@deb.deberelene.com
Writer, mum, general dog's body at work & around home. π³πΏππ΄πΆ https://linktr.ee/DebEHowell Leftie. Hopeless idealist. Boring AF Middle-aged Cis-Het White Woman (BUFFER). Also on: https://mastoart.social/@debehowell Not looking for random DMs.
If you feel like this - so many of us do...get five people to check their enrolment online.
Hint: type your address manually, do not use the auto fill as - for me - it skewed the result...
vote.nz/enrolling/en...
Now a complete series (if you don't mind helping me with alpha-reading book 3). How about that?
Part of me has wondered if I'd ever get here, at times.
Looking forward to diving into Guardians & Guides, now β¦ (my reward for completion is to begin)
www.royalroad.com/fiction/4260...
Will I finally type 'The End' on this series tomorrow?
All going well, I just might.
Le sigh.
Don't we all just love snap judgements based on a moment in time.
Hey.
Tell people when they do good job.
When you like the stuff they make.
When you like the characters theyβve created.
The stories theyβve told.
Nobody hears it as often as you think bc everyone thinks everyone hears it all the time.
Trust. They donβt.
Tell. Them.
My books remain free in online form. Ream is one place you can find them.
Ream is like Patreon, but specifically for books (including those NSFW gems). This week, they're running the Ream Raid, to help Readers find Writers. I haven't figured out where I want to fully settle myself online, but I've dipped my toe in at Ream. reamstories.com/shelf/mbv7i9...
Barry continues to be epic. Every video he hits the nail square on the head.
youtu.be/sS33crOQvrM
π Exciting News! (?) π My book, Healer's Touch, remains FREE on Ream from February 14-21, 2026 as part of the #ReamRaid event! π Discover amazing stories and support indie authors. Check it out here: reamstories.com/shelf/mbv7i9... #ReamRaid #FreeBooks #IndieAuthors
Great news! The debut poetry collection by KΔi Tahu writer, musician, and NZ Arts Laureate Ariana Tikao is coming out 16 April. It's called Pepeha Portal, and will be published by Otago University Press Β· Te Whare TΔ o ΕtΔkou Whakaihu Waka.
oup.nz/library/pepe... #pukapuka #booksky ^DR
You will have a machine arrange words in a rhythm for you a thousand, thousand times, and think yourself beyond my one tale. But each of my words is from a thousand, thousand moments, placed and arranged to share the essence of what it is to be. You will look back on your 'creation' with despair, too late. I will tell another tale.
Inspired by recent AI-'writer' nonsense going around the 'net. Image is text-only, alt-text has full content.
#noAI #writingcommunity
"The only good situations I've ever found were when everyone went in with high ideals and low expectations."
#amwriting
#WIPSnips & we're well into the 9th here, so here's my entry for Select.
Written a couple of years ago, now, but feels weirdly relevant today.
Sorry for spoilers for earlier books, but I figure you've read them or won't, so all good, eh?
www.royalroad.com/fiction/42601
#Booksky #Romantasy π³πΏπ
Suffering internal bleeding following this particular incident doesn't mean that this particular incident was the cause of the internal bleeding β¦ interesting choice of words.
#WIPSnips 14th January '26: Current
#BookSky #FantasyBooks #RoyalRoad
www.royalroad.com/fiction/4260...
#WIPSnips 13th Jan: Reflex
I didn't have "tentacle", unless I'd gone for 'arm', I guess. So going full dramatic today.
#BookSky #PukaPuka #RoyalRoad #Fantasy
NZ Govt to remove power for parents to get exemption from school attendance if kid is under 10YO + school is 3km, or kid older but school 5km or more away. Handy if no car + bus cancelled. #NZpol
S44
www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2...
Subs by 11.59pm 14 Jan
www3.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/mak...
The cover of The Rise with a bunch if effusive quotes.
1 month today until THE RISE... rises. Have you got your pre-order in? Find the ebook and paperback wherever you buy books (or pre-order directly from me at alanbaxter.com.au ) Please help me spread the word. π€
#WelcomeToTheGulp #Booksky
I have wanted to start editing for a bit but was nervous about putting myself out there. At the encouragement and prodding of some friends, I've decided to offer my editing services via ko-fi.
If you are wanting someone to take a look at your work who will NOT use AI, hit me up!
#writingcommunity
god i love it when people kinda slap
Playing #WIPSnips for 11th January 2026: Climb
Jonas having a bit of a crisis β¦
#PukaPuka #BookSky
Speculative Fiction Authors of New Zealand 4 Days left to Enter Te Pae Tawhiti Submit your entry https://tepaetawhitiawards.nz/how-to-enter/ There is a QR code down the centre, bottom of the image with four books and lots of octopus tentacles and stars for the sea and starry sky distant horizons the award is named after. And a copyrightlicensingnz logo on the bottom right corner.
We're officially in the final countdown! 4 days left!
tepaetawhitiawards.nz/how-to-enter/
Authors of Aotearoa & the Pacific Islands, if your work is Fantasy, Scifi or Horror & was published in 2025, you need to hurry to enter Te Pae Tawhiti, New Zealand's premier judged speculative fiction awards
Phew, what a year! Quite possibly the biggest year I've done in terms of word countsβand it was all for one (still unfinished) project π«
#2025wrapped #YearInReview #EndofYearWrap #authorlife
Sigh. What's most annoying is that if a real person wrote this as a review, I'd be chuffed. Somehow, they've identified themes in the book I *hope* people find there, which may mean I succeeded in putting them in the book β¦
In the old days, people would write reviews for free.
My gosh. My excitement at another AI generated email telling me how amazing the second book in my series is and how it deserves a bigger audience.
See how excited I am?
OK, I admit, I haven't read it. I just saw the Subject and made a guess.
Aotearoa Te Waipounamu & anyone with a connection to Εtepoti: health equity/community solidarity
Please sign & share this petition
Sam set it up in memory of his wife, Sheralyn
Petition is advocating for 24/7 access to the catheterisation lab at Dunedin Hospital
β¦ but it's also the most any of us can hope for in the modern age.
I don't know β¦ Do you feel that way about other people's snips or prompt answers?
You're not trying to force anyone to feel anything, unless you're standing over them yelling at them to care.
Putting something out in the world & getting 0 or only empty responses is pretty soul destroying β¦
But if you're writing what you would like to read, then there *will* be readers out there also looking for a similar story.
But they will just as easily find something else to read if you decide writing isn't for you π That's the one question you do have to answer. Do *you* need to write? For you?
The quieter works that really explore the human condition? Readers want them. Publishers might be too risk averse to take a chance on them, though, so we have this disconnect. When all the noise seems to be for stories unlike yours, it's so hard to keep swimming against the current.