I just had to correct a "conservative" back in Ontario parroting incorrect knowledge of history LAST SEPTEMBER, because apparently there's a meme in "right-wing" circles, excusing Nazi BS at the trucker convoy because all the "moral purity" police didn't show up for the Nazi in Parliament.

Uh. Yes they/we did! The Speaker *stepped down*.

So watch yer backs, Canucks. Our Cons have been taking media notes from Republicans for years. It's going to be a rough ride to the next election for us too.

Catching up on messages in the park, I'm reminded of the life schism I mentioned in my BookTube yesterday. An uncle is dealing with a daughter who wants the world for her wedding, and yet, the downpayment on the venue alone is more than many people make here in 3 years. 🙃

It is a strange thing to move between such contexts: in publishing, there's so much agony over awards/acclaim; meanwhile, plenty here would be over the moon to receive bags of lentils and rice.

O fragile, silly world of ours.

When your bedtime brain is swimming with tomorrow's writing.

#LGBTQ #Podcasts

I'm waiting for Part II of this week's Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff to drop so I can listen to both parts back-to-back, but I think a lot of folks here celebrating, honouring, or otherwise moving through #Pride from the complex subject position of an older generation (i.e., any of us who grew up watching our elders get erased in queer discourse/history) will also enjoy Margaret Killjoy talking about "How Angry, Dying Queers Invented Modern Activism".

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/episode/part-one-act-up-how-angry-186399100/

🧐 Courage check, me hearties:

What's the last movie / TV show you cried at?

Gonna be Godzilla Minus One for me. Sobbed like a weirdo at that freaking parachute.

What's it for you?

#Demotivation #Memes
#WritersOfCoSo #Writers #WritingCommunity 🙃

Oh, and this week's linguistic weirdness:

In Spanish, the word for "chest" (storage box) is "baúl". The words aren't related because baúl comes from the French "bahut", and the High German "behut" before that, while the English comes from Old English "cest/cist", from Latin "cista"/Greek "kistē".

BUT English and Spanish share the same French root for "armoire/armario": armarie.

WHY couldn't we keep two pieces of similar furniture on the same linguistic train?

Because we are chaos engines. 🙃

Bonus sighting of my *very* haggard self after a weekend of immersive editing work! Still more to do on that project, but at least I have a lock on the bigger pieces now.

Hope everyone kept their "body" count this weekend as low or as high as they prefer. (No judgment here, either way!) In general, too, I hope you're all doing well and treating your meat sacks even better. 😘

My latest #BookTube is a little unusual. I just couldn’t talk about the book I’m now serially publishing on Patreon (a wartime space opera inspired by Thucydides) without also talking about worldly trauma. To write a book inspired by ancient war, political ego, national myth, & human suffering while moving through today’s versions of the same should remind an author that it’s a privilege to share stories in any form at all.

The rest is but noise.

#WritingCommunity #SFF

https://youtu.be/xpSSz5Q0x0A

A wee reflection on finance journalism to start us off this Monday.

If you're listening to news that dissociates market stats from real-world outcomes, I just hope it fuels you somewhere else in life--because the more we tell economic stories that hit upon the everyday worldly impact of abstract financial policies, the more we empower each other, and ourselves, to advocate for better futures close to home.

#Economics #Humanism

https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/what-should-good-finance-journalism

Newsletter will go out early tomorrow morning, but I am pooped, and Cold Turkey is set to start at 10 p.m. on all devices, across social media platforms, so that my doomscrolling will be limited to news mailouts for the next 60 hours while working. 🤞

Be kind. Rewind. (The universe, if you can. And don't just bring back stock tips if you do!)

See you on Moon's Day!

Students cancelled all week, and are making up for it tonight, so I'm teaching from 5:30-8:30, then sending out the newsletter.

After that, I'll be offline all weekend, so I can immerse myself fully in my massive developmental edit project.

I'm switching on Cold Turkey, so I won't be able to reach CoSo even IF the feed starts flooding with ferrets. 🙃 And although my BookTube *should* launch on Sunday morning, I won't be around for that, either. So... behave? 🤷‍♀️ Or don't. I ain't gonna stop you.

#Writers #WritersOfCoSo #WritingCommunity

I made some modifications to my Grist Imagine 2200 story draft, then submitted it this afternoon. I don't know who else is still planning to submit to this free contest, but you have 10 days left, so hop to it, folks! 🧐 I look forward to being "beaten" by someone else's better dreams!

https://grist.org/climate-fiction/imagine-2200-contest-submissions/

I'm changing out the ad on my newsletter before posting today, so I can cross-promote this serial novel on my Substack in the coming weeks.

The best part about making promo ads is that they help you figure out how to pitch your story better. *So* many writers get bogged down in the specifics of their tale, and forget to hit the more universal beats.

But when you make an ad, you have to pare your story WAY down to fit the layout.

*That's* when the core themes and tensions best come through. 👌

Me, when someone tries to keep one of our fellas from being their sweet, nurturing self. 🙃

(Once, in Toronto, a dirt-spattered heavy-duty truck came roaring past, and the working fellas inside it were belting "The Bare Necessities". Same vibe. 🙂 Sing your tender hearts out, lads!)

Few things make me as hopeful about Life, the Universe, and Everything, as when I get to see Big Tough Manly Dudes (in this case, two rugged, heavily tatted construction workers) share their gentleness & sweetness with others without a second thought. Today's fellas were *so excited* about a parakeet that they stopped to look at it en route to work, then beckoned to a random kid nearby to stop & admire it, too. Effin' aces. Love that for our dudes.

Keep lettin' your sweet-tough dualities shine!