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Co-hosting @connecttheplotspod.bsky.social is a lot of work but talking with @wiswell.bsky.social about X-Men comics, dragons, and horror books was the most fun work I have done in ages. Our new episode with John is out now. Find it wherever you get your podcasts, links at www.connecttheplots.com !

This morning I managed to get a modest treadmill run and this evening a little (🤏) bit of writing done and both of these things have been immeasurably beneficial for my stress and mood. June was a Gauntlet of Way Too Much. Hoping for a recovery routine before the next crunch in August.

fellow authors: without any context, what's the first line of your current wip? At Camp Nimmock I was swallowed into a crowd of the damned.

you and me both, buddy

By the time I am able to emotionally accept that it’s July, it will be August. This is how the calendar gets me.

Slowly catching up on the Bear. Just finished season 3. Which I thought was really good. Slower, darker, more experimental but still really good and on par with the prior seasons imo. That is apparently not the consensus. There are whole Discourses about how it is terrible. Fans are wild.

My social media is not always talking about books and writing. Sometimes I break expensive things in absurd ways- like a toilet tank full of water flooding my bathroom for example - and share it for the amusement of others. Schadenfreude posting.

Update. The toilet tank shattered and flooded the bathroom while I was showing my wife what I had done. This was not according to my DIY plumbing plan. So. +1 point to the toilet, I guess. I have to respect its comedic timing.

I went to a dark place for a minute there fighting with toilet plumbing when the shout THIS ISN’T WHAT I WANT MY LIFE TO BE erupted out of me as if a confession under duress. But I fought through it. The toilet didn’t win and DIY plumbing remains, thankfully, not a regular part of my life.

JAWS really is a perfect movie. As flawless 50+ years later as it was on release. Robert Shaw’s Quint is one of the best characters/performances of all time.

These books are all absolutely woke trash and they're on deep discount now.

The last time I felt a swell of pride in the USA was when SCOTUS legalized gay marriage in 2015. I expected more of that. I was wrong. We stopped moving toward “a more perfect Union” always improving and became a regressive selfish state headed backward. This is why I am not feeling patriotic.

Wish there was a medication that treated constitutional insecurity. We can regrow hair and fight cancer but there’s nothing for my crippling self doubt. Wtf Big Pharma? Where’s my magic Pretend You Had Better Parents and a Modicum of Confidence pills?

In our newest discussion episode for @connecttheplotspod.bsky.social , Cylia and I talked more about THE FEYWILD JOB and some of our TTRPG origins. I did my best to explain THAC0 for the youngs and Cylia really understated the extent of her Rifts collection. 👀 connecttheplots.com/2026/07/01/e...

I usually wake up around 5 AM or so and let Roxy join us in the people bed for another hour or two. She doesn’t seem to mind. If I do nothing else in a day other than give my dog a good place to snooze for a little while, I don’t mind either.

My lovely wife just walked into the kitchen, looked at me, and ripped the page for June off our fridge calendar. Which just seems violent and mean.

A new Titus Andronicus album would make me better.

I saw SUPERGIRL over the weekend between plumbing emergencies. I liked it. Needed some better editing maybe but I think it was 20 polished minutes away from being a really good movie. It stands as a pretty good movie. The weird discourse about it feels like misogyny and grievance white noise.

It's wild to read a book and think, "I bet this author would write a slammin' D&D novel. I wonder..." and smash cut 2 years to holding it in your hand. Bravo and thanks to @clpolk.com, to our Random House Worlds besties, to narrator Vico Ortiz, to cover artist Alyssa Winans, and to Paul Morrissey.

Happy book birthday to Plague Birds: The Red Day Edition, the rerelease of my Nebula and Philip K. Dick finalist novel about the human-AI hybrids who are judges & executioners in the far future. Thanks to @apexmag.bsky.social for bringing out the new edition! www.apexbookcompany.com/products/pla...

Sparks fly when bitter exes are forced to team up for an elaborate Feywild heist in this cozy romantasy set in the world of DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS. THE FEYWILD JOB Out now! https://bit.ly/4tporb6

I have a cover reveal animation for my book -- there's a dog on it! It does a little tail wag and its ears twitch! -- that I am very eager to share but Management has informed me that I must wait for MOAR NEWSLETTER SIGNUPS. At this point, not subscribing to my newsletter is hurting us all. 🙏🐶

I've FINALLY set up a newsletter. First one will go out sometime in July. 🫣 Sign up here: abigail-kemske.beehiiv.com ✍️ Will include publication updates, things I've enjoyed, cool things I saw in the woods near my home & more. 🌳 Inspired by my friend @erikgrove.com I too made a logo. 💖

Notifications have been sent out. If you applied this year and have not heard from us, first check your spam filter. If that doesn’t help, please contact us here or at the contact at viableparadise.com email.

Moments later, the little chocolate hat on top of my cone of soft serve slipped off and shattered on the sidewalk. Therein a difficult lesson: always eat the little chocolate hat on top first because you never know how slippery the soft serve is underneath.

I have a new Author Newsletter! Sign up to see the cover for my debut novel, THE LONG RED TOMORROW before I post it anywhere else! And also other cool things presumably in the future! Look at that weird mouth I used for the logo! erik-grove.beehiiv.com

I am still lowkey harboring complicated feelings from when the Verizon store guy made a joke about me having a lot of gray hair last week

I have a new Author Newsletter! Sign up to see the cover for my debut novel, THE LONG RED TOMORROW before I post it anywhere else! And also other cool things presumably in the future! Look at that weird mouth I used for the logo! erik-grove.beehiiv.com

Feels a bit on the nose metaphorically that I am confronted with a pernicious but incredibly small leak inside the walls of my house that is more existential than identifiable. Walls and ceiling demolished while the leak giggles and whispers cruel taunts of drip drip drip you’ll never find me.

The second worst thing about social media is that it gave randos a bullhorn to shout their wrong ideas at the rest of us. The actual worst thing is that instead of ignoring these randos otherwise reasonable people engage and argue with them as if their wrong ideas merit it.

I am good enough at home repair and have a good enough friend that’s a plumber to know how to fix this. But it will suck real bad. (Deleted a version of this post because I messed up the alt text)

My weekend off has become troubleshooting a water leak in the wall of my second floor bathroom that is damaging the ceiling in the first floor bathroom. This is why I believe so strongly in workaholism and denial. If I am too busy to notice my house breaking, it simply cannot break.

Woke trash on sale for $1.99 in ebook! books2read.com/u/bWpEn0 And the third book in the trilogy (The Origin of Storms) is on sale for $2.99, on Amazon only I think (alas). a.co/d/071xx59l

I have a good friend recovering from owning a marketing agency and we met at a tea shop to discuss my personal brand and strategies as I approach my book launch. I have never felt so much like a 40 something Portland writer in my life. 😂

I have observed the cursed episode! where I talk to the ceiling and bounce. and sway. lol. but I am kinda funny sometimes!

3.5+ years ago I started a Portland area weekly newsletter of book-ish and author-ish events. Every 1-3 months I curse myself for doing this because it's so much work and not getting easier. Anyway. Plz share & subscribe & say nice stuff to me about it if you're in PDX pdxwriteweek.beehiiv.com

I am a genius, I exclaim, solving a “tricky” CluesBySam puzzle without mistakes in a time that is fast for me, and then immediately spill coffee all over myself by leaning forward too far

My favorite thing about bad technology is how it makes people worse at their jobs. I have a prescription “the computer” misunderstood. I pointed this out to a pharmacist. They argued with me and my doctor. It took me multiple tries to get a person to READ THE PRESCRIPTION and ignore the computer.🤬

My friends coming through with good advice here

I assumed I had something scheduled for myself this weekend because I have had something on my calendar for months. But I checked. And. I have a completely free weekend. How. What do I do??? 🥹

I posted this. My wife saw it. I shouted from down the hall “I’m proud of it!” Not for finishing the edits. I mean, sure that’s great, I worked hard etc., but I am proud of my thumbs joke.

Who's got 27 thumbs in a Tupperware container beneath the bed in his secret lair and just sent in his final edits on his debut novel? THIS GUY 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

imagining a grizzled hardboiled detective saying this while gripping some guy's lapels at a shady bar

I wish I had a fraction of the confidence of the people who are always wrong.

I am SO EXCITED and also DAUNTED by schemes I am scheming and work I am working in advance of my book release 9 months from now. I am going to make it through this year if it kills me 😅

THIS IS SO COOL. Starlog was an early and important entry for me into sci fi. Some reboots are great actually. Very excited to see what they put together!

If you click the ellipses button the bottom right of a post and "hide post for me" it'll mute the thread + stop any RTs from showing up in your feed. I bring this up as I'm about to add to the discourse people are sick of. But there's something that, while unsurprising, I don't want to get lost. 🧵

New episode of @connecttheplotspod.bsky.social with the excellent @clpolk.com is up now! We loved chatting about THE FEYWILD JOB almost as much as a few different sets of headphones in two countries hated us. Links: connecttheplots.com/2026/06/23/e...

It may be true that you are actually suicidal--and if you are, please seek help immediately. But threatening to kill yourself in public because people talk about your behavior is *also* a harm done to a community.