Zena Ryder
@zenaryder.bsky.social
📚 Historical fiction writer & writing community builder | Free download: "10 Bizarre Beliefs About Insanity in the 19th Century" → www.zenaryder.com | LOVE IS LOVE ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 | 🐈⬛🐈⬛
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zena.ryder
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zena.ryder
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Zena Ryder
@zenaryder.bsky.social
· Feb 23
The World’s on Fire. Can We Still Talk About Books? - Electric Literature
The role of literature in a year when every week brought a new atrocity
tinyurl.com
📚 "The exercise of freedom is a de facto defense of that same freedom. Freely making art & freely talking about the art you made, is valuable in & of itself when free expression is being eroded. If anyone’s still taking that freedom for granted, it’s time to wake up and smell the history."
#booksky
#booksky
📚 A good reading month! Have you read any of these, or plan to?
#books #booksky #histfic #historicalfiction #booksandcats
#books #booksky #histfic #historicalfiction #booksandcats
November 1, 2025 at 4:51 PM
📚 A good reading month! Have you read any of these, or plan to?
#books #booksky #histfic #historicalfiction #booksandcats
#books #booksky #histfic #historicalfiction #booksandcats
📚 Dove wishes you a Happy Halloween! She also hopes to get lots of treats! 🎃
#blackcat #halloween #cats #booksandcats
#blackcat #halloween #cats #booksandcats
October 31, 2025 at 7:57 PM
📚 Dove wishes you a Happy Halloween! She also hopes to get lots of treats! 🎃
#blackcat #halloween #cats #booksandcats
#blackcat #halloween #cats #booksandcats
Reposted by Zena Ryder
📚 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
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
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...
forms.gle
September 24, 2025 at 8:28 PM
📚 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
Along with 9 other shortlisted stories, it'll be published in an anthology in March 2026.
#historicalfiction #histfic #fiction #writer #shortstory
October 16, 2025 at 5:04 PM
📚 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
Along with 9 other shortlisted stories, it'll be published in an anthology in March 2026.
#historicalfiction #histfic #fiction #writer #shortstory
📚 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
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
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...
forms.gle
September 24, 2025 at 8:28 PM
📚 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
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
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...
forms.gle
September 24, 2025 at 7:26 PM
📚 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
#writers #writing #novels #histfic #historicalfiction #fiction
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.
media.tenor.com
September 21, 2025 at 10:29 PM
📚 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
Rejections are part and parcel of the writerly life. Perseverance is essential!
#histfic #historicalfiction
September 15, 2025 at 6:50 PM
📚 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
Rejections are part and parcel of the writerly life. Perseverance is essential!
#histfic #historicalfiction
📚 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
Now, he still enjoys hanging out in the jade, but it looks a bit different now he's bigger 😂
#catsandbooks #cats
September 3, 2025 at 5:57 PM
📚 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
Now, he still enjoys hanging out in the jade, but it looks a bit different now he's bigger 😂
#catsandbooks #cats
Reposted by Zena Ryder
Reposted by Zena Ryder
Reposted by Zena Ryder
Alberta is fine. #AlbertaNext #AxeTheVaxTax #ABED #Public Education #AISH #StopCDBclawback #BookBans #DanielleSMith #ABleg #ABpoli
August 31, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Alberta is fine. #AlbertaNext #AxeTheVaxTax #ABED #Public Education #AISH #StopCDBclawback #BookBans #DanielleSMith #ABleg #ABpoli
Reposted by Zena Ryder
Danielle Smith and her ministers burrow deeper into their self-dug book-ban and bargaining holes. albertapolitics.ca/2025/08/dani... #ableg #abpoli #BookBans
Danielle Smith and her ministers burrow deeper into their self-dug book-ban and bargaining holes - Alberta Politics
Premier Danielle Smith and her education and finance ministers spent much of the day yesterday digging themselves deeper into the holes they started with their it’s-not-a-book-ban ban on books and the...
albertapolitics.ca
August 30, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Danielle Smith and her ministers burrow deeper into their self-dug book-ban and bargaining holes. albertapolitics.ca/2025/08/dani... #ableg #abpoli #BookBans
📚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” 🤔
ually valuable. Philosophy majors don’t just argue well, they actually become better thinkers and do better on tests.
Data from 600k students shows they outscore every other major on reasoning, curiosity and open-mindedness.
buff.ly/UKoaRIb
Data from 600k students shows they outscore every other major on reasoning, curiosity and open-mindedness.
buff.ly/UKoaRIb
Studying philosophy does make people better thinkers, according to new research on more than 600,000 college grads
Philosophers are fond of saying that their field boosts critical thinking. Two of them decided to put that claim to the test.
buff.ly
August 31, 2025 at 11:27 PM
📚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” 🤔
📚 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
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
August 23, 2025 at 11:45 PM
📚 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
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
Reposted by Zena Ryder
Thanks for reading. My books, my friends’ books, genre books, romance books, queer books, BIPOC books, all the books.
We get through this reading.
We get through this reading.
August 23, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Thanks for reading. My books, my friends’ books, genre books, romance books, queer books, BIPOC books, all the books.
We get through this reading.
We get through this reading.
Reposted by Zena Ryder
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...
August 20, 2025 at 2:37 AM
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...
Reposted by Zena Ryder
August 10, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Zena Ryder
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.
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.
August 10, 2025 at 1:35 PM
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.
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.
August 10, 2025 at 2:07 PM
📚 Perhaps the books included a page on animal reproduction?
#booksandcats #catsandbooks #bookbans #booksky
#booksandcats #catsandbooks #bookbans #booksky
Can America's students handle the truth about cats and dogs?
Monroe County Schools in Tennessee doesn't think so.
When the district banned nearly 600 books, The Complete Book of Cats was among them.
Monroe County isn't alone in banning books about cats & dogs.
Learn more: pen.org/why-ban-book...
Monroe County Schools in Tennessee doesn't think so.
When the district banned nearly 600 books, The Complete Book of Cats was among them.
Monroe County isn't alone in banning books about cats & dogs.
Learn more: pen.org/why-ban-book...
August 8, 2025 at 5:20 PM
📚 Perhaps the books included a page on animal reproduction?
#booksandcats #catsandbooks #bookbans #booksky
#booksandcats #catsandbooks #bookbans #booksky
Reposted by Zena Ryder
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...
#Highered #library #books #medicine
www.lib.cam.ac.uk/stories/curi...
August 2, 2025 at 8:58 AM
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...
#Highered #library #books #medicine
www.lib.cam.ac.uk/stories/curi...
Reposted by Zena Ryder
📚 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
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
August 2, 2025 at 8:08 PM
📚 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
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
August 2, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Zena Ryder
Heads up for writers in the querying trenches. I'll be closing to submissions again at the end of the month so I can catch up reading all the goodies in my box. Plan to reopen in the fall, exact date TBA, but most likely October-ish.
July 28, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Heads up for writers in the querying trenches. I'll be closing to submissions again at the end of the month so I can catch up reading all the goodies in my box. Plan to reopen in the fall, exact date TBA, but most likely October-ish.