Elizabeth Shaw, Ph.D.

@realmattfalcon I'll check in once a month. I don't really like this app anymore. I'm on Insta & Threads. #writingcommunity

Who else is staying here? #WritingCommunity

@Csvich Great 😣, something new to worry about. Read an article this AM that said climate change will increase certain health issues, including cognitive decline.

@MadameGilflurt I never thought that Jason Isaacs looked anything close to Cary Grant. However, with Hollywood magic, he does resemble him. 😂 I haven't watched this yet.

Finally getting round to ITV’s Archie! Let’s see how Jason Isaacs does with Cary Grant. ☺️

@thedigitalyenta I'm a runner & I fell the same way back in April. I misjudged the curb while running. I hit my face on the brick sidewalk. A lot of people saw me fall & a homeless man helped me up. It was such a shock to fall so hard.

Today I stepped off a curb and my foot caught in the road and I fell. I’m okay. But my foot is sprained and swollen. How come we don’t talk about how incredibly traumatic and destabilizing mentally it is to fall as an adult? It wasn’t even a major fall and I’m shaken up.

@FloofyTyrant Buttermilk pie or pancakes or biscuits. My favorite things to do with it.

@alioop326 Real Mexican food, not Tex-Mex or American versions. Real Mexican food like they eat in the various regions of Mexico. It is delicious.

@Csvich Always the director & the actors. Lucky if the playwright's name is mentioned. Sad.

@TheAttagirls Loved her. She really educated me about cooking. I live near her home in Georgetown area of Washington, DC. I pass by her home every day & think about all those cooking lessons she gave to high society women in that kitchen. I wish I could have met her.

Woman of the Day chef and author Julia Child born OTD 1912 in Pasadena, famous for bringing French cuisine to the American public, but the first dish she ever helped to make was so repulsive, even sharks shied away from it. Exactly as intended. Julia wasn’t really interested in cooking until she married. “I was 32 when I started cooking. Up until then, I just ate.” In 1942 - nearly twenty years before her debut cookbook was published - Julia, a 6’2” self-confessed disaster in the kitchen, joined the Office of Strategic Services because she was too tall for the Women’s Army Corps or the US Navy’s WAVES. (Who knew they had height restrictions for women?). One of 4,500 women who served in the OSS, Julia as taken on as a typist but her boss wrote, "Because of Miss McWilliams's education and her previous experience outside the government, we feel she is better qualified to fill a more responsible position." She was made a research assistant in the Secret Intelligence division of the OSS, now the CIA, but soon began working with OSS officers who needed to develop a recipe that even a shark would refuse to eat. Why? Well, sharks were large enough and curious enough to keep exploding underwater bombs designed to take German U-boats out of commission. It was an operational problem in need of a solution. Julia’s answer was to experiment with various cooking concoctions to make a shock repellent that could be sprinkled in the water. Copper acetate mixed with black dye was formed into a little disc-shaped “cake” that smelled like a dead shark when released into the water. Stored in little boxes until needed so that they could be strapped to a person’s arm or leg or attached to a lifejacket, the cake dissolved and dispersed in water and could keep sharks away for six or seven hours. It could also be coated on explosives targeting German U-beats and was a critical tool during WW2. “I must say we had lots of fun. We designed rescue kits and other agent paraphernalia. I understand the shark repellent we developed is being used today for downed space equipment—strapped around it so the sharks won’t attack when it lands in the ocean.” Posted overseas to what is now Sri Lanka from 1944-1945, Julia had top security clearance for her work "registering, cataloging and channeling a great volume of highly classified communications". She had sight of every incoming and outgoing message that passed through her Registry because it served all of the intelligence branches as well as the OSS's clandestine stations in Asia. A further posting to China followed. Not bad going for a woman who lost a previous job at an ad agency because of her inexperience. “Fired, and no wonder." In 1961, Julia’s debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, was published, her subsequent TV programme, The French Chef, premiered in 1963 and well - you know the rest. She revolutionised American cuisine. Julia died in 2004, just two days short of her 92nd birthday. She was, and remains, one of my favourite chefs, not least for her riveting advice about cooking and food. Here are a few of her bon mots: “If you're afraid of butter, use cream.” “Always remember: If you're alone in the kitchen and you drop the lamb, you can always just pick it up. Who's going to know?” “I think every woman should have a blowtorch.” “The only time to eat diet food is while you're waiting for the steak to cook.” #XX

Every single woman you know has a scary story about a man. Take it to the bank. They also likely have stories about harassment. About being told to smile. About being harassed on the job. About making less money than a man. We all do.

@WW2HistoryGal Welcome to the neighborhood! I live in DC.

@Bookshop_Org Wuthering Heights.

@MynaChang @LarsHoel_writer How does she receive a paper check? I got my social security enrollment package & the options are direct deposit or debit card.

@TAR_Kirk Yes. Grammatical errors are worse. So are poor edits like hero has blond hair blue eyes in chapter 1 & in chapter 5 the eyes are described as brown. Bad research drives me crazy too. Herman Wouk mixed up Theodore Roosevelt & FDR in Winds of War. Ruined the book for me.

Does finding a typo in a book ruin the reading experience for you?

@LizWFab My spoiled kitty should be sitting next to her. He whined this AM for more food after eating his breakfast. Then he caterwauled at the pantry door where his food is kept. 😹

@rebecca_fachner Lol. Seriously, who really wants either job. The hardest & most stressful jobs in the world. No thanks.

Has anyone considered that it should be me as Harris VP? Just sayin

@TheAttagirls I love your posts. Please keep them coming. We women need to be accoladed for our historical accomplishments & celebrated. 💪

Good morning, everyone, today is the first anniversary of the longer Women of the Day posts (the shorter ones started in October 2021). That’s 366 women’s stories, one posted every day around 7.30am without fail. It’s getting more difficult now to follow the calendar faithfully - plus I could do with the occasional break - so from today, the schedule will be irregular. There might be no WOTD some days but on other days, there might be two. There are still about 200 women on my Projects List whose voices deserve to be heard once more - well, 200 and counting, because I keep finding them. They all made significant contributions to our history as women: challenging norms, overcoming manmade barriers and blazing a trail for us to follow. I hope you stick around to read them because they left messages for us that still resonate today. The struggle for women’s voices to be heard and to be taken seriously is eternal. They passed the baton to us. We can’t fail them now.

@P_Hendrickson That is what I told myself. I'm sooo busy my writing has suffered.

Once the weather cools down this week, my office won’t be uncomfortably warm, so maybe I’ll get more writing done. #scriptchat

@ChroniclesDRoss @SusanSavageLee1 Lol. My Google histories would get me into major trouble. I'm writing an international murder mystery & researched the "perfect" way to murder that can't be traced. I went into a rabbit hole. I did find what I needed. 😂

@SusanSavageLee1 I do lots as my stories take place in a medieval level of industrialization. Between weapons, battle scenes and poisons, I shudder to think if someone saw my Google search history

Do you ever do historical research for your stories? Recently, I looked up jokes and slang from the 70s to provide an authentic representation of that decade #amwriting #WritingCommunity

@SusanSavageLee1 Always for my novels. Currently I'm reading a novel that takes place during WWI & the author is using modern slang. It's driving me crazy & ruining a good story.

@CaitlinKellyNYC To offer someone with your experience less than $1/word shows how broken writing is these days. Glad that you CAN say no. Lots of people can not.

FYI, that "big outlet" I tweeted about who wanted my pitch? The offer was too low and I walked (global daily.) It's just not worth it to me now to spend weeks and weeks sourcing, interviewing, writing and revising a long and complex story for less than $1/word. Yes, I said it.