Jean Davison
@jeandavison.bsky.social
Writer. Reader. Author of 'The Dark Threads' (Hachette), a 'mental health' memoir.
I'm currently reading 'Our Missing Hearts' by Celeste Ng. A dystopian novel? But the world it describes is frighteningly real.
September 24, 2025 at 4:45 PM
I'm currently reading 'Our Missing Hearts' by Celeste Ng. A dystopian novel? But the world it describes is frighteningly real.
High Royds Hospital, formerly Menston Pauper Lunatic Asylum. The stuff of nightmares, for me. Long ago, but memories still vivid. jeanmdavison.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...
jeanmdavison.wordpress.com
August 27, 2025 at 9:36 PM
High Royds Hospital, formerly Menston Pauper Lunatic Asylum. The stuff of nightmares, for me. Long ago, but memories still vivid. jeanmdavison.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Jean Davison
One of the best memoirs ever written. A masterclass. manchestermill.co.uk/andrea-ashwo... - And she has not vanished. She has been writing.
Andrea Ashworth wrote a classic of Mancunian literature. Why did she vanish from view?
My search for the author of ‘Once in a House on Fire’ led to the other side of the world - and to a tantalising revelation
manchestermill.co.uk
August 9, 2025 at 8:34 AM
One of the best memoirs ever written. A masterclass. manchestermill.co.uk/andrea-ashwo... - And she has not vanished. She has been writing.
Past trauma can spark an intense fear of doctors or medical procedures. It's called Iatrophobia, though I would dispute that the fear is irrational. (Hey, you learn something every day).
July 29, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Past trauma can spark an intense fear of doctors or medical procedures. It's called Iatrophobia, though I would dispute that the fear is irrational. (Hey, you learn something every day).
We need these conversations so much. www.youtube.com/live/GNlhbc7...
Everything you know about depression is wrong - Laura Delano on The Moynihan Report
YouTube video by 2WAY
www.youtube.com
July 21, 2025 at 11:37 AM
We need these conversations so much. www.youtube.com/live/GNlhbc7...
Great song. Great singer. Timeless. www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6om...
There But For Fortune
YouTube video by Joan Baez - Topic
www.youtube.com
June 10, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Great song. Great singer. Timeless. www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6om...
Authors are frightened of naming emotions because we're taught to SHOW NOT TELL. So now we get novels full of pounding, racing, or thudding hearts, fear as a twisting in stomachs, anger something that beats in your chest... I do it myself but I'm sick of hearing it. #amwriting
April 29, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Authors are frightened of naming emotions because we're taught to SHOW NOT TELL. So now we get novels full of pounding, racing, or thudding hearts, fear as a twisting in stomachs, anger something that beats in your chest... I do it myself but I'm sick of hearing it. #amwriting
Reposted by Jean Davison
Unable to attend in person, you can still make some noise online using our downloadable visual assets 👇https://societyofauthors.org/2025/04/01/soa-day-of-action-following-allegations-of-metas-mass-theft-of-authors-work/
SoA day of action following allegations of Meta’s mass theft of authors’ work – The Society of Authors
On Thursday 20 March, The Atlantic broke the story of how Meta has used the Library Genesis (LIbGen) dataset, which is full of pirated material, to develop their AI systems.
societyofauthors.org
April 2, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Unable to attend in person, you can still make some noise online using our downloadable visual assets 👇https://societyofauthors.org/2025/04/01/soa-day-of-action-following-allegations-of-metas-mass-theft-of-authors-work/
Reposted by Jean Davison
Thank you to everyone who has signed our petition, 6,000+! Authors deserve to have a livelihood and compensation from their work, if you haven't signed do so now 👇
Sign the Petition
Protect authors’ livelihoods from the unlicensed use of their work in AI training
www.change.org
April 2, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Thank you to everyone who has signed our petition, 6,000+! Authors deserve to have a livelihood and compensation from their work, if you haven't signed do so now 👇
Reposted by Jean Davison
Our comment on Meta's use of LibGen, a notorious database of pirated content 👇
www.alcs.co.uk/news/alcs-co...
www.alcs.co.uk/news/alcs-co...
ALCS comment on Meta and LibGen
It was recently revealed by The Atlantic that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has used LibGen, a vast database of pirated material, to train its AI models.
www.alcs.co.uk
April 2, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Our comment on Meta's use of LibGen, a notorious database of pirated content 👇
www.alcs.co.uk/news/alcs-co...
www.alcs.co.uk/news/alcs-co...
I want to write a novel filled with humour and light. My pen keeps veering to the dark side and I have to write gritty realism. Why, when I'm happy now? Truly I am. But sometimes my past hangs over me like a cloud. The pull of the magnet
April 1, 2025 at 1:47 PM
I want to write a novel filled with humour and light. My pen keeps veering to the dark side and I have to write gritty realism. Why, when I'm happy now? Truly I am. But sometimes my past hangs over me like a cloud. The pull of the magnet
Pancake Day. We've had fun making and tossing pancakes. And the Tosser of the Year 2025 title goes to my husband Ian.
March 4, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Pancake Day. We've had fun making and tossing pancakes. And the Tosser of the Year 2025 title goes to my husband Ian.
How do we know who are the really good singers if they use auto tune pitch correct? How do we know who are the really good artists and writers if they use AI? It's frightening.
February 10, 2025 at 3:09 PM
How do we know who are the really good singers if they use auto tune pitch correct? How do we know who are the really good artists and writers if they use AI? It's frightening.
RIP Marianne Faithful. Survivor of heroin addiction, homelessness, the swinging sixties, and singer of this haunting, beautiful song. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_phZ...
Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By (1965)
YouTube video by John1948NineA
www.youtube.com
January 30, 2025 at 9:16 PM
RIP Marianne Faithful. Survivor of heroin addiction, homelessness, the swinging sixties, and singer of this haunting, beautiful song. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_phZ...
Great post, but I'm trying to find examples of how to switch from past to present tense in 1st person within a scene. I'm told by some this is a no-no, but changing tense seems necessary to move into the showiest show for parts of heightened emotion.
IYM: Possibly the most popular Itch of Writing post of all: Everything you need to know about Showing and Telling - and why you absolutely, definitely, need both!
https://buff.ly/42pg9Wt
https://buff.ly/42pg9Wt
January 22, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Great post, but I'm trying to find examples of how to switch from past to present tense in 1st person within a scene. I'm told by some this is a no-no, but changing tense seems necessary to move into the showiest show for parts of heightened emotion.
Derek was a patient with me at High Royds Day Hospital in the 1970s when doctors subjected this kind man with a great sense of humour to appalling experimental brain surgery without his consent. OMG, none of us was safe in their hands! RIP Derek. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Experience: I had a lobotomy
There was nothing mentally wrong with me. I’ll never know for certain why they chose me for the procedure
www.theguardian.com
January 20, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Derek was a patient with me at High Royds Day Hospital in the 1970s when doctors subjected this kind man with a great sense of humour to appalling experimental brain surgery without his consent. OMG, none of us was safe in their hands! RIP Derek. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
It often seems to be overlooked that coming-of-age novels with a teenage protagonist can be aimed at the adult market. If I key 'coming-of-age novels for adults' into google, it (annoyingly) changes 'adult' to 'YA'. Grrr!! www.msn.com/en-gb/news/o...
MSN
www.msn.com
December 29, 2024 at 11:14 PM
It often seems to be overlooked that coming-of-age novels with a teenage protagonist can be aimed at the adult market. If I key 'coming-of-age novels for adults' into google, it (annoyingly) changes 'adult' to 'YA'. Grrr!! www.msn.com/en-gb/news/o...
'I was sat down when I should have been stood up and I ought to of known better.' That 'of' also annoys me as much as anything, and everyone seems to be doing it now.
December 22, 2024 at 5:42 PM
'I was sat down when I should have been stood up and I ought to of known better.' That 'of' also annoys me as much as anything, and everyone seems to be doing it now.
I've been watching a documentary about the Salem witch trials. It's disturbing to think how so many people could get such wrong ideas into their heads, leading to tragedies. Frightening too to think how similar things still happen today, such is the dark side of human nature.
December 21, 2024 at 1:52 PM
I've been watching a documentary about the Salem witch trials. It's disturbing to think how so many people could get such wrong ideas into their heads, leading to tragedies. Frightening too to think how similar things still happen today, such is the dark side of human nature.
I can't stop laughing at my husband's attempt to use Alexa for the telly. He said 'Alexa, Unmute'. Up on the screen came a picture of the back-end of a cow. I think it thought the word was 'Unmilked' 🤣
December 20, 2024 at 1:33 PM
I can't stop laughing at my husband's attempt to use Alexa for the telly. He said 'Alexa, Unmute'. Up on the screen came a picture of the back-end of a cow. I think it thought the word was 'Unmilked' 🤣
Reposted by Jean Davison
In a focused, goal-driven world we marginalize the tendency to be distracted as a sign of an undisciplined mind or even as a symptom of the mental disorder of ADD. What about considering it another way? I explore this possibility in a recent blog. www.twiltondale.ca/blog
Blog - T Wilton Dale
Welcome to the blog of T Wilton Dale, author of A Greater Good and An Incoming Tide.
www.twiltondale.ca
December 6, 2024 at 3:01 PM
In a focused, goal-driven world we marginalize the tendency to be distracted as a sign of an undisciplined mind or even as a symptom of the mental disorder of ADD. What about considering it another way? I explore this possibility in a recent blog. www.twiltondale.ca/blog