Stephany Daniel
LightNews LightNews
banner
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
Stephany Daniel
@sadanielwrites.bsky.social
230 followers 150 following 230 posts
writer | cat lady | nature lover | tea enthusiast | day job in mental health and sci comms | she/her
website: sadaniel.com
Posts Replies Media Videos
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
I read the article to see if they acknowledge that social media growth and engagement is lower across all platforms (which is what mktg folks have been seeing for awhile). They say it briefly and ignore their own point in favor of dunking on bsky.

New platforms take time to grow, esp right now.
Screenshot of article says: So Bluesky has gone from adding around 5 million new users per month at peak, to adding 1.6 per month more recently. [highlighted] Which, again, is still growth, and with so many apps struggling to gain users, any increase, especially of a million or more per month, is significant. But it’s no longer looking like Bluesky will become a real challenger to X (currently on 600 million users) and Threads (350 million) as a key platform for in the moment engagement.
August 7, 2025 at 6:26 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
Come back later. She’s busy watching her shows (Meerkat Manor)
A tuxedo cat watches a computer monitor intently as an episode of Meerkat Manor plays
August 6, 2025 at 7:09 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
I started a blog series called The Dark Side of GenAI, centered around issues with widespread adoption of GenAI tech and educating about what these tools can/can't do. If that sounds like your cup of tea, check it out: www.sadaniel.com/blog

No paywall (rage sustains me). New posts weekly(ish)!
Photo of a computer with code on the screen
August 3, 2025 at 7:52 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
I know this lil moth is an invasive species, but he is also very cute and fuzzy!
A spongy moth rests on a window. His fuzzy abdomen and antenna are visible.
July 31, 2025 at 11:20 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
Rereading @mdbell79.bsky.social as I begin work on draft 2 and struck by how beautifully this passage captures what we mean when we say to LLM tech bros that the writing itself IS the work. I love thinking about a novel as the culmination of all the evolving selves of the writer who created it.
Passage from Matt Bell's Refuse to Be Done: The activities in this chapter will give you a way to stay in the work long enough to manifest yourself upon the page not once or twice but dozens or hundreds of times, until you end up no with a book written by the you who existed on any particular day but, rather, one collaborated upon by the many selves who existed over the likely hundreds of days you were writing. These daily manifestations—the many versions of the writer that have come together to collaborate upon the work—are what, I believe, makes our favorite books seem written by superhumans, full of that "incomprehensible abundance" Smiley described. These "genius" books really are better than what any one of us could write on any individual day, but that's not how they were written. As we fill our hours and days with the work of rewriting, our fictions will not be written by any one self but by the spectrum of selves we're always becoming, even as the novel is becoming alongside us.
May 26, 2025 at 4:35 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
Found this meme while clearing out old files and wow is it more relevant than ever.
Still from an episode of The IT Crowd where Moss is holding a fire extinguisher that has caught fire. There is text over the extinguisher that says "the bad thing happening now" and Moss is saying "I'll just put this over here with the rest of the ongoing social and economic collapse."
April 26, 2025 at 12:36 AM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
Trying to work out but someone’s hogging the equipment 🙄
A playful tuxedo cat is laying on a purple and orange yoga mat, kicking at a set of free weights.
March 15, 2025 at 5:19 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
Show me you in a hat.

I nearly lost my hat half a dozen times standing on top of the windy bluffs at sleeping bear dunes!
I’m wearing a black ball cap standing in front of a scenic overlook with a green forest, distant sand dunes, and Lake Michigan in the background. I’m standing at the top of a windy sand dune overlooking Lake Michigan. I’m holding my hat down as it boldly attempts to blow away.
February 26, 2025 at 6:34 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
He’s such a cutie! I have two tuxedo cats, and they enjoy snuggling up during reading time as well.
A tuxedo cat sits on the back of a couch with his arms casually hanging in front of him. He has white paws, a v of white on his chest, and a white mustache. A tuxedo cat lays sprawled across a blanket with her front arms spread out in front of her. She has one white paw and one mostly black paw with just a hint of white on the tip.
February 21, 2025 at 8:43 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
He attack rug.
A tuxedo cat with carnage in his gaze picks a fight with the edge of a colorful rug. An actual cat toy sits forlorn and abandoned a mere foot away.
February 18, 2025 at 7:56 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
Without downloading any new pictures where are you mentally
Meme image depicts an adorable and angry cat glaring in front of a lush, green lawn and surrounded by text that reads, “touching grass isn’t enough. I need bad things to happen to evil men in power.” This meme is evergreen, frankly.
February 4, 2025 at 4:00 AM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
It was warm enough for an outdoor walk this afternoon which was a real highlight of the day. Now I’m snuggled up inside this evening with the kitties, a cup of tea, and a @scalzi.com book I’ve been meaning to read for ages. Hope y’all are keeping it cozy today too!
A book called The Kaiju Preservation Society is on my lap. Nearby, a tuxedo cat lounges on a fluffy white blanket.
December 27, 2024 at 12:12 AM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
Snapped photos of a few wild berry bushes I saw on my walk today. In recent months, I’ve been focused on daily walks in nature to clear my head and fully appreciate the scenery each season brings.
Round, single red berries growing on a bush whose leaves are still mostly green. A few leaves are beginning to turn yellow-green for the season. Clusters of oblong red berries grow on a low bush with mostly yellow leaves.
November 15, 2024 at 8:36 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
My mind is mostly four-letter words right now, but I pulled a couple of cards last night and they feel especially relevant. 8 of cups is a card about hurt or betrayal. 7 of pentacles is about the importance of perseverance and slow, steady work. I’m trying to hold this wisdom along with the grief.
Left: tarot card depicting the eight of cups. A young woman is hiking away from a stack of eight cups and into the wilderness. Right: tarot card depicting the seven of pentacles. A young woman with curly, red hair stands among potted plants while holding a watering can.
November 6, 2024 at 3:07 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
I saw this fellow on a walk a few weeks ago.
A green caterpillar with orange/red spots walks across a sidewalk among dead leaves.
October 31, 2024 at 12:20 AM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
Absolutely in awe to see the northern lights so clearly in SE Michigan
Northern lights in big streaks of red and green Northern lights with white-green pillars overhead Northern lights in shades of red, purple, and green.
October 11, 2024 at 2:55 AM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
POV: you try to take a picture of your cat who can never sit still.
Two cat legs, black with white socks, are the only recognizable part of the cat. The face is a blur of black fur.
October 2, 2024 at 5:13 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
I have once again resorted to slapping post-its up on the wall to try to fix my plot problems. Will it work? 🤷🏼‍♀️ But we’re 2 for 2 now (did this with my last project too), so I guess it’s an inevitable part of my novel writing process.
A row of colorful post-it notes with scrawled words are stuck up on a set of closet doors. At the base of the doors, a cat lounges, oblivious to the concept of artistic struggle.
September 27, 2024 at 8:20 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
Well, Mead the Cat commandeered my writing chair, so I’m taking a break from writing to read the new @tkingfisher.com. I’m a few chapters in, and it’s already so good!
I’m holding a copy of the book A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher. In the background, a tuxedo cat naps on an office chair, clearly enjoying his stolen plunder.
September 13, 2024 at 7:42 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
Day Four of Cat Loaf™️, the at-home writing retreat where I write and my cats loaf!

Wrote: 2,022 words
Manuscript progress: 37,170/90,000 words

Also, I absolutely devoured Ava Reid's Lady Macbeth, so it's already time to go back to my TBR pile to find my next read. 😅
Screenshot from writing program showing my writing progress. In total, I've written 37,170 words towards my 90,000 word goal. Today, I wrote 2,022 words.
August 15, 2024 at 9:46 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
Today is Day Three of my purr-stigious Cat Loaf™️ writing retreat where I write and my cats loaf!

Wrote: 1,804 words
Manuscript progress: 35,149/90,000 words

If all goes to plan, tomorrow I'll write a big narrative turn in the book.

Until then, enjoy this photo of Mead's epic, sunlit whiskers.
Mead the cat is a tuxedo cat, blissfully licking his paw while the sun shimmers off his whiskers like a celestial corona around his face. He took a nap after this. And he's napping now. He didn't lift his paw to write a single word today.
August 14, 2024 at 7:46 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
Today was Day Two of Cat Loaf™️, my purr-stigious, at-home writing retreat where I write and my cats loaf (yes, it's a pun on Bread Loaf lol)

Wrote: 2251 words
Manuscript progress: 33,345/90,000 words

Celebrated with a hot girl walk at the park + a bookstore trip to snag Ava Reid's Lady Macbeth.
A colorful display of flowers growing in a community garden. It's a sunny day with blue skies and absurdly photogenic fluffy white clouds.
August 13, 2024 at 9:18 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
I'm off work this week, so you know what that means: it's time for my semi-annual Cat Loaf™️ writing retreat—where I write and my cats loaf!

Today, I drafted 2400 words.

Novel progress: 31,000/90,000 words.

Cats: napped in a sunbeam.

In other words, it's been a successful first day of Cat Loaf™️.
Two tuxedo cats lounge on a colorful rug and in a sunbeam by the window. They are definitely not writing or even helping with writing.
August 12, 2024 at 8:03 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
Good writing progress today. Almost 25k on my WIP so far. ☺️
Two colored bars show writing progress. The first is a blue bar showing progress toward the Manuscript Target as 24,609 of 90,000 words. The second is a green bar showing Session Target as 1,467 of 500 words, meaning I wrote 1,467 words today toward my goal.
July 20, 2024 at 7:39 PM
sadanielwrites.bsky.social
Ever feel like you’re being watched?
Minerva is a tuxedo cat. She is lurking at the top of a bookshelf, looking down upon her human with watchful eyes.
July 12, 2024 at 6:46 PM