Introduction

[Bianca Peterek]

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd put up an introduction seeing as though people were nice enough to invite me.
I write as BadAspieGirl on SOL. I've only written one story so far but I am hoping to write more, especially about the Darjee and their interactions with humans.

I've been a huge fan of Thinking Horndog for a number of years now, particularly his world-building and human interaction elements. I want to expand on those elements where possible. If people want stroke stories, I'm not going to be the right fit because, pun intended, it's way too hard for my brain to go there. It would look contrived and that's not one of my strengths.

I am totally blind since birth, love to read and I live in a little house with my now two parrots as the little yellow girl escaped.

Looking forward to interacting with all of you.

Bianca Rose Peterek

[z...@tampaad.net]

Bianca,
I enjoyed your story when it came out, and I'm absolutely delighted
that you joined us. I must admit that you are an alien to me. I use my
eyes as my primary sense and when they are injured I am completely
unable to cope. I believe that you MUST have a different concept of the
universe from me, and am looking forward to hearing how you think.
If you don't mind me asking, how do you read? The group of writers
we are re-assembling used to use each other for a lot of things. To
bounce ideas off of, to argue out decisions on what Swarm Cycle 'canon'
should be, and above all as free proofreaders who understood the canvas
we were painting on. A year ago I thought I had a story ready to go,
and Omachuck pointed out a serious flaw that I'd completely missed.
That story is still in the garage getting worked on. It won't come out
until I've fixed the problem he saw. Are you able to proofread
badly-written stories and tell us that we're really bad writers without
hurting our feelings?
-ZM

[Bianca Peterek]

I can read braille in both English and German, but I mostly use text to speech. It actually helps with story editing because I hear the story rather than read it and it shows me things that don't sound right. That can be a problem with homonyms and homophones, but I tend to pick those out.
Bianca Rose Peterek

> On 15 Jan 2026, at 21:04, z...@tampaad.net wrote:
>
> Bianca,

[thinkin...@gmail.com]

I look upon Bianca as my Number One fan. We’ve corresponded for years. I think her first story underlines her talents and her unique viewpoint. She was scared to death to post it (she underestimated herself) but I believe that story speaks for itself. I’m glad she joined the mailing list!

Thinker

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[Mike Omelanuk]

Thinker & all - I agree that Bianca has a unique and welcome voice. I'm looking forward to her stories about the Darjee and especially working with her to help counter my and others' negative views. 

Mike

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/swarm-authors/007b01dc896d%244ad7f5e0%24e087e1a0%24%40gmail.com.

[Bianca Peterek]

Did you really want to make me cry? You just about succeeded. I've got the need to swallow and the thick thing in my throat thanks to you. Thank you. Now I've got a wipe my face. Seriously, you just made my day. No one says things like that to me in that way.

Bianca Rose Peterek

On 20 Jan 2026, at 03:02, Mike Omelanuk <mome...@gmail.com> wrote:



[Bianca Peterek]

ZM asked earlier in this thread how I read. I currently do everything on my iphone so I use the Voice-over screenreader which is built into IOS, Macos, IpadOs and WatchOs. It's even on the terminals at the Apple stores so blind people can work there as well. Something I haven't done but would do if I ever get to it. 

For people who use a PC, there are two main options. Jaws for Windows or Job Access With Speech, a paid screenreader from what used to be Freedom Scientific but they have a different name now I can't spell off the top of my head as I haven't seen it written. People tend to use this when working because it can have specific scripts made for different work environments. 

The screenreader which most people I know use is called Non Visual Desktop Access or NVDA. It's free, open source, is written in Python, and was created by a couple of people I know from the Australian National Braille Music Camp. Just search for "Australian Story Nvda" on youtube and you'll see it. Also nv-access.org will give you more info. 

I also read English and German Braille as I speak German fluently. 

Hope this helps. 

Bianca Rose Peterek

On 20 Jan 2026, at 10:46, Bianca Peterek <bianca....@gmail.com> wrote:

Did you really want to make me cry? You just about succeeded. I've got the need to swallow and the thick thing in my throat thanks to you. Thank you. Now I've got a wipe my face. Seriously, you just made my day. No one says things like that to me in that way.

[Mike Omelanuk]

Bianca - As long as I've been with the group, the intent has been to help each other. We have been known to argue, but that's to make things better. We also edit heavily, but we recognize that a story belongs to the author who is not required to make the changes we suggest. And the option on a story is always to label it Swarm inspired but not canon. Enough sugar for now. Mike

[Mike Omelanuk]

That's going to make the editing process different and interesting. We are accustomed to working with different types of files, but I can't visualize how to make a suggested change stand out so that you can spot it - especially spelling. Though it seems to have worked out okay with your 1st story.

BTW - a few years ago, my older daughter earned her masters in Disability Studies from SUNY. Among other challenges, she has severe ADHD.  Her BS degree was an individually tailored program in disability studios from Cornell College (not university) in Iowa. After her Masters, they hired her back to run their accessibility program. I'm sure she is aware of those programs, but if not, I plan to send your description to her. 

Mike