Joe
@joejin.bsky.social
I seek fame and fortune, therefore I have opinions online.
Working on a novel. But then again, who isn’t?
Sometimes ironic. Always in good faith.
Working on a novel. But then again, who isn’t?
Sometimes ironic. Always in good faith.
Pinned
Joe
@joejin.bsky.social
· Dec 13
Bluesky is my space to be with literary and creative people.
The difference between poetry and prose is the difference between saying something and explaining the thing so that it ends up being something else.
October 5, 2025 at 7:50 AM
The difference between poetry and prose is the difference between saying something and explaining the thing so that it ends up being something else.
If dystopian fiction means anything, it’s that idealism is ripe for exploitation, that heaven is peaceful and abundant…like a farm.
December 20, 2024 at 11:45 AM
If dystopian fiction means anything, it’s that idealism is ripe for exploitation, that heaven is peaceful and abundant…like a farm.
Bluesky is my space to be with literary and creative people.
December 13, 2024 at 11:45 PM
Bluesky is my space to be with literary and creative people.
There’s really nothing general about good writing. Everything is specific, sharp, like a stylus that sinks its edge into marble.
Formulas are general. They don’t actually go anywhere. It’s all on you. A lot of writers get blocked there.
Formulas are general. They don’t actually go anywhere. It’s all on you. A lot of writers get blocked there.
December 13, 2024 at 9:39 AM
There’s really nothing general about good writing. Everything is specific, sharp, like a stylus that sinks its edge into marble.
Formulas are general. They don’t actually go anywhere. It’s all on you. A lot of writers get blocked there.
Formulas are general. They don’t actually go anywhere. It’s all on you. A lot of writers get blocked there.
Style becomes a little less mysterious if you happen upon a single principle that defines a category of details.
So I guess style, like beauty, can be found everywhere. But it requires a witness.
So I guess style, like beauty, can be found everywhere. But it requires a witness.
November 29, 2024 at 1:04 PM
Style becomes a little less mysterious if you happen upon a single principle that defines a category of details.
So I guess style, like beauty, can be found everywhere. But it requires a witness.
So I guess style, like beauty, can be found everywhere. But it requires a witness.
In dystopian fiction, there’s always some person or entity that takes control of a society. It hardly matters what that entity is. A dictatorship led by either a politician, a cottagecore blogger, or a potato are still going to end up with the struggle for power and its implied human concerns.
November 25, 2024 at 10:32 AM
In dystopian fiction, there’s always some person or entity that takes control of a society. It hardly matters what that entity is. A dictatorship led by either a politician, a cottagecore blogger, or a potato are still going to end up with the struggle for power and its implied human concerns.
Nobody can see the whole thing. That’s not how seeing works. And the whole thing isn’t even a thing.
November 4, 2024 at 11:54 AM
Nobody can see the whole thing. That’s not how seeing works. And the whole thing isn’t even a thing.
I’ll do my best to live, because it’s my privilege as a human being to treat perception as a craft.
To recognize a thing into existence is a feeling older - and wiser - than love.
To recognize a thing into existence is a feeling older - and wiser - than love.
November 1, 2024 at 11:03 PM
I’ll do my best to live, because it’s my privilege as a human being to treat perception as a craft.
To recognize a thing into existence is a feeling older - and wiser - than love.
To recognize a thing into existence is a feeling older - and wiser - than love.
When Buddhists talk about emptiness and form, I see a donut.
If the donut is an emptiness surrounded by form, then I’m enlightened. If it’s a form containing emptiness, then I’m hungry for a donut.
If the donut is an emptiness surrounded by form, then I’m enlightened. If it’s a form containing emptiness, then I’m hungry for a donut.
November 1, 2024 at 10:48 PM
When Buddhists talk about emptiness and form, I see a donut.
If the donut is an emptiness surrounded by form, then I’m enlightened. If it’s a form containing emptiness, then I’m hungry for a donut.
If the donut is an emptiness surrounded by form, then I’m enlightened. If it’s a form containing emptiness, then I’m hungry for a donut.
Reductionism sounds witty until it becomes absurd.
October 13, 2024 at 8:30 PM
Reductionism sounds witty until it becomes absurd.
There’s no clear memory without imagination. And there’s no coherent fiction without remembering.
October 13, 2024 at 5:35 PM
There’s no clear memory without imagination. And there’s no coherent fiction without remembering.
I get the impression - no pun intended - that Monet was full of joy, and Van Gogh was full of pain. Yet both knew ecstasy. And ecstasy inflicted them so indifferently and unequally.
Gauguin was consumed with libido, so naturally his art was spiritual. He took religion for the fetishism that it is.
Gauguin was consumed with libido, so naturally his art was spiritual. He took religion for the fetishism that it is.
October 5, 2024 at 11:49 PM
I get the impression - no pun intended - that Monet was full of joy, and Van Gogh was full of pain. Yet both knew ecstasy. And ecstasy inflicted them so indifferently and unequally.
Gauguin was consumed with libido, so naturally his art was spiritual. He took religion for the fetishism that it is.
Gauguin was consumed with libido, so naturally his art was spiritual. He took religion for the fetishism that it is.
The smart people know that knowledge is mostly about making shit up.
September 15, 2024 at 9:14 AM
The smart people know that knowledge is mostly about making shit up.
Trying to find a joke that doesn’t get its juice from the contrast between concept and reality.
September 15, 2024 at 7:19 AM
Trying to find a joke that doesn’t get its juice from the contrast between concept and reality.
I’m realizing that “show, don’t tell” isn’t just an old prescription for avoiding bad writing. It’s also the magic trick that causes the writer’s meaning to arise as the reader’s meaning - with no apparent mode of transit.
In writing fiction, indirection is the path from lost to found.
In writing fiction, indirection is the path from lost to found.
July 26, 2024 at 9:03 AM
I’m realizing that “show, don’t tell” isn’t just an old prescription for avoiding bad writing. It’s also the magic trick that causes the writer’s meaning to arise as the reader’s meaning - with no apparent mode of transit.
In writing fiction, indirection is the path from lost to found.
In writing fiction, indirection is the path from lost to found.
I guess civilization will end because AI lacks a sense of irony.
Or AI gets a sense of irony, which requires self-awareness.
So machines, with or without self-awareness, may be the end of us.
It would be ironic if The Onion were the last bastion of civilization.
Or AI gets a sense of irony, which requires self-awareness.
So machines, with or without self-awareness, may be the end of us.
It would be ironic if The Onion were the last bastion of civilization.
May 30, 2024 at 6:46 AM
I guess civilization will end because AI lacks a sense of irony.
Or AI gets a sense of irony, which requires self-awareness.
So machines, with or without self-awareness, may be the end of us.
It would be ironic if The Onion were the last bastion of civilization.
Or AI gets a sense of irony, which requires self-awareness.
So machines, with or without self-awareness, may be the end of us.
It would be ironic if The Onion were the last bastion of civilization.
A work of art is just some stuff that belongs together. Like REALLY belongs together. And for no discernible reason.
May 9, 2024 at 3:11 AM
A work of art is just some stuff that belongs together. Like REALLY belongs together. And for no discernible reason.
My hot take: The Matrix is actually a Bill and Ted fanfic.
April 27, 2024 at 3:09 AM
My hot take: The Matrix is actually a Bill and Ted fanfic.
You never know how much you know until you write it down.
To write is to exhume. I know that sounds kinda gross, but so does giving birth.
Editing and revision is to be expected. Stuff that comes out of the ground tends to be raw and undeveloped.
To write is to exhume. I know that sounds kinda gross, but so does giving birth.
Editing and revision is to be expected. Stuff that comes out of the ground tends to be raw and undeveloped.
March 17, 2024 at 12:19 PM
You never know how much you know until you write it down.
To write is to exhume. I know that sounds kinda gross, but so does giving birth.
Editing and revision is to be expected. Stuff that comes out of the ground tends to be raw and undeveloped.
To write is to exhume. I know that sounds kinda gross, but so does giving birth.
Editing and revision is to be expected. Stuff that comes out of the ground tends to be raw and undeveloped.
Reposted by Joe
I thought I would be understood without words.
March 17, 2024 at 1:50 AM
I thought I would be understood without words.
Reposted by Joe
In the end we shall have had enough of cynicism, skepticism and humbug, and we shall want to live more musically.
March 6, 2024 at 3:54 AM
In the end we shall have had enough of cynicism, skepticism and humbug, and we shall want to live more musically.
Irony is the language of the gods. They are not like men, who presume to speak of one thing without speaking of the other.
March 4, 2024 at 9:30 AM
Irony is the language of the gods. They are not like men, who presume to speak of one thing without speaking of the other.
A blank page or canvas is certainly terrifying. But a stage is not.
And all the world’s a stage, as Shakespeare noted. Drama and incompletion necessarily precipitate.
The observable fact is that the mind, like the nature which gives rise to it, abhors a vacuum.
And all the world’s a stage, as Shakespeare noted. Drama and incompletion necessarily precipitate.
The observable fact is that the mind, like the nature which gives rise to it, abhors a vacuum.
March 3, 2024 at 9:55 PM
A blank page or canvas is certainly terrifying. But a stage is not.
And all the world’s a stage, as Shakespeare noted. Drama and incompletion necessarily precipitate.
The observable fact is that the mind, like the nature which gives rise to it, abhors a vacuum.
And all the world’s a stage, as Shakespeare noted. Drama and incompletion necessarily precipitate.
The observable fact is that the mind, like the nature which gives rise to it, abhors a vacuum.
Paintings, because photos aren’t real enough.
Stories, because life is invisible except by fiat.
Stories, because life is invisible except by fiat.
February 26, 2024 at 7:10 PM
Paintings, because photos aren’t real enough.
Stories, because life is invisible except by fiat.
Stories, because life is invisible except by fiat.
A good work of art has a way of speaking for itself - as if it were a precipice where explanations fall away.
February 26, 2024 at 6:59 PM
A good work of art has a way of speaking for itself - as if it were a precipice where explanations fall away.