Vaguebooking here. Jobtalk: I can handle rejection. Everyone has to. But rejecting me, then asking if I am still interested in the job and when I am available for an interview, ghosting me and finally telling me you’ve paused interviews …? I feel like I’m being lifted then dropped again & again.

I am tired already tomorrow and I still have to go to church, lunch with cousins, an open house (if I can squeeze it in), and dinner with a friend. Happy birthday to me; feeling every one of those 56 years today.

Spinning scenarios in your head: great when it’s my writer brain doing it. Not so great when it’s my anxiety or depression (where I am now). #mentalhealthmatters

Calmly telling the local weather gods my sister the Arizonan has gone home, it’s just me, the one who loves autumn left behind, the temperatures are free to drop a little now if they want.

I wish my mom were with it enough to tell me how well I’m doing, considering I am unemployed, struggling to get my meds when my health insurance hasn’t kicked in (and that includes my antidepressants), and, well, the world is going to hell in a hand basket. Longing for reassurance right now.

RIP Robert Redford, one of my mother’s age mates. I remember my US government teacher once showed us his film “The Candidate” in class. It really entertained us and made us think. Maybe I will do a rewatch in his memory.

I need to remind myself that 1. Just because my sister thinks Greek and Roman mythology is an obscure interest doesn’t mean everyone else feels the same. But also: 2. No one else will care as much about the minutiae of Roman history as I do. #amresearching #writingfantasy

Got a rejection from one job and an interview request from another, for the school I worked at last year. Life gives and it takes away, I guess.

#Depression is fun when you are not getting stuff done and it’s not that you’re busy or sick or anything, it’s just your own brain beating up on you.

I’m worried about my mom. My sister said she thought she was crying at church yesterday. Maybe someone mentioned my dad; she keeps forgetting he’s gone. Dementia is so hard.

Feeling too much and not enough lately: like I am too dumb for the smart kids but too tweedy/nerdy for everyone else. Not a new feeling (not sure it’s possible to get out of graduate school without feeling that way) but it’s transferring to my writing now, too.

My mom has glaucoma and also stage four kidney disease. If she takes pills, they could make her kidneys worse. If she has surgery, it could make the Alzheimer’s worse. This is so hard.

Yesterday was the anniversary of my dad’s death. It’s still so hard sometimes.

Any other #neurodivergent people feel like they are constantly cutting off parts of themselves to fit society’s mold, but it would actually help a lot of people if there were multiple molds or even no mold at all?

please spread the news far and wide!! librarians and booksellers, THE IRON GARDEN SUTRA is now on Netgalley!

You aren’t supposed to contradict someone with Alzheimer’s, and I don’t want to make my mother sad, but it’s really hard when she tells her friends she’s not a widow and my dad is living at the house with me. He never was, he never did, and he died a year ago.

I got offered a subbing job with the local school district, yay! And the new hire paperwork is 36 pages, with no clear option to save and come back to it. This is almost too much for my poor little neurodivergent brain to take.

Finished my summer coursework for my teaching intern credential, woot! But to get the credential I need a job. For which I need the credential. Sigh.

Job hunting is the worst, so I am taking a nice, relaxing break to learn about the healing cults of the sacred grove of Diana and also notions of citizenship in the late Roman Empire. You know, just some light reading.

Why do I do it to myself, write historical fantasy so I can be perpetually convinced I got it wrong? Don’t know, but I’m about to do it again. #writing #amresearching

Autumn is my favorite season, it’s when my birthday is, and exactly one month later when my debut releases. And I hate that I can’t enjoy this because I am too stressed about not having a teaching job yet, as well as where I’m going to live. The anniversary of my father’s passing is next month, too.

Showing off my goodies from the Oberon’s Court Mystery Box! Thanks to @peculiarityshop.bsky.social; I love them!

Bad news: literally 3 minutes before I was about to turn out the light, I saw a large black spider on the wall behind my bed. I sprayed it with ant/roach spray and it fell off the wall and disappeared. I am sleeping in the guest room tonight.

In between drafts of Book 2, but I am already chomping at the bit to write something. Have to catch up on schoolwork this weekend, but next week I might start my research for a historical fairy tale.

Now I am more confused than ever. Because my job interview went well! They want me! But I can’t teach there unless I switch credentialing pathways, and I don’t even know if I can. Or want to.

Wish me luck! I have a job interview this morning to teach 6th grade English and history! They do ancient civilizations in middle school so that is my jam!

Actually had a decent Tuesday. I had a job interview after a long month of silence and self-doubt, had a great phone call and some potentially exciting book news. Wednesday is going to be a day of post-con tidying, recovery, and schoolwork, plus I need to go to my professor’s virtual office hours.

Writers, describe your WIP in the worst way possible. She wants to keep the magic in their marriage. Unfortunately, he hunts witches.

At #Baycon2025 this weekend, but sparingly, since I have book 2 revisions and school work to do. I am wearing the crown in my photo here, so if you see me, say hi!

#Baycon is this weekend! And I am on deadline! And also in school! So this could be fun.

Feels good to be back on revisions for my second book. I really love these characters and while there is a bittersweetness to the story, it also feels very bighearted to me. I hope you will all enjoy it!

Finally back from ALA, as of 8ish this morning! Crashed for about 7-8 hours and probably now just staying awake long enough for some dinner then going to bed early. So much to do but also self-care is important.

Hot take: airports should have vending machines with blankets in them for when your flight is delayed forever and the AC is on full blast but all the shops are closed.

Submissions open now for members of marginalised groups! 🎉 (general submission window 15-31 July) Seeking speculative stories about our inner lives: 💙 500 - 2,500 words 💚 £0.02 per word, min £20 💛 Sim subs welcome! 🧡 Reprints welcome! inner-worlds.ghost.io/submission-g... #SubmissionCall

11:05 boarding time. I am going to get home tomorrow, and that’s with the 2 hour time difference. (Cries in exhausted introvert.)

Yes, I DO in fact know the way to San Jose, but until we get a plane I am stuck in the Dallas airport. Sigh. It is going to be such a late night!

On my way to #alaconference2025 and seriously hoping I don’t get stranded in Chicago Midway tonight. My flight is delayed about an hour and a half already.

I will be teaching this WRITING DISABLED CHARACTERS IN FICTION workshop online through Women on Writing for six weeks starting July 15th! All disabled writers welcome! Sign up below! #DisabilitySky #AmWriting #Teaching #BookSky #WritingCommunity www.wow-womenonwriting.com/classroom/La...

The world is on fire, I am trying to do school & revisions this summer while still recovering from my 1st year of teaching & job hunting& there’s a mouse in the house which we are going to sell, BTW but not ‘til I get an apartment which won’t be ‘tiI get a job & can I get help being kind to myself?

It’s my first Father’s Day without my father. Burying myself in schoolwork so I don’t think about that too much.

🌈 GIVEAWAY 🌈 It’s Pride Month, we’re having a giveaway of Prismatic Sea Glass to celebrate! Giveaway ends 6/25 at noon CT. To Enter: ✨ Follow this account 💌 Repost this post 💖 For an extra entry, tell us something cool about another member of your party! #dnd #dice #ttrpg

Today us the last day to enter to win a copy of The Changeling Queen on Goodreads! Go forth and enter! www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...

I have a 2 1/2 hour job interview today (50 minutes of that is a demo lesson) and I am less worried about getting the job than how I am going to survive a 2 1/2 job interview! It seems so long!

And now I am done teaching but have been asked to stick around until the end of the day. I suspect cake may be involved?

Last day teaching at this school and I am not going to be weepy in front of a bunch of 11th graders I don’t know. I may be back next year. I did apply. But everything’s up in the air right now. (I hate that!)

Last day teaching at this school! Then next week I start the preserve to earn my intern teaching credential!

Teaching friends— It’s normal to want to tear your ears off this time of year, right? #lastweekofschool

Sometimes my neurodivergence means I am capable of doing amazing things (like writing a book!) but I can be incapable of the most basic human tasks and hate myself, just a little. Tonight is one of those times.

Really wish students wouldn’t tease me with “my friend wants to go out with you.” In addition to being highly inappropriate, it brings back how badly I was teased like that in middle school and high school.

Subbing during the last week of class feels even more “just don’t let them burn the school down” than usual.