Weekly writing accountability post: finished major revision overhaul of the horror novel(la) climax! This week: go back to tackle some smaller issues that need tweaking before printing this sucker out for an old-school read through on paper.

This Week’s Awesome Thing Doomscrolling Break: CHONKY BEARS! If you are not already familiar with Fat Bear Week, I am sad for you. Go remedy that. explore.org/fat-bear-week

How the hell did Fall get here? Anyway, weekly writing accountability: got a good chunk of my novella-maybe-novel’s third act revised last week. This week: at the very least, finish the new scene I started as part of that revision, then hopefully get to reworking what follows.

Doomscrolling break aka This Week's Awesome Thing: book nook! I was given a DIY miniature book nook kit as a thank you gift at Odyssey's TNEO workshop this summer. Behold the cuteness I have wrought! It even has lighting!

If you see this, quote with the energy you bring to BlueSky

For accountability purposes, this week’s writing goal: now that I’ve gotten the villain situation sorted, revise the climax of my The Red Violin meets contemporary gothic horror novella-borderline-novel

My feed could sure as hell could use something to break up the doom right now, so for This Week’s Awesome Thing, I give you goats running. Because I will never not feel better watching goats run around like the adorable little chaos goblins they are: youtu.be/0KoXoDjTdZg?...

New on the @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social blog: “What Counts as Writing” by Your Personal Odyssey graduate Chloe Smith: odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/2025/09/08/g...

Monday Monkey: That time Super Great dressed up for a wedding yet still refused to wear pants.

Taking an evening walk, it’s dark, and from the opposite direction comes a group of kids with flashlights. And as we passed them, I noticed one kid had a scythe. Not unsettling at all.

The world is a dumpster fire, so to counteract the doomscrolling with some hopescrolling, Fridays I shall present This Week’s Awesome Thing. Today: the crest-tailed mulgara, a bitty little marsupial predator that has found its way off the endangered list AND WHY IS IT SO CUTE

More on the sad state of contracts with Analog, F&SF, and Asimov's

Where the hell did September come from?

Was recently reminded of this dark gem from my childhood: youtu.be/A0na4KldsMc?...

show me your getaway vehicle

New on the @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social blog! Interview with Your Personal Odyssey graduate & critically acclaimed children's author Leah Henderson: odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/2025/08/11/i...

This is who runs this account.

Table top bonfire candle making it look like I’ve got flamey wine tonight

Resurfacing after a hectic week+ at The Never-Ending Odyssey (aka TNEO) writing workshop. Now I reacquaint myself with a normal schedule and dive into this large pile of critique, revision, and brainstorming notes.

Sporadic Bluesky posting is sporadic! Been buried in helping organize All The Things for The Never-Ending Odyssey workshop (aka TNEO) for Odyssey alums, which begins this weekend. Ah, the irony of prep for a writing workshop leading to not getting much writing done this month.

New on the @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social blog: interview with graduate & author @awprihandita.bsky.social on her Odyssey experience, outlining to gauge story length, balancing academic and creative work, and more! odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/2025/07/14/i...

Lasik got me a good 20 years without glasses, but the time has come where I need them for distance again. Luckily, they are cute AF. Being able to read street signs earlier kind of nice too.

John Oliver was behind me and my husband on the mini golf course at the Jersey shore. We contained our fannish glee because he was clearly trying to quietly enjoy vacation with his fam, but his kids kept cheering us on and that was delightful.

Monkey on the march!

it is really weird that publishing decided that instead of having a marketing budget, writers should just become cult leaders

Me: Success! Significant wordage cut out of the novella with delusions of noveldom. Next on the revision list... New Character: Hello, I am here to fix a plot problem, but also I'm going to totally drive that word count right back up.

New on the @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social blog: interview with graduate & author @chanakohl.bsky.social, who talks about her Your Personal Odyssey experience, how she incorporates real-world travel into her fiction, and more! odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/2025/06/09/i...

Me staring out the window: (sigh) sad dreary miserable rainy blah day is OMG BUNNIES

show us your writing process in a gif:

Oh hai suspiciously large influx of followers over the last 24 hours. There might be some legit follows in there but it’s hard to tell because engagement harvesting shenanigans are part of why we can’t have nice things.

New on the @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social blog: interview with graduate & author @dragons.bsky.social (Shen Tao), who talks about her Odyssey experience, her debut novel The Poet Empress, her advice for making connections at conventions, and more! odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/2025/05/12/i...

The weather, schedule & health gods finally synced their calendars long enough for me to take my first bike ride in (checks notes) a long-ass time. On the shiny new bike the spousal unit got me back in (checks notes) November. This feels very on brand for my 2025.

First time I ever get to say these words: just sent novel revisions off to my agent!

Need an excuse to buy more books? Now you have one! Saturday is Indie Bookstore Day! Show your favorite indie some love.

🚀🚀

New on the @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social blog: interview with graduate, author & reckoningmag.bsky.social publisher michaeljdeluca.bsky.social, who talks about blending genres, writing short stories vs novels, and more! odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/2025/04/14/i...

From a fun night of Pirates to Super Great finding him-sized Tabasco sauce

Monkey Takes Manhattan

There are things I should be doing but also there are tariffed penguin memes

My brain seems intent on kicking and screaming as I drag it out of vacation mode, but damn it, we’ve got novel revisions to tackle. Goodbye poolside margaritas, hello cults and arid Old Westy landscapes!

If you see this, post a vampire and pass it on.

Aka what will be occupying my entire weekend. Luckily the cold from hell has cleared up enough that I actually have a voice.

New on the @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social blog: Excerpts from a Q&A with award-winning author & guest lecturer @fondalee.bsky.social, who talks about taking a break between the first draft and revisions and revising multi-POV novels

Belated book birthday, @shvetathakrar.bsky.social! (stares some more at the pretty pretty cover)

Fish spitting sand at each other is the genre I didn’t know I needed for my doomscrolling breaks

Ermagherd I have a literary agent! I’m thrilled to announce that I’m now represented by @esckeyes.bsky.social at the Keyes Agency LLC. Excited to see where this journey with my fantasy western novel ends up taking us!

We want to send a message to the world: what has happened today is an absolute disgrace. It is completely un-American.

If you see this, and you're in the mood for this kind of thing, quote post with a beach photo from your gallery.