sarahijackson

sarahijackson, 7 months ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 15 Oct: Should writers be honest about their politics online or keep quiet to avoid controversy?

I like to know roughly where people stand. But I do think it's a bit of a false dichotomy because you can be both honest and quiet about your politics online. I'd say that's where I'm at? I don't particularly use mastodon to talk about politics or for my activism, but I don't hide my views and values either ("dismantle the kyriarchy", in a nutshell)

sarahijackson, 9 months ago to random

In a few weeks I'll be starting a new volunteer role where I'll be having conversations about visual artworks with people in residential care settings. I'm really looking forward to it! I love hearing what people find in paintings 🖼

sarahijackson, 7 months ago to random

I wear a white poppy at this time of year, which is an anti-militarism, pro-peace alternative to the red poppy which remembers all victims of war, created by the women's cooperative movement in 1933.

https://www.ppu.org.uk/remembrance-white-poppies

sarahijackson, 7 months ago to random

Went for a walk 😊🌳❤

A forest path with bright sunlight partially hidden by a dark tree trunk
Forest path dappled with sunlight catching orange ferns
Field under a pale blue autumn sky streaked with clouds, two tower blocks silhouetted against low winter sunshine

sarahijackson, 8 months ago (edited 8 months ago) to solarpunk

Hey #solarpunk fans! Please can you point me to any short stories (or books, though I have a few suggestions now) that feature a forest city, or very green city? Descriptions of buildings / structures mingled with trees (intentionally, rather than through neglect) is what I'm after. Thank you!
🌳🏡🌳🏠🌳🏘🌳🏡🌳

sarahijackson, 3 months ago to random

Guess who just learned about sea pens! 🤩

Some fabulous words in their classification info too:

🪸 cnidarians
🪸 pennatulacea
🪸 octocorallia

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_pen

Two orange creatures on a sandy sea bed that look like curled ostrich feathers
A yellow creature on a sandy sea bed with a central stem or spine and fronds coming off it on both sides, this one looks less like a feather and more like an alien
A yellow creature on a sandy sea bed that resembles a quill pen with an ostrich feather

sarahijackson, 5 months ago to random

I went to Wales for a few days and saw some good moody landscapes

A green valley with two twisted, fearless oaks and a row of dark trees behind
A ruined stone tower on a grassy mound, with leaves spilling over its walls
A graveyard with two dark trees framing a rainbow in a grey sky above

sarahijackson, 7 months ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 24 Oct: Are you a book hoarder, or do you sell them/give them away once read?

I do pick up a lot of print books from charity shops and library sales. I'd love to have the space one day to keep all of the ones I might like to refer to or read again, but moving house every year through my 20s and sharing a tiny flat through my 30s meant I had to be quite ruthless. It's mostly been fine but I still regret letting some specific ones go.

sarahijackson, 8 months ago to random

Oh hello vintage Wedgewood plates from the charity shop 🤩

£3 each! I took all six although one is 'crazed'

#MidMod #ThriftStoreFinds #CharityShopFinds

sarahijackson, 13 days ago to random

Sometimes I wish I didn't write historical fiction, there's so much research! Even for my current WIP which is only set in the 1960s. The research is the fun part in many ways (which is why I leave it to the editing stage, otherwise I'd never write a damn thing) but I do find it hard to get a writing flow going sometimes when I'm drafting and every line is like "she wheeled (?) the machine (?) to Mrs Ansell's bedside (?)" 😄

#AmWriting #WritingCommunity

sarahijackson, 9 months ago to random

✨❤🌸 Star Trek feelings 🌸❤✨

sarahijackson, 6 months ago to random

Fighting through a forest of deadlines this week 😑

sarahijackson, 4 months ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 20 Jan: Do you have a blog? Tell us about it.

Enjoyed checking out other folks' blogs! 😊 I blog about writing and our mental and emotional lives, tho I haven't had a chance to write much lately. Here are a few of my favourite posts:

Psychotherapy in science fiction https://sarah-i-jackson.ghost.io/psychotherapy-in-science-fiction/

What do flashbacks feel like? https://sarah-i-jackson.ghost.io/what-do-flashbacks-feel-like/

Ghosts and the writers that love them https://sarah-i-jackson.ghost.io/uk-ghost-story-festival/

Enduring like a tree under the curious stars https://sarah-i-jackson.ghost.io/under-the-curious-stars/

sarahijackson, 2 months ago to random

I was looking for a free alternative to Duolingo and it turns out I can get free self-guided online language courses through the library. Of course I can! Honestly, man. Libraries. Use them, love them, defend them 📚❤️

sarahijackson, 6 months ago to random

Sometimes when I'm feeling a bit stressed I like to stop and think about mossworld, when the planet was covered with moss for millions of years.

sarahijackson, 9 months ago to random

Got my tricycle out to go and meet a friend for a walk in the forest. It was a good day for mushrooms, I saw lots more I didn't photograph!

#fungi #mushtodon #sporespondence

A cluster of flat white toadstools growing out of a layer of dry leaves
Black and orange fungi frills on a black log, with dark crumbled earth underneath

sarahijackson, 7 months ago to sciencefiction

Last chance to sign up for my online speculative fiction course, which starts on Sunday! 🔮

We'll spend 2hrs a week for five weeks exploring different forms of metaphor and how to use horror, science fiction, and fantasy to deliver social commentary 🐉🚀🎃

Places are $75 USD / $102 CAD / £60 GBP. Book here: https://crowcollectiveworkshops.com/2021/11/15/metaphor-2/

#SpeculativeFiction #AmWriting #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #ScienceFiction #Fantasy #Horror #WritingWorkshop #SFF

sarahijackson, 7 months ago to random

Walking around the city in the first rainy week in autumn I always have "All The Umbrellas In London" by Magnetic Fields in my head ☔💔

https://youtu.be/To_lZguVzms?si=U8QN64mpy-z0P2NN

sarahijackson, 9 months ago to random

Quantum computers are so pretty

A computer made of golden discs with wires running in complex patterns between them, blue LED light glows behind it
More golden discs, wires, and also columns and some areas in cobalt blue. This one looks like some kind of medieval reliquary
Close up of a layer between two discs with blue light and many loops of transparent wire

sarahijackson, 5 months ago to random

Eeee just got the proofs of a poem I wrote which is coming out in a journal soon! Especially proud as it's sci-fi, which I find quite challenging as a non-scientist.

sarahijackson, 3 months ago to random

Happy writing news: a rewrite request on a story has turned into an acceptance! 🎉 It's a pro rate market too, and a story that has been turned down almost 30 times. Very pleased it will get its moment in the sun 🌞

sarahijackson, 2 months ago to random

Basilisk facts!

• sometimes a lil snakey guy
• sometimes a giant snake + cockerel mash up, depends who you ask
• can kill you with its eyes
• also its breath
• don't touch it either
• might be wearing a crown
• destroys shrubbery
• can only be defeated by a weasel
• sprinkle basilisk ashes on your silver to turn it into gold!

(image: BL Royal 12 C XIX, f. 63 British Library manuscript collection, apparently)

sarahijackson, 2 months ago to random

I can't remember the last time someone told me to watch The Godfather, or that it's the greatest film of all time, so I think it's time to give it a shot!

sarahijackson, 1 month ago to random

I don't think I've mentioned on here yet that @zenithed and I are getting a civil partnership (getting civilly partnered? partnering civilly?) later this year 🥰🎉 I'm not having a 'hen' or 'stag' do (aka a bachelor/ette party I guess) but I'd like to use the excuse to do something fun with my pals. Any ideas for what to call it? I've heard 'fox party' as a gender neutral alternative, which I don't hate, but would love to hear any other options you've encountered!

sarahijackson, 9 months ago to random

Opened my notebook for the first time in a while and found this. No idea what it was for or where it was going!

#WritingCommunity