I see BookTok reviewers have devalued five stars so much that they have to rate their favourites as six stars now…
Every rating system should devolve to the Reverend Lovejoy binary system:
Yes with an if, No with a but.
#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 18: Have you ever or would you ever do you own cover?
No, I'm neither an artist nor a graphic designer. I can swap out cover art if I'm using the same cover design and make tweaks to make it fit a template, but that's it. I know my limits.
#ScribesAndMakers 18
book covers
I made my own covers out of necessity, not any kind of marketing strategy. Basically, I had one option and took it.
They catch the eye and, besides consistent, provide the series a distinctive design. Beyond that, I have no idea if they’ve ever influenced anyone one way or another.
They are, though, 100% me. No AI. Each book in the series is a different section of a map I drew, each section relevant to its novel.
#ScribesAndMakers Feb 18
Have you ever or would you ever do you own cover?
If it's something I can kitbash, yes. Like for my Star Traveler series, I took NASA photos and put my title and byline on it. But anything more complicated, I hire an artist to do. #writingcommunity
I had the honor of being the first Talk to Me Day participant. It was thrilling crazy day of meeting lots of folks and writing until I couldn't write any more. I love to write, and like attention a lot more than most because IRL I am very shy, but that doesn't mean I don't want to communicate! I'm a bit loquacious, and proud of it! My final drafts are a bit more concise. 😋
If you haven't agreed to participate, I highly recommend it.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#WordWeavers 17
old school writing
There’s a HUGE difference between pen/paper and a typewriter. I know.
With a typewriter? Yes, but I’d be much slower. I’m built for speed, and that includes editing. I can fast-draft on a typewriter (I have), especially an electric, but editing would take much longer.
Pen and paper? Though I keep a writing journal by hand now, it’s unlikely I’d write more than essays and short stories. My hand cramps. Always has.
Judging by what I still listen to these days, yes. I had favorites.
Long ago, it was Motown and The Supremes. Defo 60s. I was a kid. It was the 60s.
I remember becoming aware of Funky Town and transitioning into the beginnings of Alternative and Industrial, That would have been the 80s, maybe the 90s. My CD collection represents this, a collection I don't listen to much anymore.
I skipped the rap craze, still do, but maybe not completely: I do like Faithless and Luscious Jackson, which demonstrates I like a dose musicality (or would that be a toke) with my beat poetry.
What I like now is called House and Progressive and Trance, but most electronica can float my boat. The heyday of that music feels like it was the 2010s. I love this music and attend DJ sessions at conventions. The whole creative aspect of the music scene inspired a number of novelettes.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion #music
I authored many stories, two of which were full-length novels, typewritten on white, powder blue, and awful yellow, all in 1-inch margin manuscript format—which I still have, in a filing cabinet, a locked one, to prove it.
I'd never author anything with pen and paper. The fates augured (at least to my mom) that I'd become a doctor, but I declined, thus I am saddled with impossible-to-read longhand, even when I use a nibbed calligraphy pen. My fingers would immediately develop arthritis to disabuse me of any artistic notions. I'd be covered in ink blots. The tip of my tongue would guarantee I'd be forever forsaken of love.
I could return to using a typewriter. With all that I've learned about editing, I would eschew the whiteout and any attempt to make the initial drafts look good, or—gasp—final. I would instead keep a trusty sharpened pencil beside the steel monstrosity, and cross out liberally, simply typing the corrections as I sally forth. I think I would keep the bottom third of the page blank, drawing a line on every sheet of each newly torn open ream of 20 lb linen to enforce that, so I could draw arrows and retype, or add as quickly as possible so as not to lose the thread of the story. I think it might be possible to power to the end of a story, despite the mistakes and typos and false starts, without attempting anything close to perfection, completing composition much like I complete it now.
Wait!?
Are we talking a manual typewriter, or an electric?
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion #funny #humor #typewriter
Not likely. As a teenager, she might have gotten it for athletics, if they had something like our Olympics, but they don't. At 30, that's still not happening. She's a criminal, and knows it. While she will be amazing and possibly heroic in the future, it's not the type of thing that will earn statues, but she will know and feel proud of the eventual achievement nonetheless. Not in this story, however.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#ScribesAndMakers Feb. 18: Have you ever or would you ever do you own cover?
No, I'm neither an artist nor a graphic designer. I can swap out cover art if I'm using the same cover design and make tweaks to make it fit a template, but that's it. I know my limits.
#ScribesAndMakers 18
book covers
I made my own covers out of necessity, not any kind of marketing strategy. Basically, I had one option and took it.
They catch the eye and, besides consistent, provide the series a distinctive design. Beyond that, I have no idea if they’ve ever influenced anyone one way or another.
They are, though, 100% me. No AI. Each book in the series is a different section of a map I drew, each section relevant to its novel.
#ScribesAndMakers Feb 18
Have you ever or would you ever do you own cover?
If it's something I can kitbash, yes. Like for my Star Traveler series, I took NASA photos and put my title and byline on it. But anything more complicated, I hire an artist to do. #writingcommunity
Just did my mid-month check on sales, and I’m obviously on Amazon’s algorithmic shitlist at the moment, as happens occasionally and AFAICT randomly*. Thankfully I publish wide so I only lose 50% of sales rather than 100%.
It’s funny how the brain adapts, though, it’s only been a few years since I would have been *thrilled* by the sales I do have so far this month, not disappointed. Hedonic treadmill in action!
And on the plus side, some of my less popular books are selling, which generally means someone liked one of my most popular two and is reading the backlist, which is always nice to see 😊
*or perhaps people are finally properly boycotting the fascist billionaire 🎉
Coworker asked why I have a box by my desk.
Me “It has my books. You never know when someone wants to buy a book. Hey [other coworker], you wanna buy a book?” Laugh laugh laugh.
Other Coworker: “Wait, you wrote a book? Yeah I’ll get one!”
So I sold a book.
Always be closing, y’all. 😆
Hello 👋 how are you doing?, How would you describe your writing style?
Ms Rose: If you are not a bot, I apologize. When you send the same question to multiple people without even personalizing it by reading their profile and finding some human connection, your style will have that effect. The effect of coming off as a bot. Bots have been doing this type of engagement for months now, eventually trying to sell some sort of service that turns out to be a scam—and writers are tired of it; so pardon me if I am mischaracterizing you. If your agent or publicist is running this account to give you a Mastodon presence, fire them. Your publisher? Talk to them about ruining your reputation. At this point, despite the spread of pretty books and publishing credits displayed on your profile, I feel someone has put up an AI storefront to masquerade as the author; considering the discussions that are current about this type of thing, if you are the real human you, you might want to act now.
PS: Bad grammar in your original contact question is the best way to signal how genuine you are.
#writersOfMastodon #writingCommunity #writer #author #Bookstodon #ai
One of my upcoming projects, probably in early summer, will be to go through Book-7 of the Kovenlore Chronicles, Wrath of Purpose, and make some key changes.
As I’ve performed the targeted edits of each novel, I’ve gained insight into issues with the last book. They won’t take long, but have to happen.
I’m aiming for right after I publish Book-4 this spring, and am excited about doing it.
#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #AmWritingFantasy #Fantasy #FantasyFiction #Fiction
#WordWeavers Feb 17: Would you still write if you had to use a typewriter or pen and paper?
Yes! My writing process might well change somewhat because both of those are more committing by the time you hit a key or make a mark on the page, but I don't think I couldn't write.
Though I might use an electric typewriter. 🙂
(And I'm one of those weird people who actually consider even my "sloppy" handwriting somewhat decent. A lot of the time, I take notes using pen and paper.)
#WordWeavers Feb 17: Would you still write if you had to use a typewriter or pen and paper?
Does an electronic typwriter count? I have a Freewrite Smart Typer Gen 3 and I have an old college typewriter I bring out sometimes. #writingcommunity
#WordWeavers Feb. 17: Would you still write if you had to use a typewriter or pen and paper?
If computers didn't exist? Sure, that's how I started after all, even if nothing I wrote long-hand was ever published.
#WordWeavers Feb 17: Would you still write if you had to use a typewriter or pen and paper?
Absolutely. Even though typewriter is heavy on the fingers.
My first memory of writing was on my mom's typewriter, one full page! Can't remember my age but it was somewhere in my early to mid teens.
Add to that that writing by hand, with a dip pen, taught me to not rush things but let ideas mature in my head between words AND there is no such thing as "editing while writing".
#WritingCommunity
