iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Zena Ryder

PEN America @penamerica.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

A free press is under threat around the world. On #WorldPressFreedomDay, we stand with journalists facing imprisonment, harassment, and violence. We oppose efforts to retaliate against reporters and punish journalism. A free press must be defended.

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Dianna Gunn Does (Fictional) Murders 🇨🇦 @diannalgunn.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Suddenly feeling anxious that nobody will show up tomorrow sooooo if you're in Toronto please come say hi?? You'll get to grab a signed copy of Woman of Sorrow and Blood, see the badass outfit I've put together, and check out a really cool bookstore!!

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

📚 Thrilled that my novel, COMMITTED, has shortlisted in this contest (17th-19th century category) 🎉 My main character, Anna, is a fighter and I'm fighting to get her story in front of readers' eyeballs! #historicalfiction #histfic #hns2026 #hnsfirstchapterscompetition #historicalnovelsociety

A banner image that reads: Historical Novel Society, 2026 First Chapters Competition, Congratulations to COMMITTED by Zena Ryder, 17th to 19th Century Short List.

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Rebecca Makkai @rebeccamakkai.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

Why yes, you SHOULD buy yourself a Valentine.

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Yes it’s Valentine’s Day. But it’s also the chosen birthday of Frederick Douglass who was born in 1818 on a plantation in Talbot County, Maryland. He escaped from slavery & rose to become the most eloquent and forceful voice for the abolition of slavery & for Black voting rights in the U.S.

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PEN America @penamerica.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

As part of the recent “Fall of Freedom” action, we invited our members to write a poem using some of the 350+ words banned or restricted by the federal government, or a piece of fiction or nonfiction responding to current threats to free expression and culture. Read more: pen.org/writers-crea...

A poster with an illustration of a hand holding a pen, writing words like "women," "university," "sexuality," "abortion," and "science." A red box with "BAN THIS" is below. Text reads, "Writers Create Art From Banned Words." It mentions PEN America and directs to pen.org. Logos for Fall of Freedom and PEN America are at the bottom.

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

It’s so ridiculous it almost seems like a bad joke 😂

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Jane Friedman @janefriedman.com · 10/02/2026

Writers hear the advice to join a critique group and perhaps hope it will serve every need—motivation, accountability, encouragement, feedback, companionship. But it’s hard for one group to provide all those things to all members at the same time. @zenaryder.bsky.social suggests what to do instead.

janefriedman.com

The Big Mistake That Keeps Writers From Finishing a Novel | Jane Friedman

One writer explains why you shouldn’t necessarily get feedback on your first draft—and what you should do instead.

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

📚 Current read: research for the novel I’m writing. #histfic #historicalfiction

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

It's in the article: sugar, processed carbs, and dairy.

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

I don’t eat meat or drink alcohol. But the other three? I consume those big time 😬

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

📚 A good reading month! Have you read any of these, or plan to? #books #booksky #histfic #historicalfiction #booksandcats

Text says "My October Reads" surrounded by 6 book covers on a background image of pumpkins. The book covers are: Days of Light by Megan Hunter, 11/22/63 by Stephen King, Sorted by Jackson Bird, Real Artists Don't Starve by Jeff Goins, Write Through It by Kate McKean, Creativity by John Cleese.

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

📚 Dove wishes you a Happy Halloween! She also hopes to get lots of treats! 🎃 #blackcat #halloween #cats #booksandcats

black cat with yellow-green eyes lying inside a cardboard box

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

📚 Want to write a novel, but can't finish the first draft? I'm creating an online community especially for you! If you fit the description, it would be great if you'd complete the survey to help me find out what people want/need. Please share! Thanks 🩷 #writer #writers #author #authors #write

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Novel Draft in a Year — Community Survey

I'm thinking of opening an online paid community for people who want to write the first draft of their first novel in one year. My experiences drafting my own novels and running writing groups inspire...

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

📚 I was happy to get an email this morning saying my short story, Lucky, was shortlisted in the History Through Fiction contest 🎉 Along with 9 other shortlisted stories, it'll be published in an anthology in March 2026. #historicalfiction #histfic #fiction #writer #shortstory

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

forms.gle

Novel Draft in a Year — Community Survey

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

📚 Want to write a novel, but finding it hard to finish the 1st draft? I'm creating an online community for people just like you! If you fit the description, it would be great if you'd complete the survey to help me find out what people want/need. Thanks! #writer #writers #author #authors

forms.gle

Novel Draft in a Year — Community Survey

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

📚 I'm in the process of creating an online community to provide peer support and accountability for people writing the first draft of their first novel. Still lots more research to do, but I'm excited! #writers #writing #novels #histfic #historicalfiction #fiction

media.tenor.com

a little girl is making a funny face while wearing a blue shirt with a leopard print .

Alt: A little girl is making a funny excited face while wearing a bright blue patterned shirt.

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

📚 After many, MANY rejections (and silence), I have two stories longlisted in the History Through Fiction contest 🎉🎉 Rejections are part and parcel of the writerly life. Perseverance is essential! #histfic #historicalfiction

A brown, round badge with the text: 2025 History Through Fiction: Longlisted Short Story Context, with a stylized quill pen at the bottom.

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

📚 When Squid was a kitten, he liked to leap onto our jade plant, climb on the branches & knock leaves off. I put two 8lb weights in the pot, so he doesn't knock the whole thing over. Now, he still enjoys hanging out in the jade, but it looks a bit different now he's bigger 😂 #catsandbooks #cats

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

📚My husband and I met in graduate school, where we both got PhDs in philosophy. We argued “professionally” which is perhaps why we pretty much never argued “personally” 🤔

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

📚 I finished unpacking from a trip, and Dove decided I'd emptied this bag just for her to hop into. What you reading this weekend? I'm LOVING Charles Dickens' Great Expectations! I've read other Dickens and enjoyed them, but, so far, I'm loving GE even more. #caturday #booksandcats #booksky

A black kitten with yellow eyes looking out of a purple and green bag.

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Natania Barron ~ Fantasy Author @natania.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Thanks for reading. My books, my friends’ books, genre books, romance books, queer books, BIPOC books, all the books. We get through this reading.

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PEN America @penamerica.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

The cat's out of the bag. The book banners who told you they were just banning "pornography" are now targeting books about cats and other domestic animals. And even after a visit to the Brooklyn Cat Cafe with Raj Haldar we can't find a good reason why. More at: pen.org/why-ban-book...

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

📚 Gotta push past that ugly first draft 😂 #writers #writing #histfic #historicalfiction

In a museum, in the slight distance is a beautiful marble sculpture of a human head. In the foreground is a crude clay sculpture of a human head with stuck-on smiley face features.

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

OMG my daughter loved Phoebe and her Unicorn when she was that age! (She's now 18.)

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

Well, women and POC can still vote (although they've been obstructing the latter as much as they can since Reconstruction).

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Joanne Harris @joannechocolat.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 1121: A part of engaging the reader is to get them to notice things in a way they never have. To do that, YOU have to notice things. So be aware of what’s around you. Watch the news. Look out of windows. Observe with all your senses. Question. Be curious. Make notes.

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

Their end game is rich white men in charge of everything.

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

📚 Perhaps the books included a page on animal reproduction? #booksandcats #catsandbooks #bookbans #booksky

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Dr Ian McCormick @wokestudies.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

Over 3 years, the Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries project has conserved, catalogued and digitised 190 manuscripts, containing a staggering 7000+ pages of medieval medical recipes. Now freely available. #Highered #library #books #medicine www.lib.cam.ac.uk/stories/curi...

A doctor performing cupping on a patient's back in CUL, MS Ii.5.11 f. 20v.

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

📚 I read more than usual in July because my novel-writing time has been reading for research. I enjoyed all these! (I usually DNF books I’m not enjoying, so if I finished it, I liked it.) Any you’ve read here? Or that are on your TBR? #booksky #books #reading #writer #histfic #historicalfiction

A graphic that says My July Reads, with 10 book covers: The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr, Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, No One Left by Lisa Boyle, Hard Times by Charles Dickens, Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Rebel Richmond by Stephen V. Ash, The Business of Being a Writer by Jane Friedman, Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster by Gerri Willis, A Yankee Spy in Richmond (Elizabeth Van Lew’s papers) edited by David D. Ryan, and A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers.

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

Cold Mountain is one of my all time favourites. They’re both brilliant books! Hope you enjoy.

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

Such a heartwarming little book! And such an original world too 🩷

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

No. I think more important is humility and determination to get better. Why? Good question. Based on nothing more than a hunch 😂

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Depends on the skill of the author and the reason for doing it. Two books I remember doing it well are Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier and Prophet Song by Paul Lynch.

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

Life’s too short to read books I’m not into!

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Zena Ryder @zenaryder.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

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