JL Tooker
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jltooker.bsky.social
JL Tooker
@jltooker.bsky.social
99 followers 140 following 63 posts
Speculative tales, poetic trails, and a soul tuned to resonance.
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jltooker.bsky.social
"How Monogamous Are Humans Actually?"

Cambridge spent time and money studying this across 7,000 years and multiple species.

nautil.us/how-monogamo...

Did we need a grant for that?
Guess my evolutionary cohort missed the memo.

#Anthropology #Evolution #ScienceWriting
a line drawing of two hands, one placing a yellow band on the finger of the other hand, on a pink gradient background.
December 11, 2025 at 8:08 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
“Stop and hear. The sky is speaking.”
Some listened long enough to turn wonder into evidence.

New essay: Pictographs and Poetry That Doesn't Use Words read.jltooker.com/p/pictograph...

#poetry #Substack #archaeoastronomy #astronomy
"The Sky is Speaking" written over the photograph of a red hand print and a red crescent moon painted on sandstone by Ancient Puebloans in Chao Canyon, New Mexico
December 11, 2025 at 2:15 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
sky pressed into stone
memory held by pattern
Petroglyph (phaiku)

#SFF #poetry #haiku #phaiku #SkyPoet #Creativity #SpeculativeFiction #BlueSkyPoetry #AmWriting #AuthorChat

read.jltooker.com/p/petroglyph...
a haiku written atop an image of a spiral petroglyph on a high-desert rock: pec peck peck repeat / observe align peck repeat / sky pressed into stone
December 9, 2025 at 2:14 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Writing, wandering, and what’s next.
Echoes From the Wander — free weekly.
Subscribe. The echo rings back.

read.jltooker.com

#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #SpeculativeFiction #Poetry #Creativity #SkyPoet #SFF #Haiku #BlueSkyPoetry #AuthorChat
An image of Chaco Canyon under a night sky inviting readers to subscribe to Wander Words by JL Tooker on Substack - read.jltooker.com
December 8, 2025 at 5:13 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Ancient sky-watchers saw shapes they had no words for.
Lightning without a name.
Aurora without a story.
Dragons formed from awe alone.

Read my new essay: Dragons in the Sky read.jltooker.com/p/dragons-in...
#haiku #poem #SFF #AmWriting #SkyPoet
A phaiku sprang from my essay—Raw and Awe is below.
Two dragons/serpents in watercolor blue framing a philosophical haiku or phaiku: raw with awe - dragon / swirling serpentine of sky / myth before monster
December 4, 2025 at 10:09 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Another day of thanks. Another day of truth. Another day to remember.
#AmWriting #Philosophy #SkyPoet #WritersLife #Cosmos #SpeculativeFiction #emoetry
November 27, 2025 at 4:17 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
“She was carrying a motel key, a coyote feather, and a plot she swore she’d quit.”

#humor #AmWriting #Muse #WednesdayWhimsy #WritersLife

read.jltooker.com
A faux newsprint article about the Muse who haunts JL Tooker
November 19, 2025 at 4:08 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Can reading more literary fiction change how we view others or increase empathy?

Some studies suggest so. Read about it alongside my newest phaiku … read.jltooker.com/p/phaiku-no-...

#haiku #poetry #philosophy #poetry #LiteraryGenre #AmWriting
imagined image of literary consciousness a dreamlike brain with pages of text flowing into it as it connects to a book below; image is overlaid with a haiku titled Minded and reads: slow literary / pages - something in the self / loosens, widens, feels; written by jlynn at Substack's Wander Words by JL Tooker
November 18, 2025 at 6:10 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
I subscribe to James Clear’s newsletter. Today, his words resonated more than usual:

jamesclear.com/3-2-1/novemb...

#WritingCommunity #AuthorChat #Writer #WritersLife #WriteSky #AmWritingScienceFiction #SpeculativeFiction
A quote from James Clear -Atomic Habits on a pink background with blue quote marks: You have to run your own race. Problems begin the moment you start comparing your results to someone who is playing under different conditions. The 40-year-old entrepreneur with three kids has different constraints than the single 27-year-old. A painter with 20 years of practice shouldn't be the benchmark for someone in year two. Someone caring for aging parents is not in the same position as someone with no obligations outside work. Play your own game. Emphasize gradual progress and keep the comparison internal.
November 14, 2025 at 6:54 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
The Muse has escaped from the Sanatorium for Sense and Structure ... It's Wednesday's Whimsy!!

#WritingCommunity #AuthorChat #Muse #WritersLife #Humor #WriteSky #AmWritingScienceFiction #SpecukativeFiction
a faux newspaper article about JL Tooker’s muse escaping the Sanitorium for Sense and Structure, hitchhiking west in Texas, with an inset photo of a woman in snakeskin boots and tattered gown standing in the middle of a two-lane desert highway, facing down the moon
November 12, 2025 at 8:24 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
"She couldn’t see all of it, but she felt the cosmic dance unfolding around her—the chorus of celestial movement resounded in her very bones. ... the air swept up a faint scent of elemental dust. Red inhaled fully—a subtle reminder of connection and all the mysteries that lay beyond her reach."
bookcover for Starwoven: Hear My Call by JL Tooker, s young girl in black shadow with her hand pressed against a starship widow facing the green aura of a celestial body
November 7, 2025 at 5:00 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
#WritingCommunity #AuthorChat #Writer #WritersLife #WriteSky #AmWritingScienceFiction #SpeculativeFiction
background is a yellow orange sunset lowering into a shadowed mound on which there are dancers and drummers in black silhouette, overlaid with the statement: Good writing is in the rhythm, not in the rules - Julia Cameron sentiment.
November 7, 2025 at 4:43 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Does it count as a WIP if I wrote this on the fly?
#WIPSnips #poetry #poem #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #Penultimate :-)
A poem titled Penultimate Meandering on apale green background with a lighter squiggle representing a river and meandering through the words: If penultimate is second last, what is second first? I am. Born second of eleven. I am 2 of 11. 9 of 11 is my only sister. She is second last, but first lost ... to me. Order. Does it truly matter? Truly it does ... in some circles. But do circles order? Perhaps in degrees. Do you see how I meander penultimately?
November 6, 2025 at 4:06 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Happy WHIMSday! The Muse has a case of Post-Plot Stress Disorder ... read.jltooker.com to catch up with the Muse and her antics.
#WriteSky #Humor #Muse #AuthorChat #WriteSky #WritersCommunity #WritingCommunity #Writer
A faux newspaper article headline reads: MUSE CHECKS INTO REHAB FOR CREATIVE DISORDERS. An inset photo features a shadowed muse consulting with her therapist
November 5, 2025 at 5:01 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
#AuthorChat #AmWriting #WriteSky #WritersCommunity #WriterProblems #TakeABreak
Ian image of the popular farming sim, Stardew Valley, showing a pixelated barn and chickens, with the added text of "It's where I go when my body and brain are screaming for a break. Now if I could just pair it with some Haunted Chocolatier. Thank you @ConcernedApe!"
November 4, 2025 at 7:27 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
November approaches! Get your WordNerd on!

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritersLife #WritingLife Monthly #Writingq #BookSky #AuthorChat

Enroll at canvas: canvas.instructure.com/enroll/MENWRH
a promotional poster with a typewriter and books image encouraging writers to join the 50K Word Nerds for a November 'feels write' marathon sponsored by Substackers Heironymous Hawkes and Leah Sayler.
October 29, 2025 at 6:00 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Extra! Extra! Read All About It! Muse admits herself to Creative Disorders Clinic!

Get your Whimsy now!
#writingcommunity #writesky #authorchat #writingq #writerslife #WritingLifeMonthly
October 29, 2025 at 3:44 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Sometimes the first act of healing
is admitting the thing you fear has a name.

read.jltooker.com/p/aloud-acco...

#poetry #writersky #writercommunity #writerslife
The word "Aloud" hovering above a still, fog-layered ocean, in black and white and the phrase 'read.jltooker.com' on Substack
October 28, 2025 at 1:48 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
What does 'Luddite' mean to you?
#writingq #writingcommunity #writeSky #poetry #authorchat
October 24, 2025 at 8:53 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
A selection from my first book of poems ...
read more at read,jltooker.com
#poetry #writingq #writingcommunity #authorchat #BookSky
October 23, 2025 at 6:36 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Creating a multimodal language developed by my synesthetic sentient aliens!
learn more at read.jltooker.com
#writing #firstcontact #alienlanguage #writingcommunity #Authorchat
A sample of a conlang called Threlraan, using a haiku translated into the alien gyphs: speak to the mountain / stone hums the song of our law-- / the stars echo back.
October 22, 2025 at 2:14 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
It's time for Wednesday's Whimsy!
Check out all the issues you missed on Wander Words by JL Tooker at Substack: read.jltooker.com
#writingcommunity #BookSky #AuthorChat
A faux newspaper article describing the return of the missing Muse and her road to recovery with two images of a silhouetted female writing at a desk be a window filtering blue light and the other of her standing among books and contemplating a feathered quill.
October 22, 2025 at 2:07 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
October 21, 2025 at 3:53 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
One of my mantras ...
#writingcommunity #AuthorChat #BookSky
The words, "Write it true first, make it beautiful later ..." by JL Tooker, on a brilliant orange background above a purple silhouette of someone journaling.
October 14, 2025 at 1:03 PM
jltooker.bsky.social
Diane Keaton - totally my favorite actor; undoubtedly a beautiful soul. I will miss her way too much.
A photograph of actress Diane Keaton
October 13, 2025 at 7:38 PM