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✍🏼Winter Simpson

@winterandwords.social
944 followers 659 following 3K posts

🏳️‍🌈 Writing queer neo-noir fiction 💜 Here for cosy community vibes 💻 All the links at winterandwords.social 📚 Read at patreon.com/winterandwords 🚫 No AI anywhere

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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 16h
Tobie, the main character of Darwin's Cliff, is a socially anxious soul. She's perpetually worried about saying the wrong thing or looking naive and sheltered, especially in front of people who she sees as having their life together more than she does. 🏷️ #LGBTQWriteAThon #QueerWriters #WriteSky
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 05/10/2026
I'm planning to work through some more of my revision notes for Darwin's Cliff. I hope everyone else has a lovely creative week 💜 🏷️ #LGBTQWriteAThon
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 04/10/2026
Aaaahhhh I have the exact word in Darwin's Cliff! I discovered the concept of foreboding joy via Brené Brown and have had an uncomfortable awareness of it ever since, so of course it made its way into something I'm writing. 🏷️ #LGBTQWriteAThon #QueerWriters #WriteSky #WritingCommunity
IMAGE: Silhouette of a woman standing in a field at sunset.

TEXT: Next to it was the cork from my birthday champagne and a candle in a glass holder, my shrine to what was and what might have been. My temple of foreboding joy.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 04/10/2026
How have I been alive for almost forty-six years and never realised this before??
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 04/10/2026
Yay for a completed draft! 🥳
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 04/10/2026
No wonder you're stressed 💜 I hope your kids are doing alright and you have time to get some of the writing-related things done (and time to stop and breathe)
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 04/10/2026
I hope you're doing alright today 🫂
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 04/10/2026
I hope the migraine has left you alone now. They're the worst.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 04/10/2026
Happy debut novel anniversary! 🥂
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 04/10/2026
Thank you! It was absolutely terrifying to get started with because I've never been comfortable with how my voice sounds in recordings, but I'm getting over the anxiety and actually starting to enjoy it.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 04/10/2026
I love that it resonates with you 😊
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
Thank you! Now I have to figure out how to actually use Audacity 😆
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
It's just short stories and snippets so far, a few minutes each, definitely nowhere near audiobook standards. I have such huge respect for people who voice audiobooks and every time I record myself reading anything at all that respect grows.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
I'm wildly uncomfortable with eye contact and this is so accurate. There's something raw and terrifying, but also deeply rewarding and beautiful, about throwing words out into the world and knowing people are catching them.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
Exactly! We're all just tiny pieces but the more of us there are sharing our voices and experiences, the more of us can relate to and learn from each other. It's beautiful and I'm proud of all of us for putting our words out there.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
I promised myself that if I stuck with the audio readings (instead of freaking out and giving up) I'd get some better kit to work with than the £6 no-name mic and the free recording app on my phone. Also, now I REALLY can't freak out and give up because I've put money into the thing 😁
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
Gotta love when the next WIP starts sneaking up on you 😁
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
Yay!! Congrats on finishing your first draft. It's such an amazing feeling 🏆
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
"bisexual thruple horror romance" OK that sounds wonderful 👀
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
Revenge scenes are SO MUCH FUN 😈
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
Congrats on the new job! And high five for the no AI 🙏🏼
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
Yay! I'm caught up and posting on the right day. This week has been great. I got some work done on Darwin's Cliff, sorted a mess of notes into logical order in Notion, downloaded Audacity for the audio readings I'm doing on Patreon, and even bought myself a vaguely decent mic. 🏷️ #LGBTQWriteAThon
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
I forgot to mention my goal yesterday (I'm still catching up, don't judge me) but it fits into today's theme too, so here goes... Introducing Darwin's Cliff, the WIP I'll be working on this month. Queer lit fic with vibes like The Secret History, The Virgin Suicides and Sunburn. 🏷️ #LGBTQWriteAThon
A woman standing in field, silhouetted against a sunset.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
WHAT THE FUCK I missed the start of #LGBTQWriteAThon?! I'm Winter, canon bisexual character, high-functioning trash, writing queer neo-noir fiction, apparently two days late to the party and hurriedly catching up now.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
"We write so that 'little us' feels like they've FINALLY embraced their purpose." I love how full of healing that is 🥰
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
"But I also write for community because queer stories matter and should be shared/told." YES 🏳️‍🌈
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
I love this! Today's Pretend Panel is giving me all the feelings.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
This answer gave me such huge warm'n'fuzzies.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
I write for myself and I share for connection. Doing the writing and sharing the writing serve different functions for me. I feel that difference most when I'm doing other creative things that I don't share. Writing just happens to be a form of creativity that fulfils both desires. 🏷️ #PretendPanel
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 03/10/2026
🌃 MILES FROM MORNING / NOW / 04 📢 New chapter on my Patreon now! 🔗 www.patreon.com/winterandwor... 💝 You can read this post, and everything else on my Patreon, by joining as a free or paid member. 🏷️ #Cyberpunk #SciFi #QueerWriters #LGBTQWriters #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #Writers #Patreon
IMAGE: A man wearing black streetwear and dark sunglasses stands in a corridor in a run-down building. The lighting is dramatic in shades of pink, purple and blue.

TEXT: I don’t know who decided personal hygiene had to involve company and conversation, but I hate it.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 02/10/2026
Oh my god, I relate so strong to the horror of no longer being impressive for my age. That genuinely shook me.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 02/10/2026
"because no-one else was reimagining the Old Testament as a space opera" That is such an amazing reason to write.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 02/10/2026
This is a beautiful answer 🥰
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 02/10/2026
This is such a perfect answer!
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 02/10/2026
Because of the people who appear in my head and yell at me until I write about them. Because I want to live in lots of places all at once. Because I love reading, and writing feels like a natural extension of that for me. Because of how people connect with and through stories. 🏷️ #PretendPanel
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 01/10/2026
PS. If anyone seeing this is on StoryGraph or Fable and would like to add me in either of those places, go for it! I love finding pocket friends on other platforms. 🌸 FABLE fable.co/fabler/winte... 📊 STORYGRAPH app.thestorygraph.com/profile/wint...
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 01/10/2026
📚 My September 2026 reading wrap-ups from @thestorygraph.com and Fable. I hit my reading goal for the year! 🥰 I can't pick a favourite for the month between Bad Influence by Will Carver and The Midnight Train by Matt Haig. I love both for different reasons. 🏷️ #ReadingCommunity #Booksky #AmReading
winterandwords September 2026 Wrap-Up graphic from StoryGraph. 10.bokks, 461 pages, 65.08 hours, 4.18 average rating.September reading wrap-up graphic from Fable. 2026 reading challenge 52/50
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 30/09/2026
I'll consult the University of YouTube. If it can teach me to take apart and fix a dishwasher, it can teach me sound thing-doing software. I'm feeling optimistic 💪🏼
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 29/09/2026
Did you find it easy to get to grips with when you first started using it?
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 28/09/2026
I have a bunch of random scribbled down notes for Darwin's Cliff that I'd like to get into some kind of order this week. I also want to check out Audacity to see if it's something I could use for my audio readings on Patreon. 🏷️ #QueerWriters (goals day)
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 28/09/2026
How did I miss this yesterday?! Catching up now with a line from Darwin's Cliff. 🏷️ #QueerWriters (line share: still) #LGBTQWriters #WriteSky
IMAGE: A woman standing in a field, silhouetted against the sunset
TEXT: While I ate and smiled and talked, half of my soul was still tethered to an aching loss that never fully left me no matter what I did or who I was with.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 27/09/2026
This is so gorgeous. "looming like Death itself waiting to slice down the platonic intimacy I've spent my whole life dreaming of experiencing" Love love love.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 27/09/2026
"only a biker shootout" ONLY??!! The rest of Dwayne's life must be extremely eventful.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 27/09/2026
Delay appears exactly once in Miles From Morning and I love this little snippet. Be careful with those mind-altering frequencies. You never know where you might end up...or where you might believe you've ended up. 🏷️ #WIPSnips (delay) #QueerWriters #LGBTQWriters #WriteSky
IMAGE: A man wearing black streetwear and dark sunglasses stands in a corridor in a run-down building. The lighting is dramatic in shades of pink, purple and blue.

TEXT: I’m screaming from lungs that aren’t my lungs, still desperately reaching with hands that aren’t my hands for anything to delay the inevitable. In the slow motion seconds of descent, I still wish with the mind that isn’t my mind for something or someone to save me.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 27/09/2026
Thank you 💜 I'm so happy to be here and to be able to catch up with everyone's writing. I've missed seeing all the familiar faces (or at least familiar profile pics)
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 27/09/2026
It's so good to see everyone again! I realised how much I see writing tag games on here as places I visit to see groups of familiar people and I love that so much.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 27/09/2026
Thank you 💜 I've never been so happy to be able to use my laptop as I am right now.
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 26/09/2026
My week was good! I've been able to gradually get back to more online activity, which feels absolutely lovely. I missed everyone so much. I also started (slowly, carefully) working on a WIP now that health stuff allows for it. Happy writer noises here. 🏷️ #QueerWriters
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 26/09/2026
(That was meant to say deeply chilling. Apparently I can't even give a compliment without a typo 🙈)
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✍🏼Winter Simpson @winterandwords.social · 26/09/2026
The cover for Amnion is deep chilling in the best possible way
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