Writing By M
@writingbymichele.bsky.social
Writer, editor, book coach. Fan of cats, coffee & chocolate.
Interacting with your idea, developing it, finding ways to express it… that’s the work of an artist, a maker. Handing the work to AI? Not so much.
The cliche that ‘having an idea’ is the hard part of writing is persistent and pernicious. Realising the idea is the craft of it. That FAQ of…
December 14, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Interacting with your idea, developing it, finding ways to express it… that’s the work of an artist, a maker. Handing the work to AI? Not so much.
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Just overheard someone on the train saying he is troubled sometimes by the thought that AIs might be entitled to rights. It’s amazing that the tech companies have managed to make the conversation about the ‘rights’ of a dumb grift rather than the rights of those whose work the grift has stolen
December 12, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Just overheard someone on the train saying he is troubled sometimes by the thought that AIs might be entitled to rights. It’s amazing that the tech companies have managed to make the conversation about the ‘rights’ of a dumb grift rather than the rights of those whose work the grift has stolen
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If you're looking to keep writing through this busy month, check out my December Writing Challenge. Never too late to start and all the words count. Just a nice, easy nudge to keep your creativity flowing through the holidays. nepheletempest.substack.com/p/working-th...
Working Through the Chaos
Welcome to the 2025 December Writing Challenge
nepheletempest.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:25 PM
If you're looking to keep writing through this busy month, check out my December Writing Challenge. Never too late to start and all the words count. Just a nice, easy nudge to keep your creativity flowing through the holidays. nepheletempest.substack.com/p/working-th...
Reposted by Writing By M
This is because I’ve been praying the Magnificat during Advent.
December 9, 2025 at 3:24 AM
This is because I’ve been praying the Magnificat during Advent.
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Is Writer's Block Real? Perhaps, But Not for the Reasons You Might Think | @BadRedheadMedia.bsky.social via Substack https://geni.us/WritersBlock
Sometimes it's not your muse that's gone missing: Instead it’s fear, focus, direction, confidence, or energy.
#WritingCommunity
Sometimes it's not your muse that's gone missing: Instead it’s fear, focus, direction, confidence, or energy.
#WritingCommunity
December 9, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Is Writer's Block Real? Perhaps, But Not for the Reasons You Might Think | @BadRedheadMedia.bsky.social via Substack https://geni.us/WritersBlock
Sometimes it's not your muse that's gone missing: Instead it’s fear, focus, direction, confidence, or energy.
#WritingCommunity
Sometimes it's not your muse that's gone missing: Instead it’s fear, focus, direction, confidence, or energy.
#WritingCommunity
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“Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.” — Zadie Smith
December 2, 2025 at 11:36 AM
“Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.” — Zadie Smith
Favorite moment of the Macy’s parade so far: the kids in the crowd chanting “GUMMY BEARS! GUMMY BEARS!” as the Haribo balloon went by.
November 27, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Favorite moment of the Macy’s parade so far: the kids in the crowd chanting “GUMMY BEARS! GUMMY BEARS!” as the Haribo balloon went by.
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I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
Keeping your devices as long as possible is not only a smart budget move. It also lessens the constant need for more mineral resources to produce these devices. Places like the DRC are in free fall and wars in part over who gets to sell those minerals to device makers.
This will never be me - I bought an M4 Mac Air just before my book tour - but I think the premise of "device hoarding" here is ridiculous. With every major purchase, buy as well as you can and then use that thing until you can't use it any more. That's just sensible.
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/h...
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/h...
Americans are holding onto devices longer than ever and it's costing the economy
Americans are holding onto devices longer than ever before, and while it may be consumer smart, it comes at a cost to work productivity and the U.S. economy.
www.cnbc.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Keeping your devices as long as possible is not only a smart budget move. It also lessens the constant need for more mineral resources to produce these devices. Places like the DRC are in free fall and wars in part over who gets to sell those minerals to device makers.
Reposted by Writing By M
Unsolicited writing advice: no. 1026:
POV is a camera. You get to decide what to point it at; how close to zoom in; when to cut; how many cameras to use. Make sure what you show makes sense; feels satisfying to the reader.
POV is a camera. You get to decide what to point it at; how close to zoom in; when to cut; how many cameras to use. Make sure what you show makes sense; feels satisfying to the reader.
November 22, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Unsolicited writing advice: no. 1026:
POV is a camera. You get to decide what to point it at; how close to zoom in; when to cut; how many cameras to use. Make sure what you show makes sense; feels satisfying to the reader.
POV is a camera. You get to decide what to point it at; how close to zoom in; when to cut; how many cameras to use. Make sure what you show makes sense; feels satisfying to the reader.
Reposted by Writing By M
Others have said it before, but if 'AI' was any good, they'd be charging us for it and we'd be happy to pay. Shoehorning it into every single aspect of people's lives just reeks of desperation.
November 21, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Others have said it before, but if 'AI' was any good, they'd be charging us for it and we'd be happy to pay. Shoehorning it into every single aspect of people's lives just reeks of desperation.
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THIS, THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE ALL THINKING, I KNEW IT, THIS IS WHY I HATE PARTIES
Man Trying To Enter Conversation Spends Few Minutes Smiling And Nodding At Edge Of Circle https://theonion.com/man-trying-to-enter-conversation-spends-few-minutes-smi-1819577205/
November 20, 2025 at 8:13 PM
THIS, THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE ALL THINKING, I KNEW IT, THIS IS WHY I HATE PARTIES
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Today's a great day to support some creators.
Writers and artists and creatives of all sorts: reply with a link to one of your works. And feel free to tell us about it.
Everyone: let's check through the replies and buy some creations and support some human beings.
Writers and artists and creatives of all sorts: reply with a link to one of your works. And feel free to tell us about it.
Everyone: let's check through the replies and buy some creations and support some human beings.
November 20, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Today's a great day to support some creators.
Writers and artists and creatives of all sorts: reply with a link to one of your works. And feel free to tell us about it.
Everyone: let's check through the replies and buy some creations and support some human beings.
Writers and artists and creatives of all sorts: reply with a link to one of your works. And feel free to tell us about it.
Everyone: let's check through the replies and buy some creations and support some human beings.
Reposted by Writing By M
I've had a few 'what do you do' convs recently, and everyone on hearing I'm an author comes out with "so how do you come up with ideas?", just like every book or movie about a writer has them staring numbly into space because they don't have an idea for the next book. And look, that is Not It.
November 19, 2025 at 7:43 AM
I've had a few 'what do you do' convs recently, and everyone on hearing I'm an author comes out with "so how do you come up with ideas?", just like every book or movie about a writer has them staring numbly into space because they don't have an idea for the next book. And look, that is Not It.
Reposted by Writing By M
authors you have the chance to do the funniest thing right now
AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.
Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.
arstechnica.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:35 AM
authors you have the chance to do the funniest thing right now
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Unsolicited writing advice, no. 555:
Don't use descriptions of weather as backdrop or set dressing. Write how it affects the way your characters interact with their world: how it changes their clothes, their behaviour, their mood, their perception of sounds, colours, light. Make it count.
Don't use descriptions of weather as backdrop or set dressing. Write how it affects the way your characters interact with their world: how it changes their clothes, their behaviour, their mood, their perception of sounds, colours, light. Make it count.
November 18, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 555:
Don't use descriptions of weather as backdrop or set dressing. Write how it affects the way your characters interact with their world: how it changes their clothes, their behaviour, their mood, their perception of sounds, colours, light. Make it count.
Don't use descriptions of weather as backdrop or set dressing. Write how it affects the way your characters interact with their world: how it changes their clothes, their behaviour, their mood, their perception of sounds, colours, light. Make it count.
Reposted by Writing By M
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 42:
No one *needs* to work every day. But doing so - even for only a few minutes - ensures that you *think* about your work every day; solving problems away from your desk; keeping the plates spinning.
No one *needs* to work every day. But doing so - even for only a few minutes - ensures that you *think* about your work every day; solving problems away from your desk; keeping the plates spinning.
November 17, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 42:
No one *needs* to work every day. But doing so - even for only a few minutes - ensures that you *think* about your work every day; solving problems away from your desk; keeping the plates spinning.
No one *needs* to work every day. But doing so - even for only a few minutes - ensures that you *think* about your work every day; solving problems away from your desk; keeping the plates spinning.
Reposted by Writing By M
Women Ruining Ruin!
(This is a useful little thread. Funny to see these headlines assembled, and appalling.)
(This is a useful little thread. Funny to see these headlines assembled, and appalling.)
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women
🧵
🧵
November 7, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Women Ruining Ruin!
(This is a useful little thread. Funny to see these headlines assembled, and appalling.)
(This is a useful little thread. Funny to see these headlines assembled, and appalling.)
Reposted by Writing By M
To understand how AI will reconfigure humanity, try this German fairytale | Clemens J Setz
To understand how AI will reconfigure humanity, try this German fairytale | Clemens J Setz
Artificial intelligence will replace creativity with something closer to magical wishing. The challenge for future generations will be dealing with the feeling of emptiness that leaves us with
www.theguardian.com
September 16, 2025 at 12:11 PM
To understand how AI will reconfigure humanity, try this German fairytale | Clemens J Setz
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Start small. Give yourself SMALL goals you can complete quickly, while inspiration and courage hold out.
There ARE people whose first writing work is a series of epic novels. But they are rare.
When you are starting, make a goal of a page, a paragraph, even a sentence.
Completion is triumph.
There ARE people whose first writing work is a series of epic novels. But they are rare.
When you are starting, make a goal of a page, a paragraph, even a sentence.
Completion is triumph.
@gailsimone.bsky.social any advice for writers trying to get started? How do you go from the brain to the page?
April 18, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Start small. Give yourself SMALL goals you can complete quickly, while inspiration and courage hold out.
There ARE people whose first writing work is a series of epic novels. But they are rare.
When you are starting, make a goal of a page, a paragraph, even a sentence.
Completion is triumph.
There ARE people whose first writing work is a series of epic novels. But they are rare.
When you are starting, make a goal of a page, a paragraph, even a sentence.
Completion is triumph.
Reposted by Writing By M
Looking for a writing class to level up your writing? I've got a slew coming up in Sept-Dec. #writersky
www.patreon.com/posts/137307...
www.patreon.com/posts/137307...
Upcoming Classes | Cat Rambo
Get more from Cat Rambo on Patreon
www.patreon.com
August 31, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Looking for a writing class to level up your writing? I've got a slew coming up in Sept-Dec. #writersky
www.patreon.com/posts/137307...
www.patreon.com/posts/137307...
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just saw someone sincerely arguing that they need AI bc they don't have "natural" artistic talent and idk how to make you understand that nobody comes by this shit naturally. it's just...work. it's being bad at it for a really, really, really long time. it's intention, pursued over time! wtf!!!
August 17, 2025 at 1:57 PM
just saw someone sincerely arguing that they need AI bc they don't have "natural" artistic talent and idk how to make you understand that nobody comes by this shit naturally. it's just...work. it's being bad at it for a really, really, really long time. it's intention, pursued over time! wtf!!!
Reposted by Writing By M
I’ve been looking for a replacement for Spotify for months. I want to stop giving all tech companies any more money, and decided to just check CDs out from the library, rip them, and take them back. As it turns out, the library has its own streaming app: Freegal Music. www.lapl.org/freegal/
Freegal Music | Los Angeles Public Library
The Music You Love. Free.
Freegal Music is our free digital music service that gives you access to 15+ million songs from 200+ genres, including Sony Music’s catalog of legendary artists. T...
www.lapl.org
July 20, 2025 at 3:56 PM
I’ve been looking for a replacement for Spotify for months. I want to stop giving all tech companies any more money, and decided to just check CDs out from the library, rip them, and take them back. As it turns out, the library has its own streaming app: Freegal Music. www.lapl.org/freegal/
Reposted by Writing By M
🌕👀🍕💸
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, you may be entitled to compensation. Have YOU been involved in a lunar gravitational mishap that wasn’t your fault? You could be in line for a big payout from the estate of Sir Isaac Newton. Call now.
July 21, 2025 at 3:05 AM
🌕👀🍕💸
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Kicking off my new series on how to edit your manuscript for submission with a broad look at Reading Like a Literary Agent, today in my newsletter: nepheletempest.substack.com/p/reading-li...
Reading Like a Literary Agent
Welcome to my series on editing your manuscript for submission.
nepheletempest.substack.com
July 8, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Kicking off my new series on how to edit your manuscript for submission with a broad look at Reading Like a Literary Agent, today in my newsletter: nepheletempest.substack.com/p/reading-li...