Jo Belfield
jobelfield.bsky.social
Jo Belfield
@jobelfield.bsky.social
Probably writing in Shetland.
Reposted by Jo Belfield
We want to be the crack of compassion through the dark, a place of solace and comfort. That doesn’t mean soft. Compassion and comfort, vulnerability and connection are some of the toughest, bravest things going. We’re here for that and you.
February 12, 2025 at 3:56 PM
I am pleased to tell you that I am a finalist in the #GraniteNoir Crime Writing Festival Short Story Competition in #Aberdeen! Finalists are announced on Feb 21st. I am also getting a separate sweet #romance story published in #KissMet Quarterly Spring Edition, which will be digital and in print.
February 15, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Jo Belfield
throw him out
With wondrous potency
January 25, 2025 at 3:50 AM
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Dear Everyone, Please treat yourself to the fun and charming @orkneylibrary.bsky.social and @shetlandlibrary.bsky.social feeds. These fine folks (and rivals!!) to the very very very very far north exemplify all that is good about #publiclibraries. Enjoy!
January 24, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Reposted by Jo Belfield
This puts it well & it’s a point I keep making about why using AI to write is so flattening. Writing is the process of working out & refining what you think. If I write an article, I’m not just generating 1000 plausible words. I’m trying to articulate ideas with precision, & challenging myself.
AI is for people who don't want to or can't think. Period.

I write to figure out what I think and how to think about it better.
Today I opened up Word and now on every freaking line there is an icon for Microsoft's Copilot AI tool, always asking me to use it to write. WTF. After googling, it appears IMPOSSIBLE to remove. I cannot use Word with an AI tool. I'm a professional fucking writer. I don't want it inserting shit.
January 17, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Reposted by Jo Belfield
This is a tiny reminder that you are not required to read every news story all day long. Our parents were exposed to news twice a day – in the morning paper and at 6 o'clock on the TV. Our grandparents absorbed even less news. You can turn it off any time you want.
January 20, 2025 at 6:26 PM
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January 21, 2025 at 12:18 PM
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The chair of the anti monopolies watchdog has been sacked and replaced with a former Amazon boss, just as it starts to investigate tech companies.

But it's not Trump, it's the Labour Party. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Chair of competition watchdog steps down after Labour intervention
Marcus Bokkerink’s departure said to be part of effort to establish UK’s pro-growth agenda for leaders at Davos
www.theguardian.com
January 22, 2025 at 6:15 AM
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First there were books. Then a movie based on the books. Then a book adapted from that. Then a stage musical. Now a theatrical release. Truly, there is no rest for the Wicked
January 13, 2025 at 1:36 PM
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Labour aligning themselves with JK Rowling, Murdoch, Trump and Putin.

Wes Streeting claimed he is just wanting to make evidence made decisions.

Well here's the evidence 👇🏼
Cass Review.

New article in the New England Journal of Medicine, founded in 1812 and amongst the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals. Its 2023 impact factor was 96.2, ranking it 2nd out of 168 journals in the category "Medicine, General & Internal".
January 21, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Jo Belfield
Nazis: "that's a nazi salute"

Historians: "that's a nazi salute"

Average person: "that's a nazi salute"

The Media: "Elon Musk makes odd gesture throwing his heart to the crowd."
January 21, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Reposted by Jo Belfield
I’ve now read thru all of immigration actions & EOs. All are based on the idea that the US is being invaded and that suspension of laws and use of military is justified to protect the US. This not what is happening at the border, where fewer people are entering than during Trump’s last term.
January 21, 2025 at 5:42 AM
Reposted by Jo Belfield
I'm assuming you have your own preferred news sources for keeping current with the ongoing appalling everything, so I'll aim to share things to put in the positive side on the scales. Here's an article about independent bookshops in Yorkshire.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Inside the Yorkshire bookshops creating a 'community' for readers
Independent bookshops from across Yorkshire explain how they stay open despite national closures.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 20, 2025 at 10:11 AM
I did four hours of writing today. This makes me happy.
January 20, 2025 at 10:27 PM
I was a big Carrie Underwood fan and I have just removed all her songs from my favourites. Gutted. Angry. I don't want to give someone with those values my money.
January 20, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Reposted by Jo Belfield
He will steal, sir, an egg out of a cloister. For rapes and ravishments he parallels Nessus. He professes not keeping of oaths; in breaking ’em he is stronger than Hercules. He will lie, sir, with such volubility, that you would think truth were a fool.
January 20, 2025 at 3:41 PM
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Today, honor a King, not a Felon. #mlkday2025
January 20, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Jo Belfield
Unsolicited writing advice, no. #1749:
On submissions: Don't let waiting for a response stop you from working. Submissions are already stressful enough without spending months at a standstill. Start work on something else. It helps you gain objectivity, and might give you something else to submit...
January 20, 2025 at 11:27 AM
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I used to love reading dystopian fiction in high school.

Reaaaaally not enjoying living through dystopian reality as an adult.
January 19, 2025 at 6:47 AM
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Don’t forget that your writing is valid even if no one has read it. Writing it is enough.

#writing #writer #writersky #booksky
January 19, 2025 at 12:47 AM
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January 17, 2025 at 2:40 PM
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We were contacted this morning from a rather smug @stewartbain.bsky.social (formerly of @orkneylibrary.bsky.social 😒) asking for our reaction to the news that @anncleeves.bsky.social is publishing a new Jimmy Perez novel, set in ORKNEY.

No comment.

www.thebookseller.com/rights/pan-s...
January 14, 2025 at 11:24 AM