Ashcroft Writes Things

Enabling the new option for my Kindle readers so they can now download my work and put it on the device of their choice. As a reader, DRM that kept me tied to any one device always felt like a middle finger, and I'm delighted to finally be allowed to publish on this large marketplace free of it :)

Always my character of the day tbqh 😌

Character of the Day: Cad Bane

🌈✨ It’s the stretchy rainbow cat time of the week

javascript and its devastating consequences for humanity

Caw caw 🖌

Mononoke

Are We Still Free? Living in the new American fascism.

After Patron blocked my latest review, I tried to write about censorship. Then I tried to write about aesthetics and the sexual politics of fiction.

What I ended up capturing was the violent silence of the moment - the grief and helpless fury of living in a world that marches on toward genocide ⬇️

Asajj Ventress actress Nika Futterman reveals what it’s like to record dialogue with Dave Filoni

“If you’ve ever been in a session with Dave, he will talk for like an hour and a half before you ever record anything and, you know, just go deep. Go really deep.”

I do get a wee little chuckle when people insult a story or show as being "like fanfic" but! Plot twist! THEY THEMSELVES write fanfic and are in fact happy to hold up examples of The Correct Fanfic the thing should have been like

Having a very normal one today with at least 30-75% of my brain at ALL times gnawing on Star Wars Tales of the Underworld

Look, the world is on fire, but space cowboy alien revenge story, yee-frickin'-haw

Drawing of trandoshan bounty hunter Bossk flossing with the words “hi! It’s me, Bossk! Don’t forget to floss, k?”

PSA

"What is your story about?"

Me who has meticulously plotted, developed the characters, and built the world. Who has nearly two chapters drawn and 13 written: "uhhh idk"

Perhaps NOW will be the now that I fall asleep, I think to myself, unsleepingly.

Good morning to the tiny paws making overwrought biscuits on your heart. To the sound of the first green grass of this year, dipping their heads in the breeze. To dandelions, who always know how to bring on the sun.
To your tired, cold heart. Warm your hands a little. The heart will follow.

Hey here’s a free sentence if anyone wanted to use it in a book: “She had the sort of eyes that look at things.” I didn’t say it was a good sentence but maybe you can use it if you have a character that looks at things with her eyes

My arm. I'm wearing a slap bracelet with a plush green frog face in it. The frog is smiling and blushing.

Them: What time is it?
Me: Hold on, lemme check my watch. It's frog time.
Them: Frog time?
Me: Frog time.

A cool opportunity for trans writers!

watching one of my favorite movies, Kung Fu Hustle, and every time i think "surely it can't be as good as i remember it" and then it's even better

The Smithsonian's queer erasure of an AIDS artwork should alarm us all By omitting the tragic story behind Felix González-Torres "Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), the National Gallery of Art is setting a perilous precedent, warns art scholar Ignacio Darnaude.

How fucking dare the #smithsonian do this. This has long been one of my favorite pieces and seeing it live has such a visceral impact. I cannot imagine the absolute audacity it took to erase Ross’ battle with AIDs from the piece, to reconfigure it, or the decision not to replenish it. Shame on you.

The perfect is the enemy of the good. Don't worry about doing everything. Do what you can, change what you can, and it will still be better than changing nothing.

✅ Meta (huge relief years ago)
✅ Twitter (same)
✅ Microsoft
❌ Apple (alternatives not viable yet for me, but I’m not loyal these days)
❌ Amazon (have cut down by ~75% however, and abandoned Prime)
✅ Google (last year’s project! Proton Mail, Firefox, and Kagi Search are my besties)

i don't trust fantasy books that don't take the time to describe food in great detail

(Psyching self up): I am very tough. I am a survivor. I am so resilient and terrible events will not touch me

(Remembers first seeing a Baby Bananya plushie and almost bursting into cuteness overload tears in the store)

Me, wisely: All code styles are basically equivalent; each team should simply pick one and stick with it. Style wars are the sign of a lesser mind

You: OK, given that, can we use my preferred style instead of yours?

Me: Fuck off directly into the sun with your unreadable indentation rules, no

it is legitimately a good piece of creative advice to be like "be as unabashedly into your own shit as hideo kojima is"

Professional writer tip:
Take care of your hands and wrists. Writing isn’t a very physically laborious job, but it still takes a toll. In 2022, I worked hard enough to earn 2 wrist surgeries.

Do wrist stretches, get a muscle roller or a percussive massager, use heating pads to warm up, take breaks.

Stop worrying that the pages aren't good enough.

If they aren't good enough, you'll make them good enough when you edit. Sometimes, you have to see a thing on the page before you know exactly what it is supposed to be.

The rights words often only come after the wrong ones.

For me it’s Lament. A kicking drink to replenish electrolytes after brooding