Ramen noodles (cooked without the seasoning packet, just the noodles) with Parmesan cheese.

It’s your weekly reminder that I have a book out! Join Jason and Ayana, a husband and wife duo, as they uncover an occult conspiracy at the heart of their city—and the malevolent god lurking beyond its veil. Get your copy! amshilling.com/books #Booksky #WritingCommunity

Top 5 favorite Pokemon: 1. Charmander 2. Sylveon 3. Lapras 4. Tandemaus/Maushold 5. Unown

Successfully kept a newborn alive for the first night at home! 😪

The real MVPs of giving birth: - My Honeydew Sleep pillow (I’ll support this brand for life) - The little spiked yellow fidget toy the hospital gave me to hold during contractions (as a distraction) - Ultima Replenisher electrolyte packets - A nipple shield for breastfeeding

Congratulations to me! I am no longer pregnant! My daughter Winona aka Winnie was born today 5/19 at 5:21am weighing 6lbs 4oz. She’s a little mini me, same hair color & similar features. We love her so much, she is beautiful and perfect 🥹

Critical Role C4 E25 was the best example of D&D combat I’ve ever witnessed; the roleplay during it & the way Brennan orchestrated it was a masterclass. That creative usage of Portent & the subsequent consequence was truly legendary. Incredible stuff!

Why do the last 3 weeks of pregnancy feel like both an eternity with an end that may never come and the most unpredictable last second event of one’s life? 💀

Gandalf the White 🔮 LOTR is probably the thing I’ve read/watched/been obsessed with the most since I was like 6 🗣️ #lotr #gandalf #tolkien #art #fantasy

This seemed fun so: Early thirties fuck-up takes job in the most dangerous part of his city out of desperation only to find out he’s won the post-apocalyptic mutation jackpot and can talk to giant sea monsters! Oops, now the military wants his ass… #mememay #writingcommunity

Finally watching the Might Nein animation and holy, they somehow made me love Caleb even more than I already did 🥲

Do you like #pokemon? I made an Instagram account for my Pokemon artwork/commissions/art projects and my card collecting journey! Feel free to follow if that’s something you’d enjoy checking out ☺️ www.instagram.com/p/DYIjIa0GLa...

Critical Role C4 is the most phenomenal execution of a tabletop game I’ve ever seen. The storytelling, acting, pacing, and lore have been incredible. I’m just so impressed!!

Even though I know, logically, that it happens, a friend going into labor earlier than her due date sure is a motivator to get my shit together this week lol

I put my main WIP on hold due to baby’s imminent arrival, but I’m really excited to work on my new, shorter, novella WIP about a post-apocalyptic future earth coastal city plagued by creepy, badass sea monsters! (Inspired by kaiju and related beasties 😁)

Self Care Saturday - 35 weeks pregnant edition: - 75 minute full body prenatal massage - 2 hour nap - 1 hour magnesium lavender salt bath soak - pizza (with my electrolytes drink) - banana pudding ice cream I am manifesting an easy labor by TREATING MYSELF!!! 😤

Me worldbuilding for a monster-hunting novella: ok so like, I need to figure out [ list of important economic, societal, magical, historical questions ] Also me: ok but what if… giant kraken!!! 🦑😆

Holy shit, I just drank a packet of electrolytes in 16oz of ice water and I feel so much better. I need to start drinking these daily. I have been suffering so much lately and it seems like I was, in part, just extremely dehydrated/lacking electrolytes! 💀

Pregnancy and postpartum prep are really redefining my understanding of self-care. I don’t think I will ever be able to look at “productivity” the way I used to. While I can’t wait to have the energy to do more again, I want to do better avoiding burn-out as a mother than I did in the past.

So inspired by these beautiful custom art-included/decorated “master collection” card binders people make for their favorite Pokemon. I want to make them for my top favorites (could be the same binder really, just split into sections 🤔): Charmander, Sylveon, Lapras, Unown, and The Family.

Pregnancy has been mostly miserable but in an effort to Stay Positive through The Horrors, here is a list of things I will miss about it: - How amazing my hair looks with zero effort (thick, dark, not frizzy, lovely waves) - Rich foods like whole milk don’t make me sick; in fact, I crave them (1/2)

My advice to anyone 34 weeks pregnant: take the epsom salt bath. Listen to that advice. I’m healing…. 🥹

I’m grateful for my friend @gunsmile.bsky.social who’s transparency as a writer is incredibly inspiring. She helped me, directly and indirectly, realize that it’s ok to shift creative priorities as new challenges, circumstances, and realizations about one’s creative self pop up in life. (🧵)

Finished my first ever play-through of BG3 last night! What a fantastic game 🥹 Insanely detailed! It was super fun roleplaying with friends while on stream (my friend streamed all our games on her Twitch channel). Here’s the party!! (Art by the amazingly talented @sbeep.bsky.social ❤️) #BG3

I keep seeing these posts about pregnant women with iced coffees etc going about their business getting interrogated by men (without consent!) about whether they should really be drinking coffee and I’m always like wtf is wrong with men, first of all, but also, decaf exists??? 😂

The three main characters are unprepared in different ways. Lou has experience with hard labor and “rugged living”, but doesn’t have any history, magic, or worldly education (being lower class). (🧵) #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #AprilAdventure

Pregnancy be like “we think this calf pain is normal BUT ALSO could you come in for an urgent ultrasound tomorrow just in case? Cool.” 💀

I’ve been so inspired lately to start some kind of parenting blog or newsletter. I really never thought that would be me, ever, but lately I’ve had the itch to offer a different sort of perspective than you constantly see on social media (or, that I constantly see, anyway)… (Thoughts continued 🧵)

I grew up hearing that “things change when people have kids.” Meaning, friendships won’t be the same, once your friends have kids. But you know, as I’ve aged and had many life experiences, I’ve come to realize something…

Had the loveliest maternity photoshoot today!! Amazing what professional hair, professional makeup, and a really talented photographer can do for one’s self esteem, especially while feeling like a bloated beach ball 😆

You know how in D&D, you can get a point of exhaustion? Imagine you wake with one every morning but you can’t actually short or long rest properly so they just accumulate until “bone tired” is your default state. That is the third trimester of pregnancy.

I'm so behind...oops 😅Anyway, the first "stop"/encounter of the journey is in the town of Wolfden (a location briefly visited earlier in the story by three of the characters), to restock supplies/gather intel/prepare for the dangerous trek through the Vaxhammer Peaks. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Even though I'm writing a high fantasy, the concept of "twin cities" used for Valke and Valta - the destination cities for the main journey of Book 1 - are loosely based off the contemporary concept of "twin cities", an example being Minneapolis and Saint Paul. #writingcommunity #writesky

Haven’t done much art since before pregnancy really started kicking my ass, but I’d love to get back into it! I owe some finished pieces to some folks & I need to finish the mural for my baby’s nursery. Anyway, here’s what my style looks like! #artshare #art #portfolioday

Experiencing one single 80° degree day while 32 weeks pregnant has me thoroughly convinced that I would surely have perished if my baby wasn’t due June 7th and I would have had to go through an entire summer like this. The month of May is going to be hell enough.

Had such a lovely baby shower, so many people came from near and far to celebrate me, Shawn, and our little girl, it was so wholesome!! I’m grateful for all of the love 🥹

ok buckaroos i am going to talk a bit on artists and writers and publishers and AI, specifically HOW to create in this environment of endless ai slop and WHY i think you will probably be fine if you heed these very important words: YOUR ART IS MORE THAN WHAT IS IN THE PAGE OR PAINTING OR FILM

They sure do! They’re trying to reach the twin cities of Valke and Valta, which are in a completely different nation from the one the story starts in. They’re being taken to speak with the leader of a secret society called the Scalesworn. #AprilAdventure #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Supplies (food rations, water skins, rope, medicinal herbs, etc), maps, certain characters bring their weapons & armor, horses, and the human nobility have Lightbuds and Shieldgems (common utility Arcana). #AprilAdventure #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

My best friend wrote a book!! You should read it!

My story’s adventure begins with a mix of intrigue, excitement, and, of course, confusion - the characters all have varying degrees of understanding once more of the political situation is revealed to them, due to their backgrounds. #AprilAdventure #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

By the time the first book’s main journey begins, most of the MCs want to go. Lou, the finder of the sentient sword that (for the most part) prompts the need for said journey, is the most reluctant at first. #AprilAdventure #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

have you guys seen the Dutch cover of The Hobbit cuz I hadn't

Today has been a Good Body Day. Was able to sit at my desk and work, THEN write 600 words of my novel after work, THEN go to the gym and walk 2 miles + lift weights. Tomorrow could be misery. We live each day as it comes, here in the third trimester.

Lou found a talking sword and accidentally formed a blood pact with it. Oops? 😆 Truthfully, many things were in motion politically before this moment. But the finding of the sword is what leads to the “adventuring party” starting their journey. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #AprilAdventure

My story has 3 POV main characters and 3 supporting main characters. These 6 make up the “adventuring party”, so to speak. They’re a collection of very different people who all get wrapped up in the same conflict. (Short 🧵 below to introduce them) #AprilAdventure #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

My novel (first of a trilogy) takes place in a high fantasy world, specifically on the continent of Caessenia. The first chapter opens in the small town of Cresa, but the main characters will travel across much of the continent as the story progresses. #AprilAdventure #WritingCommunity #writeSky

Hi! I’m Brooke, an artist & writer currently working on my first novel. I recently embarked on what I suspect will be my life’s greatest adventure: raising a child! But I’ve had many adventures before that, such as living abroad in Japan & traveling for rock climbing. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

I keep hearing anecdotes about how, despite the newborn phase involving very little sleep, when you DO sleep, it’s gloriously comfortable and uninterrupted. I very eagerly await this magical time when sleeping doesn’t involve pain, peeing, and horrible insomnia.