Took a walking break early (overcast day! perfect for pasty-skinned vampires like me!). Listened to the latest New Yorker Fiction Podcast (Ottessa Moshfegh reading David Means, an aching story about a street-living brother in decline). Said hello to the plants. Hugged a few neighbours.

Returning now, to more writing, recharged.

#Nature #Podcasts #Literature

Okay, CoSo! 👽

Today for #OnlySky, I finally get a chance to write on science again! (Too much political noise in the news as of late, alack.)

Specifically, I summarize the greatest takeaways from NASA's public meeting on UAPs yesterday.

No, we don't have UFOs - but we do have a team doing excellent work trying to improve scientific literacy! And that ain't nothing in our demon-haunted world. ⬇️ https://onlysky.media/mclark/nasas-quest-for-scientific-literacy-around-so-called-ufos/

Day 4: Slept poorly - tossing and turning - but that's also part of the energy boost one gets in this process. (It'll settle down soon.)

Rainy morning, which is lovely - and I'm looking forward to writing on yesterday's NASA town hall after touching base with my street vendor friend (rainy days suck for him) and finishing an editing task for SFWA.

First up? Hydration. 💧💪

Morning CoSo! May your Thursdays be as wet and/or wonderful as you prefer.

Met word count early. 🥳

Too rainy for a walk, so I'm just doing an awkward victory dance inside and then reading a bit before evening class.

I broke a rule this morning, giddily posting about improved energy levels while mentioning that I'm currently fasting to achieve that result.

I usually put any mention of fasting under a "disordered eating" content warning - not because it's disordered *for me*, but because we live in a toxic culture around food, body size, body shape, & wellness.

In atonement, I offer this lovely piece that pushes back on classist, racist moralizing around #food. Happy nomming, folks!

https://www.bonappetit.com/story/stop-saying-junk

Folks on my press tier can now see the ToC for A TOWER FOR THE COMING WORLD, the collection I'm publishing on July 4. It takes an approach not often seen in story collections: including reflections on each piece, spanning over a decade of SFF publication.

I honestly have no idea what my future is going to hold, but there is some comfort in curating & putting into the world all my best efforts to date. Back to the next novel after class. 🤞

https://www.patreon.com/posts/upcoming-short-83826899

Day 3: Waking with a *lot* more energy now.

Fasts are so weird - the way the body sometimes operates more cleanly when burning itself instead of (delicious, delicious) junk! - but I'm not going to complain about results. I made good progress with the book yesterday, and am hoping for much more today.

First, though, hydration, yoga, and drafting a Patreon post for patrons, to discuss the story collection's ToC, before today's morning classes.

Happiest of Wednesdays, all. 💫🍵

You know, it's funny.

I never enjoyed The Little Mermaid - princess movies weren't my jam; The Sword in the Stone and Fantasia were my top two Disneys by far.

But every now and then I'm reminded that Beauty and the Beast *definitely* taught me it's okay to put up with an abusive partner (he'll change!) if he offers you a great library, so...

The Little Mermaid's whole "he'll fall in love with your looks & you'll live happily ever after" bit isn't the *worst* grooming Disney's ever done. 😅

!!! I forgot the best part:

PUTTING MY CANADIAN SPELLING BACK IN, DAGNABBIT.

😂

(The slings and arrows of publishing in the US.)

Taking a beat to put together stories for the collection I'll publish on July 4: work previously published in Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, Analog, & F&SF over the last decade. Not everything, but--the sharpest bits.

I'm putting it together with some larger framing, too: notes on writing context over time. Still debating the groupings--publishing order? writing order? contextual order?--but for now...

Boy, it's quite something, to revisit one's older work.

Big feels for sure.

#SFF #WritersOfCoSo

Ugh. I made the mistake of looking at previous comments sections.

There will always be folks who make it their mission to misunderstand you, no matter how carefully and clearly you've laid out your arguments.

Don't let it get to you.

Go make tea.

I'm making tea. 🍵🙃

And then it's on to a few hours of novel work before evening classes. #AmWriting

As I'm Canadian, it seemed more fitting to wait until after Memorial Day to reflect, for #OnlySky, on a key challenge facing the US Armed Forces - and not just with respect to to how Congress often gamifies veterans' aid.

Just before the weekend, more vets were sentenced in relation to January 6, 2021. This problem of radicalization wounds the service. How can we truly honour past sacrifice, without engaging in an active defense of the values for which others have died?
https://onlysky.media/mclark/after-memorial-day-where-the-us-struggle-goes-from-here/

Day 2: Woke up creaky, but hydrated and posted this week's #BetterWorldsTheory #Newsletter.

This week, we've got another historical deep dive. We go back to 2nd-century A.D., to reflect on two writers - Lucian of Samosata & St. Irenaeus - who influenced future literature in entirely different ways. The aim here is to use history to think about more recent upheavals in our literary industries.

If change is the status quo, what comes next for us?

#Writing #WritersOfCoSo https://mlclark.substack.com/p/on-lucian-irenaeus-and-extraordinary