Julie Sondra Decker

@juliesondra

Novelist, creativity enthusiast, comic scribbler, singer, cartoon nerd, asexuality activist. Author of THE INVISIBLE ORIENTATION. She/her. Not your babysitter.

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Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· 9d

Dude, now AI is getting so lazy that it thinks I wrote a book about someone I've never heard of. Hey, does this mean I can get the royalties too?

Screencap of an e-mail. Subject: "John Grade: Reclaimed was such an inspiring exploration of Art and Nature." It is from Seana Kelly on 2026-08-04 at 20:30. An alert says "To protect your privacy remote resources have been blocked" with an option to allow. Text of e-mail says: "Hi Julie,

I hope you're doing well.

I recently spent time with John Grade: Reclaimed, and I wanted to personally reach out because I found it to be a fascinating and deeply inspiring exploration of the relationship between art and the natural world.

What stood out most was the way the book captures the collaboration between the artist and nature itself. Rather than treating the environment as a backdrop, it becomes an active participant in the creative process, with erosion, growth, weather, and time transforming each work into something both unpredictable and profoundly beautiful.

I also appreciated how thoughtfully the book presents John's sculptures and installations. The photography and accompanying insights reveal not only the remarkable craftsmanship behind each piece but also the willingness to embrace impermanence and allow natural forces to complete the artwork in ways no artist could fully control.

As a fellow author, I always admire creators who challenge conventional ideas of what art can be. This book beautifully demonstrates that creativity often flourishes when we invite uncertainty into the process, making it both visually stunning and intellectually engaging.

I'm not reaching out to pitch anything, I simply wanted to say how much I appreciated the book and thought it" [message in screencap cuts off here]

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Jul 11

Sub guidelines: "Strict 10,000-word limit. Anything over 10,000 words will NOT be considered." Me: "nice"

A screen capture of the statistics of a Microsoft Word document. Reads "Page: 1 of 36 / Words: 9,998"

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Jul 2

Hi hello yes this is a real situation I'm in Can someone just send me the "yes" mail instead of the "not a no" e-mail now?

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Jun 13

The trouble with writing stuff in weird formats is nobody publishes stuff like this 😂 Where am I gonna sell a story told entirely in notes/social media images about a witch who cursed her neighbor and ends up arguing her case on a witch version of Am I the Asshole?

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· May 20

Is anyone good at comp titles? Just describing this thing in genre/category form is a mouthful ("coming-of-age sapphic science fiction YA"). Please do throw a tip my way if you know similar stories that fit the tropes/elements in the image. #writingcommunity #querying #booksky #queerwriters

* Queer characters from a religious/spiritual family
* YA science fiction (or fantasy) with a f/f relationship
* First love sapphic stories, especially with a school setting
* Star-crossed lovers/characters are from two different worlds type tropes
* Young characters coming of age and coming to terms with queerness
* A romantic relationship is important to the story but is not "a romance"
* Mythological, elemental, or magic-related spiritual traditions connected to adulthood rites

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· May 14

I haven't written a cishet protagonist in a while and I think it will stay that way for the foreseeable future

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Apr 22

al gore, are you drunk texting me your selfies again

Screencap of a received text on a black background. Time, centered at the top in light gray text, reads "12:37 PM." A photo of Al Gore in a suit follows: a white man with gray hair combed back from his forehead, with a small smile, wearing a navy blue suit jacket, a white shirt, and a striped blue tie. The photo is just his head and shoulders against a gray background. Below, in a text bubble, the text reads "Julie, it's Al Gore."

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Apr 14

One has to wonder how Trump thinks it's BETTER to claim he couldn't tell the difference between a medical worker and an image of Jesus, considering how unfamiliar with religious imagery that would make him. Then again, he mistook E. Jean Carroll for his ex-wife after saying she wasn't his type.

Black and white line illustration in a box. Header: COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT TEST. Line 2: QUESTION: PLEASE IDENTIFY THE DOCTOR. Below, two line drawings of human images are pictured. One on the left is a faceless man with a typical doctor's coat, a clipboard, and a stethoscope. One on the right is a classic line drawing of Jesus, with a beard and flowing robes and a halo behind his head. Big check marks are in the upper left corner of each box indicating that the person taking the assessment should check the box for the proper answer. At the bottom are blanks reading "PATIENT NAME:" and "DATE."

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Apr 13

I'm really glad my book, [Book Title 1], made such an impact on this totally legit, helpful book promoter who wants to help out of the goodness of their heart. Also, this is an extreme example of sloppiness, but why do even the better ones use terms designed for fiction and send to nonfic authors?

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Apr 9

I sold another short story! It's about administrative professionals having an epic battle over how the files should be organized. (And it's gay.) You know what that means! Publishing cupcake. This one's lemon.

Author Julie Sondra Decker, with chin-length pink and blonde hair with bangs and heart-shaped blue sunglasses on her head, leans over a plate in the foreground which is covered with lemon illustrations. On the plate is a lemon cupcake in a cupcake wrapper. It is topped with lemon frosting and a wedge of lemon candy. The photo is taken outside with a tree behind the subject.

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Mar 3

Flesh out the world! Give the scenery some love! Put some meat on those worldbuilding bones! Build in some complex history, not just the plot-relevant stuff! Hey, why is your book so long? #writingcommunity #betareading

A four-panel comic about writing. Panel 1: "Your writing is too bare-bones with the setting. You really need more detail on places and environments, especially if it's an alien planet and a fictional society." "Okay!" Panel 2: "I need more about the invented culture. This manuscript could really do with more detail with realistic depictions of the aliens' lifestyle and religion." "I'll try!" Frame 3: Keep in mind you're creating a civilization here! We need a lot more detail on the mythology, history, and backstory so the aliens' society feels like it has real, complex roots." "I'll work it in!" Frame 4: "My word count is ridiculous." "Well if you fantasy writers didn't always think you need to describe every leaf on a tree, you wouldn't have this problem."

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Feb 12

Sharing a weird story about my mom today because I felt like it. Involves misconceptions about bathroom habits, technology hiccups, and my mother's search history.

Character limit prevents full text from being shared here. This is a screencap of a conversation with Mom in which she struggled to buy clothes online; when offered help, she did not know where she had seen the shirts she wanted, so her search history was the next stop. Surprising search history items popped up, including Mom wanting to know why girls think they need to wash their hands after using the bathroom because OBVIOUSLY only MEN need to wash their hands after using the bathroom, and then a query on how to have a baby at age 68.

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Dec 1

Update from her.

UPDATE: I talked to my boyfriend's brother, he is a doctor and has also recently spoken to him, and we came to the conclusion that he does need a health evaluation but it is not an emergency and he was not psychotic (unless he's starting to develop AI psychosis which I just read a comment on today). I had a positive, constructive talk with my boyfriend last night and he came around and apologized for exaggerating and being so ornery about it. He explained that his worry came from my different text style than he is used to (because I was multitasking) and recent fraudulent/scammer things that happened to me. He worried someone got control of my phone, but he now knows it was me.

I will continue to be vigilant about signs of controlling behavior, BPD or other personality disorder, or any psychosis. He promised to get on top of his healthcare with regard to the existing concern for Parkinson's, and I will push for testing and scanning for other possible conditions like tumors, bleeds, encephalitis, etc. Thank you to those of you who provided support and helpful feedback.🩷 If anyone else late to the game wants to accuse me of failing as a girlfriend or instruct me to do something I already did, just don't.

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Nov 7

Two more. He just kept messaging me and bugging me to talk to him and insisting it was a misunderstanding while still insisting that he totally has a better car now, etc.

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Nov 7

No idea! I do not date AT ALL and am 4'11" so it's not hard to be tall enough for me to look up your nose. Men's Rights douches have decided it's a shortcut to dismissing women's rejections as depending on things outside their control so they don't have to work on themselves. More of this guy:

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Nov 7

I had a dude who thought I wouldn't be FRIENDS with him if he didn't have a lot of money to spend on me and an expensive car. And yes, in the ensuing conversation he did INSIST that FRIENDS have dumped him for not wining and dining them. (This guy sent this when I didn't answer him while sleeping.)

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Sep 27

I felt like that would be disingenuous of the survey developers--to assume survey participants "judged someone less human" while not calling it that--but turns out you're right. The traits rated were "warmth," "competence," and "morality" equaling humanity. Big yikes are still in order, of course.

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Sep 5

Four-panel comic colored in markers. Panel 1 features a dark-skinned man with a gray beard and gray hair/eyebrows in a collared shirt saying "women have a narrow view of the world. They are overly sentimental and that is why there is no woman alive who could ever write to equal me." Panel 2 features a white man with gray hair and gray eyebrows and a mostly bald head, in a black suit with a tie, saying "Women don't write with real range. They only write about trivial things. I want to read about REAL problems, not women whining and acting like this represents actual conflict." Panel 3: A white man with brown hair and brown eyebrows wearing a black turtleneck says "Women write romance, and that's not interesting to smart people." Panel 4: A white woman with blond hair in a purple shirt sits at a desk looking at a laptop. She looks disturbed and says "For people who won't read women's writing, these guys sure know a lot about how worthless it is!"

It’s interesting how often people who talk about literary merit and artistic worthiness are so quick to assume women aren’t writing about real problems, or that the differences we do see in common elements of writing based on gender have clear divisions between what’s nutritious and what’s empty calories. There are more women than men in this world, and still our thoughts, issues, and lives are thought marginal.

First, these are all slightly exaggerated and paraphrased from real quotes by men about women’s work. For context, here they are:

“I read a piece of writing and within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by a woman or not. I think it is unequal to me.” [Women’s work presents] “sentimentality, the narrow view of the world. And inevitably for a woman, she is not a complete master of a house, so that comes over in her writing too.” —V.S. Naipaul

[Women exhibit] “lack of range—in subject matter, in emotional tone—and lack of a sense of humor. . . . the embroidering of trivial themes; a concern with the mere surfaces of life . . . hiding from the real agonies of the spirit; refusing to face up to what existence is; lyric or religious posturing; running between the boudoir and the altar, stamping a tiny foot against God. . . . ” —Theodore Roethke

“[R]omance novels, like racists, tend to be the same wherever you turn. It’s pointless to spend much time impugning these books as writing because they really aren’t meant to be considered as actual writing, the same way a Twinkie wasn’t meant to be considered as actual food.” —William Giraldi

The common theme here is through some combination of bad experiences with literature, socialized disgust for and condescension toward anything that women enjoy, sexist attitudes toward women in general, overreliance on “award-winning” literature as if the awards are given objectively through some distant assessment of pure merit, overexposure to men’s work as deep and “classic” and women’s work as lowbrow and “popular,” or simple assumption that women’s stories aren’t relevant/applicable/interesting to them . . . these men conclude that they can and should write off literature about, by, and/or for women.

And what’s really interesting is how many men, when challenged on this, will have one of these two explanations for why they aren’t interested in women’s work:

They just . . . just aren’t INTERESTED, inexplicably, and don’t know what to say when you ask why or what they could possibly believe about ALL women’s work being “not for them.”

They have indeed tried women’s work and didn’t like it, insist that the sex of the author has nothing to do with that, and feel justified in generalizing their reaction as applying to any and all literature by women.

You KNOW they have not concluded men suck at writing whenever they read a sucky book by a man, or when they encounter a genre or subject primarily written by men that they aren’t interested in. Yet somehow, even though they’re totally not sexist, guys!, reading a comparatively small number of books by women has given them all they need to know about all women authors–they all write the same, or about the same things, or with the same lower or basic quality that they’re sure they objectively assigned to the sample they’ve read.

I guarantee you some of these men’s favorite books were written by women writing under an androgynous name or deliberately under a man’s name.

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Aug 18

I had someone post this on my YouTube once. And even though it didn't describe me whatsoever, I was like . . . wait, does he think it's self evident that this caricature person would be awful? I want to hang out with her actually.

Xavier Roberts 30 minutes ago
Do you have any other hobbies besides being asexual? Or is this your career? Also, what northwestern university liberal arts degree did you get and what library or coffee shop do you work at.?

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Aug 9

Well, I guess I'll post more of the conversation, for everyone's entertainment.

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Aug 8

God. This reminds me of a dude who hit me with the "you're not like other girls, you actually seem intelligent" nonsense and then, to prove how "intellectual" he was, he said he wanted to discuss "what is your view of science today?" You have to see to believe his "do I sound smart yet?" diatribe.

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Jul 22

Yeppppp

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Jul 19

Let me gift you with the actual screenshot then

ABOUT ME
My self-summary
Born and Raised in Miami but reside here in Tampa . I'm very family oriented, and love sports (but then again what guy doesn't). I love to [activity] and spend time hanging out with friends. I'm an easy going person and try to stay clear of any drama.
My dreams are to flourish in my career and eventually own my own business one day. In the mean time I enjoy working in retail and am lucky to have a job considering the economy these days.
My favorite music consist of [music], [music], and [music]. However I'm open to listening to anything original. I'm a music junkie so I don't mind other genre's. In my free time I enjoy going to the gym,having fun and most of all I enjoy having great conversations.

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Jul 1

Aw, cuuute, I got my YouTooz Steven Universe Steven-n-Lion today.

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Jun 12

Welcome! Yeah he tried to get my sister to dress as Leia for the reception but she was like "fuck this I spent way too much on this dress to not wear it for the whole thing." But there was a guy dressed as Chewbacca running around the dance floor. And yep I still have my bridesmaid dress. :)

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Jun 12

I don't honestly have too many GOOD pictures but I do know the centerpieces were homemade (and pretty cheap to make)! I have no idea what the deal was with the cake honestly.

Julie Sondra Decker@juliesondra· Jun 2

Dude posted a follow-up: "I was misunderstood!" A friend saw him with a woman and "pursued her," which pissed him off enough to tell the world that everyone must go through HIM to access women he knows and he was "just angry." Somehow doubting the OTHER person's communication is all that's wack....