

When a 2nd generation alien sleeper cell is ordered to abduct her human friend, she saves her and goes rogue. Now her fellow operatives must track her down, but should they help her to sabotage the coming invasion instead?

📖 #Bluepit #W #YA #SF
Title of EARTHLINGS! over a view of the planet fl group of second generation aliens sleeper cells have spent their entire lives assimilating to human culture and gathering intelligence for the home world. To them, the eventual overthrow of farth has always been a distant goal meant for future generations. Now, when ordered to abduct and replace a human girl they have betriended, one of the alien operatives realizes that they have grown to care more for their found home and family than they do for their own people. She sabotages the abduction and goes on the run with the human girl. Her friends are ordered to track her down; but now questioning their own mission, they find themselves wondering if the entire invasion is a mistake and if they have more in common with these Earthlings than they ever thought...
January 13, 2026 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Benjamin X. Wretlind
marysmorrison.bsky.social
NINTH HOUSE X BLOOD OVER BRIGHT HAVEN

Healing magic belongs to the rich. Until now.

When a healer turns up dead on their uni campus, fellow outsiders David & Zarrin must risk their lives & their friendship to protect an idea that could change magical medicine forever.

#BluePit 📖 #Q #A #F #LGTB
January 13, 2026 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Benjamin X. Wretlind
karden.bsky.social
BUFFY x CARMILLA
When vampire culture is threatened by humanity, the choice to save or damn their people rests on the shoulders of a pacifist nonbinary vamp who just wants to hibernate through depression and bad choices—until their bloodthirsty sister gets involved
#BluePit #BluePit📖 #Q #LGBT #A #F
A series of photographic images on an embossed grey background. Clockwise from top: Two people holding hands; a barn owl; London in sunset; a rose in ash; a microphone held in grey mist; a candle; a vampire with long white hair, their fangs showing; the eurostar; a sunrise or sunset; tea being poured from an elegant teapot into an elegant cup; a Victorian-era woman in a black mourning dress. Note: Moonboard was a gift from T. Rutherford, thank you!
January 13, 2026 at 3:35 PM