#makinglight
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30000plusdawns.bsky.social
As it's almost Halloween, we may want to stay clear of anything dark and questionable. 😁 #MetaphoricalSunrise #epiphany #MakingLight #TeamLight

"There's something spooky about that patch of woods..." by Annette Croad
As it's almost Halloween, we may want to stay clear of anything dark and questionable. 😁 #MetaphoricalSunrise #epiphany #MakingLight #TeamLight "There's something spooky about that patch of woods..." by Annette Croad
October 28, 2026 at 6:23 PM
doctorow.pluralistic.net
#20yrsago Former FCC Chairman shills against Net Neutrality web.archive.org/web/20061028...

#15yrsago Plotting advice for fiction writers nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...
October 23, 2026 at 9:07 PM
doctorow.pluralistic.net
#25yrsago Reenacting the Civil War with 44,000 ceramic cats in handmade uniforms web.archive.org/web/20011021...

#20yrsago More on publishing and “okaysellers” www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...

#15yrsago HOWTO make a Frankenstein hat web.archive.org/web/20111022...
October 20, 2026 at 5:41 PM
doctorow.pluralistic.net
#25yrsago Patrick Nielsen Hayden interviews Mike Ford user.well.com/engaged.cgi?...

#20yrsago Singapore bans Far East Economic Review web.archive.org/web/20061010...

#20yrsago Publishing isn’t bestseller-driven www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...
October 19, 2026 at 8:09 AM
jaffa.bsky.social
Useful advice here: "Things I've learned from British folk ballads" www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...
Folksongs Are Your Friends
I have four children, two daughters and two sons. Naturally, I worry about their moral upbringing. As everyone knows who’s paying attention, “Just say no” doesn’t work. Inst…
www.nielsenhayden.com
October 16, 2026 at 8:13 AM
davidgoldfarb.bsky.social
My go-to brownie recipe is @halftongue.bsky.social 's "Black Hole Brownies of Death". Posted on Making Light here. www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...

(US-style with volume measurements instead of weight, to be sure.)
Jon Singer’s Turkey Algorithm, 2007
Says Jon: “For a turkey of greater than ten pounds, the roasting time should be equal to 1.65 times the natural log of the weight of the bird in pounds, cooked at 325 F.” If you’r…
www.nielsenhayden.com
October 15, 2026 at 6:24 AM
kevinmarks.com
I wanted to read de Vermis again, so I googled "John Ford woodworm poem" and found my own blogpost on his death epeus.blogspot.com/2006/11/mike... which linked to ML's collation of his works there: www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...
Making Light as a place is gone, memory is everything to lose.
Blog comment #1 John M. Ford October 13, 2003, 05:41 PM The worm drives helically through the wood And does not know the dust left in the bore Once made the table integral and good; And suddenly the crystal hits the floor. Electrons find their paths in subtle ways, A massless eddy in a trail of smoke; The names of lovers, light of other days — Perhaps you will not miss them. That’s the joke. The universe winds down. That’s how it’s made. But memory is everything to lose; Although some of the colors have to fade, Do not believe you’ll get the chance to choose. Regret, by definition, comes too late; Say what you mean. Bear witness. Iterate.
September 25, 2026 at 9:05 AM
bagatsen.bsky.social
every man from those villages stood ready, centuries later, to take the battle back to Philip II, with his dreadful religion and his incomprehensible consonants.

— John M. Ford, In Celebration of Talk Like Dr. Stephen Maturin Day

www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...

5/5
September 19, 2026 at 3:39 PM
redwoodrhetorica.bsky.social
First Line Friday.

Editor Teresa Nielsen Hayden's fourteen ways a manuscript gets rejected. By step 7 she has eliminated 60-75% of the slush pile. By step 10, 95-99%. Step 14 reads "Buy this book."

Where does yours stop?

https://www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/slushkiller/

#writesky
Slushkiller
1. Basic rejection I’ve been contemplating a site, RejectionCollection.com, which is a sort of shrine to the rejection letter. A major portion of it is devoted to writers anonymously posting …
www.nielsenhayden.com
August 28, 2026 at 4:32 PM
doctorow.pluralistic.net
#20yrsago Goth day at Disneyland photos flickr.com/photos/docto...

#20yrsago HOWTO run a successful sf convention room party www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...

#20yrsago Yahoo: Go ahead and remix our brand web.archive.org/web/20061111...

4/
August 21, 2026 at 12:11 AM
pj-evans.bsky.social
There are jalapeno recipes here: www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/... (I've done the habanero oil. The ice cream sounds interesting.)
Listening to habaneros – Making Light
www.nielsenhayden.com
August 10, 2026 at 4:52 AM
doctorow.pluralistic.net
#20yrsago Jim Baen, science fiction publisher, has had a serious stroke nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...

#20yrsago Why Apple is to blame for iTunes DRM web.archive.org/web/20060620...

#20yrsago Lifecycle of a gamer www.raphkoster.com/2006/06/16/t...

6/
June 17, 2026 at 6:58 PM
doctorow.pluralistic.net
#15yrsago Troubletwisters: Garth Nix and Sean Williams’ action-packed new kids’ fantasy memex.craphound.com/2011/04/30/t...

#15yrsago RIP, Joanna Russ nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...

#5yrsago Experian doxes the world (again) pluralistic.net/2021/04/30/d...

10/
May 2, 2026 at 11:56 AM
doctorow.pluralistic.net
#20yrsago RIP Jane Jacobs, urban activist web.archive.org/web/20061009...

#20yrsago Why fan fiction is so important nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...

#20yrsago California got its name from fanfic
nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...

6/
April 27, 2026 at 9:12 AM
doctorow.pluralistic.net
#25yrsago Every pirate ebook on the internet web.archive.org/web/20010724...

#20yrsago Retired generals diss Donald Rumsfeld nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...

#20yrsago How to break HDCP blog.citp.princeton.edu/2006/04/14/m...

5/
April 16, 2026 at 11:38 AM
tanaise.bsky.social
Serial commas = vital punctuation. see also, the many loves of Merle Haggard: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/012652.html
November 11, 2024 at 9:35 PM
pegkerr.bsky.social
Here’s the link. Scroll down the page. www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...
Mike Ford: Occasional Works (Pt. Four) – Making Light
www.nielsenhayden.com
August 5, 2026 at 10:33 PM
folklondon.co.uk
Also the classic Folksongs Are Your Friends: "Broom, as in the plant, should be given a wide berth.
Stay away from the greenwood side, too.
Avoid situations where the obvious rhyme-word is “maidenhead.”
If you look at the calendar and discover it’s May, stay home."
nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...
Making Light: Folksongs Are Your Friends
nielsenhayden.com
May 10, 2024 at 3:24 PM
halftongue.bsky.social
Yeah, that's where I'm at, too. So my longing is just in the hope of chutneying* someone.

* nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...
March 6, 2025 at 8:27 PM
unnameddemocrat.bsky.social
One of the all time great blog comments threads was the series of poetic versions of the scam on the Making Light website. nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...
February 16, 2024 at 2:28 PM
equinoxdeschanel.bsky.social
"I write like" is vanity publishing marketing. Don't fall for it. http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/012502.html
November 17, 2024 at 3:06 AM
latriviata.bsky.social
so many jokes nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...
Making Light: The true history of the Bush years
nielsenhayden.com
August 6, 2025 at 7:18 AM
stefanejones.bsky.social
A discussion board frequented by SF&F readers and writers, run by Teresa & Patrick Nielsen Hayden (and others). The home-spun forum software needs maintenance so people have been wandering in the wilderness.

nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/
Making Light
nielsenhayden.com
August 31, 2024 at 2:52 PM
rutemple.bsky.social
Here it is!!
nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...
Making Light: It All Goes Around (but what?)
nielsenhayden.com
July 8, 2025 at 6:12 PM
rutemple.bsky.social
*fossicking through historic efiles* it was Foz Meadows who made it a tune & Comedrinkwithme sang it for is in Round! Oh, but a link, an actual link! Gathered by @evilrooster.bsky.social :

nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...
Making Light: It All Goes Around (but what?)
nielsenhayden.com
September 5, 2024 at 9:52 PM