SeraDrake

I've updated Kaleidoscope (my current art gallery) to include art tiles from June, July, and August.
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/401892706-kaleidoscope-a-new-gallery

Signal boost for the contest that opens tomorrow.
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/415023003-%F0%9D%90%93%F0%9D%90%87%F0%9D%90%84-%F0%9D%90%82%F0%9D%90%80%F0%9D%90%92%F0%9D%90%93%F0%9D%90%84%F0%9D%90%8B%F0%9D%90%85%F0%9D%90%80%F0%9D%90%88%F0%9D%90%91-%F0%9D%90%80%F0%9D%90%96%F0%9D%90%80%F0%9D%90%91%F0%9D%90%83%F0%9D%90%92

Mini hosted by @HappyEndingWriter. 
          
          There are still a few categories with openings left. Not many. There MIGHT even be a fiction genre or two with openings, but I wouldn't count on it (although poetry is mostly open, if you want to enter poetry). 
          
          Best hurry. This is a mini. As with all mini contests, you snooze, you lose. 
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/415354440-the-mini-lavender-awards-2026-open

The burnt bridge can stay burnt. I see no need to rebuild.

There are various community activist groups in my city protesting the building of a brand new data centre on my city's east side. 
          
          The chamber of commerce types are arguing that this will bring us new jobs and prosperity. 
          
          The rest of us are not so enthusiastic. Data centres that support AI create a wicked high amount of pollution, and contribute to global warming. They require massive amounts of energy, and our local power grid is strained already. They also generate heat. Lots of heat. You live near one in the summer, and for miles around, the temperature is high enough to be miserable rather than merely uncomfortable. It raises the average ambient temperature by several degrees. 
          
          Nobody likes living near a data cente, so we, the residents, are fighting it. 
          
          We will probably lose, because the corporations want what they want. It's the future. It's inevitable. And anyway, it generates profit, which is all that matters.
          
          The new data centre may be used to enable one of the many new "agentic" call centres popping up where chatbots pretend to be human customer service agents. Guess what field I work in? You got it. Customer service. It's said to be one of the most at-risk professions now, thanks to AI. If you work on the phones, you can't get away from it. It's like being tied to a train track, watching a slow-moving oncoming locomotive.
          
          Just a reminder that AI is not a neutral technology. It comes with costs. Aside from the fact that generative AI runs on plagiarism, ALL AI absolutely wrecks the environment and strains communities to the max. We can't go back to how things used to be before AI, of course, but we can try to keep our use to only what is absolutely necessary. 
          
          Call me contrary, but I don't consider generative AI to be necessary. That might factor into why I resent losing to people who rely on it to produce entertaining, grammatically intelligible stories.
          
          That's all.

Art contest. Now, this looks like fun!
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/415140226-the-coral-court-art-contest

It's that time of year again... 
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/413579310-the-shortys-2026
          
          I really do need to wrap up What Is Told: A Conglomeration of Confabulations and get it launched, so if any of the stories I write for the remaining material fit the Shorty word count requirements, I'll enter them into the contest. However, I can't say I look forward to doing so. The official Wattpad contests, to me, aren't even remotely fun. They're a requirement of being a writer on Wattpad. If you want to remain visible, you have to do them, and do respectably well in them. Sitting out is not really an option.
          
          I haven't yet looked at the rules and guidelines, but if the Shortys are anything like the Wattys, the Ambs will say something along the lines of "We would prefer you not use AI, but we have no way of checking to see how much AI you use (because we're afraid to use Pangram to back up our suspicions if an entry smells like polished slop) so go ahead and use AI, and hopefully, the fully human entries will simply be better, although ultimately, it's up to our personal tastes." 
          
          Personal tastes which have, in the past, favoured stories that read like the rough draft was polished heavily by AI, for instance, the text had excellent SPAG paired with a book blurb that needed some dressing for its word salad. 
          
          But hey. Gotta stay visible, right? So I shall write my material, and if it fits the Shorty word count limits, it will get entered, and I will, for the third year in a row, compete against a mixture of humans and chatbots.
          
          Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Gothic-themed contest. Up to three books, all in different categories.
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/415023003-%F0%9D%90%93%F0%9D%90%87%F0%9D%90%84-%F0%9D%90%82%F0%9D%90%80%F0%9D%90%92%F0%9D%90%93%F0%9D%90%84%F0%9D%90%8B%F0%9D%90%85%F0%9D%90%80%F0%9D%90%88%F0%9D%90%91-%F0%9D%90%80%F0%9D%90%96%F0%9D%90%80%F0%9D%90%91%F0%9D%90%83%F0%9D%90%92

Although I am not fond of Wattpad's soft stance on AI use, nor do I like Wattpad's pushing of ludicously troped, genre-conforming, "vertical" stories over all else, the latest stuff I see about how people are fleeing the platform because "smut is no longer safe to write" and "new guidelines make my books impossible" amuse me.
          
          If you write about consenting adults, and your story has at least something to it other than sex, your work is still welcome on Wattpad. I don't see the @AfterDark profile having disappeared, nor do I see anything about all sexual content being required to "fade to black."
          
          You might be in trouble if you write about romanticized or graphic sexual assault, "dubious consent," forced sex that winds up being okay because it involves fated mates who live happily ever after at the end of the story, trafficking, or incest. You might also be in trouble if you write in detail about minors engaging in sexual activity, or if your story has absolutely nothing to it other than smut. Those things were problematic before, so no change there. The only significant change, regarding sexually explicit material, is the requirement for consent.
          
          I support this. 
           #consentishot

It never ceases to amaze me when I do well in a readers' choice contest. 
          
          Thank you to everyone who helped "Fourth" to runner-up in the Historical fiction category, _What Is Told: A Conglomeration of Confabulations_ to runner-up in the Fantasy category, and _Ancilla_ to a winning tie in the Supernatural/Paranormal division. It means a lot to me that you read my work, and even more that you actually like it.