#PennedPossibilities 844 — Tell about your MC’s stress behaviors. How's about a spiffy list? Difficulty concentrating and then making stupid decisions. Devaluing her real talents. (She's an amazing photographer, but regrets being convinced into let a newspaper use her "hobby" photos. Now she's in demand, which is actually a bad thing...) Memory loss. (Maybe. Possibly spoilers.) Constant worry or racing thoughts. (Makes for a fun narrative in 1st person.) Irritability and snapping at others. Feeling apathetic or uninterested in life. (Her distinguishing quality.) Avoiding people, places, and situations. (Does this much of the story, except when she ignores her fears, sometimes stupidly or hedonistically—which may be the same thing. See below.) Seeking out and riding men. (Yes. A euphemism, but you get the gist I'm sure.) @npub1ek8r...t2en, I used your list and modified it. 😇 [Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.] #BoostingIsSharing #gender #fiction #writer #author #cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers #RSdiscussion #RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PSA #Apple #iPhone #iOS #Beta 26.2 testers. I encountered a photos bug where the optimization of photos in the Photos app (and camera) tunes down the exposure from correct to 5 to 7 stops too dark. It seems irreversible. I've turned off the phone to prevent syncing corrupted images, but some have synced to my iPad and are dark. No editing can fix them; it's as if they've become totally underexposed. It's both HEIC and RAW. I've filed feedback. I highly recommend resetting your phone to the release version, or avoiding the 26.2 beta until the next release if you actually need your on phone photos. See the screen shots. The software progresses through the photo library, ruining all the your shots. I am now about to revert to the 26.1 release. See link. Black frames originally had the proper exposure. Restarting the phone did not fix the bug. Please boost so all iPhone beta users know what's going on.

Apple Support

How to uninstall iOS or iPadOS beta software - Apple Support

Members of the Apple Beta Software Program, Customer Seed Program, and Apple Developer Program can try iOS or iPadOS beta releases. You can go back...

#photography #photographer #photo #photos #iphonephotography

#uspol #election #politics This "what matters" piece is instructive. The excerpt refers to the picture. Emphasis mine. The map on the left above shows Tuesday's gubernatorial results in Virginia by county. The map on the right shows the partisan shift compared to the 2024 presidential election. What is noteworthy is that most counties are still red, but every county in the state—even the reddest ones—moved toward the Democrats. There is a message here for Democrats, although they may miss it. It is that campaigning in red areas matters. Losing a red county by 10,000 fewer votes is just as important in statewide elections as winning 10,000 more votes in a blue county. Showing up and making a pitch that Trump lied to people about affordability could be a winner. If Democrats don't even show up, the message is "we don't care about you." —

Some Media Takeaways from the Elections

Click on the map for the article

#BoostingIsSharing #Republican #Democrat #Governor #Virginia

Well, #Amazon thru #Ring is doing it again. Features enabled by default (Opt In is on) that let someone (read police, #ICE, etc.) snoop your cameras or WiFi. Go into the Ring app and Opt Out of these two features: Sidewalk and Search Party. Protect your #privacy. Boost to all your followers! #BoostingIsSharing #psa #Writer #Author #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity

#PennedPossibilities 832 — Imagine This: The zipper of your MC’s costume breaks. How would others react to seeing them in a Halloween costume on November 1st? In a capital H hot and oft-time humid climate where A/C doesn't exist, caught wearing too much clothing is dangerous. People would be concerned, but they'd just cut the fabric off. Our and their standards of modesty differ. [Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.] #BoostingIsSharing #gender #fiction #writer #author #cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers #RSdiscussion #RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 831 — Halloween Edition: A friend suggests that your SC spends the evening in a pumpkin patch, waiting for the Great Pumpkin to arrive. Would they do it? CW: Innuendo. For any story in the Reluctance Series, because of their lack of belief, or a tangible or even irrational supernatural, it is nearly impossible to make this work in the moral parable sense of the original Linus and Sally (Lucy's Brother and Charlie brown's sister) scenes from It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. HOWEVER… One of the features of the cultures in the series is Japanese and Native American-style names in transliteration, though English names and others also historically had concrete or sentimental meanings. For example, in my universe my name transliterates to Shining Glory when properly gendered. So, it's conceivable that someone could have a name "Great Pumpkin" in-universe. Perhaps some farmer? Anyway… I imagine, the college student SC named Flies Hard into the Dawn (nicknamed Hardboy for well-earned reasons I won't relate), might be convinced to spend a night in a pumpkin patch if asked by the right person. His major in college could be characterized as "female psychology." It's actually Men's Studies, but saying more would be spoilers… Bolt, the MC of Reluctant Courier, if told by the Boss Mead to spend a night in said pumpkin patch (particularly if he wants to redress the prank she's pulled in the current chapter), she'd definitely ask Hardboy to accompany her. She knows his major since they live in the same apartment complex. Undoubtably, she'd do this to pry into and learn more about how he got his nickname… Would he consent? In a hot second. He's been waiting to be asked but she's be been respecting his feelings and missing the obvious! P.S.: @npub1ek8r...t2en, Since you used my prompt, I figured I had to answer it somehow. Hope it amuses you. Please forgive that I added a little pumpkin spiciness! And yes, that's a real SC, including his names. [Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.] #BoostingIsSharing #gender #fiction #writer #author #cozy #mystery # #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers #RSdiscussion #RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#uspol #whitehouse #eastwing The White House argues that it hasn’t been required to submit plans for review by the The National Capital Planning Commission because only demolition — and not technically construction — has begun. —NBC News

#Apple #iPhone #Feedback #bug #bugreport I ask: "Hey Siri, Turn on Silence Unknown Callers." Siri: "I'm sorry, I can't do that." Me: "Why?"

Watermelon radishes grew this time. Adding sand to the soil worked! It's the size of a softball. 1/2

So… I serialized another chapter but left off the editor's last edits. Dagnabit! I noticed my mistake and fixed it in a record 16 minutes. Six readers had already viewed the chapter. This is good news? Right? Right!? #Writing #Fiction #Fantasy #Author #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity