iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Seeing folks excited about the #He-Man movie, and I do remember how excited I was for She-Ra (both as a kid renting it repeatedly from Blockbuster and as an adult fangirling on the queer reboot) but I can't see #MastersOfTheUniverse ads w/o remembering Roger died in April w/ $0 support from Mattel.

Screenshot of tweet on X by @tufpraise: "Amazon MGM Studios, which is valued at almost $10 billion, is releasing a movie about He-Man this year, which will easily make millions of dollars. Meanwhile, the literal creator of the character, who without him that movie wouldn't even exist, has to rely on a GoFundMe for his medical care. F****** insane." The post quote retweets from @TheCartoonBase in February with images showing the iconic He-Man character and the creator, a dapper elderly man smiling with a hat and stepped shirt, proudly holding up a He-Man book. The original post says "'He-Man' Creator Roger sweet is suffering from dementia and he's unable to afford the necessary care. His wife has started a GoFundMe."

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Has anyone else thought of this gorgeous bit of writing multiple times a day since 2021? What does your garden need today?

Screenshot of tweet: "you are not a machine. you are more like a garden. you need
different things on different days. a little sun today, a little less water tomorrow. you have fallow and fruitful seasons. it is not a design flaw. it is wiser than perpetual sameness. what does your garden need today?"

From Joy Clarkson, @JoynessTheBrave on March 14, 2021.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

The audacity of these politicians forcing disabled people and their families to spend even more of their already limited time and energy proving again and again, endlessly, they are worthy of help. Systemic ableism growing ever more entrenched simply because they want to spite whatever Biden did.

Screenshot of the article. Text reads: "If enacted, the change will require intellectually disabled young people like Burton as well as very elderly people to file extensive monthly reports if they want to continue their benefits even at the reduced level. They’ll have to provide details about the property where they live: whether it’s leased or owned, as well as the names of anyone in the home, and whether any of these people has any new income or assets. They’ll also have to include documentation of all household bills and expenses, showing how much they do or don’t contribute personally, as well as financial documents such as bank statements and any pay stubs.

Burton will likely have to make an appointment and report in person at a Social Security field office any time her father’s hours or wages change even slightly; any time she and he switch up how they split utility bills; and any time an adult sibling spends even a few nights at the house and helps her with living expenses. If she doesn’t, she could later receive bills accusing her of having been overpaid by Social Security."

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

"Most things will be okay eventually, but not everything will be. Sometimes you'll put up a good fight and lose. Sometimes you'll hold on really hard and realize there is no choice but to let go. Acceptance is a small, quiet room." Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things (my fav book back in 2021)

Image ID: photo of holding a small green book open. My hand has pale skin and elaborate, keep-me-from-going-stir-crazy-in-quarantine nail polish art of blue butterflies on multi-chrome laquer.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

What I mean by "I'm a mood reader." I'm liking Nghi Vo's edgy dark fantasy, a queer Gatsby retelling. But it's a lot for my nervous system, so I checked out a supremely cozy Brambly Hedge compilation from the library. All while dipping in / out of nonfiction on fawn responses. Plus 15 more! #BookSky

Screenshot from StoryGraph showing Current Reads (18) and three book covers at varying percentages of completion: The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo with an Asian American woman in flapper style; The Complete Brambly Hedge by Jill Barklem with a raspberry bush twining around a sweet pastoral scene of a mouse family on a picnic; and Are You Mad at Me? How to Stop Focusing on What Others Think and Start Living for You by Meg Josephson with a simple cover design of an orange conversation bubble.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Ok, great! I bought the supporter ticket for Accurately Depicting Chronic Pain: What We Wish Writers Knew.

A screenshot of the event page with different dates showing

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

If you see this, post something orange from your gallery. Definitely a bit on the nose, but it was the last orange thing I photographed. Had to go about a month back, before my recent hand injury. I liked the light and hoped I might use it as a reference for amateur oil pastel practice. 🎨 Oh, well.

A photo of a mandarin orange lit by a patch of sunlight. The black desk and computer in the background have interesting reflections and shadows that might make it a good art practice subject someday.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Oh, lovely!! I planted a native Texas coral honeysuckle here and it took years for its first bloom, too. It's weirdly one of my fav parts about gardening with native perennials—they know how much root support system they need first, they take their time. I respect their boundaries and self care! 🌺

A Coral Honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, climbing up a white trellis, with a single burst of pink trumpet flowers. Beloved by hummingbirds, butterflies, and native bees. It's the larval host plant for Spring Azure and Snowberry Clearwing Moth.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

My first #BloomScroll post. I love photography of flowers, especially native Texas flowers. One of my goals is to be able to "read" a patch of wildflowers and know the different species and what pollinators they support. I've been following this interest for 4 yrs, and I'm getting better at it! 🌺🐝

Several butter-yellow blossoms with crinkly petals are nestled into spiky green leaves. Berlandier's Sundrops, Calylophus berlandieri, is an excellent drought-resistant rock garden plant and nectar source for native TX bees. Blooms from March through September.

A round red-violet flower with five petals coming to a white pentagonal shape in the center. The spaces where the petals converge make a five-pointed star of negative space. This is the Wine Cup, Callirhoe involucrata, another drought-resistant native Texas perennial. It's from the mallow family, it's of special value to native bees, and is the larval host for the Gray Hairstreak butterfly, Strymon melinu. Indigenous people (apologies, my source, the Wildflower Center, does not name specific tribes) use the dried roots for smoke and teas to reduce pain in aching limbs.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

best Star Trek crew, wrong answers only

A spaceship crew of crystal gem aliens from the animated classic Steven Universe. Screenshot is from "Lars of the Stars," Season 5, Episode 11.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

I am quite proud of my idea to repurpose a good ol' hospital grippy sock to cover the brace, prevent the Velcro from tearing up my clothes, and give me a bit of traction to push my wheelchair! It's not pretty but I'm not exactly in a place to sew/embroider a cooler version right now. 🤷🏻‍♀️ #Disability

Photo of my hand with pale skin in a black Velcro thumb brace that has been covered in a grey hospital grippy sock marked size 2XL. I have cut the toe off the sock so my fingers are free, and made a hole in the side for my thumb. In the background you can see the push rim of my manual wheelchair. Disabled ingenuity for the win!

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

CW injury We need the rain so badly but I do NOT need the aches that come with it. Esp since I finally had one of my ortho surgeons (yes I have multiple) take a look at my thumb I injured in January while racing my wheelchair across a hospital, ironically trying to make a dr apt on time. 🤦🏻‍♀️

My hand with pale skin wrapped in a hefty black thumb brace. Background is a doctor's office.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

A tip for those who rely on a big monthly pill organizer: use chopsticks to retrieve pills that mistakenly fall into the wrong square. Tweezers might work, too. I was more delighted by this strategy than the Cheetos-chopstick practice my coworkers teased me abt in 2014. 😅 #ThingsDisabledPeopleKnow

View of the monthly pill organizer from above, and a shot of my hand using chopsticks to fetch a white capsule from a square that already had one in it, to move to the empty square next door. The lid provides a handy sorting tray for more pills.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

One of the best health tools I've benefited from in the last year also has a danger that I keep forgetting. I love my monthly pill organizer with its four week-long containers. I have two (AM & PM) and I stuff them completely. Unfortunately, if I make a mistake, I can pay for it all month. 😭

Two monthly pill organizers each with four weekly pill organizers inside, all color-coded and open to receive pills. By comparison , I'm holding up my old rainbow 1-wk organizer. In the background is a dish of pills, a smoothie, a tea thermos, lots of post it notes, and a box stuffed with pill bottles, D3 and K2 supplements visible.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Sending gratitude to everyone taking action today. I've been struggling hard w/ physical and mental health in recent months. It's hard to need to prioritize that, but I am in no kind of shape to do much more than survive right now. But even that, is part of the work. Pulling what threads I can.

Tweet by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca @LadyOfSardines that reads, "It can be overwhelming to witness/experience/take in all the injustices of the moment; the good news is that *they’re all connected.* So if your little corner of work involves pulling at one of the threads, you’re helping to unravel the whole damn cloth."

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

I don't have any pets in my life currently, but for my contribution here's a raccoon I stole from the Internet.

Screenshot from Threads, user @bongoism. Text: my sons first day of wizard school. A small raccoon wears a dashing purple cape with stars and in both tiny paws holds a silver wand with a star on the end. The raccoon is making puppy eyes, but, like, mischievously.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Oh man, @mrmaresca.com I still have it. Paperback for scale (might delete this later). I was really interested in the various life cycles of different generations and how that pattern could give me a roadmap for character values, personalities, the tone of a time period. It goes from 1435-2209.

Photo of a ridiculously big color coded spreadsheet printed out and taped together. Each row is a roughly 20-25 yr period, and the columns note where each generation is in their life cycle and attitude. Based on The Fourth Turning by Strauss and Howe.

A closeup of the spreadsheet, folded so the column titles are clear but only the 1400s and 2100s are visible. Columns show turning cycles and type, which generation archetype is being born, the parenting styles, who's going into adulthood, midlife, etc.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Looking at this billboard and listening to The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde. She's struggling w "the urge, the need, to work again... To be of use, even symbolically." I'm thinking of ableism. How "when slowing down isn't an option," we need to throw out each and every system that says it isn't.

Photo of a billboard against a cloudy sky, rain streaking my windshield. A 20-something Asian woman holds books in an urban background, looking capable and in control. The text reads, "St. David's CareNow Urgent Care. Trusted care close by. For when slowing down isn't an option."

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

All 135 pgs of Against Technoableism are relevant, but esp Chapter 6 arguing we'll see MORE disability for @ least 6 reasons. "Space is already disabling for humans. Just as the built environment on Earth is not suited for disabled bodies, space as an environment is not suited to ANY human bodies."

Photo of page 118 of the hardback copy of Against Technoableism by Ashley Shew. There's a paragraph about how post-Polio disability and how COVID is a mass disabling event. The text relevant to this post: "The future is disabled, cosmically. Even with hopeful futures like space travel and adventure, we can expect the production of disability. Space is already disabling for humans. Just as the built environment on Earth is not suited for disabled bodies, space as an environment is not suited to any human bodies. Every astronaut comes back from the low gravity of space with damage to their bones and eyes and the longer they are off Earth's surface, the worse the damage. Some things can be restored over time, but some changes are long-lasting. These realities are absent from futurist..."

Photo of pg 119. Text continues, "writing about technology, which is framed as simply magicking away the disabling effects of space travel.

This is why technofuturists' discussions of "The End of Disability" are so silly. Disability isn't ending; we're going to see more and newer forms of disability in the future. This doesn't mean that all medical projects aimed at treating disease and disability are unpromising. I certainly hope we will come up with better diagnosis and treatment for conditions like asthma and Lyme disease. But disability is multi-faceted and a much larger category than can be covered by any simple case. No nondisabled person without experiential knowledge of disability and engagement with the disability community should be making claims or decisions about the future of disability and disabled people. We need to prepare for the disabled future, becoming more comfortable with other people's disabilities, accepting the fact that we ourselves will eventually be disabled (if we aren't already), learning to recognize and root out ableism—these are all moves toward building a better future for everyone.

Because the future is disabled, working toward and planning for a future without disability, without disabled people, is a ridiculous prospect."

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

"To survive in the mouth of this dragon we call america, we have had to learn this first and most vital lesson—that we were never meant to survive... That visibility which makes us most vulnerable is that which also is the source of our greatest strength." —Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals

Photo of the paperback of The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde, who is shown in a black and white photo that has been colorized to emphasize her purple floral shirt, her missing breast. She has been collaged onto a yellow-blue floral background and bears a halo of red and black dots around her face.

Pg 14 of The Cancer Journals. Text: "What are the words you do not yet have? What do you need to say? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? Perhaps for some of you here today, I am the face of one of your fears. Because I am... a Black woman warrior poet doing my work, come to ask you, are you doing yours?

And of course, I am afraid—you can hear it in my voice—because the transformation of silence into language and action is an act of self-revelation and that always seems fraught with danger. But my daughter, when I told her of our topic and my difficulty with it, said, "Tell them about how you're never really a whole person if you remain silent, because there's always that one little piece inside of you that wants to be spoken out, and if you keep ignoring it, it gets madder and madder and hotter and hotter, and if you don't speak it out one day it will just up and punch you in the mouth."

In the cause of silence, each one of us draws the face of her own fear—fear of contempt, of censure, or some judgment, or recognition, of challenge, of annihilation. But most of all, I think, we fear the very visibility without which we also cannot truly live. Within this country where racial difference creates a constant, if unspoken, distortion of vision, Black women have on one hand always been highly visible, and so, on the other hand, have been rendered invisible through the depersonalization of racism. Even within the women's movement, we have had to fight and still do, for that very visibility which also renders us most vulnerable, our Blackness. For to survive in the mouth of this dragon we call america, we have had to learn this first and most vital lesson—that we were never meant to survive. Not as human beings. And neither were most of you here today, Black or not. And that visibility which makes us most vulnerable is that which also is the source of our greatest strength."

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Your collection is so good! I still have your poem taped inside my pill organizer, where I will get a reminder every month that filling one up for myself or for others is an act of great love. 💜

Photo of me holding open my monthly pill organizer where I have taped a copy of Leticia Urieta's poem "What greater love than refilling a pill organizer?" from her collection Offerings to a Tumbled Temple. I'm not currently able to provide alt text for the entire poem, but please DM if you want that and I can type it up when I have more capacity!

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

There's a 16-yr old in my mind trying so hard to remember the full quote from one of the gender-bending scenes of Shakespeare in Love. The one on the Thames where Will unwittingly describes his crush's bosom to the same person disguised in male drag. Anyway, those are some lovely loaves!

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

But I only made it to pg 21 of Positive Obsession before I learned that Butler used to buy extra copies of Zenna Henderson's Pilgrimage to give away just so she'd have someone to talk to about it with. (What a mood!) So obviously @ 1am last night I downloaded an 827 pg Zenna Henderson compendium. 2/

Photo of me holding open my copy of Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler by Susana M. Morris. Text reads: "She read all the "golden age" science fiction classics, from Robert Heinlein to John Brunner to Theodore Sturgeon, and later fell in love with Frank Herbert's Dune, but works by women writers particularly resonated with her. She would read all of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series. Ursula K. Le Guin's work was another favorite. But young Estelle was a zealot for Zenna Henderso—so much so she would buy cheap copies of Pilgrimage from the Salvation Army and pass them out to people because she wanted someone to discuss the book with. Estelle found a kindred spirit in Henderson's writing. Pilgrimage is part of a series of novels about a group of telepathic humanoid aliens and featured strong women characters. By the time Estelle read this story she had already been working on proto-versions of the Patternist series, which also centers on telepathic humans and their struggles."

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

CW medical trauma, surgery, ableism Campbell's poem, "This Hospital Is Not Big Enough for the Two of Us" captures what it's like to return to the hospital as an adult w C-PTSD and to be asked to abandon the oldest and most vulnerable parts of myself. Sacrifice my humanity to be pleasant to survive.

Photo of a page of prose poetry by Jen Campbell in the collection Please Do Not Touch This Exhibit.

Title: This Hospital Is Not Big Enough for the Two of Us.

Poem text:
1

The hospital is not a place for nostalgia. The woman is advised it probably would be wise to leave her younger self outside. They hand her a knife, ask her if she knows how to use it, say it's quite expensive and - 'judging by the state of [her] hands' they hope she'll try very hard not to drop it. If she doesn't feel comfortable making the separation, they can always do it for her. Not a problem. Just ask. And if it isn't too crass, can she leave the severed child in the car park? It's fine, they find they don't usually mind; most of them enjoy the weather and the people watching. Not to worry. Could you hurry? We don't want to get caught in the rain -

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

In considering my fawn responses in a medical setting, I keep thinking about these two poems from the excellent Please Do Not Touch This Exhibit by @jenvcampbell.bsky.social. When you can't fight or flee from the ableism or indifference of a doctor, your options are freezing and fawning. Obedience.

Photo of a page of poetry by Jen Campbell in the collection Please Do Not Touch This Exhibit. The text of this poem is crammed into a narrow column awkwardly to the right side of the page.

Title: Poem as Bad Doctor.

Poem text:

Please imagine that this poem is not talking to you but is instead talking to the person sitting next to you, who happens to be present but is not actually the subject of this poem. Scuttle to the right, then merge into the margins and wait to be told when this poem, this poem that is not your poem, this body of text, is going to end. And when the words cease, please wait to be told how you're supposed to take them. How on earth you're supposed to swallow them down.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, soundgarden, pearl jam, or alice in chains. (I could listen endlessly to 1200 Curfews, a 1995 live album by @indigogirlsmusic.bsky.social. The concert banter feels like a hug from an old friend and "Virginia Woolf" always invokes hopeful tears.)

Album cover showing a black and white photo of the stage scaffolding of a concert venue, at night after the crowds have gone home. Text is scrawled in red handwriting, Indigo Girls, 1200 Curfews

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Taped a copy of this new poem by @leticiaasu.bsky.social inside my monthly pill organizer. A hug for my future self. 🥰 This poetry collection is phenomenal & would make a wonderful gift for the disabled & chronically ill folks of #BookSky. Just requested copies at my library for a book club!

Photo of the cover of Leticia Urieta's chapbook Offerings To A Tumbled Temple. The top half of the cover is in vivid blue paint radiating outwards from a bird figure, brown wings outstretched. The lower half shows the curves of a human figure in earth tones. It gives the effect of a body that might also be a riverbank against blue rippling waters, or a body that might be a mountain range with a bird soaring into the sky. Artwork by Yael Aldana, chapbook published 2025 by Purple Ink Press.

Photo of a page of poetry.
Title: What greater love than refilling a pill organizer?
by Leticia Urieta
from the chapbook Offerings To A Tumbled Temple
2025, Purple Ink Press.

Tip each long pill down the hill of my hand to be deposited
in each miniscule box some to be picked up between two fingers
with tenderness lest they fall on the bedsheets or on the floor
(they will and I will pick them up, say "five second rule," dust my breath across their
surface and we will never speak of how you are anointed by my breath)

What relief, to know what you need to swallow for each day,
even for each hour, the pills no longer sequestered in their bottles
affixed to names, side effects when you get to a certain age
you grow accustomed to letting others worry for you about "why so
many, and what for?"

I have done this refilling for many elders the act inconsequentia
but vital though I will leave and someone else will have to take down the plastic
casements and do this prayer all over again the pills a rosary we say every day,
running our thumbs across their glistening surfaces, reminding me of beads
I kept in plastic boxes as a child all shining, some metal and even precious glass to twine
on thin strings as gifts for my friends

Now, I have my own box of weekly relief, choosing a Sunday,
how appropriate, to fill each day with remedies my tried and true My box is
not yet elaborate but it is purple,
a light royal color for a kindness from my past self beginning again
with each empty box

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

"The future is accessible." -Annie Segarra Updating cover art w this amazing #embroidery artwork. Shared w permission, credit to HGEmbroideryArt! www.etsy.com/shop/HGEmbro... 🏳️‍🌈🧵 Based on a photo of me dancing in a wheelchair from my 2018 #HealingVisibly photo-essay project. #TheFutureIsAccessible

An embroidery hoop with white fabric showing a complex artwork of a person in a manual wheelchair lifting a walker above her head, and kicking a leg up above their chair's leg rest. The person's hair is long and galaxy-colored. The embroidered text reads "The future is accessible," which is a quote from Annie Segarra. Artwork copyright HGEmbroideryArt, DO NOT REPOST WITHOUT PERMISSION!

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

What a pick-me-up for a rough day of con-drop after #WorldCon! @libro.fm just popped up with a wondrous notification allowing me to download my pre-order of Lessons in Magic and Disaster by the legendary @charliejane.bsky.social! Esp after the Feminist Futurism Salon, I am SO excited!

Screenshot of the Libro FM app showing the purple and yellow cover of the audiobook Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders, narrated by Lisa Flanagan, Marisa Calin, and Sena Bryer.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

"Sometimes I get reminded that media exists that isn't gay at all, and it really saddens me." @hanalee.bsky.social #WorldCon

A four panel meme with a photo of a fluffy white dog being tossed up into the air by a human. First panel says "so lomg human." Second panel shows the dog further away as if flying up into the sky and says "i have achieved my goal." Third panel the dog is far away and it says in rainbow text "everyone gay." The final panel is an empty sky because the dog has ascended.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

My favorite part of what Becky Chambers said in the "Genre in Conversation with Itself" panel at @seattlein2025.org #WorldCon, which I really needed to hear. A response to the question, "how do you deal with the emotional impact of someone responding to your works?" Cameo by George R. R. Martin.

Discord screenshot of transcription of 242 words of Becky Chambers and George R. R. Martin speaking on a panel at Seattle WorldCon.

Becky Chambers: This is so much easier said than done. But it's not personal, right? I'm not my work. My work is something I made in a very contained period of my life. And so… whatever someone's response to that is, is really not my business. Right?

I… I did not feel this way when I first started out. Part of it is just time, and growing that thick skin. Unfortunately, thick skin is not something that you can develop overnight. But it is just a matter of constantly grabbing yourself by the scruff and being like, "hey, is this conversation that's happening actually a space that you should be in?" Right? Because most of the time when people are talking about my work it's not a place I need to be.

And they're… because they're not talking about me. They're talking about their own feelings about the work. They're talking about their own personal conversation with it. And it's usually a conversation with something I made 10 years ago. I'm not that person anymore.

I'm doing my own thing now, right? It takes practice. I'm not always good at it. But… it does get easier with time.

George RR Martin: But don't you love the things that you wrote 10 years ago? I mean, they're your children, and someone's saying your firstborn children is ugly.

Becky Chambers: Oh, I love them. I love them to bits, but I would edit.

[laughs]

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Becky Chambers & @isabel.kim said so many wise things today about the cooperative nature of the dialogue inherent within the SFF genre. Two excerpts that resonated with me as both a writer and reader, from the #WorldCon panel "A Genre in Conversation with Itself" with @scalzi.com Olav Rokne & GRRM.

Discord screenshot of 355-word convo w/ Isabel J Kim, Becky Chambers, and John Scalzi.

Isabel J Kim: One thing I've been thinking about a lot is that you don't respond to something you don't care about. Regardless of whether you love it or hate it, you do kind of give a shit about it. This is something you care about, this is something you want to expand on.

It's like, if someone really hated something, or if something didn't matter, then it would just disappear from the canon, it would never be responded to. Yeah, I don't know, I got a lot of people being like, “do you like or hate Ursula K. Le Guin?” after I wrote a response piece. And I was very much like, “Of course I like her work.” I wouldn't spend my brain and my brain power on responding to something I didn't care about.

Becky Chambers: That's exactly what I was thinking about through this whole back and forth. I think, love it or hate it, I mean, fuck the binary, right?

[audience cheers]

It's… Does a conversation have to be adversarial? It's not a debate. Right? It's a conversation. There are different viewpoints, there are different takes. Some of them are gonna land with some people, some are gonna land with others, right? That's just how art works. I personally don't see… when I write things that are… you know, “ooh, I really love that, but what if we did this?” I don't see that as, “I'm correct, and I am going to have the only correct take there is!” No, I'm putting my spin on it. Because I love it. Or because I was like, mm, I loved that little kernel.

But what if we did this instead? I don't think there's… it's not a competition, as far as I'm concerned, and I know I'm a great big marshmallow, but…

For me, it's collaborative. Even if I don't know the people, even if these are people I've never met, I am collaborating with all of the authors who came before me and after me.

John Scalzi: So you're saying the genre is free-form jazz?

Becky Chambers: Yes. And I play saxophone. (No, I don't.)

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

My story "Marit the Resolute" is a portal fantasy about belonging, trust, & traveling while disabled. Traveling Light: Tales of the Magical Gates is available in eBook & paperback! 📘 Bookshop: bookshop.org/p/books/trav... 📗 B&N: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/traveling-... 📙Amazon: a.co/d/3n3loft

Book cover showing a stone archway, green grass, and the tattooed hands of someone with light brown skin who has fallen through the portal. Text shows Traveling Light: Tales of the Magical Gates, Presented by Worldbuilding for Masochists, and the names of the twelve authors.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

Hi! I'm a nerdy queer writer w/ work in the anthology Traveling Light from Hugo-finalist podcast @worldbuildcast.bsky.social. A 2x Paralympian, I set a world record in 2004 & won a bronze medal in 2008. So far I'm the only US woman to win an Olympic or Paralympic archery medal in singles since 1996.

Lindsey is sitting with her arms folded on a table with a grey tablecloth, a microphone and packet of typed notes in front of her. She's wearing a blue face mask with a blue sweater and has medium-length wavy brown-silver hair. In the foreground you can see a portable air purifier and a paperback titled Traveling Light: Tales of the Magical Gates, with twelve authors listed on the cover, herself included. She looks very happy.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

It took me two hours of executive dysfunction (and roughly 20 non-consecutive pages of The Illiad, of all things) to track down my response. Which also came from Insta. When a writer friend sent this to me, it made me laugh-choke on my tea 😂 CW for death/morbid humor, I guess?

Screenshot of a social media post by maria sherman @mariasherm. Text says "being a writer is cool because it's like always having homework & then you die"

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Today marks 48 years since the end of the 504 Sit-In! Did you know disabled people have accessibility in the US largely because some brave people held the longest nonviolent occupation of a federal building in US history? I was in my 30s before I learned the history that made my life possible.

A black and white photo of legendary activist Judy Heumann speaking into a microphone at an outdoor event. She's sitting in a wheelchair and is wearing octagonal glasses and a winter coat with a button that says SIGN 504.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

If you see this, post your pride flags! (And optional crafts you made of those flags.) Don't forget the alt text!

Omnisexual pride flag in five bands of pinks and blues. Omnisexuality is defined as the sexual attraction to people of all sexes and gender identities, wherein gender plays a role in one's attraction.

An embroidery hoop with geometric shapes I stitched in five bands of color for the omnisexual pride flag. The hoop itself is painted pink, and the original design credit goes to Wolfratsen.

Polyamory pride flag with a yellow heart on a white triangle and bands of blue, purple, and pink.

Disability pride flag with a charcoal grey background and diagonal stripes of five colors symbolizing cutting across inaccessible barriers. The red band is for physical disabilities, gold for neurodivergence, white for undiagnosed and hidden disabilities, blue for mental disabilities and mental illness, green for sensory disabilities. The charcoal represents mourning for ableist violence, and honoring those lost to disability and illness. It was originally designed by Ann Magill, a disabled activist, and later revised with community input to improve visual accessibility.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

"To refuse to participate in the shaping of our future is to give it up. Do not be misled into passivity either by false security (they don't mean me) or by despair (there's nothing we can do). Each of us must find our work and do it." Audre Lorde, 1982 speech at Harvard, "Learning from the 60s"

The quote transposed over a photo collage of Audre Lorde, a Black woman with short natural hair in a purple floral top, set against an ornate background of flowers and a circle of dots radiating from Lorde's face. The artwork is from the 2020 edition book cover of Lorde's short 1980 essay collection The Cancer Journals.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Listening to Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Shaping Worlds by @adriennemareebrown.bsky.social today, and this quote from Detroit organizer Morgan Mann Willis stood out to me.

Screenshot of an ebook that reads:

“I believe in the honesty of trees. I, like many organizers, have spent a lot of time processing the notion that anything worth its outcome involves everyone’s priorities, desires, visions and perspectives in every phase and around every decision. I look at the anatomy of trees as one of nature’s examples of successful organizing that realizes that our power is in our ability to both be fiercely centered and grounded but also infinitely reaching towards our unique sources of energy, light, and growth. Each tree’s elements are reliant on one another but totally unique in form and function. There is no competition or pressure to be the root or the trunk or the buds that bloom. Each tree is a universe, a master delegator, a puzzle and a puzzle piece. They have encouraged me to not worry so much about making everyone ‘feel important’ and to focus on how to create systems and support efforts where everyone is important and clear on how their work is unique, crucial and totally interconnected.” —Morgan Mann Willis

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Today I discovered this unexpected marigold amid the annual letting-go of wintertime gardening. What are some unlooked-for joys keeping you going through the exhaustion of recent events?

A yellow marigold flower in a green mass of leaves, nestled into a container full of dead and dried pepper and okra plants.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Anyway I am forever grateful and full of admiration for Becky Chambers. I'm sad she's not on social media but I am also glad she knows herself and her limits. Mad respect. Here's the AMA I quoted. www.reddit.com/r/books/s/8K...

Screenshot of the AMA. DM for full text. Summary is: What's some advice for aspiring authors? 1. You are not defined by how productive you are, or whether you get published or if your work is any good. Tell anybody who romanticizes burnout to f*** off. Writing is just a cool thing that you can choose to do. It's not what makes you worthwhile. You already are, without doing anything more. 2. Experiment constantly. Give yourself new puzzles to solve. Figure out your preferences and strengths, never stop exploring those things. 3. Research the practical side of writing professionally to have a clear idea of what you're working towards. There's no wrong answer. 4. Sometimes this job sucks. It's okay to go eat some other art for a while. Find something that lights stuff fire in. You, grab it with both hands as hard as you can, and start running again. It always comes back.

Screenshot of the rest of the AMA. DM for full text. Summary is: 5. Some stories don't work, and that's okay. Don't ever throw anything out. Always be open to recycling. 6. If you love your story, somebody else will too. Believe in it.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Serendipity! Met @drstephaniecawthon.bsky.social at Bookwoman & rolled right into a great convo. Instabought her new book #DisabilityIsHuman + workbook, she was kind enough to sign them & pause for a selfie. CONGRATS on your publication! I'm excited to come back for the full event at 7pm on 2/5!

Lindsey is in a wheelchair, blue jean jacket, and purple mask, holding up two books in green and purple with spirals on the cover and the title Disability is Human, plus the accompanying workbook. Stephanie stands nearby in a long sleeve shirt, orange vest, and black face mask. In the background are bookshelves and colorful decorations.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is about a woman cursed to endure my worst fear. Seeing her manage to find meaning was SO healing for me. Gorgeous writing, 5 stars. Please, VE Schwab (are they on Bsky yet?) keep building those armored giants, going on those quests, sitting in the chair to write. 💜

Screenshot of tweet that reads: Victoria/V.E. Schwab, @veschwab.

Look, writing books isn't that hard. All you have to do is build an armored giant out of all your fears and then fight it to the death and melt the metal down to forge a pair of doors locked by doubt and go on a quest to find the key and then sit your ass in the chair and write.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Post your favorite #DoctorWho. Wrong answers only.

A painting of Robinton, Master Harper, from the book series Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. A man in a doublet and cape holds a harp and a glass of wine, looking majestically out over a desert sunset as a massive blue dragon poses behind him. There's a rider on the dragon's back and the tail of the creature is wrapped possessively around the man in a way that is almost guaranteed to trip him, spill the wine, and probably strum the harp too.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Photos of a Frostweed plant stem splitting into a spiral frost-flower. Species is Verbesina virginica. Taken yesterday morning in a breathless rush before therapy. ❄️ (Plus a bonus photo of a Monarch butterfly feasting on the white flowers of this same plant during warmer seasons. 🦋) #NativeTX

Closeup of delicate ice swirling out of a broken plant stem, surrounded by blades of grass.

A photo of the entire plant with ice spirals at its base. The leaves are large, drooping green-yellow, and there are clusters of seeds at the dried flowers at the top. The background is a lot of uncut St Augustine grass.

A bright warm photo of a black and orange monarch butterfly perched on the white flowers of a Frostweed plant, which is healthy and green at a different part of the year. The grass behind is also a vibrant green.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

You've been kidnapped. The characters from the last TV show you watched are trying to rescue you. Who is coming to save you? YESSSS GOAT HOUSE! 🐐🤘🏻😎 My @dimension20.bsky.social addiction is the gift that keeps on giving. #MisfitsAndMagic

Five people cheering on a split screen, with a miniature castle in the foreground and the colors of a geodesic dome in the background. Clip from Misfits and Magic, a Dimension 20 show on the amazing Dropout network.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

My whole body wants to make sure I know some Big Weather is coming. Bone aches in places I don't even remember having injuries + an ocular migraine that made me go 75% blind w fractals for half an hour. Guess it's "quiet audiobook" day. Finding solace in @jarodkanderson.bsky.social's writing again.

A black and white photo of a table with a cup of tea, a banana, a small dish of medicine, a pair of over-the-ear bone-conducting headphones, a pencil, and a hardback book, Something in the Woods Loves You, by the poet and Cryptonaturalist podcaster Jarod K. Anderson.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

(CW surgery details) Definitely feeling very #CripPunk filling out this hardcore detail from the hardest, longest surgery I've been through. I'm an actual mutant and I've had multiple experimental bone-strengthening treatments. Sorry 'bout your bone saws, bro 🤷‍♀️

Closeup of screenshot of the webform asking type of procedure, and to explain complications. My text shows "replace femoral rods, shorten L femur, lengthen R" and in complications it says "dulled 2 bonesaws, 17 hrs" which is admittedly brief enough to be confusing, but it's not my fault you only gave me 25 characters.

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L Carmichael @utarcher.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

(CW surgery details) 45 mins to get to the point in this "medical passport" where I'm finally going to fill in my extensive surgical history, one procedure at a time, and it gives me *25 characters* to explain what the complications were. Guess I'm too human & messy to be contained by this tech.

Screenshot of a web form page titled Past Surgical History. It's asking me to enter each procedure, the type, when, and if there were complications then it gives a tiny box to explain. The one I have entered here says "emergency surgery to replace plate, broken screw, within the last 10 years, yes there were complications," and in the final box I have tried and failed to fill in "life-threatening drop in" which has been cut off due to lack of space.

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