LJ

Poet & SF&F author. Potter. Crafter. Community Organizer. Relentless optimist. Local foodie & sourdough wrangler. Curious maker. Owned by a former shelter dog. Neuro-Atypical. Grey Ace. Earnest to a fault. Recovering city mouse in Central MA. She/Her

#writing #ScienceFiction #SFF #poetry #pottery #ceramics #food #homesteading #dogs #knitting #crochet #fedi22

(This is the main account for @lj

same writer/potter/fiberartist/geek. just a new instance.)

Public Key

npub1pdm54cxvztrqf5hyqjup3fke9cp2cserz6jrat38rew3rpcwmgusw0csf5

NIP-05 Address

LJ@zirk-us.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsqka62urxp93sy6tjqfwqc5mvjuq4vgv33dfp74cn3uhg3su8d5wgpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerfw36x7tnsw43qefassw

Publishing to

relay.ditto.pub

Author Public Key

npub1pdm54cxvztrqf5hyqjup3fke9cp2cserz6jrat38rew3rpcwmgusw0csf5

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Last Notes

2026-05-02 22:41:07 UTC

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@nprofile…dyu0 I need to get over my fear of making lidded forms! I love the circles on the lid. Lovely!

2026-05-02 16:21:23 UTC

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@nprofile…ryrt I'm kind of mad at myself. I was up late & didn't shower before bed last night - where I would have found the ticks before they attached. I know better. Sigh

2026-05-02 16:02:18 UTC

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@nprofile…ryrt oh. No! I was just going to post a warning about ticks this year. It's bad. I pulled 2 off me this morning. Took 2 doxycyclines as a preventative, but I'm still worried.

2026-04-29 13:26:25 UTC

This is my 1st Kickstarter campaign & I had no idea what to expect, but so far 45 folks have been interested enough to follow the prelaunch page.
If you want to get notified when it goes live (& when you can see all the cool perks I've put together for different pledge levels), please click the 'notify me on launch' button here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ljcohen/entangled-realities-litany-for-a-broken-world
I'm thinking to set it free at 50 followers.
#kickstarter #audiobook #EntangledRealities #LitanyForABrokenWorld

2026-04-28 19:55:17 UTC

Sometimes you have to make a mess to make art.
This is the longest wheel session I've been able to do since my neck surgery in December. I stopped at 6 mugs while I still felt good.
I can't express how much I've missed this.
#ceramics
#stoneware
https://cdn.masto.host/zirkus/media_attachments/files/116/484/077/645/990/683/original/42586f8603b9dc7c.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/zirkus/media_attachments/files/116/484/077/736/593/460/original/284afb0003922e6d.jpg

2026-04-27 15:13:55 UTC

On the one hand, no surprise. As a fiction writer, I use the web to search for things all the time related to stories & the results are just slop.
On the other hand, holy shit. The web is essentially useless
@nprofile…448t https://www.404media.co/study-finds-a-third-of-new-websites-are-ai-generated/

2026-04-25 19:22:34 UTC

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@nprofile…3hal thank you!!

2026-04-24 22:07:53 UTC

So it begins...the bot/scams have already started & my kickstarter campaign has been in pre-launch for less than 24 hours.
Got this on my FB page.
I don't know this person. There was nothing in their profile. The language was stilted & poorly written. They blocked me as soon as I said I wasn't looking to buy followers.
#scams #bots
https://cdn.masto.host/zirkus/media_attachments/files/116/461/946/724/510/043/original/d8bb39746cf7de79.png

2026-04-24 20:30:44 UTC

My son's lovely partner modeling the cable knit cardigan I had planned to make for my spouse.
The whole time I was knitting, the little voice in my head said it was going to be too small & I should frog it & start over.
I guess I was making this for J instead. LOL. it fits them perfectly - just the way they like.
Metrics: cast on January 29th.
Paused in mid April to complete a 2nd sock.
Finished April 11th.
Pattern: the Jones sweater by Tin Can Knits.
#knitting
https://cdn.masto.host/zirkus/media_attachments/files/116/461/538/288/516/226/original/b0f1cca8e978f34e.jpg

2026-04-23 21:38:17 UTC

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@nprofile…d6ag I feel this.

2026-04-16 14:20:35 UTC

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@nprofile…d6ag I've been using D2D for apple distribution & apple is my smallest seller. If I'm lucky, I'll hit the $100 threshold. My blacklist is getting deeper & I'll need to rethink. Sigh.

2026-04-10 13:14:18 UTC

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@nprofile…fl85 @nprofile…yz7r yummy!

2026-04-06 16:00:19 UTC

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I was a part of online communities he had created (where I used to live) & watched that winnowing away happen in real time. I was one of the participants who walked away when this tech bro wouldn't act to reign in hate speech.
If that is full participation, I'll eat my laptop.
2/2

2026-04-06 15:58:39 UTC

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@nprofile…2ey2 @nprofile…nmr0
THIS. 1000%.
In 2020, I found myself isolated in a small rural town. I asked a town official if we had a listserv for community conversations. He thought it was a great idea & asked me to create one.
So I did. Every post is moderated. Because I've see what happens when communities become free-for-all. Voices get silenced. People leave. The only ones left are the aggressors.
A tech bro tried to convince me the *only* way to get full participation was to have it unmoderated.
1/

2026-04-06 15:49:29 UTC

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@nprofile…d6ag I had 2 dogs decide that I was home base for play time while I was doing a zoom based exercise class.

2026-04-05 17:36:21 UTC

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@nprofile…dyu0 w00t!!

2026-04-05 16:47:25 UTC

This is just a reminder that I'm a human writing human stories for human readers.
There's no room or place or desire for AI/LLM tools in my creative process.
I hire humans who use their skills to edit & create cover art.
Since 2002, I've written nearly 2 million words. No LLM prompts. Just my weird brain & even weirder subconscious.
I have 9 novels for sale. (Soon to be 10.) All of which is my soul whispering its truth to yours.
http://ljcohen.net
#NoAI
#WritingLife
https://cdn.masto.host/zirkus/media_attachments/files/116/353/080/309/926/310/original/f382b64e40c7f387.jpg

2026-04-01 22:26:14 UTC

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@nprofile…awd8 beautiful.

2026-04-01 02:55:26 UTC

Like author readings? Want to enjoy a 'tasting menu' of work by a group of women & non-binary writers of spec fic?
6 authors, (including me!) 8 minutes each. Plus, there will be prizes / giveaways! And you don’t even have to leave the house!
Free, just please pre-register here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/o/strong-women-strange-worlds-33460611105
I'll be reading from LITANY FOR A BROKEN WORLD.
Hope to see you there!
#SWSWQR
https://cdn.masto.host/zirkus/media_attachments/files/116/327/151/932/372/608/original/31a2e603e197e4cb.jpg

2026-03-31 01:47:17 UTC

#bloomscrolling
Crocuses
#StarfieldFarm
https://cdn.masto.host/zirkus/media_attachments/files/116/321/260/443/815/466/original/cd0851b664a7bf5f.jpg

2026-03-30 17:32:48 UTC

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@nprofile…5uqu As a fiction writer, i often deconstruct plot in movies we watch. My spouse complains that I have ruined movies & TV for him & he can't watch something without seeing the plot holes & foreshadowing. Oops.

2026-03-30 17:18:41 UTC

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@nprofile…5uqu i definitely would!

2026-03-25 21:29:58 UTC

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@nprofile…d6ag yum! I can bake a lot of great things but cookies are not among them!

2026-03-25 12:39:47 UTC

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@nprofile…awd8 i have a friend - it's actually her birthday today - who is in a similar place with the hoops she has to jump through to keep the meager benefits she gets. It's disgusting how our government treats vulnerable people. Reading about your malicious (or should I say delicious!) compliance made my day.

2026-03-25 04:03:23 UTC

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@nprofile…awd8 brilliant. Perfection. 10 out of 10.

2026-03-09 04:04:23 UTC

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@nprofile…5uqu I feel this. Between the time change & the barometric pressure shift, I was down most of the day with a migraine.

2026-03-08 17:51:35 UTC

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@nprofile…fl85 beautiful!

2026-03-08 14:31:13 UTC

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@nprofile…fl85 fresh out of the oven!
https://cdn.masto.host/zirkus/media_attachments/files/116/194/031/904/222/460/original/5d409d993c2f53a1.jpg

2026-03-08 14:04:36 UTC

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@nprofile…fl85 i feel that. It's Sunday, so I'm making sourdough bagels. Every week is a little different - ambient humidity & indoor temp vary. The dough sometimes rises longer or shorter. But the discipline of the making is a cycle that i return to over and over. It's almost a meditative practice.

2026-03-08 13:58:07 UTC

Holy shit.
Nothing to see here. Move along. Just a bank being the house on AI with everyone else's money. What could possibly go wrong?
@nprofile…npc0 https://mastodon.social/@nixCraft/116188874265531513

2026-02-28 13:56:02 UTC

The Indigo Girls song "Prince of Darkness" is stuck in my head this morning.
"Now, someone's on the telephone, desperate in his pain
Someone's on the bathroom floor doing her cocaine
Someone's got his finger on the button in some room
No one can convince me, we aren't gluttons for our doom."
No reason. Nope. Just a random ear worm...
That last line rings more true now than ever. Here I am, a stubborn optimist struggling to see a path forward that leads to anything better. Fuck this timeline.

2026-01-16 03:47:29 UTC

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@nprofile…ugpy i actively choose hope over despair every single day. Some days are easier than others. And every day is a new opportunity to choose it again.

2026-01-08 02:36:46 UTC

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@nprofile…5uqu that poem is engraved on my soul.

2026-01-07 23:08:03 UTC

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@nprofile…d6ag holy shit.

2025-12-31 03:20:22 UTC

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@nprofile…7ppx my pottery studio is in the basement. Unless we run the wood stove, it's 50 degrees down there. I feel your (icy) pain!

2025-12-21 16:44:23 UTC

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@nprofile…hvt6 I would read her life story in a heartbeat. 🩵

2025-12-16 17:48:20 UTC

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@nprofile…n7x3 yes! This! I would rather have 1 lovely hand made object than a dozen of something mass produced. The former is a human to human connection. The latter is soulless consumption.

2025-11-28 17:34:11 UTC

Very proud of my music loving son who cancelled his Spotify account, set up a home music server & uses the money he's saving from not subscribing to buy music directly from artists or via Bandcamp every month.

2025-11-28 16:59:35 UTC

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@nprofile…gzlk I love that book! I just bought the new anniversary edition.

2025-11-25 18:23:30 UTC

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@nprofile…jvr9 @nprofile…n7x3 yup. I'm a potter as well as a yarn crafter. Everything I make shows who I am. When I knit or crochet, I only use yarn that feels good in the hand. When I make pottery, I don't try to replicate mass produced generic work. I want the hand of the potter to be evident.

2025-11-24 02:34:59 UTC

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@nprofile…q92w @nprofile…e4ry it's infuriating. I'm a fiction writer. I often search for specific things & the computer overlords are sure I'm looking for something else.

2025-11-05 23:21:03 UTC

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@nprofile…n9c6 Yes! This ! Judaism does not equal Zionism. I am an American Jew who loathes Netanyahu & what Israel is doing to the Palestinians.

2025-10-18 22:18:15 UTC

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@nprofile…n7x3 I live in a rural & libertarian/right leaning area of Massachusetts. There were more than 500 protestors in the little town over from mine today. And at least 4 other protests within a 30 minute radius. I was heartened by all the people, the signs, the costumes. The organizers are also connecting folks to the local food pantries & communities. This is important work even if we don't know the outcome. Ultimately, we only survive when we learn to rely on one another.

2025-04-02 00:39:31 UTC

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@nprofile…skc4 me!

2025-03-24 13:43:13 UTC

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@nprofile…q5wq OMG! He's creating a Dalek!

2025-03-18 13:28:46 UTC

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@nprofile…tqx4 lovely glaze!

2025-03-05 22:08:11 UTC

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@nprofile…xljf @nprofile…xjgs we have found them here in Central Massachusetts. We keep a bucket around and drown as many as we can. I know it's a losing proposition, ultimately. So far, we are still able to grow food without seeing soil degradation.
Some of what we grow, we use straw bales for, so I'm sure that helps.

2025-02-11 00:29:02 UTC

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@nprofile…lnu2 @nprofile…y5xe @nprofile…ed6w information about & reviews of home coffee roasters? Reasons I should absolutely not go down that rabbit hole?

2024-11-30 04:21:52 UTC

This is truly the best thing I've seen today. AI doing what it does best: nonsensical word salad mashed up from random content trolling.
Fakakta means fucked up, so this is a perfect example on so many levels.
#AI
https://cdn.masto.host/zirkus/media_attachments/files/113/569/960/970/447/858/original/1c4448120c0a109f.jpg

2023-11-15 04:43:14 UTC

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@npub1ggh…ykhp yum!