Paul Dixon

Paul Dixon

@pauldixon.bsky.social

By day: Mild-mannered climate geek working to decarbonize the power grid. By night: SF&F Author of Carpathians and more! Links: Owlskirk: https://a.co/d/5DE3Nq8 Carpathians: https://a.co/d/6lYc08V Starfall: https://a.co/d/hR5yHbL

899 followers566 following1.2K posts

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Paul Dixon
@pauldixon.bsky.social

From Sunfall, which is available at last! This completes the Ethereal Cycle. It began as a pandemic project, a way to write down the stories my daughter and I told walking in the woods. Now it's a finished trilogy. Wild. #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

✨#WIPSnips✨ A Daily Writing Share Tag@wipsnips.bsky.social

Sweeter than honey... The #WIPSnips word for May 15 is "honey" #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

Paul Dixon reposted

Jordan Kurella De Vil
@jordankurella.com

hey all i dont know what authorsdaily dot com is? but they have an "Interview" with me posted that i - never gave - is full of lies - has my wrong pronouns - is full of things i dont do - or would never say? so i emailed them and told them to take it down but jfc, i am tired

Paul Dixon reposted

Jesse Thorn
@jessethorn.bsky.social

My pal Danielle Koenig shared that her father Walter Koenig passed away last night at age 90. A performer whose kindness and warmth shone through the screen. He will be well remembered.

Paul Dixon
@pauldixon.bsky.social

From Second Carpathians #WIPsnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

✨#WIPSnips✨ A Daily Writing Share Tag@wipsnips.bsky.social

Welcome to spooky week for #WIPSnips! The #WIPSnips word for October 26th is "claustrophobia" Remember, use synonyms, variations or ✨vibes✨ if you don't have the word! #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

Paul Dixon
@pauldixon.bsky.social

Writing, when going well, is a flow state, almost a trance. Which feels like it is getting harder to maintain these days! But which, I promise, is the one thing that can never be replaced by "prompt engineering". Pfft. It's all about the journey, my friends. #pretendpanel #writingcommunity

Kara Moon 🏴‍☠️💜⚓️@karamoonauthor.com

Maybe there will be a lot of crossover today, #pretendpanel , or maybe not. Tell me... October 23rd: How does it feel when you are in the thick of the process? #WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts

Paul Dixon
@pauldixon.bsky.social

I've been working on Second Carpathians nonstop for the last 18 months. I should have a first draft by EOY and can't wait for what comes next: a humorous sci-fi tale about an immortal octopus! Which I expect to land somewhere on the spectrum between amazing and utter train wreck.

Kara Moon 🏴‍☠️💜⚓️@karamoonauthor.com

Don't panic #pretendpanel - "I dunno" is an acceptable response to this (though don't feel like you need to post that!). But for those of you who wanna gush about it... October 24th: What comes next after current WIP/recent release? Why that? #WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts

Paul Dixon
@pauldixon.bsky.social

This is tremendously encouraging. Because we all have a crappy little elf inside us, capable of writing terribly!

Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans)@iwriteok.bsky.social

he stole that from John Swartzwelder, of The Simpsons! But it remains the best writing advice anyone ever gave share.google/VFWuBmbg5uEl...

share.google'Simpsons' Legend John Swartzwelder Credits a 'Crappy Little Elf' for His Comedy-Writing SuccessAfter writing 59 episodes during the golden years of "The Simpsons," Swartzwelder discusses his process in a rare interview
Paul Dixon
@pauldixon.bsky.social

1. Write every day. It must be a practice; the rule not the exception 2. "The first draft of anything is shit." -- Hemingway 3. Writing != Prompt Engineering. The entire purpose is to be changed by the journey. GenAI cannot do that for you. All it can do is replace serotonin with dopamine.

Bookish Question of the Day@bookishqotd.bsky.social

What advice would you give to authors? #booksky #BookishQOTD

Paul Dixon
@pauldixon.bsky.social

Heartbeat for pulse today. From Second Carpathians. Fun fact about me: two separate times in my life I had work, if briefly, as a professional eel feeder. At least sort of. It's a long story. #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

✨#WIPSnips✨ A Daily Writing Share Tag@wipsnips.bsky.social

Welcome to a new week of #WIPSnips! The word for October 12th is "pulse" #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

Paul Dixon
@pauldixon.bsky.social

Reposting with thanks to the original author for saving me the half hour...

Evan Urquhart@evanurquhart.bsky.social

I am so deeply annoyed at the half hour I spent reading about the AI pain study. Also annoyed that writing about AI seems to more frequently contain writing I very much suspect was generated or edited by AI than other writing. Anyway, here's what that was:

Paul Dixon reposted

John Scalzi
@scalzi.com

I would be EXTREMELY annoyed to discover my PR is "AI"-generated, and as someone bombarded with dozens of "AI"-generated emails daily, I assure you the stink of "AI" is immediately noticable and immediately dismissible. Publishers are not doing their new books any favors in using it.

Adam Morgan@adamm0rgan.bsky.social

For @wired.com, I spoke with workers about the quiet push to experiment with AI tools from book publishing executives at the Big Five. www.wired.com/story/book-p...

wired.comBook Publishers Are Quietly Using More AI. Staff Are RevoltingWorkers at three major publishing houses tell WIRED that LLMs are being used for publicity, cover art, back cover copy, and emails, as some execs push junior staff to champion the tech.
Paul Dixon
@pauldixon.bsky.social

You are too kind #WIPSnips! One of the new POV characters in Second Carpathians is simply known as "The Cousin". This is where they are introduced. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

✨#WIPSnips✨ A Daily Writing Share Tag@wipsnips.bsky.social

The #WIPSnips word for October 11th is "cousin" #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

Paul Dixon
@pauldixon.bsky.social

First, a new jungle cat. Now a new penguin? It's almost as though there are still wonders in the natural world...

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Paul Dixon
@pauldixon.bsky.social

a'yup. I am certain the backlash is coming but I don't feel like I have any idea what form it will take. And I refuse to ask ChatGPT to find out...

beep beep i'm a sheep@foxkvells.bsky.social

yeahhh, fucking THIS looking for textile art inspiration? ruined by AI doing writing research via literally any search engine? ruined by AI looking at pictures of food? ruined by AI caring about the environment? ruined by AI

Paul Dixon
@pauldixon.bsky.social

I have a confession: I am pretty much addicted to watching Gen-Z react to Dire Straits on YouTube. This is, obviously, my age talking - but here's the thing. If we let AI take over all creative endeavors, there will never be another Mark Knopfler. I mean, there won't anyway, but you get the point.

Paul Dixon
@pauldixon.bsky.social

I am pretty sure this reduces down to: take all remaining human activities that cause the release of seratonin in the brain by way of steady application of effort over time, and replace with another dopamine drip instead.

Courtney Milan@courtneymilan.com

I have an AI booster in family circle who has explained to me that AI could lift the “drudgery” of writing… and then proceeds to list the fun parts of writing. Which leaves me to like format the book and do intense copy editing on some shit I didn’t even write?