iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 8h

That show was just jam-packed with excellent lines, imo.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 8h

Writers' brains, right? IYKYK.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 8h

There. It is now a document, has its own folder in the directory tree and everything. Can I please get back to the book I'm *supposed* to be writing now? #AmWriting

Screen capture of a word processor document title page. The title reads: "The Kestrel, a Wild Hunt novella" and underneath is the author's name, Elspeth Cooper.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 16h

Oh dear. I just wrote the opening lines of a new thing, a not-so-Sekrit Projekt that regular followers of this account will probably be able to guess. Whoops. #AmWriting

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Seconding the rec for Once and Future Witches - I had a great time with it. Kushiel's Dart et seq. was sumptuous, lush & heartbreaking. I'm currently having an indecently good time with Violet Fenn's Netherweird series: urban fantasy in Liverpool with cats, firebirds and undead monarchs, oh my.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

MrC declared it too sweet for his taste, so I suppose I'll have to use it up instead. Shame, that. 😋 #homemade #TheEnjammening

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The resulting jars of crabapple jelly. Jar no.4 might have already been opened for ah, quality control purposes. *brushes away toast crumbs*

Three sealed jars of homemade golden crabapple jelly arranged in a triangle on a pale grey marble slab.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

MrC, looking at crabapple tree in the garden: "Seems a shame to let all that fruit go to waste, we should do something with them." Me: "I've got a recipe for crabapple jelly here." This is what he just brought me. I only have 12 jars and 2kg sugar.

Black five-gallon builder's bucket on a wood floor. The bucket is four-fifths full of golden crabapples. My future is full of jam.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Another day, another "book marketing professional" in my inbox touting for business. I know it's AI-generated tosh to butter me up but dang if it doesn't make my books sound really, really good!😆

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Playing "Trap or Not" is always so exciting!

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I'm itching to tickle his tummy, but as all cat people know, the belly is a trap.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Yeah, two out of three lavenders in those pics didn't survive the heatwave, but the little guy in the middle is still hanging in there.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is not my cat but apparently he lives here now 🤷‍♀️ #NotMyCat #OrangeCat

Large orange tabby curled up in a flower bed with his chin on his paws, fast asleep. I did not plant him there.

Large orange tabby cat on his side in a flowerbed, flashing his white underparts at the camera, the tart. Still fast asleep.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Morning Womble! On paper I'm rereading the Rivers of London series (finishing Foxglove Summer now) in preparation for Stone and Sky. On digital I've just completed The Knight and the Moth, with Dark Waters (Netherweird #6) up next. Hope you feel better soon!

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Oh my, those are so pretty 😍 Congratulations!!

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Oh bugger. Hope you feel better soon!

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Fair, and I have drunk many myself, but that doesn't give them an excuse to traumatise me at the breakfast table, dammit 😆

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I do have *some* table manners you know!

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I'm fine, don't worry. I knew to expect one of 'em; the others just caught me by surprise and so MrC was treated to the unedifying sight of me sniffling into my cereal at the breakfast table :)

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

It was the last place I expected to get walloped: Battle Ground (Dresden Files). One time I expected (IYKYK) but the other two took me by surprise, so hats off to Jim Butcher. Got my nose running and everything, dammit.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Don't get me wrong, I like it when a book makes me cry. It shows the author did a good job creating characters I empathise with. But three times? In a book in which didn't expect to get smacked in the feels? That's just mean.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It was £13 in 2022. Quadrupled in four years.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

That's a very smoky-voice "Hey, baby" look on his face.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Fifty bloody quid to file an annual Confirmation Statement for my small business. FIFTY. QUID. So I can fill an online form in under five minutes. I am aghast.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

UK authors affected by the #AnthropicCopyrightSettlement : we have to fill in a W-8BEN form to certify our non-US-resident/non-US-taxpayer status & then upload it to the portal, is that right? I *think* I know what I'm doing but I'm juggling this with my company year-end and my brain is tired.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Given that the bit I'm editing is in the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey section of the manuscript, that is entirely open to debate!

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Since I posted that, I've made dinner, eaten dinner, and pruned approx 500 words (not necessarily in that order). Progress! #SmallMovesEllie #AmWriting

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Hashtag epic fantasy problems, I think.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I have two chapters together that run far too long so they need tightening up, and somehow I've ended up with three chapters and an extra 2.5k words. How does that even work? #AmWriting #TheDragonHouse

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Oo, I am here for an excellent ghost cat!

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I can't believe Sir Pterry never made that joke himself 😄

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I have now received the email with the PIN and no publisher shenanigans! But of course I can't complete the online form because I'm a UK citizen. Sigh. Email sent to claim administrator.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Not gonna lie, everyone talking about their Anthropic Settlement communications and the problems they're having therewith is giving me pre-emptive anxiety - I'm still waiting to hear :( *refreshes inbox for 19th time*

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The Moon on the Water, by Nina Warner Hooke, famously read by Bernard Cribbins on Jackanory (old UK TV show to get kids into reading). First proper fantasy book, I think; first book to break my heart.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Well, I didn't manage to kill it, but the chapter's back is broken, so . . . yay? #AmWriting #TheDragonHouse

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Back in the early 80s, my dyslexic, hyperfocused, routine-loving and socially-avoidant spouse was branded "dense and disorderly" and bullied by his teachers, making his schooling a miserable experience. He's almost certainly autistic. I'm so glad your son got the support he needed to thrive.

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Reposted by Elspeth Cooper

Ann Leckie @annleckie.com · 18/08/2026

Suspense is not created by your audience not knowing what happens next. It's created by your audience CARING what happens next.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Back to the word mines. This chapter dies tonight. #AmWriting #TheDragonHouse

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

*looks at pile of novella ideas* Yeah, I know that one.

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Reposted by Elspeth Cooper

innes mck @innes.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

again i am just not that interested in debating whether human rights should theoretically extend to robots and ai when we currently don't even extend them to all humans

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I was three books into a 4-book series before I realised father & daughter relationships are A Thing in them.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Morning Womble! On paper I am just starting The Spider's War, bk5 of Daniel Abraham's The Dagger and the Coin series, which has been excellent so far. On digital, something a bit different for me: The Glassmaker, by Tracy Chevalier, which is lovely.

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Elspeth Cooper @elspethcooper.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Me: <rushes in, late to the party as usual> The book nook, with obligatory comfy chair. Currently a work in progress.

Three full bookcases, with a fourth on the right angling away from the camera. A grey tartan wingback chair and matching footstool are at the bottom the frame.

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