Some mornings, happiness is as simple as a workout compound all to oneself.

(*So* much muscle rebuilding to do.)

It is now time for me to stare at the ceiling, think of loved ones I worry about, play out imaginary arguments with international douchetrucks, and try to solve global corruption and general callousness toward human suffering in my head until I fall asleep.

(Even the sheep don't get involved. "Buddy," they tell me. "You keep forgetting to count us and ask us existential questions instead. Hate to break it to you, but we have *so* many better offers in other heads." Which is fair.)

Night, CoSo!

Our @joycereynoldsward has a lovely reflection on lessons learned from years of writing books in a shared universe. She includes thoughts on writing tools, and strategies to bypass certain storytelling impulses.

🤗 Joyce! There are wonderful insights in this piece; please do post future updates here with more promotional detail, so that fellow writers don't miss out!

(We're a great community of readers. We *want* to support each other.)

#WritingCommunity #WritersOfCoSo
https://open.substack.com/pub/joycereynoldsward/p/lessons-learned-from-writing-the

Three books* down, one to go.

Walkies first. The body doesn't understand why it's suddenly all full of existentialist wonder and melancholy... but it does "understand" a good breeze and the heady scent of leaves and bark in the late afternoon sun.

(*Two were more like prose poems than traditional narratives, mind you - and now I'm all itchy to write poetry. Does that happen to you, @stephen_a_allen, when reviewing a book of poetry? Does it immediately make you reach for a blank page yourself?)

Me, right after reading a novel with deep themes around the interconnectedness of all life:

Pff? Was that it? That book barely grazed me.

Me, 5 minutes later, while doing chores:

*staring at a dish like it's the first time I've ever seen one, marvelling at the totality of its journey to reach me*

😅 Just listened to a friend's podcast on Alien: Romulus, which was very funny in one way, because he and his cohosts are big Prometheus fans (and one hasn't even seen Alien 3 or Resurrection), so their complaints about Romulus not reaching for "the sublime" or being as "ambitious" in adding to franchise mythology just solidify for me why the film works so well as a return to form. Looking forward to recording my own thoughts on it soon.

Every now and then I feel deeply *seen* by a reader, and that can make all the difference some days. This was a comment on my piece last week about diplomacy games and the media.

I hit a burnout point with the newsletters, so I'm glad I took a week off to catch up on other work, but it's kind, thoughtful readership like this (and from so many generous readers here) that gives me the boost I need to dive back into the humanist fray--soon.

For now?

We all matter, or none of us do. 🕊️

😅 Well, I was going to make a joke about counting down to the start of Navidad in Medellín, because decorations start showing up in stores around a week after Feria de las flores ends (so, early September), but... I literally got my first invitation to Nochebuena (the 24th is a big event here) this morning.

So it is ON baby.

Christmas is already here. 🤣🎄

(A very sweet old lady, always asking when I'll visit her for lunch in her barrio. I do need to take her up on this sometime.)

US friends! 🧐 You know what to watch out for today.

(Cute that #StarTrek thought that you'd accept Celsius at long last, in time for the Bell Riots, eh? Or that it would be a breezy 15°C. 😬😅)

Not the greatest staging ground for a photo, but hello beautiful dawn!

Today's park listening was an excellent episode of 99% Invisible, which is in the middle of a series on how climate change is changing spaces and infrastructure.

What makes this one exceptional is that it tells the *full* story of disaster: from the fear and devastation of a wildfire, to the displacement crisis that comes after - and what happens when neighbourly good will dries up during the long, long struggle to rebuild hope. A nuanced listen essential for our times.

https://pca.st/episode/694ff23f-7e58-4612-90ad-35510efac089

Just me and dem birbs, the latter getting all their grievances out before dawn. Do I squawk like that some mornings? 🤔 Yes, yes I do.

#Israel #Gaza

Relatedly, a so-called suicide note, dramatically detailing someone killing himself after not being able to save a female friend from rape and murder on Oct 7, has now been reported on Israeli media as a fake.

It's as frustrating as it is sickening to see people lie around real trauma.

Whoever crafted this lie probably thought they were serving the war effort, but the desecration of victims' experiences, to craft wilder tales for war, is unconscionable.
https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/nova-survivors-horrified-by-fake-viral-suicide-letter-ol8hpj8s

Do you ever watch a show and burst out laughing at how incorrectly they represented a field? In a procedural I put on as background noise today, the investigator asked a prof if any of her students might harbour anti-tech views.

Her reply?

"I'm a post-modernist. In my area of study technological inventions are often viewed as art objects."

🤣 5 bucks says the writer of this script didn't even bother to look up post-modern lit and its dominant themes.

What's the best groaner you've seen?

(I think I might write my surveillance state story for that Strange Horizons call based on financial tracking systems, the way even crypto can be traceable and seized, and the complex tightrope of ethics walked between formal and informal financial economies to bridge issues like central bank bottlenecks for global workers!)

So here's some fun Colombiana for you:

Colombia monitors bank accounts proactively at tax time. Aug to Oct are for '23 taxes, but since the gov't has had low levels of tax participation in recent years, it sent emails today to everyone who had over a certain threshold move through their banks last year, offering a quick path to filing because of the possibility of more taxable income (based on guesses from bank traffic).

Every surveillance state is different, but sometimes in interesting ways!

*And if any tech savvy folk want to write something for the above, but are a bit nervous about their fiction game / formatting / the industry, shoot me a DM, and I'd be happy to offer any feedback that might help.

We have a lot of cyber-smart people here who might have a great tale to tell!