JL Tooker

The First Astronomers Were Poets The Star Archive: How Poetry Saved the Sky

“What creature eats a sky, I wondered.

Who would save the moon?”

That’s a line from my newest poem “Eclipse.” You can find it at the end of my newest speculative essay: The First Astronomers Were Poets.
read.jltooker.com/p/the-first-...

#AmWriting #Astronomy #Poetry #SkyPoet #BlueSkyPoetry #sff

Crone's Cairn - When the Brain Reigns A Stone Turned in the Crone’s Cairn Series | A 'Journey' Stone

Free will flickers.
Neurons whisper.
Destiny breathes.
My new poem lives in the space between.

read.jltooker.com/p/crones-cai...

#Psychology #Poetry #SkyPoet #PoetsofBlueSky #AmWriting #Crone

THE STAR ARCHIVE: HOW POETRY SAVED THE SKY Before astronomy was science, it was poetry. The oldest surviving sky poems record real celestial events—from meteor fireballs to Sirius rising.

"A star explodes once. A poem can remember it forever. New speculative essay series starts here:
read.jltooker.com/p/the-star-a...

#astronomy #SpeculativeEssays #Cosmos #SkyPoets #SciFiPoetry #Poetry #AmWritingScienceFiction #AmWriting

A faux newsprint article about the Muse who haunts JL Tooker

“She was carrying a motel key, a coyote feather, and a plot she swore she’d quit.”

#humor #AmWriting #Muse #WednesdayWhimsy #WritersLife

read.jltooker.com

imagined image of literary consciousness a dreamlike brain with pages of text flowing into it as it connects to a book below; image is overlaid with a haiku titled Minded and reads: slow literary / pages - something in the self / loosens, widens, feels; written by jlynn at Substack's Wander Words by JL Tooker

Can reading more literary fiction change how we view others or increase empathy?

Some studies suggest so. Read about it alongside my newest phaiku … read.jltooker.com/p/phaiku-no-...

#haiku #poetry #philosophy #poetry #LiteraryGenre #AmWriting

A quote from James Clear -Atomic Habits on a pink background with blue quote marks: You have to run your own race. Problems begin the moment you start comparing your results to someone who is playing under different conditions. The 40-year-old entrepreneur with three kids has different constraints than the single 27-year-old. A painter with 20 years of practice shouldn't be the benchmark for someone in year two. Someone caring for aging parents is not in the same position as someone with no obligations outside work. Play your own game. Emphasize gradual progress and keep the comparison internal.

I subscribe to James Clear’s newsletter. Today, his words resonated more than usual:

jamesclear.com/3-2-1/novemb...

#WritingCommunity #AuthorChat #Writer #WritersLife #WriteSky #AmWritingScienceFiction #SpeculativeFiction

I Wrote for Fifty Years Without Calling Myself a Writer Fifty Years Before I Called It Writing

I finally wrote about why it took me half a lifetime to do the thing I love. Hint: writer’s block wasn’t the culprit.
If you’ve been saving your best for “later,” maybe this is your nudge. read.jltooker.com/p/i-wrote-fo...

#WritingCommunity #AuthorChat #AmWriting #WriteSky #WritersLife

a faux newspaper article about JL Tooker’s muse escaping the Sanitorium for Sense and Structure, hitchhiking west in Texas, with an inset photo of a woman in snakeskin boots and tattered gown standing in the middle of a two-lane desert highway, facing down the moon

The Muse has escaped from the Sanatorium for Sense and Structure ... It's Wednesday's Whimsy!!

#WritingCommunity #AuthorChat #Muse #WritersLife #Humor #WriteSky #AmWritingScienceFiction #SpecukativeFiction

Magnificent attempt. Emojis are relatively foreign to me, but what I was trying to say: MC's voice breaking across the stars, still reaching for life. I will practice more. :-)

💔🗣️🌌🔥🌿

bookcover for Starwoven: Hear My Call by JL Tooker, s young girl in black shadow with her hand pressed against a starship widow facing the green aura of a celestial body

"She couldn’t see all of it, but she felt the cosmic dance unfolding around her—the chorus of celestial movement resounded in her very bones. ... the air swept up a faint scent of elemental dust. Red inhaled fully—a subtle reminder of connection and all the mysteries that lay beyond her reach."

I'm always touchy-feely for quality and resonance more than numbers and word count. BUT goals provide direction and incentive.

background is a yellow orange sunset lowering into a shadowed mound on which there are dancers and drummers in black silhouette, overlaid with the statement: Good writing is in the rhythm, not in the rules - Julia Cameron sentiment.

#WritingCommunity #AuthorChat #Writer #WritersLife #WriteSky #AmWritingScienceFiction #SpeculativeFiction

Amanda, thanks for reposting! Jennifer

A poem titled Penultimate Meandering on apale green background with a lighter squiggle representing a river and meandering through the words: If penultimate is second last, what is second first? I am. Born second of eleven. I am 2 of 11. 9 of 11 is my only sister. She is second last, but first lost ... to me. Order. Does it truly matter? Truly it does ... in some circles. But do circles order? Perhaps in degrees. Do you see how I meander penultimately?

Does it count as a WIP if I wrote this on the fly?
#WIPSnips #poetry #poem #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #Penultimate :-)

"... the collective embraced the name’s connection to older earth, and indeed unanimously adopted it for their new home world--without the trailing ‘a’. But then the name of the new world was not the most important of their considerations."

New here. Don't know what I'm doing ...

A faux newspaper article headline reads: MUSE CHECKS INTO REHAB FOR CREATIVE DISORDERS. An inset photo features a shadowed muse consulting with her therapist

Happy WHIMSday! The Muse has a case of Post-Plot Stress Disorder ... read.jltooker.com to catch up with the Muse and her antics.
#WriteSky #Humor #Muse #AuthorChat #WriteSky #WritersCommunity #WritingCommunity #Writer

Ian image of the popular farming sim, Stardew Valley, showing a pixelated barn and chickens, with the added text of "It's where I go when my body and brain are screaming for a break. Now if I could just pair it with some Haunted Chocolatier. Thank you @ConcernedApe!"

#AuthorChat #AmWriting #WriteSky #WritersCommunity #WriterProblems #TakeABreak

So ... on sites like Substack where authors can elect to allow comments on their writing from only paid subscribers ... is it for monetization (nothing wrong with that) OR is it because the author doesn't want unfavorable or contrary comments? Rare but maybe a form of censorship? Just wondering.

Season of the Witch! Yay! Donovan!

Censored Feedback?
#WritingCommunity #AuthorChat #Writer #WriteSky

He wrote: “Your need to understand her … your need to be right.” I wanted to comment: “How perfectly contradictory ... no genuine desire for truth ..."

Comments by paid subscribers only.
Monetization or a new form of silence?

Why Invent a Language? Essay One in a new series: Crafting the Whale's Tongue

I made up a language. It started talking back.

Read my series of essays--Crafting the Whale's Tongue--on Substack: read.jltooker.com/p/why-invent...

a promotional poster with a typewriter and books image encouraging writers to join the 50K Word Nerds for a November 'feels write' marathon sponsored by Substackers Heironymous Hawkes and Leah Sayler.

November approaches! Get your WordNerd on!

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritersLife #WritingLife Monthly #Writingq #BookSky #AuthorChat

Enroll at canvas: canvas.instructure.com/enroll/MENWRH

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! Muse admits herself to Creative Disorders Clinic!

Get your Whimsy now!
#writingcommunity #writesky #authorchat #writingq #writerslife #WritingLifeMonthly

Do you ever notice yourself avoiding what you most want to name?

The word "Aloud" hovering above a still, fog-layered ocean, in black and white and the phrase 'read.jltooker.com' on Substack

Sometimes the first act of healing
is admitting the thing you fear has a name.

read.jltooker.com/p/aloud-acco...

#poetry #writersky #writercommunity #writerslife

Phaiku No. 16 Luddites

Phaiku No. 16 - Luddites

new technology
exploitation mania
who’s afraid of whom?

get the full story at: read.jltooker.com/p/phaiku-no-...

#haiku #poetry #writingcommunity #writesky #authorchat #writerslife

I agree the word has duo meanings, perhaps even as it originated. People at various times in history have feared technology. I recall the fear struck among co-workers when our pay was deposited in our checking accounts, and my grandfather's fear of anything but cash. LOL

What does 'Luddite' mean to you?
#writingq #writingcommunity #writeSky #poetry #authorchat

A selection from my first book of poems ...
read more at read,jltooker.com
#poetry #writingq #writingcommunity #authorchat #BookSky