JL Tooker
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jltooker.bsky.social
JL Tooker
@jltooker.bsky.social
150 followers 190 following 77 posts
Speculative tales, poetic trails, and a soul tuned to resonance.
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jltooker.bsky.social
From the logic of James Clear (Atomic Habits) ...

#WritingCommunity #AmWriting #WritersLife #WriteSky
A lavender think cloud with the words: The goal is not to write a book ... it's to become a writer. (jlynn, thinking out loud).
January 1, 2026 at 7:31 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
a simple drawing of a woman holding her hand over her heart and overlaid by the words: I just returned from the doctor. He says my heart has an “atypical flutter”—though he has no idea why. I told him not to worry. I knew the cause. It’s you. Thank you for reading Wander Words by JL Tooker
December 31, 2025 at 6:11 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
old ramblings appear

rebirth in what was kept

old—found origin

#haiku #WritersLife #DnD #WriteSky

You never know when a phaiku might appear. This one comes from a piece I totally forgot I put together before I went on an unplanned getaway. Enjoy my latest post … read.jltooker.com/p/from-where...
A Holiday Gift: From Where I Come
Before I trusted memoir, I trusted myth.
read.jltooker.com
December 30, 2025 at 4:10 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Peace on Earth … please! Anyone up for a mind meld?

Mrs. Claus has a cause. Check out Wednesday Whimsy and hang your stockings with care. ⋆꙳•❅‧*₊⋆☃︎‧*❆₊⋆
#humor #recipes #WriteSky #Muse

read.jltooker.com/p/wednesday-...
Wednesday Whimsy #32
A Cause for Mrs. Claus
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December 24, 2025 at 2:44 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Happy Winter Solstice!

#poetry #haiku #phaiku #SkyPoet #BlueSkyPoet

read.jltooker.com
a watercolor background depicting a sunset meeting the night sky on winter solstice, with a phaiku in the foreground: tilt away and chill / shortest day meets longest night / new stillness arrives ~jlynn
December 21, 2025 at 2:01 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Learn about what lead to this philosophical haiku (phaiku). There's so much more to the story. The Star Archive series continues with "The Crab's Claim: Evidence After Attention"

read.jltooker.com/p/the-crabs-...

#haiku #archaeoastronomy #cosmos #Anthropology #SpeculativeEssay
a hiaku / phaiku overlaying the lighted imaged of a dagger falling across a spiral petroglyh, o.e., the Sun Dagger of Fajada Butte, Cahaco Canoyon, New Mexico. The phaikku reads: Sun Dagger / Phaiku No. 21 / watching it mattered. / the wall. the stone. it mattered. / light made its place known.
December 18, 2025 at 4:10 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
“It turns out even stars know the difference between being seen…and being needed.”

#humor #Muse #Whimsy #Creativity #WritersLife

read the full issue: read.jltooker.com/p/wednesday-...
Against purple northern lights, the muse flies Santa's sleigh, but Rudolph steers - an invitation to read JL Tooker's weekly Wednesday Whimsy about the antics of her muse. https://read.jltooker.com
December 17, 2025 at 1:05 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Sometimes poems arrive as companions.
No explanation needed — just attention.

#haiku #phaiku #poetry #BlueSkyPoet #cosmos
Against a deep blue cosmic sky sits a haiku, titled "Wholly Night": on stars of wonder / ancient awe raises chin to sky / seeking all that's bright (written by jlynn, aka JL Tooker) Against a deep blue cosmic sky sits a poem, titled "Curious Sky": o little town / of stars above- /sharing light and lore / 'tis the season / all year long / I sonder- / evermore (by jlynn, aka JL Tooker)
December 16, 2025 at 2:05 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
"Every maker has a ritual. Apparently mine is tasting whisky before breakfast."

My new brewing experience ... now live on Substack.

read.jltooker.com/p/signal-and...
a watercolor image of green splashes behind a round bottle of apple whisky, homebrewed and aptly named "Signal & Solstice" with an invitation to read the full article at: https://read.jltooker.com/p/signal-and-solstice-homemade-apple-whisky
December 12, 2025 at 1:48 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
"How Monogamous Are Humans Actually?"

Cambridge spent time and money studying this across 7,000 years and multiple species.

nautil.us/how-monogamo...

Did we need a grant for that?
Guess my evolutionary cohort missed the memo.

#Anthropology #Evolution #ScienceWriting
a line drawing of two hands, one placing a yellow band on the finger of the other hand, on a pink gradient background.
December 11, 2025 at 8:08 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
“Stop and hear. The sky is speaking.”
Some listened long enough to turn wonder into evidence.

New essay: Pictographs and Poetry That Doesn't Use Words read.jltooker.com/p/pictograph...

#poetry #Substack #archaeoastronomy #astronomy
"The Sky is Speaking" written over the photograph of a red hand print and a red crescent moon painted on sandstone by Ancient Puebloans in Chao Canyon, New Mexico
December 11, 2025 at 2:15 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
The Muse has returned with a letter to Santa ...
read.jltooker.com/p/wednesday-...

#humor #muse #creativity #AmWriting #WitersLife #AuthorChat #WednesdayWhimsy
Wednesday Whimsy #30
The Muse Writes to Santa
read.jltooker.com
December 10, 2025 at 2:53 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
sky pressed into stone
memory held by pattern
Petroglyph (phaiku)

#SFF #poetry #haiku #phaiku #SkyPoet #Creativity #SpeculativeFiction #BlueSkyPoetry #AmWriting #AuthorChat

read.jltooker.com/p/petroglyph...
a haiku written atop an image of a spiral petroglyph on a high-desert rock: pec peck peck repeat / observe align peck repeat / sky pressed into stone
December 9, 2025 at 2:14 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Writing, wandering, and what’s next.
Echoes From the Wander — free weekly.
Subscribe. The echo rings back.

read.jltooker.com

#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #SpeculativeFiction #Poetry #Creativity #SkyPoet #SFF #Haiku #BlueSkyPoetry #AuthorChat
An image of Chaco Canyon under a night sky inviting readers to subscribe to Wander Words by JL Tooker on Substack - read.jltooker.com
December 8, 2025 at 5:13 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Ancient sky-watchers saw shapes they had no words for.
Lightning without a name.
Aurora without a story.
Dragons formed from awe alone.

Read my new essay: Dragons in the Sky read.jltooker.com/p/dragons-in...
#haiku #poem #SFF #AmWriting #SkyPoet
A phaiku sprang from my essay—Raw and Awe is below.
Two dragons/serpents in watercolor blue framing a philosophical haiku or phaiku: raw with awe - dragon / swirling serpentine of sky / myth before monster
December 4, 2025 at 10:09 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
In 793 CE, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded: “Dragons were seen in the sky.”

Comets?
Aurora?
Awe with no vocabulary?

My new essay discusses how early sky-watchers named what terrified them & why “dragons” make sense today.

Read: read.jltooker.com/p/dragons-in...
#astronomy #mythology #SkyPoet
Dragons in the Sky: When Celestial Events Become Myth
Author’s note:
read.jltooker.com
December 4, 2025 at 6:53 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Another day of thanks. Another day of truth. Another day to remember.
#AmWriting #Philosophy #SkyPoet #WritersLife #Cosmos #SpeculativeFiction #emoetry
November 27, 2025 at 4:17 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
The Muse has been found … in Taos, New Mexico … on the edge of a sentence …

#AmWriting #Humor #Muse #AuthorChat #WritersLife #SkyPoet #SpeculativeFiction

read.jltooker.com/p/wednesday-...
Wednesday Whimsy #29
Muse Found ... at the Edge of a Sentence ...
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November 26, 2025 at 7:34 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
“What creature eats a sky, I wondered.

Who would save the moon?”

That’s a line from my newest poem “Eclipse.” You can find it at the end of my newest speculative essay: The First Astronomers Were Poets.
read.jltooker.com/p/the-first-...

#AmWriting #Astronomy #Poetry #SkyPoet #BlueSkyPoetry #sff
The First Astronomers Were Poets
The Star Archive: How Poetry Saved the Sky
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November 25, 2025 at 1:29 PM
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Free will flickers.
Neurons whisper.
Destiny breathes.
My new poem lives in the space between.

read.jltooker.com/p/crones-cai...

#Psychology #Poetry #SkyPoet #PoetsofBlueSky #AmWriting #Crone
Crone's Cairn - When the Brain Reigns
A Stone Turned in the Crone’s Cairn Series | A 'Journey' Stone
read.jltooker.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:33 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
"A star explodes once. A poem can remember it forever. New speculative essay series starts here:
read.jltooker.com/p/the-star-a...

#astronomy #SpeculativeEssays #Cosmos #SkyPoets #SciFiPoetry #Poetry #AmWritingScienceFiction #AmWriting
THE STAR ARCHIVE: HOW POETRY SAVED THE SKY
Before astronomy was science, it was poetry. The oldest surviving sky poems record real celestial events—from meteor fireballs to Sirius rising.
read.jltooker.com
November 20, 2025 at 7:44 PM
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“She was carrying a motel key, a coyote feather, and a plot she swore she’d quit.”

#humor #AmWriting #Muse #WednesdayWhimsy #WritersLife

read.jltooker.com
A faux newsprint article about the Muse who haunts JL Tooker
November 19, 2025 at 4:08 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Can reading more literary fiction change how we view others or increase empathy?

Some studies suggest so. Read about it alongside my newest phaiku … read.jltooker.com/p/phaiku-no-...

#haiku #poetry #philosophy #poetry #LiteraryGenre #AmWriting
imagined image of literary consciousness a dreamlike brain with pages of text flowing into it as it connects to a book below; image is overlaid with a haiku titled Minded and reads: slow literary / pages - something in the self / loosens, widens, feels; written by jlynn at Substack's Wander Words by JL Tooker
November 18, 2025 at 6:10 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
I subscribe to James Clear’s newsletter. Today, his words resonated more than usual:

jamesclear.com/3-2-1/novemb...

#WritingCommunity #AuthorChat #Writer #WritersLife #WriteSky #AmWritingScienceFiction #SpeculativeFiction
A quote from James Clear -Atomic Habits on a pink background with blue quote marks: You have to run your own race. Problems begin the moment you start comparing your results to someone who is playing under different conditions. The 40-year-old entrepreneur with three kids has different constraints than the single 27-year-old. A painter with 20 years of practice shouldn't be the benchmark for someone in year two. Someone caring for aging parents is not in the same position as someone with no obligations outside work. Play your own game. Emphasize gradual progress and keep the comparison internal.
November 14, 2025 at 6:54 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
I finally wrote about why it took me half a lifetime to do the thing I love. Hint: writer’s block wasn’t the culprit.
If you’ve been saving your best for “later,” maybe this is your nudge. read.jltooker.com/p/i-wrote-fo...

#WritingCommunity #AuthorChat #AmWriting #WriteSky #WritersLife
I Wrote for Fifty Years Without Calling Myself a Writer
Fifty Years Before I Called It Writing
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November 13, 2025 at 6:26 PM