t o d d w a r n e r (he/him)

150 Followers
137 Following
953 Posts

I farm. I write.
I am. I strive to be.

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"The road to Hell is paved with works-in-progress."
—Philip Roth

"Books are made out of books."
—Cormac McCarthy

"I eat rejections for breakfast."
—me

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Currently reading:
The Angel of Indian Lake, by Stephen Graham Jones

Mastodon is mirrored to Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tw.writing.exchange.ap.brid.gy

Website (Errant Ruminant)https://toddwarner.io
Subscribe to Newsletter (Ruminations)https://toddwarner.io/#/portal/signup
Linktr.eehttps://linktr.ee/toddwrites
Coffee mehttps://ko-fi.com/toddwarner

A lot of people stop taking notes because they feel like everything has to be neat and organized all the time.
But the best notes are usually the quick, messy ones you write before the idea disappears.
You can clean things up later.
Joplin makes it easy to capture thoughts fast, find them later, and actually stick to the habit.

#notetakingtips #productivity #workflow #productivityhacks #joplin #digitalnotes #consistency

Recipes use a bossy writing style:

— Whisk eggs
— Fold in cheese

Cookbooks are basically barking orders at you!

This specialized form strips away all the unnecessary words, dropping subjects, articles, and even objects.

But recipes weren't always this efficient. Medieval recipes were as vague as "Boil until it be enough."

Learn more about the history of recipe writing in this week's podcast:

WATCH: https://youtu.be/SKnAJUpbE50
READ: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/transcripts/grammar-girl/1188/
LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229

The special language of recipes

YouTube
@meidastouch Here we go. Attacking rape victims. Par for the course.

@libreoffice "Whenever we address the contrast between ODF and OOXML, some people perceive it as a campaign against a company. It is not."

It isn't, per se. But MS is why we are in this mess. I still can't submit to publishers in anything but .docx because GAH! A very few accept .odt as well, but 99% do not. It's like trying to turn an iceberg.

Note, stating the "our" in "our ODF" does not help matters. It comes across as a bit childish and petty and desperate.

If between 2006 and 2008 everyone had done their part, today there would be a single open, multi-vendor interoperability standard for office documents – our ODF – governed neutrally and implemented by all: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/05/28/odf-vs-ooxml-an-issue-that-should-never-have-existed/ #foss #openSource #freesoftware
I'm back home. Glad to be back, but that week was a delightful reprieve. I'm already negotiating my schedule in order to fit in another week there. Probably in the dead of summer. Or maybe later this fall. Folks, if you're published (though they allow some newer writers) and want to get away from it all, consider visiting Weymouth for a week. A mansion devoted to writing attached to 1000 acres of parkland, but w/in walking distance of boutiques, shops, and ice cream. What more could you want?

I entitle this one "Tetanus." ;)

PSA from your friendly neighborhood farmer: Keep your vaccinations current.

(UPDATE: actually added the photo a week later)

Sometimes I hate our language.

Leaped not leapt.
… but …
Knelt not kneeled.

Oi.
#writing #revising #grammar #spelling #usenglish

I just kicked off a week of revisions at a Writers in Residence program in North Carolina: #Weymouth Center for Arts and Humanities. It's a tremendous facility and the grounds are breathtakingly beautiful. And it is so affordable. They accept "serious #writers only" which you prove by citing your publications and a sample of your current work in progress. Recommend. #inspired #writing #revising
This is not who we are. This is not who we have always been. This is Christian Nationalist drivel.