The Wordsmith's Forge

The following is a growing reading list for the ReadPalestinianSpecFic challenge. This is a work in progress to create a list of all available Palestinian speculative fiction.

The April crowdfunding Creative Jam is now open with a theme of "Empowerment."  Com give us prompts, or claim some for your own inspiration! 


What I Have Written




From My Prompts

Folks have mentioned an interest in questions and conversations that make them think. So I've decided to offer more of those. This batch features hobbies.

Creative writing is a hobby of storytelling with words. It can be fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and so on. You can keep it to yourself, but lots of people like to share theirs. Nowdays it is easy to do that online.

On Dreamwidth, consider creative communities like allbingo, drabble_zone, eggbug_writes, justcreate , tenminutesaday , or writethisfanfic. There are lots more.

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lestercraft has posted an interesting Inmate Bill of Rights that is much more human than local-American parameters. 

dialecticdreamer is hosting Magpie Monday with a theme of "Apologies." Leave a comment under that post with your prompt, and get a ficlet!

So, let’s take the idea of apologies and run with it. Tell me a setup, and I’ll write an aftermath and apology.

The following poems from the February 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl are currently available. Poems may be sponsored via PayPal -- there's a permanent donation button on my Dreamwidth profile page -- or you can write to me and discuss other methods. There are still verses left in the linkback poems "Pumpkin Spice Prosperity," "Delight in Another," "A Sense of Weather Changes," "Ouroboros Insects," "The Loving Embrace of Night," "Generations of Cooks Past," "Homefree and Clear, " "One Bite at a Time," "Stars and Diamonds," "Mishpocha," "Changing Your Nature," and "Besa."

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For a while now, I've been making posts that list active communities on Dreamwidth. The weekly posts cover different topics, mostly active communities plus a few dormant that could be revived. The seasonal gather posts list all the active communities from the past three months, without the dormant ones, but adding a list of newly created communities from the same timespan. These also include the parameters for the listings.

This seems like a good time to make a masterlist of these resources. Please share widely to help people find communities they'll enjoy on Dreamwidth.

Introduction -- February 4, 2022

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The Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED. Thank your for your time and attention. Please keep an eye on this page as I am still writing.

Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "Cozy Coping Skills." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.

I'll be soliciting ideas for caregivers, first responders, counselors, clergy, outreach workers, activists, volunteers, teachers, parents, college students, bohemians, comares, superheroes, supervillains, other people who teach or use coping skills, meditating, crafting, playing music, forest bathing, relaxing, volunteering, supporting people in hard times, offering crash space, helping someone move, BookCrossing, yarnbombing, planting trees, creating intimacy, making friends, getting to know each other, cooking together, discovering things, improvising, adapting, cooperating, bartering, sharing, fixing what's broke, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, Triton Teen Centers, the Peace Store, charities, homeless shelters, sobering centers, mentor circles, support groups, churches, sharehouses, intentional communities, other polyhomes, life skills or family departments in schools, clubs, quiet rooms, inclusive workplaces, Thalassia, the Maldives, parks, community gardens, other peaceful hangouts, self-compassion, healthy touch, intentional neighboring, altruism, harm reduction, diversity, inclusivity, safety pin peace signs, interfaith work, family dynamics, alternative family structures, partnerships not based on sex/romance, emotional closeness, homemaking, hygge, hot tea or cocoa, comfort food, interspecies relationships, vivaria, trial and error, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.


34 Fuzzy Products To Make Your Life A Bit Cozier
35 Cozy Things For Every Room In Your Home
100 Simple Cozy Moments to Enjoy
150 Random Acts of Kindness
200 Coping Skills by Topic


Currently eligible bingo card(s) for donors wishing to sponsor a square:

Aesthetics Bingo Card 4-1-25


Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

An Army of One has neurodiverse characters coping with life in space.

Arts and Crafts America largely copes with challenges using creativity.

The Blueshift Troupers take care of themselves and each other while traveling the galaxy helping colonies solve problems.

Clay of Life has a lot of cozy coping moments between a blacksmith and a golem.

Daughters of the Apocalypse requires coping skills for survival.

Frankenstein's Family encourages coziness and companionship over torches and pitchforks.

The Moon Door features a women's chronic pain support group, which is all about being gentle with each other.

Peculiar Obligations has Quakers, who are good at coping skills.

Polychrome Heroics is largely about self-care and people helping people. Threads particularly focused on this include Antimatter and Stalwart Stan, Aquariana, the Big One, Iron Horses, Officer Pink, Rutledge, and Trichromatic Attachments.

Quixotic Ideas is fantasy with a high level of competence and compassion.

Schrodinger's Heroes save the world from alternate dimensions, and they take care of each other.

Or you can ask for something new.

Linkbacks reveal a verse of any open linkback poem.

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I have made bingo down the O column of my 3-1-25 card for the Tolkien Bingo Fest, plus 5 extra fills.

O1 (tears) -- "Weeping Over the Trail They Almost Walked" (The Bear Tunnels)
O2 (shadows) -- "A Darkness Over Democracy" (standalone)
O3 (Old Forrest) -- "Once the Avalanche Has Begun" (One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis)
O4 (secrets) -- "An Interest in the Affairs of Your Government" (Polychrome Heroics: The Big One)
O5 (mountains) -- "The Tranquility and Beauty of the Winter Landscape" (Polychrome Heroics: Rutledge)

B3 (dragons) -- "Staring into the Dragon's Maw" (A Conflagration of Dragons)

N5 (the last ship) -- "Sisters of the Once Snow" (Daughters of the Apocalypse)

G3 (wisdom) -- "The Daughters of Entropy" haiku collection
G4 (fight) -- "The Intrusive Thumb of Male Privilege" (Polychrome Heroics: Shiv)
G5 (There's some good in this world and it's worth fighting for) -- "The Bones of Chihuly" (Polychrome Heroics: The Big One)

The following poems from the February 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl are currently available. Poems may be sponsored via PayPal -- there's a permanent donation button on my Dreamwidth profile page -- or you can write to me and discuss other methods. There are still verses left in the linkback poems "Qui Gatta Ci Cova," "Pumpkin Spice Prosperity," "Delight in Another," "A Sense of Weather Changes," "Ouroboros Insects," "The Loving Embrace of Night," "Generations of Cooks Past," "Homefree and Clear, " "One Bite at a Time," "Stars and Diamonds," "Mishpocha," "Changing Your Nature," and "Besa."

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