ClaraBlackInk

Writer, Artist and Bookdragon with a varied interest in science, history, humanities, biology, technology, food and books.

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npub12t0g4vh6dg9t7cp3gtmz35kzxxqgd20hhl4k95yjprkes6j664lsuaasud

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clarablackink_at_writing.exchange@mostr.pub

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nprofile1qqs99h52ktax5z4lvqc59a3g6tprrqyx48mml6mz6zfq3mvcdfdd2lcpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43q78uny3

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relay.mostr.pub

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Last Notes

2024-06-11 12:57:59

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@npub1xyj…6rzz Those are beautiful 💖

2024-06-08 05:36:16

#WritersCoffeeClub June 8
Do you agree with Michael Moorcock, who said: "Ignore all proffered rules and create your own, suitable for what you want to say"?
Not especially.
I think it is usually necessary to learn the rules in order to understand how people will receive your message and then break/ignore rules in ways that help to underscore what you're attempting to say.
Rules get a bad name because people see them as obstacles rather than parameters. Parameters help to define meaning.

2024-06-02 10:38:06

#WritersCoffeeClub June 2: Do you have any regrets as a writer, or do you never look back?
I always look back into the past. It's what gives me a deeper appreciation and knowledge in the present and helps me make decisions that honor the future.
Regret is an extremely useful tool.
My main regrets as a young writer relate to how serious I was, it made me work through everything stoically until I burned out. And I judged myself harshly for that and led to a full on "writer's block" for years.

2024-05-13 10:04:33

#WritersCoffeeClub May 13 - When does AI cross the line between helpful tool and problematic tech for writing and publishing?
When it's used as a tool to silence creativity, suppress imagination and limit humans from accessing catalogs of knowledge to connect with our humanity.

2024-03-22 14:28:41

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@npub1qzc…yetl Pure and simple, competing for profit is the problem.
If you could only be powerful as a result of tending to the most beautiful and functional environment, having the most biodiversity and having a populous that is educated in ways that enrich that environment then we'd likely have a system that actively works towards those ends.
The problem is that we reward the people who can get things to us the cheapest and theft is pretty cheap if you can get away with it.

2024-03-06 18:01:26

Today while journaling I was exploring something I wanted to share about #writing and why some of us don't rush to publish.
There's this idea that people are "precious" with their work and sometimes this is an on point accusation.
But, people's brains process things differently and I think the more recent publishing environment doesn't give room for the idea that some writers need years to mentally work through their work.
#WritingDiscussion

2024-03-06 14:57:31

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@npub1hyk…3p33 As a young Anthropology student I recall being particularly impressed by the distillation of the idea that potlatches (where abundant resources were gathered and some were burned up at the end) were ways that some leaders in certain environments displayed their wealth.
The act itself made no sense without the concept that there's a psychology within humans where we're essentially so impressed with richness that seems abundant enough to destroy...

2024-03-06 09:34:57

#WritersCoffeeClub 3-6: What five things do you need to be a writer?
What I personally need: rest, cats, tea, journals and my favorite pens.
What I think writers in general need: time, curiosity, perseverance, enough ego to believe in your story and a bit of masochism.

2024-03-05 15:12:20

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@npub125j…hlwy @npub1ugp…cz6m @npub1hyk…3p33 @npub17x7…naa8 Navigating exclusively by driving doubles this effect. When you walk a lot you observe little details (because it's actually possible to do so) and so when you do use maps you take them as only vague guides to locations. There's always missing details on a map, even the best ones necessarily have to leave out details.
Delivery drivers have so little time to linger and learn. It's a real loss.

2024-02-28 14:35:41

Yesterday's #writing session was this wonderful culmination of everything I've been working on since January. It's actually harder to get going today because of that.
Also just a lot of random head garbage going on so the only remedy is to get some #journal time in.

2024-02-25 09:59:30

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@npub1g0t…tvm4 @npub1kt3…5004 I think there's this weird missing piece in the puzzle, books ARE wealth. Full stop.
They represent genuine riches and enrichment. The main absurdity of a book that is never intended to be read is that it's like having a pile of money you do nothing with. It ends up being just paper.
A large library doesn't have to be constantly thumbed through to have value. Books go out of print & the promise that they can be read is also important. They are available to the curious.

2024-02-24 20:04:49

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@npub1cpp…2uya I think perhaps we've failed over time to teach people how to have this experience.
There's a lot of writing classes and advice that follows on the technical part of it. But very little of what people are exposed to during their education teaches people how to do all this work and to love the confusion, the stumbling and the leaning inherent in the experience.
And it is such a wonderful experience. To discover that your own self has such endless material lying in wait.

2024-02-08 13:10:03

A point about #art being empowering for all rather than being exclusive to any elite world is that it imbues an armor against dehumanization to feel comfortable with art as an observer and as a maker.
My father was always a working artist despite not making much from the effort. It provided him with experiences beyond his labor and gave him a deeper identity than what others labeled him as.
Not all art is in galleries but all labor can be elevated into art. It enriches maker and viewer.

2024-02-08 11:31:55

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@npub1tvm…m9q2 I'm totally biased but the best entry into viewing art at a museum is alongside an artist.
I went to art museums with my dad as a kid and learned how to look at art like he did. He also spent his life working blue collar jobs with a level of artistry that awed his employers.
It's a double shame that so many feel that art is only for the elite. So many people miss out on the personal enrichment and society is lesser for that.

2024-02-06 12:41:02

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@npub1d62…tshf An interesting problem of labor is that humans aren't truly replaceable except in a system that has turned labor activities into essentially mechanical work.
Like, work with any skilled person and there's a dynamism that is never fully replaceable or trainable. When they leave the position, their skill is never replicated fully. But, unskilled workers are usually easily replaced (by design) and over the years companies have over simplified the work for that reason.

2024-01-28 10:04:12

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@npub1xrr…nftg @npub18xy…zjz6 @npub1hyk…3p33 My favorite forced arbitration contracts are from doctors' offices. One terrible doctor I had sent me one of those and I was out after that.
I just don't think it's a good sign for your doctor to say that you need to waive that right. It feels (right or wrong) that it indicates practices worth suing over are happening so regularly that they just need you to sign away any right to pursue it.
I've had plenty of doctors who never made me sign that clause.

2024-01-25 15:11:03

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@npub19fc…ay3c Rich in what?
Health?
Time?
Love?
Peace?
Etc.
It's always assumed "rich monetarily" and then that you can buy all you want to be rich in. But, unless you're born into rich it's usually about chasing something you could find more easily without the requisite greed.

2024-01-10 08:25:34

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@npub1yk6…4zz4 It semed like so many processes were active in one place and fostered a curiosity in me that I think is somewhat impossible without abandoned places.
There's something important to having places people don't touch or tour regularly. Abandoned places gesture towards history and invite us to understand why beautiful things fall apart or are left to nature.
But I also like the analogy of abandoned places gesturing towards the life cycle of humans too.

2024-01-10 08:20:17

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@npub1yk6…4zz4 That's a beautiful way to articulate it.
The area I grew up in had a few overgrown/abandoned places so it's always seemed natural to some extent to live beside and around places that (for any number of reasons) aren't being utilized as they once were. I only say "utilized" because often there's value in leaving artifacts of the past unused for any purpose. There were rock surfaces once used for processing acorns in the same area as an abandoned truck that fascinated me.

2024-01-02 10:27:59

#WritersCoffeeClub 2: Do you have other artistic leanings? How do these affect your writing?
Visual arts with a preference for watercolor. Used to make digital art in the early 2000s but I like the physical connection I get from traditional art.
I've spent a lot of time around musicians and had some vague interest in singing but I prefer appreciating over making music.
I find that connecting to other modes of creative expression helps me write. It works different muscles and refills the well.

2023-12-31 09:29:21

#WritersCoffeeClub 31. Will you be writing today? How do you feel about your writing journey over the last year?
I might journal. I may write if there's something I can't let go of.
But, I've gotten in the habit of planning to do very little on the last and first days of the year in an effort to sit with the quiet. All the other days are busy enough.
It's been a good writing year on the whole in terms of finally being able to reprioritize writing after two big moves.

2023-11-23 08:36:32

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@npub1vkc…0wyj Even the tests don't always help. I don't have a full thyroid, told doctors this and they knew they were supposed to monitor my levels because it was in my chart and also I reminded them constantly.
Mysteriously started having pain, gaining weight despite exercise and diet not changing, was extremely stressed, etc.
Lots of terrible advice later, (years later, several doctors later) medicated at the right dosage. But just, my health suffered so much from them not listening.

2023-11-20 14:05:01

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@npub1y5h…7m3c @npub1sae…dutg @npub1tvq…l6jk I always find the idea that someone "can't art" to be a failure of our educational and social systems.
There are so many ways to art. The biggest thing that makes art is time and a willingness not to give up. Even visually unappealing stuff finds an audience when there's enough passion & truth behind it.
Massive success is iffy sure but AI art won't fix that. If everything can look phenomenal then something else will be the reason for success.

2023-10-18 07:41:54

18. How do you combat writer's block?
I've heard people say that writer's block isn't a thing because you just put your butt in the chair and write.
My own experience is that although that's true, life often creates legitimate blocks (hello chronic illnesses, fatigue, sudden life circumstance changes).
Journaling is my main tool. It helps with a lot with working through the emotional and mental strain of things that keep butt out of chair.
1/3
#WritersCoffeeClub

2023-10-01 10:27:39

1. Intro: Shameless self-promotion. What's your WIP? What's it about?
My main WIP is a series that starts with a mystery, characters haunted by the past, failing to move forward without confronting the past.
#WritersCoffeeClub

2023-09-16 13:07:20

A very beleaguered #Caturday from Grey cat.
Also, a note to those utilizing the alt text, auto complete desperately wanted me to write that Grey cat is squirting at the camera. I want to inform you that this is not the case. Auto complete definitely has no clue what's going on here. But, like any unintentionally funny translation I'm amused.
#CatsOfMastodon #Cats
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/111/074/953/255/581/110/original/5289646002c4edfb.jpg

2023-08-27 12:14:26

I'm currently #reading Asleep by Molly Caldwell Crosby. She mentions literary accounts of mysterious sleeping (ie Rip Van Winkle, Sleeping Beauty) and it got me wondering about current fiction that explores #MECFS and #LongCOVID within the plot. If anyone knows of any (short stories or long form) I'd love to read them.
Nonfiction and personal accounts are all I've encountered but fiction often gets to the heart of things in different ways.
#writing #fiction #books

2023-08-23 15:22:58

It's always funny with #cats when they're cleaning themselves while sitting near you and suddenly lick you. Usually an arm or a leg. And then they momentarily seem concerned about your hygiene, offer another lick or two and then decide that you're a hopeless, relatively hairless mess and give up entirely.
It's as if they're the "this is fine" meme. They know everything is a mess but they just don't have it in them to fix you so they lay nearby and hope you'll figure things out.
#CatsOfMastodon
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/110/939/595/989/115/649/original/6986dcfede622497.jpg

2023-05-30 14:27:46

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@npub15wt…7rek @npub1rge…yrdy I think there's room for moderately bad sex scenes that are kind of cringe.
This scene though...
It's not even a coherent but weird fantasy of what sex might be like. It's a bit surrealist but not in an especially good way.

2023-05-24 19:53:43

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@npub1zdz…tl8u They've recently increased the number of "recommended for you" posts. It's basically unusable in any meaningful way these days unless you're directly on someone's feed.

2023-05-06 18:37:22

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@npub1cpp…2uya Thank you for sharing this, this quite especially drew my attention:
"There is a damning quote, by Canadian author Robertson Davies, that sums up how I feel about so-called “religious” fanatics in a handful of words: Fanaticism is overcompensation for doubt."
There is this nihilism to fanaticism that speaks to a lack of belief or belief too damaged by the pains of the lived world to comprehend how to move forward.

2023-04-29 16:00:10

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@npub1cpp…2uya @npub1wdh…jxfv The blend of artistry and technology is kind of the coolest thing about these.
A friend of mine taught me about his perspectives on this as an American of Middle Eastern heritage. He's very science minded but his art is so methodical and skillful. Beautiful pieces.
I just think it's cool to recognize that math and art aren't seperate things. I feel like it captures the natural world best when the line between the two are blurred.

2022-11-23 08:30:48

One of my favorite #artists is Bobby Jaber: http://www.porcelainia.com/
I was lucky enough to have met him during college. We both tutored for the same class and had a wonderful correspondence for many years.
His art is really the most perfect work I've ever seen in person. His mathematical precision in his work is a thing of ultimate beauty.
#art #science #ceramics #inspiration
https://vimeo.com/71474416