Helen Whistberry

I spend more time debating commas than all other editing efforts combined 😅

simple illustration of two nearly identical snowy owls directly next to each other. their eyes are yellow ovals and a burst of light behind them shows their silhouette.

photograph of the reference. two snowy owls sitting on a concrete pier, with water and the shore behind them. they both are making the same expression with their head turned to the right. the rightmost owl has darker coloration than the one on the left.

double snowies doodle inspired by the two I saw yesterday! 🪶

Rotkehlchen in Großaufnahme vor schwarzem Hintergrund auf hellgrauem floralen Stoff.

Joyful / glücklich.
#JedeWocheEinFoto KW 25/47

There is no moral The wolf eats you one day And until it does The forest is beautiful [Collage of a forest with a picture of red riding hood and the wolf in a circled close up]

This is one of the most profound statements & pieces of wisdom I've ever seen in a meme 🖤

Go enjoy the forest, for the Wolf is always near. 🪾🐿️🍁🐺

Officially asking now for author folks (and reader folks) to tell me about the new queer holiday romances coming out this year—I don’t know why I’m having trouble finding them this year, but I am.

Drop 'em here, please.

(Bonus if low-angst; also happy for sapphic—this is not just a dude zone).

I do think it is possible to be both very sympathetic to someone who appears to be trapped in a bad (and possibly dangerous) mental health cycle while at the same time finding the way it is manifesting frustrating for the way it is impacting other authors. The human experience is complicated!

I love novellas! Perfect for my attention span these days so I read a lot of them 😂

I'll pick one I read this year that I enjoyed: Between the Blood and the Sun by @authorizedmusings.bsky.social. Mix of Western and horror but at heart, a moving portrait of an MC with nothing left to lose.

#AMoRaR

The autistic pedantic urge to remind everyone saying they can't wait until Mamdani runs for president that according to the Constitution (which I know doesn't mean crap anymore), he is not actually qualified (having been born outside the US). I love the enthusiasm though!

A small painting of a blue tortoise with an igloo shell. Smoke drifts from a hole in the top of the shell.

Getting a little cold out there.
#art

Emerald Cuckoo wasp between translucent yellow dahlia petals July 26, 2025 📸 Olympus OM-3 90mm iso200 f10 1/250

Consciousness

Am persuaded by years of observation and interaction that many insects are conscious, in some cases capable of complex learning, and that they’re individuals, each one different than others.

This sub-post of my pinned post is here to collect supportive references and anecdotes.

Home Alone makes changes to the Die Hard formula that render it hard for me to enjoy. The McClain character should feel overawed. And in theory having Kevin be a child versus adults achieves that. But the thing is: Kevin is a god. It's not just Tom & Jerry. This is some random punks versus Anansi.

If you're an author being published by small and tiny presses, please shamelessly promote your work, however much your temperament might militate against it. I've seen many wonderful authors at this level so quickly forgotten when they die, you deserve all the readers you can get while you're alive.

I grew up at the #windy
end of the world. Sometimes
I couldn't even turn the corner
& get to our front door.
Now, almost 39 years later,
the wind has blown away
most of my childhood memories
& I am asking myself: How
do you #measure loss
& memory?

#whistpr #vss365

Banner image for today's giveaway with the challenge: Bite-size - Share your favorite novella or short story.

Daily Challenge 23: Bite-size - Share your favorite novella or short story. SFINCS fans should find this one easy!

#AMoRaR #BookSky

wind blown off the sea
this desire for a true name
secret form
salt taste of wild ideas
and raggedy flight

🌊🪶

#whistpr (windy)
#inkMine (form)
#DailyHaikuPrompt (imbibe)

A round yellow, hairy ball with spots attached to a leaf.

#Blueskyartshow #small
This strange hairy thing attached to a Vitex leaf. Plant or animal? Does someone know?
#EastCoastKin #macro

Angeltober 2022 Illustrations
Day 31: Lamb "Agnus Dei"

Lamb of God, the Sacrificed One

Huge white owl with black barred feathers on her breast and bright yellow eyes. She is perched on a wooden power pole.

Owls are here 😁😊🥰
#birds 🌿

A marker, ink, and paint pen drawing of a North American opossum climbing a tree, with text saying “What are you waiting for? C’mon!”. The tree is brown, and only the trunk is visible, on the right of the image. The opossum is clinging to the left side of the trunk, tail wrapped around the lower trunk, oriented upward, facing the viewer. Their ears are black, their body beige, grey, and black, with a pink nose, toes, and tail. They are Fred the opossum’s more adventurous cousin. They look like they are smiling, and you probably shouldn’t trust them. Reference: Javin Photography/Getty Images, an opossum in a tree. Background is blank paper. (Next to the artist’s signature, it says “Happy Birthday, Pinkleader!” She knows.)

#sketchaday #artsky #blueskyart #bskyart #art #opossum #c’mon #we’reonanadventure

Fred’s second cousin is more into adventures in trees than Broadway. You probably shouldn’t trust them with your wallet.

GenAI has polluted image search results, especially for animal pics. It’s now basically impossible to find accurate art references.

Enter this: a repository of open-access, AI-free images of wild & exotic taxa. Artists creating *without AI* have blanket permission for derivative/transformative use.

Pen sketch of a Trash Panda (Trashcanifus adoribii).

Trash Panda (Trashcanifus adoribii) sketch for your Saturday evening.

You're welcome. 🤣🤙🦝💙

#racoon #raccoons #racoonsoftiktok #animalart #trashpanda #animalart #wildlife #nature #adorable #ArtYear #bskyart #sketch #dailysketch

Again I say, if you have a friend with a baby, check to be sure they know about this. They might not have used ByHeart formula but they might know someone who does.

"oooo i'd draw that but i can't draw"

brother get this through your head

NOBODY can draw

we are literally

ALL

BULLSHITTING

I always thought mould was the British version of mold 🤔

Extreme close-up of a small frog’s head, focusing on its large golden eye against a soft green background.

I found this tiny, young Olive-snouted Tree Frog (Scinax elaeochroa) on my office window this afternoon and spent some time with my macro lens with it.

#frogs #costarica #amphibians #macro

A favorite! 😍

Three Narwhals (grey sea mammals with a long pointed tusk) diving down into a green wave.

Narwhals (Monodon monoceros) are called the unicorn of the sea — for obvious reasons.
This illustration by Louis A. Sargent comes from "The wild beasts of the world", v. 2 (1909), contributed to BHL by @uoftlibraries.bsky.social: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19657038 #SciArt #ILoveBHL 🧪 📖 🌊

Digital illustration of a white tiger in pastel colors. It’s colored like the transgender flag, having blue and pink stripes and pink eyes. The tiger is surrounded by peonies in subtle shades of pink and blue, and is depicted on a gray background.

Stay safe, stay strong, stay beautiful 🏳️‍⚧️

#art #illustration #transawarenessmonth

Ancestors adorning and adoring each other 🖤 From OPIA, my 2024 Limited Collection about ancestors living their afterlives in parallel to us.

#whistpr #bone #art #illustration #animation #IndigenousArt

IT RAN FOR SIX SEASONS! 😂😭