Mark Weaver
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markweaver.bsky.social
Mark Weaver
@markweaver.bsky.social
Author and instigator-in-chief of the scribes. Former professional archivist and records manager. Lives in the Dark Peak with more fountain pens than he realistically needs.
For more details visit scriptoriumscribes.com
Pinned
To the new arrivals on Bluesky: I mostly post about the antics of scribes of the priory of St Elno, a wholly fictional place that began life in The Bad Place and was used to take the mickey out of a certain billionaire. See also Musky the dog and references to rockets, cryptocurrencies, etc.
Taken an inventory of the freezer. Sooo much frozen rhubarb. Now I am frozen, like a bag of rhubarb.
December 15, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Scriptorium alert: If you see twelve lords a-leaping today, it is the ten lords (plus two substitutes in case of injuries) getting some practice in for their turn in about three weeks.
December 12, 2025 at 9:29 AM
In the Scriptorium today, the scribes have been using woke fonts. This is nothing new. They’ve been using woke fonts since writing was first invented.

Woke hieroglyphs, woke pictograms, woke cuneiform, they’ve done it all.
December 10, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Happy World Soil Day to all who celebrate!
December 5, 2025 at 2:14 PM
In the Scriptorium today, the scribes have seen four blackbirds, or colly birds as they are also known (colly is an old word for coal-black)(see also collie dog).

Alexa is insistent that the 12 Days of Christmas doesn’t start for another 3 weeks. The scribes are confusing it with Advent.
December 4, 2025 at 1:15 PM
In the Scriptorium today, three Faverolles chickens have been sighted pecking for worms in the kitchen garden. The scribes think that this is a breed of French hen.

Alexa the scullery maid has pointed out that the 12 Days of Christmas only start on Christmas Day, so these are early and don’t count.
December 3, 2025 at 10:30 AM
In the Scriptorium, the scribes received a bare rooted pear tree and a Partridge Family Greatest Hits CD yesterday. Two turtle doves were on the bird feeder today. Bets are being taken for what will show up tomorrow.
December 2, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Mark Weaver
I know this petition has much more support than it currently has. Please share far and wide. Petition to require generative AI to carry a watermark and to make it illegal to use a person’s likeness in generative AI without permission.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...
Petition: Require generative AI watermarks & ban using people’s likeness without consent
As AI generated content becomes increasingly realistic, we think laws should be put in place to prevent misuse. All such media should carry a permanent watermark or disclosure, alongside a blanket ban...
petition.parliament.uk
November 29, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Reposted by Mark Weaver
Just one more reason to sign this petition
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
November 26, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Somewhere between maybe a third or halfway through the additional chapters for “The Flipside Of Somewhen”. It’s odd to be writing something I’ve outlined having pantsed the first 70k words. I just hope that the join won’t show once it has been edited.
November 25, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Looking out of the Scriptorium windows today, Black Hill has become white with the hill snow that fell overnight. Alexa (scullery maid) has nipped out to the shops to get more cocoa powder as tomorrow is promising to be frosty. The scribes are lobbying for the fire to be lit.
November 19, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Finishing the final edit of the last three pages of “The Flipside Of Somewhen” and I realise that what I need to do is bin them and write 6 more chapters (length unknown) instead. This edit is not exactly going to plan. The ending is not what I thought it was.

[Expletive deleted]…
November 13, 2025 at 12:16 PM
#NaNoWriMo ? How about #NaNoWriWTFYouWantMo ? No word counts, no assumptions, no bigotry, nothing. Just write what you want, when you want. The rest can be figured out later.
October 31, 2025 at 10:43 PM
I’ve been dwelling on a few things of late, such as the effects of AWS going down and how increasingly reliant society is on technology - see James Burke “Connections” The Trigger Effect (1978). Then I came across this again. I can still remember the opening shot of the scientist dropping the flask.
October 31, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Note to self: in future, do not use an adverb for one of the main character’s name. The style checker is having a temper tantrum.
October 22, 2025 at 12:56 PM
The scribes would like to state for the record that they do not pay a peppercorn rent for the priory. They were given the land by the monarch of the day for services rendered and built it themselves.

Any peppercorns were for making peppercorn sauce and that’s the story they’re sticking to.
October 21, 2025 at 12:48 PM
In the Scriptorium today, the scribes are attempting to determine the precise moment the information superhighway became the disinformation hypersewageway, as soon as their internet connection is back up and running, that is.
October 20, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Who robbed the Louvre? Right answers only.
October 19, 2025 at 3:05 PM
In the Scriptorium today, Mrs Pritchett has been making more green tomato chutney from this year’s bumper crop. The scribes are leaving jars of it by the priory gates for passers by. All donations go to a worthy cause. Cheques should be made out to CASH (Charitable Alms, Scriptorium House)
October 17, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Well that was fun. Editing “The Flipside Of Somewhen” and what started as cutting out unnecessary detail in a paragraph turned into 500 words of new material. The writing is a lot tighter, but I’m supposed to be pruning the dratted thing.
October 16, 2025 at 2:30 PM
In the Scriptorium today, the gas lift in one of the swivel chairs has failed. The scribe sitting with their knees round their ears has been introduced to the concept of the standing desk. This is a Heath Robinson affair comprising of a desk piled on top of a broken chair.
October 10, 2025 at 11:25 AM
In the Scriptorium today, the scribes are using the “by zombies” rule to weed out instances of the passive voice. The only problem is that it’s a book about zombies and the gate to the compound was forced open by zombies.

They are investigating if verb + “by dragons” will work instead.
October 9, 2025 at 11:38 AM
In the Scriptorium today, the cauliflowers have been coddled and the scribes are back to scribing.

Translation: up to date in the garden and greenhouse so I’m back to editing “The Flipside Of Somewhen”
October 8, 2025 at 1:21 PM
In the good old days (like last year), I’d be doing the last few jobs in the garden in preparation for winter. Having got a kitchen garden going, I’ve been getting the winter crops started and have never been so busy outside at this time. The writing has had to take a back seat for the time being.
October 7, 2025 at 5:37 PM
In the Scriptorium today, the scribes have been sweeping the priory chimneys. It is a messy job and there are a lot of them. They now know how the Blackfriars got their name.
October 3, 2025 at 4:42 PM