@Burnsie

1. I see elsewhere on Bluesky that the discourse has turned toward telling writers not to be ashamed to admit they have day jobs or other sources of income (or spousal/family financial support), and you know what, that's 100% correct. Day jobs and support from loved ones are great if you have them!

All pie is bad.

I SAID WHAT I SAID

The book Burn It Down at the base of a very old tree in Spain. This photo was taken by Cosby survivor and activist Stacey Pinkerton. She is a source in Burn It Down.

My contribution to the discourse around "should writers be paid or should you steal their work" is: Yes, we should be paid.

ALSO! I'm very proud of my book. If you buy it, I do not mind what format you buy it in, where you get it or if you get it from a library 💚 bookshop.org/p/books/burn...

What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

Not to mention that he was replaced in the Senate by a very capable woman. Democrats continued to hold the seat. So what did we lose other than a man who was accused by 8 women?

The orc from Return of the King saying “The age of men is over. Now the Jingle Hop has begun.” He is wearing a Santa hat

Impact of Generative AI on the Novel A report examining how literary creatives being affected by GenAI and what measures they want see implemented by the government to protect the UK’s literary scene.

New research by @mctd.bsky.social shows the impact of generative AI on authors in the UK. They found over a third of novelists report their income has already been negatively impacted by AI and 85% expect their future income will be negatively impacted.

www.mctd.ac.uk/impact-of-ge...

Self promo is my bane; it makes me feel like an immense tit when I post stuff about my writing (thanks to upbringing - never blow your own horn), but it is increasingly apparent that all it means is that I'm utterly invisible as a writer...

So, anyway.

I have books and stories out there.

Adds something to my bookmarks knowing full well that I will never see it again

Update: it’s more than four

It’s the rank sexism for me.

Four of my books are on here. Excuse me while I dissolve into a puddle of rage.

I think the President of the US responding to a question about the murder of a journalist with "A lot of people didn't like that gentleman" is probably pretty bad.

PSA for any Apub authors whose books are in the Anthropic settlement list: Amazon is not participating in the settlement, since they have an investment in Anthropic. When you submit your claim form, you DO NOT have to list Amazon as an add'l rightsholder, & can claim 100% of settlement money.

Every single reporter in the room should have walked out.

Opinion | Jamal Khashoggi: What the Arab world needs most is free expression The Arab world needs a modern version of the old transnational media so citizens can be informed about global events.

I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered.

He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...

CIA concludes Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination Audio recordings, intercepted phone calls and other intelligence link Mohammed bin Salman to killing that Saudis say was conducted by rogue elements.

A reminder that seven years ago almost to the day, the CIA determined that Mohammed Bin Salman ordered the killing of @washingtonpost.com journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

I hired and worked with Jamal for a year.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/nation...

Ugh, I’m sorry. Nothing more despicable than people who take advantage of seniors.

As Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His ‘Wing Man’ | News | The Harvard Crimson When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: convicted sex offender…

When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: Jeffrey E. Epstein.

Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.

I don't know if this is a hot take or not but I would say one of the most important skills for a professional artist to have is to know when something is "good enough"

When you're on deadline there isn't time for perfection. Make it as good as you can, then let it go.

It did. I don’t really understand why people haven’t realized that.

I will gladly trade you Xmas lights throughout November for Xmas lights throughout January. Because in November, you can just decorate for Thanksgiving instead! Whereas in January, all we have is the long, dark, cold, bleak pit of despair that is, you know, January.

Could argue the misogyny Summers expressed both publicly while president of Harvard and in emails to Epstein says more about the culture at our most elite institutions than any of the frontpage freakouts over academia in the past few years but hey

Fellow writers constantly closing pop-up windows while we work, Emma Thompson feels our pain! ♥️

Priests being arrested

“Why didn’t the Biden administration care?” Well, they literally are the only ones who have ever prosecuted anything about this situation. That equals “not caring” to the media.

Dude?

At the

I think there are a number of people employed at the New York Times -- certainly not all of them, but many! -- who simply do not grasp how badly the paper's credibility has been shaken over the past few years, along several different axes, and for multiple different reasons

It was always clear that they would start to excuse pedophilia once it came down to Trump being involved.