Slept in my Ani DiFranco shirt last night and woke up Not a Pretty Girl.

My latest cult read was Godshot by Chelsea Bieker. This book was so bleak but in an amazing way and, imo, really pushes what you can do emotionally with literature about cults. kojiadae.ink/the-bittersw...

Next book: survivor by chuck palahniuk.

I could write a novel about Godshot. The book was brutal but beautiful. And as far as cult-books goes, it makes cult-life so surreal that it feels real.

One interesting thing about revising my book. MOST passes get faster. So when I first wrote it I was three months between inciting incident and the end. Then two months. Then a month. Eventually it will be a week.

Currently reading: Godshot Current mood: Absolutely, utterly devastated. I didn't expect this from this book, and it's almost physically painful to read it. But also, it's so well-written and amazing.

Yesterday: added 2k words, edited 2 chapters. Today: 2 hours. 3 sentences. Sometimes it be that way.

A month ago I booked tickets to the us and THEN realized my passport was expired. Today my new one arrived. So excited to be introducing my kids to their grandparents and going to NorWesCon!!!

Update on NorWesCon and what I'm reading.

Just me stumbling on a library's "If you like The Testaments you might like..." and boom. There's Casual. Front and center. Well... I liked The Testaments. And I liked Casual ;)

Apparently my kid can't get a library card because he's lost his library card too many times. Which... I kinda understand. You lose the card, you'll likely lose books. But the kid goes through a book every 10 days. And they aren't cheap. And we're running out of room on the bookshelf. What do I do?

I am having a word crisis 🙂 In English, do we use the word fond for the background/base of a painting? Or is it a Bulgarian word taken from the french that I only have in my English vocab because Bulgarian speakers still use it when they switch to English?

Opening up on mental health, meds, and the struggle to write when you aren't sure who you are.

Just finished reading Thomas Ha’s Sweetbaby and … oh my bleeding heart. I didn’t know I needed that.

Writing dream unlocked: I'm on a wikipedia page! Writing has been really difficult this past year, and it keeps my soul burning bright to see Casual still being mentioned out there.

And BONUS!! An overall post of my reflections from two months of reviews, my favorite pieces from each author, and other thoughts on community. @rkduncan.bsky.social @noirbettie.bsky.social @kojiadae.bsky.social @effies.bsky.social @renanbernardo.com @deeholloway.bsky.social tinyurl.com/4t98vmsc

I've always been a "pay the extra fee if you want a seat together"... But now I'm traveling with two kids... one is 12, so 1 month older than the cut off for "child". For the three of us to sit by each other, I have to pay 540 euro extra. Which I get it... if you can't afford to fly, don't fly.

Me reading Bunny... Google: What is twee? Me ten days later: OMG I so love twee. It's like so perfect. So.

Is Bunny about a cult? Absolutely. So why didn't I feel like it was. Looking at size and religion in cultish lit.

It's really cool to see Casual included in Kate's favorite's list... it's so interesting to see how Casual fits in with other books over the year. medium.com/@katefrancia...

A week ago OpenClaw gets blasted for its security issues. Today OpenAI announces they've brought the creator onboard to head up agentic AI. In case you want to know how much these tech companies care about your security.

I just realized the university in Bunny is called Warren. Because of course it is.

For the morning crowd - I'm feeling sufficiently spoiled by @kojiadae.bsky.social's review of my upcoming release, Midwestern Chrome. @tenebrouspress.bsky.social 💙🦾🚬

Allowing the Fallow State In Writing Something on your "to-do list" that never gets done. My writing to-do list has four novels, a poem, and several short stories on it. Right now I'm working on a novel, and splitting my guilt between going too slow, ignoring the other projects, and not giving…

What are your favorite modern tragedies? I'm looking for books after 2020, preferably speculative – weird horror. What genre has the most tragedy? Should I be looking into gothic?

And once again for the people further west

I got a sneak peak at Michael Bettendorf's Midwestern Chrome and omg, the world is in for a treat.

What age to introduce my son to Lord of the Flies? Some sites say 12 others 14. I feel like I read it freshman year of high school, so 14?

For my Cults In Fiction this month, I'm reading Bunny by Mona Award. Honestly, I never really considered a small cult when I started this, so it's an interesting perspective. app.thestorygraph.com/reading_chal...

AI writers... "I can produce 200 books a year. I'll win." Meanwhile... me completely restructuring chapter ten four drafts in... a year later... Every year I have to admit I'll never be able to make a living from writing. My little-girl dream just gets further away.

I am not good at writing clothing. I don't care about fashion in my personal life and pretty much live in leggings and sweatshirts. But in my latest book, clothing is important. I've discovered I can just drop a picture of the outfit directly in my document while I'm drafting...

First real dive into this whole cult thing. The Girls by Emma Cline. It was one hell of a ride and... as a mother, I'm terrified.

More reading in 2026! The how and what of my impending year.

Negative Relationship Arcs: The Beats of Separation I'm trying to figure out how relationship beats work for negative relationship arcs... got any resources?

OMG it 100% is and now I understand my younger years so much better.

Does anyone have beat resources for relationship arcs that are negative/growing apart as opposed to positive/growing together? I'd love to see some examples of beat sheets for relationships about leaving abuse, going through divorce etc.

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: Awards for Titles You May Have Missed Edition: raforall.blogspot.com/2026/01/usin...

Emmie's reviews are so insightful, picking out themes of a writer's short work.

Where do you go to talk about books? Not just review and read reviews, but to have a back and forth? I am looking at Storygraph's buddy reads, but they seem underused? Fable looks cool but I just can't type out thoughtful responses on my phone. Perhaps I need to join a book club?

This is me parenting every day. And it is terrifying.

I've decided I want to be off social media and talking about books more this year. I'm going to try giving story graph a go. I made a buddy read for my first book of the year, The Girls by Emma Cline

A look back at online communication in my life. I think it might be time to pull the plug on most of it.

Emmie is doing a series of short fiction reviews on ink foundry. Each week she looks at a different author. This is an amazing series to follow to get to know shorts and the people writing them. (This week is me, but go back on the timeline for others and look forward to more)

New week, new author thread! I am forging ahead with @kojiadae.bsky.social's body of work. Starting off with "Hook and Line" A medium on a spaceship struggles to pass down her craft before she joins spirits trailing the spacecraft. inkfoundry.net/review/why-y...

EuropaSF (over on FB) gave an intro to the Philip K. Dick Award nominees this year, and they were all baller intros... but mine made me cry. I feel so seen :)

This is so out of my wheelhouse. My 12 year old is struggling in school. We are in the Bulgarian school system, where kids daily hit and kick each other with no consequences, and the classrooms are loud and difficult to learn in.

My current wip has the potential to be powerful about ai and social media and desire and self. And I’m in draft four where things are getting super delicate and I can break it all. And as a writer, that’s terrifying.

Someone just mentioned it is the second week of 2026. And no. Just no. I am way too emotionally exhausted for this to be a year. (From both good and bad things)

Causal Nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award: I’m a bit Flabbergasted I woke up this morning to some exciting news: Casual has been nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award. What followed was a few hours of shock and excitement and a whole lot of not working at work. (Sorry, I'll make up for it).…

I'm realizing a lot of my older work is no longer available online. I want to make sure it's available to readers. This one is close to my heart these days.