Cindy Shiner
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shinewoman.bsky.social
Cindy Shiner
@shinewoman.bsky.social
Spec #Novelist, #Screenwriter | Former Journalist | Bylines Washington Post, NPR | 🐴 Girl | #scriptsky

Motto: Think big, live small
My latest from #Spain - on navigating the human herd

#Travel
#Horses
#Equestrian

open.substack.com/pub/cindyshi...
An Unexpected Threat on the Horse Trail in Spain, Part I
Navigating the human herd
open.substack.com
July 23, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Coming up this week on my ShineWoman Substack!

Managing the unexpected on my horse riding adventure in Spain’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was a wild ride, continuing this year's theme of random events that can threaten to throw you off track.

#Travel
#Adventure
#Equine
#Women
#Resilience
July 20, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Have you been #DOGEd, otherwise laid off or forced to reckon with family or financial upheaval? I figure that covers a lot of us. Check out my latest on #Substack. If you like these posts, please pass on - subscription is free or cheap!

open.substack.com/pub/cindyshi...

#OlderWomen
#Aging
A House Divided
Parsing things, preserving memories
open.substack.com
July 14, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Check out my latest story from my month-long trip to Spain to figure out my life after being DOGEd!

If you like what you see, subscribe (free or cheap) for more

Barcelona: A Love Letter. Reflections on my youth in a changing city
cindyshiner.substack.com/p/barcelona-...
Barcelona: A Love Letter
Reflections on my youth in a changing city
cindyshiner.substack.com
July 7, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Check out my 3-part narrative on horse #voluntourism gone awry while traveling in #Spain. You can find it on my Substack ShineWoman - subscribe for free for that story and more on my travel adventures after getting #DOGEd.

Below Rudy the sheep next to my Land Rover accommodation at the stables.
June 14, 2025 at 2:14 PM
I saved a life today.

It was reptilian, but still a life. And in this era of anti-grace and official desire to put people “in trauma,” any act of kindness, no matter how small, can feel like rebellion.

#DOGE
#unemployment
#USAID
#Musk
#FederalWorkforce

open.substack.com/pub/cindyshi...
Finding Grace on a Suburban Road
Even the smallest acts of kindness are life affirming
open.substack.com
May 30, 2025 at 12:53 PM
One line stood out:

"...we did it without a massive budget, props departments and special-effects teams."

I understand the benefits of reduced costs - look what digital did for indies. But how many creatives will be put out of work with #AI? Thoughts?
#scriptsky

www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-f...
We Made a Film With AI. You’ll Be Blown Away—and Freaked Out.
We tried to direct an AI film. The tools are magic. The process is madness.
www.wsj.com
May 28, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Hot off the keyboard! If you like what you see, subscribe (free or cheap) and share!
#scriptsky
#writing
#writers
#travel

open.substack.com/pub/cindyshi...
Hitting the Horse Trail in Spain
Finding my footing after getting the boot
open.substack.com
May 27, 2025 at 12:04 PM
"Do they have the new insurance bro?"

My auto corrected text to my son after his dentist visit.

*info
May 12, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Bots creep me out, especially when they offer, unsolicited (obv) to help me find a #job. 👁️
May 10, 2025 at 11:36 PM
This headline looks like it belongs in The Onion instead of the Wall Street Journal.

U.S. Orders Intelligence Agencies to Step Up Spying on Greenland
May 7, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Life is life-ing at an incredibly accelerated rate lately. And I ate almost a whole strawberry rhubarb pie.
May 7, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Coffee rooster.

Somehow, in this time of #unemployment the kitchen has become my studio. There can be beauty in uncertainty, creativity in limbo.

I didn't intend to create the rooster. But a quieter mind can enable us to see.

Have you been creative lately? Would love to see ☀️
April 17, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Voila my first sourdough. It makes unemployment taste so much better.
April 11, 2025 at 11:56 AM
"It looks like flubber," my son said.

This is not a promising start to my sourdough.
April 11, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Reposted by Cindy Shiner
Wall Street rallied for a moment because investors got a piece of fake news. Pathetic. Not the behaviour of rational, informed and thoughtful adults but of spoilt, rich, stupid infants. A reminder that our problems aren't solved just by removing Trump. No. The WHOLE SYSTEM of capitalism must change.
April 7, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Back to the #novel. Some stories are just better as novels and don't translate well as #screenplays - they become different stories. I tend to know instantly when a story is either and I really shouldn't waste time thinking otherwise.

Maybe others have different experiences?
#scriptsky
April 7, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Reposted by Cindy Shiner
I don’t know who made this but they won Monday.
April 7, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Banana bread is an acceptable dinner item, right? Because it's bread. It's not cake, definitely not cake. 🍌
April 5, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Reposted by Cindy Shiner
Don't write a story where the protagonist changes at the end.

Write a story where the protagonist changes throughout, and that change allows a satisfying end.

My screenwriting improved dramatically when I realized the difference.

#screenwriting
April 5, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Cindy Shiner
Yodellers of the world, you never stood a chance: Monkeys will always be better at yodelling than humans because they have a "cheap trick" hidden in their voice box, scientists reveal.
u.afp.com/SiHq
April 3, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Reposted by Cindy Shiner
The odious Trump seeks to drive a wedge between people from #Canada and #USA. Yet North Americans are some of the finest people I follow. So here’s the first of 3 packs celebrating them. Great North Americans, #writers, #campaigners, #poets and other really good people. Please follow and repost
March 30, 2025 at 12:41 PM