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sownow.bsky.social
The Story of Writing
@sownow.bsky.social
1.3K followers 1.7K following 3.1K posts
A daily podcast about writing and writers that changed things, like minds, the world, etc.
https://storyofwriting.com
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sownow.bsky.social
The Story of Writing @sownow.bsky.social · May 15
The Story of Writing podcast rules:

-Talk about writers and writing that made the world better
-Every episode should include women and people of color
-Feminism is equality for all
-Stay woke
-Encourage reading
-Respect short attention spans
-Find joy and share it
#BookSky #History #OTD #Authors
Story of Writing
storyofwriting.com
sownow.bsky.social
This sentence is quite the roller coaster ride:

Link to story about yet another lie told by republicans — this one about an “anti-trimp” attack.
An aide to a Republican congressman from New Jersey faked being the victim of what she claimed was a politically motivated slashing in July, a narrative that quickly unraveled when investigators found spare zip ties in her Maserati, federal prosecutors said.
November 22, 2025 at 1:41 AM
sownow.bsky.social
Sorry.

WTF is this?
NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (left) and a skid mark on the collective underpants of America in the Oval Office.
November 21, 2025 at 9:44 PM
sownow.bsky.social
Happy Voltaire's birthday to all who celebrate!

And how can you NOT celebrate writing like this:
“Do you believe,” said Candide, “that men have always massacred each other as they do to-day, that they have always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates, idiots, thieves, scoundrels, gluttons, drunkards, misers, envious, ambitious, bloody- minded, fanatics, hypocrites, and fools?' “Do you believe,' said Martin, 'that hawks have always eaten pigeons when they have found them?” –Voltaire, "Candide," 1759
November 21, 2025 at 3:54 PM
sownow.bsky.social
It is the birthday of the philosopher who wrote,
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”
The French writer Voltaire was born François-Marie Arouet on this day in 1694.
#WriterSky #BookSky #History #BOTD
Rene Pomeau is a recognized expert on Voltaire. The former professor at the University of Paris and former president of the French Literary Society wrote that Voltaire was “one of the greatest of all French writers. Although only a few of his works are still read, he continues to be held in worldwide repute as a courageous crusader against tyranny, bigotry, and cruelty. Through its critical capacity, wit, and satire, Voltaire’s work vigorously propagates an ideal of progress to which people of all nations have remained responsive.” Voltaire also encouraged historians to take a more realistic look at their discipline. Guillaume de Syon, professor of history at Albright College, wrote, “Voltaire recast historiography in both factual and analytical terms. Not only did he reject traditional biographies and accounts that claim the work of supernatural forces, but he went so far as to suggest that earlier historiography was rife with falsified evidence and required new investigations at the source.” Syon notes that Voltaire wasn’t the only writer of his time to hold this opinion, but he says the rationalistic approach of Voltaire and others was “key to rewriting history.” A painted portrait of Voltaire, circa 1720s Artist: Nicolas de Largillière Image source: Musée Carnavalet
November 21, 2025 at 3:49 PM
sownow.bsky.social
On this day in 1967, when asked about the war in Vietnam, U.S. General William Westmoreland told reporters, “I am absolutely certain that, whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing.”
#VietnamWar #Lies #WarPigs
Less than six years later, after more than 50,000 Americans had died serving in Vietnam, the U.S. acknowledged it could not attain its military goals there and negotiated the withdrawal of American service members. The iconic b/w photo of Gen. W. Westmoreland standing in front of a map of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. He repeatedly made public remarks assuring the public that the U.S. had the upper hand in the Vietnam War. In 1982, a CBS News documentary "The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception" accused Westmoreland of deliberately underestimating the number of enemy troops to create an illusion of progress in the war. Westmoreland sued CBS for defamation. The high-profile trial ended in an out-of-court settlement, with no damages awarded and no apology from CBS. Each side covered its own legal fees.
November 21, 2025 at 3:31 PM
sownow.bsky.social
On this day in 1918, the British Parliament passed a law allowing women to run for and serve in England’s government. But most women in England, Scotland, and Wales would have to wait another 10 years before getting the right to vote - granted by Parliament in 1928.
#Women'sRights #Suffrage #History
A b/w photo of the Clare elections victory procession, led by pipers. Constance Markievicz, the first woman elected to Parliament, is wearing a white coat. Source: National Library of Ireland
November 21, 2025 at 3:13 PM
sownow.bsky.social
In a functioning society, this would be considered a clarion call:
bough.cloud Pine Affinity @bough.cloud · 22h
hey so even if you do sweep Dems into power again all those people who are openly calling for your murder will still exist so what is your plan because last time Dems were in office they didn’t do anything about it and now we’re here and my god we can’t keep doing this why do you refuse the lesson
November 21, 2025 at 2:44 PM
sownow.bsky.social
On this day in 1905, Albert Einstein published his paper on the mass-energy equivalence, also known as E = mc(squared).
#Science #Physics #History #OTD
A b/w photo of Albert Einstein deriving special relativity - NOT mass-energy equivalence - for an audience, in 1934. It's a picture of Einstein at a blackboard, looking skeptical about the info he's scrawled on it. Image source: Forbes
November 21, 2025 at 2:38 PM
sownow.bsky.social
On this day in 1877, Thomas Edison went public with the phonograph. His invention could record and play back sound.
#Tech #History #OTD #Inventive
Thomas Edison in his workshop, working on improvements to his gramophone. Illustration for Popular Science edited by Arthur Mee Credit: Amalgamated Press, 1913
November 21, 2025 at 2:06 PM
sownow.bsky.social
*ding ding ding!
Perfect post is perfect:
jasonkander.bsky.social Jason Kander @jasonkander.bsky.social · 1d
If you receive an illegal order, you have a duty to disobey.

This isn’t controversial.

A President calling for the execution of anyone who reminds service members of this oath is showing us why the duty to disobey illegal orders is so important in the first place.
November 21, 2025 at 2:00 PM
sownow.bsky.social
On this day in 1676, Danish astronomer Ole Romer presented his measurement of the speed of light.
#Science #Astronomy #History #OTD
Romer had been an assistant to renowned astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini. They had seen more than a hundred eclipses of Io, a moon circling the planet Jupiter. Cassini noted that the times between eclipses were shorter when Earth was closest to Jupiter and he believed this had something to do with the amount of time it took for light to travel between Jupiter and Earth. But Cassini left it at that. So Romer started doing the math and presented his findings to the French Academy of Sciences on this day. Romer never published his findings about the speed of light. We only know about it because a reporter – writing anonymously – described Romer’s presentation. And there’s one other thing: a plaque at the Observatory of Paris, where Romer worked. It notes the spot where – for the first time on Earth – someone calculated a measurement that applied to the entire universe. A painted portrait of astronomer Ole Romer Source: UNESCO Portal to the Heritage of Astronomy
November 21, 2025 at 1:22 PM
sownow.bsky.social
Fathers, mothers, and all parents beyond the binary, this is the way.

(Love, I mean. Love is the way.)
pseudonymjones.bsky.social pseudonym jones @pseudonymjones.bsky.social · 1d
my dad and I were having dinner and An Old Church Friend of his called him. My dad answered on speaker and I kept quiet. They knew me (I babysat their kids) and asked (via my deadname) how I was doing. My dad smiled at me and mouthed “watch this” and then was like “Actually she goes by Emma now…”
November 21, 2025 at 12:30 AM
sownow.bsky.social
This would seem like a grand opportunity for MTG or - really - any republican - to stand up and say that sort of language leads to violence and is totally unacceptable.

I won't hold my breath.
shellys1.bsky.social 🍂Stoked2BHere🍃🐿️🐾 🚫👑⚠️☢️ 👉🏼 ✊🏼💙🌊🫱🏻‍🫲🏼 💚 UO DUCKS 💛 @shellys1.bsky.social · 1d
WANNA BE KING / DICTATOR IS :
UNHINGED
MENTALLY DEFUNCT MENTALLY & MORALLY CORRUPT

Alarmingly screams for a Hannibal Lecter straight jacket, mouth guard & padded jail-cell
November 20, 2025 at 4:31 PM
sownow.bsky.social
It's Selma Lagerlof's birthday!
That means the number of the counting - today only - will not be three, but 12:
We are the poem's ancient band of twelve that proceeds through the ages. There were twelve of us, when we ruled the world on the cloud-covered top of Olympus, and twelve when we lived as birds in Ygdrasil's green crown. Wherever poetry went forth, there we followed. Did we not sit, twelve men strong, at King Arthur's round table, and did twelve paladins not go in Charles the Twelfth's great army? One of us has been Thor, another Jupiter, as any man should be able to see in us yet today. The divine splendor can be sensed under the rags, the lion's mane under the donkey hide. Time has treated us badly, but when we are there, the smithy becomes Mount Olympus and the cavalier's wing a Valhalla. –Selma Lagerlof, Gösta Berling's Saga, 1891
November 20, 2025 at 2:36 PM
sownow.bsky.social
This is a great account to follow:
-Real encouragement and tactics to quit smoking
-Great photography (not just Lauren Bacall)
-Resistance

And a real community builder. Take a look.
iquitcigs.bsky.social I Quit Smoking 🚭 📚 🐕 @iquitcigs.bsky.social · Nov 11
If you hear or see something enough times, no matter how repulsive & obviously dangerous & bad for you, you can become conditioned to accept it. Even glamorize it in your mind. How I Quit campralquitsmoking.net /
November 20, 2025 at 2:25 PM
sownow.bsky.social
Swedish writer Selma Lagerlof was born on this day in 1858. She wrote "Gösta Berling’s Saga" and other novels. And she was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
#WriterSky #BookSky #History #NobelLaureate #BOTD
A b/w photo portrait of Selma Lagerlöf, 1909 Image source: Nobel Prize (.org)
November 20, 2025 at 2:13 PM
sownow.bsky.social
I wonder if/when women will no longer need to say this.
November 20, 2025 at 2:00 PM
sownow.bsky.social
On this day in 1989, in the city of Prague, protest intensified against the Soviet Union’s authoritarian control of Czechoslovakia. It was called the Velvet Revolution and it was a peaceful call for representational government.
#History #OTD #PowerToThePeople
The number of protestors more than doubled on this day with at least half a million people marching through Prague. About a week later, one-party, communist rule ended in Czechoslovakia. And two weeks after that, the nation had become a parliamentary republic. Czechoslovak students shout in support of Vaclav Havel for presidency during protest rally at Wenceslas Square in Prague, 22 November 1989. Photo credit: Lubomir Kotek/AFP/Getty Images Image source: The Guardian
November 20, 2025 at 1:56 PM
sownow.bsky.social
On this day in 1959, the United Nations adopted The Declaration of the Rights of the Child. It is an expanded and modernized version of the thought-provoking points, originally written by the English activist Eglantyne Jebb more than a hundred years ago.
#History #OTD #CivilRights #Childrens'Rights
Jebb saw the horrors of WW1 and founded the group Save the Children to help relieve post-war famine in Austria-Hungary and Germany. She wrote the following five guiding principles of Save the Children: 1. The child must be given the means requisite for its normal development, both materially and spiritually. 2. The child that is hungry must be fed, the child that is sick must be nursed, the child that is backward must be helped, the delinquent child must be reclaimed, and the orphan and the waif must be sheltered and nurtured. 3. The child must be the first to receive relief in times of distress. 4. The child must be put in a position to earn a livelihood, and must be protected against every form of exploitation. 5. The child must be brought up in the consciousness that its talents must be devoted to the service of its fellow men. The current, expanded version of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child is multiple pages with more than 30 parts or articles. It helps define the mission of the United Nations and distinct groups within the UN, including the High Commission on Refugees and UNICEF. An illustration of Eglantyne Jebb, founder of Save the Children. Artist: Sam Rodriguez Image source: SaveTheChildren.org
November 20, 2025 at 1:47 PM
sownow.bsky.social
Among all his other flaws and failings, squeaker johnson is an idiot.

Can you imagine being in charge of something for three years and then saying the department you're in charge of has devolved into a group of angry chimps who throw their feces and/or wonder whose feces taste better?
ronfilipkowski.bsky.social Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 1d
I wonder who has been in charge of the House for the last 3 years?
November 20, 2025 at 1:16 PM
sownow.bsky.social
On this day in 1815, the second Treaty of Paris was signed. This version of the agreement between the European powers – after Napoleon’s second and final defeat – was meant to punish France for more than a decade of war.
#History #OTD #War
On the map, France was redrawn, smaller, to reflect the borders as they were 25 years earlier. France also had to pay the European powers for damages and pay the nations of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia to maintain occupation forces within France. The Congress of Vienna, watercolor etching that depicts the Conference of Vienna, which was a meeting of European leaders hammering out the conditions imposed on France after 10 years of war - instigated by Napoleon. Artist: August Friedrich Andreas Campe Image source: The collection of the State Borodino War and History Museum, Moscow | Heritage Images—Hulton Fine Art Collection/Getty Images
November 20, 2025 at 1:12 PM
sownow.bsky.social
Time line cleanse: in limerick format

Thank goodness for writers.

#WriterSky
November 20, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by The Story of Writing
astrokatie.com
Can’t believe the whole country has to suffer through the return of Dickensian childhood diseases because the worst, most ignorant attention-demanders decided other people’s expertise makes them feel bad
November 20, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Reposted by The Story of Writing
bluewavesurfer.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 2:03 AM
sownow.bsky.social
Like others on BlueSky, I hate promoting stuff, especially myself.

I'm going to put that aside today because it's the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address - and it needs to be heard.

I am a voice professional and a long-ago ex said my reading felt like getting a massage, so:
Story of Writing
storyofwriting.com
November 19, 2025 at 6:15 PM