#WritersCoffeeClub (Sep) 1: Intro: Shameless Self Promotion.
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That's presuming you have a publisher, of course. If you're self-publishing, then you'll need to format stuff and lay it out — but do it as an entirely separate phase, 100% distinct from the writing. They are *not* the same activity. 3/3
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 30: Do secondary characters sometimes get promoted to main characters?
It hasn't happened yet... but I'm still too early in my writing process for it to have happened! 😆 Who knows, maybe it will?
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 30: Do secondary characters sometimes get promoted to main characters?
It hasn't happened yet... but I'm still too early in my writing process for it to have happened! 😆 Who knows, maybe it will?
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 31: How’s your writing progress so far this year? What are you working on?
I'm still working on the same WIP I've been doing since this hashtag began: the urban fantasy about San Franciscan magicians who talk to the City. I'm working through 2 different vignettes right now, exploring how certain groups operate and getting a little more comfortable with certain side characters.
I've written 6485 words this year (month), and done some background work.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 31: How’s your writing progress so far this year? What are you working on?
I'm still working on the same WIP I've been doing since this hashtag began: the urban fantasy about San Franciscan magicians who talk to the City. I'm working through 2 different vignettes right now, exploring how certain groups operate and getting a little more comfortable with certain side characters.
I've written 6485 words this year (month), and done some background work.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 1: Shameless self-promotion. What writing project are you working on?
As per yesterday... My writing project is still the same one I've been working on since Writers' Coffee Club started: the urban fantasy about people in San Francisco who can talk to the City.
There's not much to promote yet. If things go spectacularly well, maybe it'll be on shelves late next year? 😫
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 1: Shameless self-promotion. What writing project are you working on?
As per yesterday... My writing project is still the same one I've been working on since Writers' Coffee Club started: the urban fantasy about people in San Francisco who can talk to the City.
There's not much to promote yet. If things go spectacularly well, maybe it'll be on shelves late next year? 😫
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 2: Do you analyze structure and technique in other writer’s work?
Sometimes. When I notice that they're working particularly well, or badly, or have something I could learn from. But most of the time, no, I try to *mostly* read for the enjoyment. But even as I do so, sometimes I spot things that are important, or craft-related.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 2: Do you analyze structure and technique in other writer’s work?
Sometimes. When I notice that they're working particularly well, or badly, or have something I could learn from. But most of the time, no, I try to *mostly* read for the enjoyment. But even as I do so, sometimes I spot things that are important, or craft-related.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 3: Do you agree with Thomas Mann, who said, “A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
Good grief, I'm so tired of writers constantly bellyaching about how hard writing is. There was that guy who talked about "stare at a piece of paper until blood comes out of your eyes" or whatever. There's various other hyperbole. I'm sick of it. 1/2
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 3: Do you agree with Thomas Mann, who said, “A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
Good grief, I'm so tired of writers constantly bellyaching about how hard writing is. There was that guy who talked about "stare at a piece of paper until blood comes out of your eyes" or whatever. There's various other hyperbole. I'm sick of it. 1/2
I don't think writing is any more difficult than any other creative endeavor. Which is to say, it's no walk in the park (although a literal walk in the park can oftentimes help), but it's not the kind of torture some writers make it out to be.
Can it be difficult to sit down and get started sometimes? Yeah, sure — just like with *nearly any activity* that requires a little concentration or motivation. But the "woe is me, writing is such agony" shit just needs to stop. 2/2
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I don't think writing is any more difficult than any other creative endeavor. Which is to say, it's no walk in the park (although a literal walk in the park can oftentimes help), but it's not the kind of torture some writers make it out to be.
Can it be difficult to sit down and get started sometimes? Yeah, sure — just like with *nearly any activity* that requires a little concentration or motivation. But the "woe is me, writing is such agony" shit just needs to stop. 2/2
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 4: Do you ever read back your work and surprise yourself with what you’ve written?
Yes, sometimes.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 4: Do you ever read back your work and surprise yourself with what you’ve written?
Yes, sometimes.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 5: Would any of your stories make good TV shows or movies?
I kind of hope so. I'd love to see my city shamans on either the big or the small screen, if they were done right.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 5: Would any of your stories make good TV shows or movies?
I kind of hope so. I'd love to see my city shamans on either the big or the small screen, if they were done right.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 6: Have you tried creating your own book cover designs? Share your work/attempts.
Oh, hell no, I have not! Visual art is not my forte.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 6: Have you tried creating your own book cover designs? Share your work/attempts.
Oh, hell no, I have not! Visual art is not my forte.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 7: How many stages of editing do you go through? What are they?
I really don't know yet. I'm still messing around with vignettes and haven't started my first draft. I haven't yet discovered what my editing process is like.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 7: How many stages of editing do you go through? What are they?
I really don't know yet. I'm still messing around with vignettes and haven't started my first draft. I haven't yet discovered what my editing process is like.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 8: On a Venn diagram of your writing, what’s the common factor?
I don't understand this question at all. How many circles? What options for the non-overlapping areas?
I just don't think about my writing like this at all.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 8: On a Venn diagram of your writing, what’s the common factor?
I don't understand this question at all. How many circles? What options for the non-overlapping areas?
I just don't think about my writing like this at all.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 9: Tell us about a writer’s block that scuttled a project. Would you like to revisit it?
I'm a baby writer on his first project, so this hasn't happened to me yet.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 9: Tell us about a writer’s block that scuttled a project. Would you like to revisit it?
I'm a baby writer on his first project, so this hasn't happened to me yet.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 10: Who is your narrator
My WIP is an ensemble work (and I expect most of my stories will be; I just prefer multiple viewpoints). The viewpoint is close 3rd person, so the "narrator" is technically impersonal and omniscient, but the viewpoint will be very close to one person for any given scene or chapter. That will usually, but not always, be one of my 5 MCs.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 10: Who is your narrator
My WIP is an ensemble work (and I expect most of my stories will be; I just prefer multiple viewpoints). The viewpoint is close 3rd person, so the "narrator" is technically impersonal and omniscient, but the viewpoint will be very close to one person for any given scene or chapter. That will usually, but not always, be one of my 5 MCs.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 11: How do you market your work?
I don't have anything ready to market yet, and I suck at marketing. Once I have something that could possibly be marketed, I really hope I can find a publisher to handle that for me. (I realize this is a very unlikely thing. But I'm going to give it a shot, and then form a backup plan if and when that one falls through.)
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 11: How do you market your work?
I don't have anything ready to market yet, and I suck at marketing. Once I have something that could possibly be marketed, I really hope I can find a publisher to handle that for me. (I realize this is a very unlikely thing. But I'm going to give it a shot, and then form a backup plan if and when that one falls through.)
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 12: What percentage of your first draft ends up in the trash?
I'm still messing around with pre-first draft stuff, and haven't even properly started my first draft yet. So I have no idea how much of it will get junked and how much will go into the final version.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 12: What percentage of your first draft ends up in the trash?
I'm still messing around with pre-first draft stuff, and haven't even properly started my first draft yet. So I have no idea how much of it will get junked and how much will go into the final version.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 13: How do you organize your writing projects?
I've only got the one project so far. It's a ton of text files in a Git repository. There are top-level files for things like the magic system, groups, plot outline, notes on minor characters (that's one file w/many characters), etc. And there's a characters folder with subfolders for every character who's major enough — not just the 5 MCs, but also the 5 villains, and... 1/2
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 13: How do you organize your writing projects?
I've only got the one project so far. It's a ton of text files in a Git repository. There are top-level files for things like the magic system, groups, plot outline, notes on minor characters (that's one file w/many characters), etc. And there's a characters folder with subfolders for every character who's major enough — not just the 5 MCs, but also the 5 villains, and... 1/2
...roughly a dozen other folks who I hesitate to call "side" characters... maybe "secondary" ones?
Then there's the drafts folder, currently only populated by the draft01 subfolder, which in turn has vignettes, and will also get ch01, ch02... chXX folders with each scene being its own file. There's also an archives folder, for stuff that's become obsolete. 2/2
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...roughly a dozen other folks who I hesitate to call "side" characters... maybe "secondary" ones?
Then there's the drafts folder, currently only populated by the draft01 subfolder, which in turn has vignettes, and will also get ch01, ch02... chXX folders with each scene being its own file. There's also an archives folder, for stuff that's become obsolete. 2/2
Addendum: I see people are also talking about their backup regimes, and I firmly believe that should be considered a *de rigueur* part of writing and conversations about it. In software development, the common attitude is that if something isn't in source control, it doesn't exist. I'd like to see writers come to the consensus that if you don't have a backup of something, you might as well not have written it yet. (Maybe that should be digital-only; stuff that's... 3/2
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Addendum: I see people are also talking about their backup regimes, and I firmly believe that should be considered a *de rigueur* part of writing and conversations about it. In software development, the common attitude is that if something isn't in source control, it doesn't exist. I'd like to see writers come to the consensus that if you don't have a backup of something, you might as well not have written it yet. (Maybe that should be digital-only; stuff that's... 3/2
...written longhand in a notebook is way less fragile than something that's only on a single hard drive.)
Anyway. I did mention in part 1 of this that the stuff is in a Git repository. The canonical instance of that repo is on a server I rent from Tornado VPS hosting: https://tornadovps.com/. I check out a copy onto my own laptop, but the place I do so is inside my Dropbox directory, which means every time I hit "save", my changes are immediately backed up on Dropbox. 4/2
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...written longhand in a notebook is way less fragile than something that's only on a single hard drive.)
Anyway. I did mention in part 1 of this that the stuff is in a Git repository. The canonical instance of that repo is on a server I rent from Tornado VPS hosting: https://tornadovps.com/. I check out a copy onto my own laptop, but the place I do so is inside my Dropbox directory, which means every time I hit "save", my changes are immediately backed up on Dropbox. 4/2
(I keep checking to see if they're trying to push AI "features" on me, but haven't seen any yet. So that's not an issue ATM.)
That means I have 2 *off-site* backups at any given moment. I also have an external USB hard drive, and a habit-tracking app on my phone that reminds me to make a backup at least every 3 days. I've written a DOS batch script that backs up a bunch of things for me with a single click; naturally my writing is on that list. 5/2
Gli ultimi otto messaggi ricevuti dalla Federazione
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@gian_d_gian @cagliari Cosa? 😂
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Un numero, a mio parere, spaventoso. E che io 56enne capisco solo superficialmente. In Italia 200mila #hikikomori, impatto maggiore su ragazze tra i 13-15 anni https://www.rainews.it/articoli/2026/03/in-italia-200mila-hikikomori-impatto-maggiore-su-ragazze-tra-i-13-15-anni-la-ricerca-e913dc31-50f6-4d0d-8f2d-46fdf36d91c2.html
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@timbray my previous job was building greenhouse gas inventories.
Data centres are responsible for about 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. AI is responsible for about 15% of the data centre emissions, or about 0.15% of global emissions.
People who talk about AI burning up the planet don't spend a lot of time thinking about what's really burning up the planet: fossil fuels for transportation and heating, deforestation, and cattle.
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> do not take a lot of power
@raphael ... any more...
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@timbray When a new data centre is built it will take resources from the utility or add its own new generation. In the Bad Place (and many other places) this means it's likely adding new fossil fuel consumption infrastructure and increasing carbon emissions. Until recently that country was matching growth in utility generation with renewables: growth was 'green'. That has changed due to their stupidity and due to unregulated new generation like Musk's data centre(s) etc.
It's a bit dumb to say cars are worse because while yes they are, in sane countries we are starting to manage that problem well with electrification, changes to the fleet.
New data centres are generally bad, because they are designed to generate slop for the enrichment of the already very harmfully wealthy class and because they require new power generation that is almost certainly not coming from renewables.
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@timbray Is it just me, or do the guys doing the calculations on "entire energy consumption for an LLM programmer versus a human programmer" seem worryingly close to declaring that entire subsections of the population aren't worth the energy consumption, could be replaced by "AI", and would happily suggest culling them as if the only value of a person is lines of code generated 😐
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@timbray That number for LLM energy is bullshit, and the source in that thread appears to be something Sam Altman blogged, who as we know is someone who never just makes stuff up. (His post reads like ChatGPT voice, which of course it is) There is some severe weaseling be off by at least an order of magnitude—maybe the average query is "What day is it". Non-trivial queries light up 5-10kW of rack and that runs for significantly longer than seconds. This is roughly the same as a moving EV car.
