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CB MacNeil

@cbmac.bsky.social

471 followers 177 following 38 posts

Author. Artist. NO gen AI plagiarism bandits NO wannabe kings More CBMac words and artwork at cbmac.com he/him

Posts Replies Media

CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Ran a little earlier the evening. Park is full of people. Kids playing, adults waiting for the playing kids. Sunset plain and unspectacular. Nice. #amwriting #writingcommunity

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The ruddy muddy end a the LA sunset at the end of today's walk/run.

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Clouds rolled in an hour ago and the temp dropped 10 degrees from broiling to just plain old hot. Took a quick backyard sunset video and then realized how many wires criss-cross the place. #writingcommunity #amwriting

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Took my evening walk. Was was watching my feet, then looked up.

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Met a tall man On my walk today

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Twilight walk. Cooler, but still hot. Kids in the park beneath the trees. One crosses my path riding a tiny ebike. "I'm a carnivore," he says in passing, then rides off into the dim.

A photo of a. 10-foot tall cupola on a roof, and a tree in silhouette against a post-sunset sky. There is a lamp lighting one leg of the open cupola. No one is there behind the cupola's railing. The tree is black. The roof is black. The darkening sky is striped with a pink and gray bulbous cloud. The horizon is a fading gold.

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

"...colicky piss-baby in the Oval Bordello." ahahah Love your writin', Jeff. And this:

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The Castle of Yew, L.M. Boston. "You can go anywhere you want, if you really want to." I think I was 12 when it came out, I was a little old for it, having graduated to novelized MAD books the year before, but it was quiet book that I still think about.

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Just edited the 1st book of my Novel in 3 Parts (for the 1Kth time), changed the 2nd bk's formatting to match, went back to the 1st with changes made in 2nd, entirely reformatted the 3rd... A short clip from 3rd book showing LO Writer red highlit italics so I'd be sure to duplicate them in Pages...

A screenshot of a paragraph which reads:
At 12.7 gallons, the pump clanked and slowed even further, dragging its feet, grudgingly doling out the last few cents: 97, 98, 99... And hung there. Why am I standing here freezing, waiting for one measly penny? But he waited. Freezing. For one measly penny.

The red highlighted, italic parts are:
97, 98, 99...
and Wyatt's thoughts:
Why am I standing here freezing, waiting for one measly penny?

I suppose I use a lot of italics, so sue me. I like them for internal dialogue and for a character's thoughts; I find that they're less clumsy than quotes, and using italics for thoughts makes it easier to differentiate between spoken dialogue and internal dialogue.
And I like to use them for sounds. And for other stuff that I want to separate from the narration, like the cent-counting on the pump.

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

...more list of books I've read... Book 50 (I think I was 11 yo by then): The Castle of Lyrr #writing #reading #writingcommunity #listofbooksread

A photo of the front and back cover of "The Castle of Llyr," by Lloyd Alexander. The front cover is a rough-styled painting of an orange cat with it's paw on a white llyr. A black crow clings to its back. The back cover is an extension of the front image and it features a black boat with black oars and red sails.

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

10 Y ago, Art Garfunkel (remember him?) posted a list of 1200 books he'd read. Me: "I've read 1200 books..." I made a list. Nope. (I did hit 1K this year :) I included all books important to me, including picture books (so sue me) 1st book on list: Leopold the See-Through Crumbpicker

Cover of the picture book, "Leopold the See-Through Crumbpicker," by James Flora. The drawing style is mid twentieth century, loose line drawing with primary/secondary flat color fill. The background is red bricks. A worried girl and a policeman are running, following a selection of food floating by in the air. Black, four-toed footprints are on the ground. A bird is also flying after the food over the girl and policeman's heads, but the bird is smiling. I suspect it sees the food and doesn't care about the theft. Poor bird with no morals and only hunger. Always hungry 6 year old me loved this book, the reveal of the crumbpicker at the end was great, and all the food he got to eat. Ah. Food...

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

My copy of EVERYTHING WILL SWALLOW YOU, by Tom Cox came today! Looking forward to this! @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social more in alt text

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Okay, one more before I go back to work. This one is an old graveyard not far from the lake house. We'd stop here on long bike rides and eat lunch. More in the alt text... #writing #amavoidingediting

Another google maps screenshot of an old graveyard in Massachusetts. As I recall, there were no graves newer than the 1800s, and many were 1700s. (?) Some had skulls and moons carved in low relief on the thin, dark granite slabs. Been a long time since I've been there, but I remember it as a quiet, shady place to stop and eat our pbjs or balogna and mustard sandwiches on Sunbeam bread. Reach for Sunbeam Bread; it's Batter Whipped!

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

While I'm reminiscing (and avoiding editing) here's a photo of an old building on a lake near our old house in Mass. I always loved that little building, and wanted to live there. Wouldn't it make a great little writing studio? Except for the constant traffic ten feet from the door.... #writing

Photo of a small brick building with a steep hip roof. The building is in a lake, near the shore and a short, ten-foor gangway leads to its arched doorway. The lake is in Massachusetts and the hills surrounding the lake are green with trees. Our house was a mile or so away to the south, an old, beat-up tract home with those same woods outside the back door.

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Took a break from editing my novel (soon to be published) to update my photo here. No more young Joe Cocker (thanks, Joe :) Now a young me from the dawn of time. This is the 1984/5 Joshua Tree photo my head's cropped from: #writers #writingcommunity #WriteSky #BookSky #indiepublishing #indiebooks

Black & white photo of author/artist Christopher MacNeil circa 1984 or 5. Author in insulated hat and wind gear, holding his beloved Canon AE-1 camera. Taken in Joshua Tree National Park, California. Must have been February to need that much gear in the desert. I do remember that trip vividly. Great trip, it stands out in so many ways from all the other JT trips. Thanks, T.Y., for that weekend, et al.

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Auschwitz concentration camp plans

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

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CB MacNeil @cbmac.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #Books #BookSky 💙📚 #BookChallenge Book :1 The Golden Age by Kenneth Graham

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