iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 12/07/2026

Amnesty International put out a major report documenting the influence of UK based anti trans gender critical organizations and their funding. Within hours, GC groups threatened defamation lawsuits and Amnesty was forced to pull it down. Proving the point they're anti rights. Anyways, here it is.

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Mel Waverly @melwaverly.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

From WIP 3 - The First Lesbian Book Club Beverly driving down Beverley Street while trying not to talk about Beverly is a whole world of meta that I did not realize I wrote #WIPSnips #QueerWriters 🌈✒️ #WriteSky #Writingcommunity #sapphic #lesfic #WritingPrompts #sapphicauthors #sapphicwriters #FLBC

Beverly’s grip on the steering wheel tightened as she turned onto Beverley Street and headed north, cursing the one-way streets that prolonged this trip.
“What is it you do, exactly?” Clara pressed gently. “You never say.”
“And I won’t tonight,” Beverly said.
“The prevailing theory is that you’re an assassin for hire.” Clara let out a small laugh. It sounded thin.
“Who says I’m not?” Beverly said, the teasing tone returning to her voice.
Clara rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Beverly, why can’t you tell me something about yourself.” Clara angled herself in her seat so she could see Beverly better. “You know all about me. I’d like to get to know you. Just one thing.”
“Maybe I’m not all that interesting.”
“I don’t think you’re uninteresting,” Clara said, her voice softer now.
Mel Waverly - The First Lesbian Book Club, Chapter 14

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Mel Waverly @melwaverly.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

#SapphicLineShare *matriarchy* That's the spirit, Jackie! 🌈📚 #LesFicFri #QueerWriters 🌈✒️ #Shaqueline

Jacqueline stared out the small window, admiring the layer of white clouds as the airplane gracefully flew above them. The sun was shining at this altitude, and everything appeared peaceful and serene. A different story unfolded beneath the clouds. One that Jacqueline didn’t relish involving herself in. Not that it mattered. Eventually, they would pass through the clouds, and that tranquility would give way to city streets and noise and the chaos waiting for her there.
Oh, get it together, Jackie, she thought. You’ve dealt with tougher crowds than your mother.
Her face twitched at the thought, and she felt a knot in her stomach. She rested her head against the window and waited for the wheels to touch ground.
Mel Waverly - Wishing You Knew, Chapter 2

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Mel Waverly @melwaverly.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

From WIP 2 - vibrate It's a relaxation device... This snip ties in well with today's #AwesomeCharacters, because this is what happens when Jackie asks for/accepts help... #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts 🌈✒️ #lesfic #sapphic #QueerWriters #sapphicauthors #sapphicwriters

They placed the mattress, then headed upstairs for a small table and lamp. Halfway down, the table’s drawer slid open and crashed to the floor, scattering trinkets—and a red box that spilled open.
“What the hell is that?” Jacqueline asked, eyeing the contents suspiciously.
Shannon bent to look, then covered a smile. “Um…it’s a vibrator—specifically, it’s a Wahl Hand-E Vibrator.”
Jacqueline froze. She covered her eyes with her free hand and swallowed. “Let’s just…put that back then.”
A low chuckle escaped from Shannon’s mouth.
“It’s not funny,” Jacqueline protested.
Shannon gave her a placating grin. “It’s a little funny.”
“Is not…hey, how did you know what it was so fast?” Jacqueline asked, suddenly turning her attention away from the vibrator to Shannon.
Shannon retreated into the bedroom with the lamp. “I… may have seen one before.”
“Is that so?” Jacqueline’s voice was even but edged with amusement.
Shannon straightened her back. “I am a medical professional who sometimes needs…vibrations to destress,” she said, but her smile betrayed her.

- Wishing You Knew, Chapter 10

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Mel Waverly @melwaverly.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

From WIP 3. The amount of research I did on perfumes from the '30s-'50s is obscene. Enough for me to know that today needs to be vibes, because none of the perfumes have lily... #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts 🌈✒️ #lesfic #sapphic #QueerWriters #sapphicauthors #sapphicwriters

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When it came time to test out their new technique in a real-world situation, they agreed Beverly would do the tipping-in while Cèilidh ran interference.
Unfortunately, that meant dousing herself, not with her much beloved—and very subtle—Apres l’Ondee, but with the cheap and oppressively strong perfume she purchased for this exact purpose.
“Tabu, huh?” Cèilidh said, eyeing the bottle. “It should be taboo to wear this,” She shook her head and grimaced before spraying herself liberally with the perfume.
- The First Lesbian Book Club, chapter 3

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Mel Waverly @melwaverly.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

From WIP 1 - And These Words Remain Unsaid "Why-ee-I-ee-I-ee, yeah, Superman's dead..." Also: Potatoes are people! 🥔🥔🥔 #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts 🌈✒️ #lesfic #sapphic #QueerWriters #sapphicauthors #sapphicwriters

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An hour later, Izzy was noodling absentmindedly on Julie’s keyboard, her fingers finding a lazy, repeated pattern.
“Dude, I think that’s just the intro to ‘Superman’s Dead.’”
“It is?”
Julie nodded.
“Huh.” She laughed, pushing the keyboard aside. She reached forward and grabbed a handful of potato chips before slumping back into the couch. “These are so good,” she said, staring at one for a beat before popping it in her mouth. “Hey, Jules? You know how potatoes have skins and corn have ears?”
Julie blinked at her slowly.
“Does anything have noses? Like noses of rutabaga?” She chuckled.
“Potatoes have eyes too. Potatoes are like people.”
- And These Words Remain Unsaid, Chapter 6

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🫜Tara S Geir🫜 @tarasgeir.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Unless you count the 20+ 'Chapter X' that I have, there are no chapters. Using 'section' instead. Grio and Anfri muse how important the walls of Dragaul really are. #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

In the far reaches of the night, Grio could just make out the outlines of the northern walls that only contained the districts of the Orbo and Gulland. They were the same at night as they were in day; grim and dark.

"I think the whole city would be outraged if you did away with one section of the walls. I've heard wretches from Gulland compare them to their mothers breasts. Though," Grio contemplated "they are the types to consider incest."

"They're useless," Anfri stated. "Created to stop invading armies. Armies that have been unseen since the civil wars. We have no need for them anymore."

More legends, like that of the the waden, filtered through Grio's mind. Of the Sixth Sister who was said to be jailed under the city. Unable to help himself, Grio spoke the motto. "She will rise when the walls of Dragaul fall."

"Who will? Epiales?" Anfri scoffed and Grio flinched at hearing the true name of the Sixth Sister. "She's nothing," Anfri frowned. "A legend. As forgotten as the other Sisters."

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TL Matson @tlmatson.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

ARC sign-ups open! Coach's Challenge: a low-angst, high-heat hockey romance w/a strong, badass FMC & unconditionally supportive MMC. 🏒Black Cat/Golden Retriever 🏒Forbidden Romance 🏒Hurt/Comfort 🏒He Falls First 🌶️Sexting 🌶️Toys 🌶️Voyeurism/Exhibitionism 🌶️Sharing Kinks LINK: forms.gle/vjX6F6GqYC6u...

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Marine St. Jean @marinestjean.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

#MarketingMonday I forget to market my stuff aside from Mondays so... If you're sick of sapphic vampire romances with cartels and kingdoms and want something with a little more mystery and lore, check out Remember Monsters mybook.to/Remembermons... #sapphic #lesfic #vampireromance #booksky🌈📚💙

You only get one
One life, one death one chance to turn
But what would you do with another? If you knew all the rules of a rigged game? Would you seize it, pay better attention? Burn them all?

Its not your typical small town romance
Not your typical vampire story you can't forget, they're monsters. You cant forget her
On KU narrated by Ellen Dunbavin

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Bywater Books @bywaterbooks.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

🏳️‍🌈📚 All 👀 are on Michigan & Canada this week. ☑️ Check out these great books through @IHeartSapphFicOfficial. 💲 Scoop up fantastic sapphic fiction reads at bargain prices. ➡️ See all the books here: loom.ly/XyhQ4cc #BookSky

Bywater Books promo graphic announcing ebooks for $3.99 through March 13. Two tablets display The Liberators of Willow Run by Marianne K. Martin (Michigan) and Live It Out by Jen Alexander (Canada). A purple “I Heart SapphFic” banner with a rainbow stripe runs along the bottom.

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Steph 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ | Editor 🦦✍️ @ottersediting.com · 09/03/2026

Still booking for the summer! I received some amazing feedback this week as well 🥰 What others have said about working with me: "The experience gave me a pulse check on my story and a final polish that left the text glimmering. Steph helped me cut the clutter without losing my voice." #editing

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Bella Books @bellabooks.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Available Everywhere!

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Bywater Books @bywaterbooks.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

🏳️‍🌈📚 At Bywater Books & Amble Press, we're built a little differently. 👊 Queer. Fierce. Unapologetic. Inclusive. Artistic. Bold. Independent. 🔥🦁 Our books don’t whisper—they roar. 👀 check us out ➡️ bywaterbooks.com #LGBTQBookSky #QueerReads #QueerBookRecommendations #BookSky #AuthorSky

Square black image filled with the names of all the Bywater Books and Amble Press authors in rainbow colors and multiple fonts.

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Wlw romance and romantic comedy. High angst, slow burn, very character focussed. HEA is guaranteed, but my definition of HEA is broad.

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Definitely the latter. Years of academia and teaching, has made it fairly easy for me to talk about my writing in 30 sec, 3 min, and 30 min pitches (lots of practice with the dissertation). But talking about myself, selling myself, not something I've ever built up an enjoyment or muscles for.

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Or you start looking at places to "drop a flyer" and see something like this: them: I love ABC type books you: Hey, that's me! them: But I hate XYZ tropes others: Yeah, me too, XYZ are the worst you: [looking at book with XYZ] others: terrible writers use XYZ you: oh...okay, I'll show myself out

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Mostly I feel lost. I've never been particularly good about selling myself, but as this is going to become a necessity now that WIP 1 is mostly ready to go out into the world, I'm stuck trying to figure out how the heck I do that. #pretendpanel #WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts

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Mel Waverly @melwaverly.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Given that I write queer romance novels, I usually aim for HEA endings. That said, my definition of HEA is perhaps broader than some & can include happy for now or happier ever after. #AwesomeCharacters #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts 🌈✒️ #sapphicwriters #sapphic #lesfic #QueerWriters

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

That anyone will reference Pericles makes me happy! It's probably one of my favs just because it's so underrated compared to the others!

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

At the rate I'm going this year, I'll be on my 3rd bingo card before summer, so I'll definitely need the list 😊

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Congrats!!! 🤩 You are on my bingo card, but under a different category though

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Marine St. Jean @marinestjean.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Wooo! I'm on Jae's Bingo list this week! Check out the entire list of new-to-you authors at jae-fiction.com/new-sapphic-... #sapphic #lesfic #lesbianromance #indieauthors #sapphicauthors

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

If you're talking Shannon's explanation, she's wrong. She doesn't speak French, but knows that Jackie doesn't want to engage with a fan and comes up with a lie. She didn't even know that Jackie could speak French & assumed she'd just keep her mouth shut. lol I do explain other French moments though

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Thank you. I play around with bilingual characters quite a bit. Both Izzy (WIP1) and Jacqueline (WIP2) are bilingual English/Canadian French. Liv (WIP3) is bilingual Norwegian/English.

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

I am in a zombie situation, but at least I am not blind... so there's that

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Then, and only then, I send it to other people to read in the hopes that they will have "hey.... wait a minute" moments (or rather, that they won't, but because they don't exist rather than they don't see them).

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

When I write something that is unresolved in that chapter, I find the resolution chapter and make a note to resolve it. If I don't know which chapter it will resolve in, I make a note where it pops up. After I am finished writing, I go through these notes and make sure they are all resolved.

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Outlining, plotting, and flow charts that show causality. I spend a lot of time thinking, acting, or talking about plot; I make use of a lot of notes in my document, & then, when finished, re-reading it making notes along the way >> #WritingCommunity 🌈✒️ #QueerWriters #sapphicauthors #sapphicwriters

media.tenor.com

a man is pointing at a bulletin board that says pete silvie

Alt: a man is pointing at a bulletin board that says pete silvie

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Their removal was triggered by the rework. There was no longer a need or a place for these characters. They are (happily) a history that was never written for Shannon or Jackie. That said, I also had to introduce 2 new characters that were unplanned to deal with the ramifications of that change

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

So many! WIP 2 was originally a lot more ambitious than how it came out. With that ambition came a few more characters that were sketched, named, ready to go, then scrapped when I reworked it. (1/2) #AwesomeCharacters #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts 🌈✒️ #lesfic #QueerWriters #sapphicauthors

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

But plotting/outlining/character mapping is important before I start. It helps keep inconsistencies to a minimum, which makes my life easier in editing.

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

My mood matters because I don't force myself to write. I let my inspiration dictate where/what I write. If what comes next isn't interesting, I find the thing that is. I've had good ideas for earlier in the book show up because I jumped ahead & the characters decided on a different direction!

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

WIP 2 I did in order from chapter 1 to the end. There were a few moments where I jumped ahead as inspiration struck, but mostly I wrote in order. I plotted that one, too, but there were also surprise chapters that popped up.

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

I do both & it entirely depends on my mood & the story. WIP 1 I wrote out of order. It was easier to write Julie first, then Izzy. I did the intro, conclusion, & intimate scenes last. I knew how everything connected because I plotted it out (1/4) #WriteSky 🌈✒️ #WritingCommunity #sapphicwriters

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Marine St. Jean @marinestjean.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

#WIPSnips *media* Fucked up love interests have fucked up pasts. #sapphic #lesfic

Phaedra picked up her phone, hoping to see another text from Andi.
Instead, she found an alert and several links to news articles. Phaedra knew what was in them before she clicked. There was only one alert she had ever set up. Baptiste “Martel” Dumont was being released from Archambault next week.

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Kara Moon 🏴‍☠️💜⚓️ @karamoonauthor.com · 04/03/2026

Hello #sapphicmoon! Here's a bit of a translated idiom, replacing birds with fish and stones with hooks. It just feels like it fits better for my nautical characters. From A Prayer for the Pirate Queen 🏴‍☠️ 💜 ⚓️ currently in third draft revisions

"The Captain never made an appointment."

Geni swallowed, and tried to school her face and voice before she gave too much away. "Oh, is that so? Is there a reason you think she needs to see me?"

"Yeah, she's been complaining of neck strain and occasional migraines for a couple of months now. I give her a liniment to treat the pain, but other than that, I don't know what I'm supposed to do to help her."

Well, who was Geni to deny the opportunity to catch two fish on one hook? "I'll go pay a house call."

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

From WIP 3, aka: The First Lesbian Book Club That's one way to get rid of someone... Fish, murder (sort of), & it's at Union Station, which is nearish Lake Ontario #sapphicmoon #sapphic #sapphicauthors #sapphicwriters #writintprompt #lesfic #authorpromo 🌈✒️ #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

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Lucy caught the man’s flinch and saw an opportunity. “I have also canned hearts before,” she said, taking on a conspiratorial tone without lowering her voice to match. “Male hearts, to be specific.”
A tense stillness settled around the bench.
Cèilidh blinked, and Liv’s eyes widened. Both of them stared at Lucy, who sat there with the sweetest smile on her face. She could almost feel the man’s heartrate race as he tried to listen to the conversation to discern if he had heard incorrectly. So Lucy bobbed her head thoughtfully, waiting for the next question that she hoped Liv or Cèilidh would ask.
Cèilidh furrowed her brows. “You can…hearts?”
Liv leaned towards her, lowering her voice. “Wait, animal hearts, right?”
Lucy shrugged. “If the authorities were to ask, yes.
Animal hearts,” she said, laughing a little too wildly.
The other two flinched, and the man dropped his fishing magazine and hurried away in the direction of the closest exit.
“Well that worked,” Lucy said when he was finally gone.
- The First Lesbian Book Club, chapter 10

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

It's probably not what you think. She was making out with another woman and they got caught. She hit her head trying to dismount both the woman and the tractor.

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

accidental (1/3) I suppose technically there are two characters (WIP 1 and 2) who get notable injuries, but as they are spoilers, I won't detail them, but I will say that they do not lead to permanent trouble for either.

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Liv (WIP 3) has a scar along her hairline from an incident with a tractor. She has scars from chickenpox, notably the left side of her nose, her shoulder, and small of her back. Stella (WIP 3) has a scar from a stray bullet from her time as a war correspondent (WW2)

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Mel Starkicker @starkicker.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Not injuries, but scars. Izzy (WIP 1) has a scar on her knee from playfighting with her brother (before) Beverly (WIP 2 & 3) has a scar on the top of her wrist from falling out of a tree. She conceals it with a watch (before). (1/2) #AwesomeCharacters #WritingPrompts #WriteSky #Lesfic #Sapphic 🌈✒️

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