L.J., romantic toiler

Translator, researcher, writer, and mom. This is my alt for creative writing. Current main project is a novel about a branch of Koreanic people in 1st century B.C.

Avatar is a typewriter with multicolored butterflies on it, found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/susannaht/5092985916/

Display name is a reference to a NYT article referring to writers who don't use LLMs as "romantic toilers."

other account: L.J.'s victorious sword-dance (npub1g64…6879)
blog: https://ljwrites.blog/
pronouns: she/they

Public Key

npub1s6kdc74s556m4dk500wysnueq2x09g3ydtv9shplw058vc6gw40q0939lr

NIP-05 Address

ljwrites_at_writeout.ink@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsgdtxu02c22dd6km28hhzgf7vs9r8j5gjx4kzctslh86rkvdy82hsprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntqnqjdj

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

Author Public Key

npub1s6kdc74s556m4dk500wysnueq2x09g3ydtv9shplw058vc6gw40q0939lr

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Last Notes

2026-10-31 13:20:19 UTC

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Did... did they use a cloud LLM. They used a cloud LLM, didn't they — very few publishers if any have the infrastructure for private and local models 😩 That means they've fed your story into the training data of some company's machine-learning model without your knowledge or consent, omfg. Not that it would have been much better if they'd used it in their private training data, but it's well known by now that these plagiarism machines keep copies of their training data and can regurgitate individual works almost verbatim on demand. I am so incandescently angry, I can't even :blobcat_table_flip:

2026-10-14 02:55:28 UTC

I just don't have any desire to use #AI, for anything. It does not interest me at all.
. . .
None of the #AI tools available to me are anything I have use for. It's all solutions I don't want for problems I don't have.
. . .
PS, to my fellow writers and artists of all stripes: It is a uniquely demoralizing time to be working right now, I know. But please don't stop. Do it for love, or do it for spite, whatever gets you through the day. But do not stop. They don't get to win.
– Becky Chambers, I Do Not Like These Robots https://www.otherscribbles.com/aizine
(Transcript and descriptions in 🧵)
#NoAI #writing #zine

2026-10-08 13:52:06 UTC

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Myths and Legends of the Bantu and other Africans was originally compiled by Alice Werner, and had a number of problems given that provenance. @npub1faz…vc22 edited and modernized the racism and outdated parts, and his edited volume is available for free as a newsletter subscription magnet. https://www.ododopress.com/non-fiction/myths-and-legends-of-the-bantu-and-other-africans/

2026-10-05 04:09:18 UTC

It seems that one defense of non-consensual scraping and lack of attribution by quote-unquote #AI systems depends on the conflation of copyright and moral rights. Some variation of "copyright should be abolished" might be used to handwave concerns about scraping and lack of credit, and even if we were to grant this position for the sake of argument (which comes with a host of problems of its own, as I will discuss), in many cases it is moral rights rather than — or in addition to — copyright that are at stake when scraping and attribution issues come up.
Therefore, those who cite objections to copyright, or intellectual property in general, as a partial defense for scraping and machine training should consider if they are as willing to say "moral rights should be abolished." They are entitled to their conclusion either way, but they should justify it separately from an anti-copyright stance because copyright and moral rights are not the same thing. 🧵
#copyright #MoralRights #IntellectualProperty

2026-09-29 02:52:06 UTC

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Yeah in many ways I imagine life in the statist-capitalist countries would be like ours but escalated, like the food shortage and massacres in Kenya. Speaking of which, poor Kenya seems set up to be the tinderbox of this world, people suffering badly while freedom and plenty are so tantalizingly near with at least two long land borders shared with federation lands (former Uganda and former (Southern?) Tanzania) and access by water as well. The immigration pressure and political polarization must be incredible, hence all the protests and violent repression. I get the sense it's kind of a last stand of capitalism in East Africa, and an open-air prison for many of the people.

2026-09-28 02:04:04 UTC

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One thing I really liked about Blossoming was that the solarpunk part of the world felt so lived-in and imperfect, which made it more real. It's not a problem-free future by any means because people bring their own problems to any techno-economic arrangement, but it is more livable and sustainable.
The plot also made me curious about what life is like in the U.S., Kenya and other capital-statist parts of the world. These powers' driving determination to steal pito nyonyo and use it for domination and warfare was a reminder that no technology is inherently good and tech won't save us — but we sure can try to use it to save us.
It's particularly telling that the plot solution uses tech that, while not exactly forbidden (since there's no authority to forbid things), was at least frowned upon and pursued clandestinely. Much as in Le Guin's The Dispossessed, anarchy rebels even against anarchist order!

2026-09-26 02:37:29 UTC

Are there aspects of your culture, heritage, or everyday life that seem to be unknown or misunderstood outside your country? Whether it's an amusing misconception or something more serious, what would you like people to get right?
#OpenThread #culture #language

2026-09-23 15:39:12 UTC

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Reasons transfeminine Mulan makes more sense to me in reading the original Ballad of Mulan (see the original text and my translation at https://ljwrites.blog/posts/ballad-of-mulan/ ):
- Mulan does not run away in the dead of night to join the Army like later adaptations portray. She quite sensibly purchases horse and gear on the open market, something that would get back to her family even if she could spend that kind of money on her own (which is unlikely). She also formally takes leave of her parents at dawn, an hour when absolutely everyone is up & about in the ancient countryside. She could not have gone so openly, and her parents would never have let her, if she could not pass for male.
- The length of her deployment is described variously as ten and twelve years, meaning basically a long time ranging to a decade or longer, and given the nature of ancient barracks life this is simply not a length of time a soldier can go without ever being even partially unclothed in front of others, or at least being considered deeply odd and secretive at a time when communal nakedness was routine and not considered sexual. Disney's animated Mulan "solved" this by vastly shrinking the time frame, and even then the disguise fell apart the first time she was injured. The 2009 Mulan: Rise of a Warrior did give her a years-long deployment but handwaved the details, and the greater privacy enjoyed by the character seems to have been explained in part by her rapid rise through the ranks. With transfem Mulan no contortions are necessary and her comrades' total shock at the end is more natural.
- I'll be honest, aside from all logical or logistical arguments, it was the makeover stanza where Mulan takes off her man's clothes and dresses again as a maiden that sold me once and for all. This is one of the only two stanzas (out of 14 total) where the first-person pronoun wǒ 我 is used, and the one that accounts for four out of five instances of 我 in the entire Ballad. The deeply personal and intimate tone is unmistakable: The heroine opening the door of her room, sitting down on her bed, taking off her wartime cloak, putting on her old skirts. Fixing her hair, gluing foil flowers on her forehead. The pleasure she takes in presenting as a woman again after all these years is so evident, I DARE anyone to tell me this whole stanza is not exploding everywhere with gender euphoria. Of course cis as well as trans people can feel gender euphoria, but the various adaptations featuring Mulan as a cis woman are not all that euphoric about womanhood which is associated with discovery, shame, and outright threat to life. In the original Ballad womanhood is pure bliss, and the one time we see Mulan unclothed is on her own terms at a moment when she is in joyous intimacy with her body and identity. It's a major reason I love the Ballad much more than any adaptation.
- Gender ambiguity is baked into Mulan's character in a way that would have less resonance if she were cisfem. I was discussing the first person pronoun before (honestly very fun that the only pronoun I talk about in this transgender meta is the first person, gendered third-person pronouns not even being a thing in this era), and the fifth and last occurrence of 我 is the final line which says, rendered literally, "How can you tell if I am male or female?" I'll admit I put a further slant on it with a double meaning when I translated that line as "Female or male am I, can you decide?" But really, did I stray THAT far from the original? xD
- Also tangential mumblings about how the fifth stanza (marketplace) and twelfth (bedroom) are mirrored in transitioning Mulan's social gender to male and female respectively, and how these are not only aesthetic or practical occasions but spiritual ones that begin by invoking the cardinal directions. It just gave me Thoughts about the strong association between transgender identities/practices and particularly explosive spiritual energies across many different cultures, and how gender can be not just a practicality but a sacrament.

2026-09-23 14:29:11 UTC

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I'd forgotten about this earlier version and the changes please me greatly, the rhyme scheme and cadence are smoother and I'm proud of how each member of the family got close but not identical rhyming pairs (gate/shade for parents, threads/ahead for sister, met/fête for brother), kind of like how your relationships with your family will have some recurring themes but won't be exactly the same with everyone. The parents' verses gained in emotional clarity while the sister's gained a whole lot of depth showing how close the sisters are without a lot of overt display.

2026-09-23 14:18:47 UTC

Loving #Ediff comparison for tracking edit history. From A Maiden's War, my narrative poem about transfem Mulan — which I will go to my grave insisting is canon. https://corvidqueen.com/stories/a-maidens-war-lj-lee
#poetry #Git #Emacs #Magit
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2026-09-21 15:07:17 UTC

In sum, the contrived histories of #naturalism that purport to show its victory over supernaturalism were fabricated in the 19th century and are simply not consistent with the historical evidence. They are also tainted by a cultural condescension that, in the past at least, descended into outright racism. . . .
History suggests that our regnant modern naturalism is deeply indebted to monotheism, and that its adherents may need to abandon the comforting idea that their naturalistic commitments are licensed by the success of science. As for the idea of the supernatural, ironically this turns out to be far more important for the identity of those who wish to deny its reality than it had ever been for traditional religious believers.
– Peter Harrison, The birth of naturalism https://aeon.co/essays/investigating-the-roots-of-the-natural-supernatural-dichotomy
#religion #atheism #history #racism #HistoryOfIdeas #ScienceHistory

2026-09-20 08:40:18 UTC

[T]he shared beliefs [in the value of humanity and humanistic learning, as well as the revival of ancient learning] are not unique to ‘humanists’. Such beliefs were certainly prevalent during the 8th and 9th centuries when the English scholar Alcuin (c735-804) set about organising teaching in the empire of Charles the Great, as well as in the 12th century when Aristotle and Avicenna [ibn Sīnā] were being translated into Latin. The people of these times had an equal interest in reviving ancient learning. Similar beliefs were present. This way of thinking can also be found in the early Arabic philosophical tradition among the Syriac Christians who translated ancient philosophy into Arabic earlier in the history of philosophy.
– Henrik Lagerlund, What Renaissance? https://aeon.co/essays/there-was-no-such-thing-as-renaissance-philosophy
#philosophy #history #renaissance #europe #syria #medieval

2026-09-17 10:41:50 UTC

#WordWeavers Sep. 17 – By the end of your story, how many injuries has your MC had?
As of the end of book 1:
Noblewoman MC – Exhaustion and collapse from running and dehydration
Refugee MC – Battered on several occasions, burns on her hands, a period of starvation and exhaustion, prolonged food insecurity
And I defy anyone to say some of these don't count as injuries, they all cause physical damage even if they didn't all draw blood. And I did not even go into the psychological trauma...

2026-09-17 10:32:07 UTC

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Is there like a checklist for each book that includes "traumatic injury"

2026-09-15 05:20:36 UTC

“Brehon” is an ancient Irish term for judge. Over the centuries the judges accumulated a series of laws which they passed down orally from one generation of judges to the next. To qualify to become any one of the various levels of judges and lawyers (which in all likelihood were offshoots of the poets (filidh) required that the person study at one of the nemed schools. It was a period of study that lasted a number of years in which they learned poetry as well as the laws.
– Kristin Gleeson, Bees and Brehon Law in Medieval Ireland https://the-history-girls.blogspot.com/2026/09/bees-and-brehon-law-in-medieval-ireland.html
#history #Ireland #law #poetry

2026-09-13 13:34:48 UTC

#WordWeavers Sep 13 – Share a line of dialogue that sounds innocent without context but absolutely isn’t.
“It’ll be just like old times!”
Source: A Very Long Malaise https://alpennia.com/blog/lesbian-historic-motif-podcast-episode-301-very-long-malaise-lj-lee

2026-09-12 03:33:47 UTC

#WordWeavers Sep. 11 – What does your MC believe about themselves at the beginning of the story that turns out to be completely wrong?
Noblewoman MC: That she can save her people with the right marriage alliance and power plays
Refugee MC: That she must take on all hardship and trauma herself and does not deserve help

2026-09-09 04:45:02 UTC

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I guess the Venetian equivalent of Jane Austen, i.e. the fortunes of the unpropertied gentry woman, would have been quite a different genre :blobcat_giggle: Convent, caregiver, or courtesan, what a slate of choices!

2026-09-09 03:59:52 UTC

The women from the first class of courtesan, the honest courtesan, were often born into patrician or merchant family they were raised as educated and cultured women. But in a society that dictated exorbitant dowries that could often bankrupt a family, extra daughters were often given no opportunity to marry. They could go into a convent and become a nun, but that still required a dowry, though not as large. They could remain in the household an ageing spinster tending to family member, forever dependent and submissive perhaps to a new mistress of the household if it should pass to a brother and his wife. Or circumstances, like poverty from funding a dowry to an older sister, or failed commercial activities could encourage a young woman to consider the life of a courtesan. Often, in these situations, a courtesan could end up being the sole support of their family.
– Kristin Gleeson, Veronica Franco and the Courtesans of Renaissance #Venice https://the-history-girls.blogspot.com/2026/08/veronica-franco-and-courtesans-of.html
#history #SexWork #courtesan

2026-09-02 03:58:17 UTC

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Oh that's sad :/ it was likely a not-uncommon yearning and dilemma for that age, kinda like if a 60-year-old wanted to learn coding I imagine except likely worse.

2026-09-01 01:36:11 UTC

Just took another peek at a short story of mine after seeing a reference to the historical event, and I can happily report that this ending still wrecks me (italics in original converted to caps):
❝
And long after these buildings and this courtyard will be burned down almost three cycles of sixty years hence, with the enslaved shouting BURN THE SLAVE PAPERS while invaders march North toward the Capital; after the stately pillars and airy roof tiles spout flames leaving naught but cooling ashes for the Japanese to take—her answer will live on, indestructible, as memory shall outlast mere might and all our little lives.
❞
#LjWrites #HistoricalFiction

2026-08-31 14:19:13 UTC

#WordWeavers Aug. 31 – What's one thing you hope readers remember long after they finish your story?
AKQAB (all kings & queens are bastards)

2026-08-29 08:13:40 UTC

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Took my first walk with the kid since the day it ended with muscle cramps and pain pills, and look Ma, no cramping even though it was a much longer walk than the previous ones that triggered relapses! I was careful about several things:
- Reduced tension and strain in my general posture and walk. I noticed I had slight back strain mid-back when I walked, which may be a precursor to more focused cramping on one side or the other when my posture is more unbalanced. I also have a habit of throwing my shoulders way back when I stand or walk as though I'm trying to hold my strides in. In response I consciously relaxed more, letting my shoulders slide down and pushing my tailbone forward.
- I didn't try to get “more of the sweaty work in” before I showered, I just went ahead and washed up. Also avoided showering in cold water, tempting as it was.
- Also avoided any direct blasts from the AC which could also be a cramping risk right after coming in from the heat. I have the window open in a different part of the house and a small electric fan going instead, which are more than enough in the late afternoon in a northwest-facing room especially when I'm cool from the shower.
- More stretching and warm-ups in general, and more relaxation. I'm noticing all these small and big tensions over my body and stretching them out. I've also let my backrest recline way back and am bisexually typing with my knees up and lying back at a 45° angle, which helps!

2026-08-29 01:48:20 UTC

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Well what do you know... I lowered my main monitor by about 5 cm (or 2 inches for the imperial subjects out there) and it doesn't even feel low, just normal. Looks like I really was straining to look at a monitor set too high for me, let's see if this is an improvement. I'm already feeling more relaxed as my chin gets tucked closer to my neck.
* For perspective, my main monitor is a 50” monitor across the room so a 5 cm difference in height is not as drastic as it would be for a desktop monitor.

2026-08-29 01:40:56 UTC

So I wake up from an evening of bed rest and a full night's sleep with a mild cramp in my side — my RIGHT side???!!! Wtf is going on :blobcat_table_flip: I've been feeling it for a couple days now but it definitely seems like there's some problem/too much tension in my posture and it showed up first in my left side, and as I favor that side because of the pain the right side took up the slack and is now feeling the strain.
I think I'll start with something I've been thinking for a while, lowering my main monitor. It's been feeling a little high compared to my otherwise relaxed posture (keyboard halves hovering just over lap, upper arms straight down and elbows at about 90° angle) and I suspect the need to raise my eyes higher than where they want to go is straining my neck and torso.

2026-08-26 22:30:10 UTC

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Some combination of the meds and a really good night's sleep (like 9 hours, sweet) worked its magic and the pain is gone! 💚 It's such a relief and I've learned a thing or two about overexerting myself in the heat and then plunging into the cold — as in, don't. Also, I think I'll start doing warming-up and cooling-off stretches before and after walks.

2026-08-26 11:56:56 UTC

Got a cramp in my side the likes of which I have never known, I guess I overdid it today by taking a walk in daytime heat, then coming home to sweep the home office floor and taking a cold shower before I lay down in a cold air-conditioned room. Then at some point it started to feel like my lower back was going to detach from my hipbone. I'd never had back pain so bad I wasn't sure I could sit up, so that was scary. Did I mention I'm under my 🌜moon spell 💫 which already tends to bring out backache, so all of this was ill-considered and I regret everything.
The pain eventually localized to my lower left side and I was able to move around a little and help with dinner prep, but it grew so bad afterward I popped some pain pills and am now in bed before 9 hoping to sleep off both the pain and the pills. The pain's a little dulled but it still feels like there's a wrecking ball at work below my ribs (just a smaller one).
It does seem to be a muscle rather than an internal organs issue because the symptoms of, say, kidney disease such as fever are absent, and flex exercises help a little. Will be watching the way this turns and decide whether I need to see a doctor. More middle-aged things, I guess, where your body does unprecedented things but instead of being exciting it's kinda pathetic and uncomfortable.

2026-08-25 01:46:13 UTC

DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 30 (opens September 1): The Working Class Writers Grant will be awarding $1,000 USD grants to working-class writers of speculative fiction anywhere in the world. Submissions must include a cover letter of ~750 words and a writing sample of ~10 pages/5,000 words. Check https://speculativeliterature.org/grants-3/the-slf-working-class-grant/ for details and to submit once the application opens.
#fantasy #scienceFiction #horror #CallForSubmssions #WritingGrants

2026-07-27 12:49:31 UTC

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I didn't entirely slack on my reading, though — I finished @npub1faz…vc22 's Blossoming of the Big Tree, which is a fun and thoughtful steampunk sci-fi with high stakes and an unforgettable protagonist. My copy was an ARC and didn't have a cover yet, but the book is out now in its final form! https://www.ododopress.com/novellas/the-blossoming-of-the-big-tree/

2026-07-27 12:45:08 UTC

Me buying a discounted book here, splurging on a bulk sale there, all in the touching hope that someday I'll have time to read them all.
#bookstodon #amReading #somedayISwear
https://fileproxy.writeout.ink/media_attachments/files/116/991/971/016/852/699/original/50a0af06e8c2e157.png

2026-07-27 05:35:13 UTC

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Can highly recommend, I read an earlier version of Blossoming and the story was fun, the worldbuilding vivid without being preachy!

2026-07-26 05:47:39 UTC

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can't help but think the colonial powers have historically dragged their feet on climate change precisely because they thought it would mostly hurt Africa and Latin America and they'd be somehow okay. How's that internalized externality feel, bitches? :blobcat_giggle:

2026-07-11 11:18:16 UTC

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Congratulations! The book looks really cute.

2026-06-28 14:39:48 UTC

#WritersCoffeeClub Jun. 26 – Have you ever included subtle (or unsubtle!) homage? Tell us about it.
The title of my upcoming short story, Between One Word and the Next, is a homage to the philosophy behind the phonetics of #Hangul, the writing of the Korean language. The Explication of Letter Formation (制字解) begins, translation very idiosyncratically mine:
天地之道，一陰陽五行而已。坤復之間爲太極，而動靜之後爲陰陽。
“The way of Heaven and Earth is but the Yin-Yang and Wuxing. Between silence and sound the Profound Polarity is born; and after movement and stillness Yin and Yang arise.”
For maximal chaos, King Sejong the founder of Hangul is in fact in the story (the events take place 7 years before the promulgation of Hangul) but not as a hero or main character; the mains are illiterate enslaved women in love with each other because of course.
#HistoricalFiction #linguistics #philosophy #Korea #queerFiction

2026-06-11 09:40:03 UTC

JULY 1–14, 2026: “The Orange & Bee is looking for original work that engages meaningfully with fairy tales and folklore while pushing beyond simple retellings. Editors are interested in stories, essays, poems, and hybrid works that challenge, expand, and rethink fairy-tale traditions. They welcome work from diverse voices and cultures, especially pieces that offer fresh perspectives on familiar motifs, myths, and storytelling practices. Experimental and cross-genre approaches are encouraged.” https://horrortree.com/taking-submissions-the-orange-bee-july-2026-window/
PAYMENT (USD): $50/poem; $80/flash piece; $0.08/word short fiction or nonfiction
#CallForSubmissions #publishing #folklore #mythology #FairyTale

2026-06-11 07:28:11 UTC

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good taste 👍 does she make it herself?

2026-06-11 01:36:55 UTC

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Yum!

2026-05-27 14:50:38 UTC

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What heaven is complete without nips?

2026-05-24 09:14:49 UTC

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revolutionary special interest