Writing Club - August 2025

Hi folks, and welcome to writing club update number 14 (fourteen!). Opening up to page 14 of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles we find this paradoxically stark and effusive description of a coming storm. Or perhaps all coming storms:

It was like those days when you heard a thunderstorm coming and there was the waiting silence and then the faintest pressure of the atmosphere as the climate blew over the land in shifts and shadows and vapors. And the change pressed at your ears and you were suspended in the waiting time of the coming storm.
[...]
And then the storm. The electric illumination, the engulfments of dark wash and sounding black fell down, shutting in, forever.

Being as much of my bioregion is currently in the middle of a month-long drought, we could do with a "dark wash" right now. I hope you've had a decent amount of rain wherever you are, and if you're also in a drought, I wish for both of us a big beautiful storm soon!

Speaking of welcome deluges, here are our wonderful writers:

Hopefully your writing has felt more like a deluge than a drought, but even the latter can be constructive in its own way. This also goes to any visitors not on this list (welcome!): please feel welcome to reply and comment with your own thoughts and projects!

30 comments

Hi! I've been painting and writing poetry lately. I finally have my office fully set up (only took me a year...). It has been really nice having a space dedicated to being creative.
The school year is starting back up, so I'll be working again starting tomorrow. It might be good for my writing if I can make it part of my daily routine. So my goal for this month is to write every day & hopefully establish that habbit for the year :)
My streach goal is to complete a chapter of one of the larger projects I've been working on.
I hope everyone enjoys the transition into fall -- I know I'm excited for the cool weather and changing leaves.
- Omgosh, you did it! Congrats on getting your office fully set up. I know the thought-tax of a lingering task, which while not urgent or even strictly necessary, is a to-do that never gets cleared. So yeah, great job. :)
  Eager to hear if a daily routine emerges for you. I've had the beginnings of them myself, but never for long enough to become a genuine habit. That would be so cool, though--to sit to write as casually as one sidles up to a bathroom sink to brush their teeth. The dream!
  Also painting and poetry??! Jealous! What kind of painting and what sort of poetry have you been up to?
  
  Thanks! It definetly feels good to be moved into my house and kind of done with renovation stuff.
  And I do watercolor and ink paintings, and most of my poetry is free form naturalist stuff :) maybe ill share a pic if I make something I'm proud of. Fingers crossed ill be productive this month lol

My writing drought continues, while my "ideas list" ballooons! Actually, I had the good fortune to meet two different writers on two different social outings just last week, thus providing a solid checkmark in the "cons" column of my career aspiration of becoming a full-time misanthrope. It was really motivating hearing other people gush about writing, and in addition to motivating me to write more, reminded me to post this writing club update!
I feel like my ideas are getting antsy--that if I don't enunciate them soon they will rebel and strike me with a fey mood, or maybe even that I'll become possessed by one of my ideas! Actually, this comment is a perfect example of creativity seeping into the rest of my text: my normal, everyday writing becomes stranger and more flowery the longer I go without a creative outlet hahahaa.
PS. My goal for the month will be super broad: write and share any one of my ideas.
- while my “ideas list” ballooons
  I can guarantee that this is the eternal burden regardless of writing droughts! It might feel bad, but look at the positives: your brain is still active and ready to create. It would be ten times worse if you kept writing with an empty ideas' list.
  Also, please share those ideas! I'd love to join in the brainstorm and bounce them around.
  
  Thanks! I have actually experienced an empty ideas list before (when working a lot of overtime), and you're right it is awful wanting to be creative, but finding you have no ideas. It can take a while to recover from that kind of creative impotence--but always worth the effort!!!
  As for ideas, I may as well share the freshest one. This one is very raw / totally unworked. It came to me--very rudely--just as I was finally falling asleep, but I grumbled to myself and went and wrote it down. Then I forgot all about it until just now when I opened my notepad. It goes like:
  All the world is an art gallery--or a subterranean or extra/inter-dimensional gallery is discovered (Piranesi style?). Like it goes on forever, or is too much in some way that challenges our notions...
  Now that I think of it, this seems like it was obviously influenced by the outpouring of creative content from nebulous or inhuman sources that is possible with LLMs and image generators. And then maybe grappling with that concept. Maybe there's something to it, and maybe there's not. I'm not sure yet, since it is still so raw I have no idea how I would express it.
- Please try not to become possessed 😱 think of the children, we should keep demon possessions away from the mod team haha.
- Oooo its always nice to meet other writers in real life. I've found it really helps with inspiration and motivation.
  And hopefully the dam breaks and you get a huge out pouring of creativity soon! Sometimes the drought really does come before the storm
  
  Sometimes the drought really does come before the storm
  🙏🙏🙏
  Actually, just in reading everyone's comments for this writing club update, I got inspired to jot down an indulgent little poem (it's about layoffs if you can't tell, hehe), so maybe that is the first few opening drips in a coming storm!

Goals:
There’s a writing conference in the big town down the road that represents civilization in these rural parts at the end of this month. Sadly, I have responsibilities that conflict and I won’t be in attendance. But the draw of this conference is that it lets local writers pitch to lots of publishers. This makes me want for a more coherent collection of publishable materials and “elevator” summations of the same. So I should prioritize getting my ducks lined up -for the next opportunity. Also, I’ve just got out of the habit of writing on the regular. Some more consistency would be great.
About me: I’ve been a broadcaster, journalist and lots of other stuff. I’ve spent some time penning some non-fiction on health and culture -none of it published, but I hope to update and edit and even self-publish if necessary. More recently I’ve worked on some speculative fiction regarding technological unemployment and knock-on effects and some Kilgore Trout sort of prompts. I write inconsistently around some absurd life -as I suspect lots of us do.
- You make your hometown sound enticing and wondrous! And your other activities too. Glad to have you here, and I hope you get your shot with publishers one day, if that's what you're looking for.
  
  Thank you! There are upsides to living in the Appalachian boonies for sure, but everything is pretty far away.
- conference that lets local writers pitch to lots of publishers
  Man I'd love such a thing in my area! Provided that I don't write in this country's language (yet), so it might still be challenging. But at least it's a great way to know fellow authors!
  Also welcome here! I'm very interested in that technological unemployment topic, and coincidentally I've read an interesting overview by Uncanny Magazine just this morning! Hopefully you find some inspiration and discussion around here 😄
  
  Thank you! Appreciate the article!
- Great goals, and that's nice that you have a relevant conference nearby - by the sounds of it, as a regular event you can plan around, even. Also, your background sounds like it would have exposed you to a lot of interesting raw material to write about!
  I think many of us are with you on the goal of building a consistent habit of writing - that seems to be the gold standard for writers: that if you can actually produce words consistently, all else follows.
  Actually you've inspired me - I'm going to open a text file and see what comes out right now.
  Welcome to the writing club!
  
  Thank you!
  I was impressed and surprised to find such a resource this close to home. Some talented writers in the Huntington, WV area are really doing a service to their community.
  Hope your session was fruitful!

Always loved Bradbury. Understand he's got a birth anniversary this week. Also think of The Long Rain when we've had unending rain and storms.
How does one become part of this group? I write in fits and starts and could use some accountability.
- How does one become part of this group? I write in fits and starts and could use some accountability.
  It sounds like you've just become a member 😍 welcome.
- How does one become part of this group? I write in fits and starts and could use some accountability.
  Membership is just a matter of showing up! So just by saying hello, you're half-way there. Next up would be setting some kind of goal for next month's post, and taking an interest in what the other writers are up to--the more you comment on their goings-ons the more likely it is that you get some comments of your own when you have something to share. ;)
  PS. There really is no other voice like Bradbury's. Always loved his prose. And wow you're right -- 105th anniversary just this Friday! Good spot!
  PPS. If you share a goal, I'll try to send a reminder/encouragement before posting the next update, but at minimum I DM everyone to let them know when a new writing club post has dropped.

It's lovely to meet up with everyone again, and to read what y'all are up to!
I've done some small but in overall volume substantial edits and tweaks to my superhero'ish mage student series. I haven't drafted anything new, but I've been thinking through some fixes regarding representation, and I've been busy on the art side in a different way. I've also been working on music related to the book series, and I made big progress on that front this month, and some other art ideas for the series.
My tech obligations kept me from jumping right back into proper drafting, but this way I'm keeping the universe fresh in my mind until I have a schedule better suitable for drafting again.
- Oooh art! I love how multimedia you're getting with this project - writing, art, and music. It sounds like a great way to give yourself lots of different creative outlets for whenever you have time to work on the project.
  What was your plan when you decided to do more than writing? Art makes sense (I'm assuming cover art), but I would have never thought to make music associated with my own writing. Do you listen to music while reading usually?
  
  I listen to music while writing, not so much when reading. But I used to make music even before I got into writing novels, and I won't stop creating music pieces for fun, so doing some specifically for the books was just a natural fit. And it helps me feel like the book universe is more real and multifaceted!

As usual I'm the late poster here, for good reason this time!
Done this month:
Fixed and translated Kanteletar's first section to English
Semi-planned another story for Meteorina
Sketched a setting for a tidally locked planet with a metal-heavy crust
To be done in September:
(Re)plan Kanteletar's second section (I had a sketch but I would like to pivot to something more focused on how the library becomes collectively shaped by the visitors in time)
Maybe write the planned Meteorina story? Usually I wrote those to be (tentatively) submitted to magazines, but since the rate of rejection is so high I kinda gave up on that front 😅
Hopefully your summers have been good, and since I'll have plenty of train commutes I'd love to read something from you! DM me stuff you'd like advice or feedback on 😄
- I like your lists. I feel like you must have a very organized process for your tasks.
  Maybe write the planned Meteorina story? Usually I wrote those to be (tentatively) submitted to magazines, but since the rate of rejection is so high I kinda gave up on that front 😅
  Totally understand the exhaustion of rejection, but alsooo....nevergiveup!!!! Rejection is part of the process. It's like doing exercises at the gym. 😁 Anyway, I can't really lecture--I'm a total coward when it comes to submitting to magazines, online or otherwise. I really admire your dedication and your output.
  Hopefully your summers have been good, and since I’ll have plenty of train commutes I’d love to read something from you! DM me stuff you’d like advice or feedback on 😄
  This is some great motivation. Honestly as hard as it is to write, it can be just as hard to get people to read it. Hopefully myself and/or some other writing club members can take you up on this offer! :))))
  
  Thank you!!
  I started doing lists during the quarantine period in order to keep me on track and never let myself forget or postpone things, and by now I have incorporated them in my autism 😄
  As for the reading others' works, after many months of hearing everyone's projects, of course I got curious! And I want to interact more directly with people here, so maybe that's a good way to start 👀

I've been making good progress on the campaign - I did a review of the first five sections (two more to go) and received a ton of help from a couple new folks who started reading and commenting and copyediting those sections. They caught a ton of stuff! I'm so glad they helped because I would almost certainly have sent it out the door with some of those problems.
I also wrote up a new section on Beaver Dam Analogs.
I also got a copy of the groundwater contaniminant map Andrew was making and made the tweaks I wanted to get a finished version. We're both quite pleased with how it turned out.
- Even one of these would make for an impressive month! And as always, rooted in real and practical education, as I've come to see as characteristic of your creative projects. :)
  
  Thanks! The education bit is really important to me! I want this thing to teach about the region but also a lot about the kind of work we'll need to do to fix all the types of damage our society has caused.
  My next step is a map the players might receive if they talk to the right person, intended to show the flow of groundwater.
  
  It's kinda hard to parse but it's based on some real maps showing this kind of thing. Ideally that kinda turns the challenge of figuring out a science/industry specific convention as a layperson into a game puzzle. My favorite game mechanics are stuff like this, sort of funhouse mirror versions of real life tools and processes, where you're getting something useful even if you don't know it.
  Andrew made this one through some arcane process I don't really understand: he "wrote 27,004 angles and 27,004 magnitudes in two separate csv files one-by-one and had Python plot them with matplotlib." I'm just going to use GIMP to select and rotate a few to match a few changes we made.

30 comments