If you’re wondering why we’ve seemed quiet lately, it’s probably because we’re swimming in the deep end at the moment

“Actually, this small detail intrinsic to the character’s past will tie everything together far better than this other thing.” 40,000 words of already-written story: I hope you like combing through me instead of writing more today ha ha ha ha ha ha

Preventing writing burnout by spending the morning watching Die Hard and cleaning

Happy birthday to me (Foxglove), the guy who forgot to switch his gender on Facebook and has been confused by his notifications all day

Damian -has- given up at the start of the book. The only thing that would stop Caius from pursuing his goals would be someone putting him in a catapult and yeeting him off the map.

Heading to work in the rain so guess whose workplace will be blasting Florence + the Machine while I’m there alone, trying not to think about Damian Akti

Foxglove: Had a brutal morning because my spouse and I can’t afford to see our family for the holidays again, + postponing top surgery as usual, and I came here to find people talking about book pirating And man, right now? I don’t think I’m in a place to even think about it.

I don’t like suggesting alternatives to the wizard boarding school series because the people who continue to consume that IP don’t seem all that interested in reading other books. But if you want a coming-of-age fantasy where the protagonist grows as a person, the Prydain series slaps.

More bookstore stories: we randomly sold socks in one of the bookstores I worked at. No, I don’t know why. They were just there. Bookstore socks. We also had a thief who exclusively stole those socks and sold them at their own stand. Over time, I watched the bookstore owner slowly turn into Javert.

I once got a customer angrily insisting that she wanted to get a book “with a character who doesn’t have a dad.” Not a person with a dad who passed away or left. Someone who never had a biological parent at all. Bewildered, I suggested something from mythology, and she was FURIOUS.

Working in bookstores for most of my retail career taught me a few things. 1) A certain type of man is unreasonably worried that anything (including the glossiness of book pages) can “turn” him gay 2) a parent saying, “this has a cat on it, my kid likes cats” and buying Warrior Cats is inevitable

As a former bookseller, the only time I had trouble at a book signing was when a famous game show host showed up and people were climbing over the bookshelves, crying and shaking, to get to him. Celebrity worship still weirds me out, man.

I’m trying to write this dramatic scene, but my cat ran off with a grocery bag and refuses to be parted with it, and is now breakdancing on top of it while her expensive toys languish in the corner

Reached a milestone on the current WIP and I am celebrating by putting on A Court of Fey and Flowers and watching true love occur on screen (between a fashion icon and a hobgoblin with no pants)

This trans awareness week, consider picking up Knight of Staria, which was written by Foxglove (a trans man) and features a trans MC. If you have read it, leaving a review can really help as well! a.co/d/dArPYt5

Damian’s self-esteem is a W R E C K Caius tries too hard to seem like everything is fine and refuses to complain.

Working on a patreon short with a more comedic vibe today. It’s a welcome reprieve from *gestures at the world at large*

Cat just tore a wedding dress out of its protective covering and shredded it to ribbons “She has no concept of right or wrong,” I tell myself, lying down on the couch instead of going back to bed where the cat is sprawled where my feet would be, looking adorable

Switching gears to work on Patreon shorts today instead of a novel, and of course the WIP is standing off in the corner like, “but what if you lose momentum? What if by not getting your attention every second of the day, I shrivel up and die?”

“These characters are only kissing. This is their first kiss, so they don’t need to do anything else. They can take their time.” Five minutes later: “All right, so sucking dick counts as kissing if you try not to really think about things like what words mean…”

Going on a walk or a run helps both of us, but Iris has taken to bike riding lately! Sometimes it’s just a matter of doing something else for a while.

Was so caught up in the writing zone that I didn’t realize that: 1) It was snowing outside 2) I was freezing 3) the AC was still on Whoops. Well, at least some fictional characters got to kiss.

If you have even the slightest respect for your own work, don't touch this with a ten foot pole.

Fair warning: It may be cute to have a cat that curls up in your arms like a teddy bear to sleep at night, but if they suddenly wake up and get the zoomies… well, there’s a reason that I’m bandaging my arm at 5am

Mrs. Foxglove: I don’t know why everyone says I’m a Disney princess. Also Mrs. Foxglove: Oh, look, friends! (Two beautiful white horses run across a field to greet her, manes flowing in the wind. They are not her horses.)

Work days: Writing at 5am as though I don’t need to be at work soon, writing during 15-minute breaks, sneaking down to the basement to write during lunch Days off: Write one sentence. Despair.

If the Starian Cycle crew had a Halloween costume party: Laurent shows up in an elaborate costume based on a random fictional character from a niche historical book no one knows about. It’s a blatant excuse for him to wear something expensive and slutty. Sabre: White shirt, tight pants, collar

Boycott anything Harry Potter. It's incredibly easy to do

On Patreon now: Emile’s ancestor and Isiodore’s ancestor get along like a house on fire. www.patreon.com/posts/fool-1...

Current state of affairs: “Pace yourself.” “Write an entire Patreon short in one day, got it.” “No, pace yourself.” “….make a giant schedule for the next two months?” “Pace. Yourself.” “Spend every free second writing and forget to eat breakfast????”

The problem with researching things for your fantasy book is you start out searching for old wigmaking techniques, and three days later you’re reading about the destruction of ancient archives and the discovery of sixteen charred pages of “translated accounts” by a guy who didn’t know the language.

Poll is up for silver tiers and above! www.patreon.com/posts/octobe...

Whimpering, dragging myself to the door of my job to open the place up, no coffee in my system: I don’t want toooooooooo

Every time something is described as “ghibli-esque” I have to ask whether that means it’s anti-war/industrial greed or if it just evokes the feeling you get when you see a gif of animated flowers

Yes, pirating is upsetting. We try not to think about how often our books have been pirated. But an AI company stealing our books to train its program is foul. Rancid. It’s the kind of relentless, soulless greed that a character like Sam Vimes would make grim comments about before dismantling it.

Made a book cover with public domain art and it turned out to have 90’s paperback vibes somehow

Having a sick day. Lay down in the dark to nurse a headache and my cat climbed into my arms, purring. 😭

Only one day left to pick up The Traitor’s Mercy for 99 cents!

Iris jumping in giving me PSYCHIC DAMAGE with a note about Hurt/Comfort the novel when I am at WORK and cannot SCREAM

About to have an absolutely unhinged day at work, and instead of preparing to be A Good Customer Service Boy my brain is like: “Time to unleash paragraphs of character analysis about Theron Akti on the discord with Iris”

I’m not out at work for safety reasons (too many people have flashed me their guns for me to feel like that’s a good idea) but man, it’s getting harder not to just come out regardless

Current works in progress without saying the titles: Hurt/Comfort the novel Old Man Yaoi

An indication of how writing is going today: Foxglove: Evander deserves to be relentlessly hot, too. Iris: That’s what I was saying!

I swear to god this story about a former prodigy who was mistreated for squandering his “innate talent” isn’t about gifted kid crashout, but if there are similarities…

Wow!!!!! Bluesky’s priorities re: what is censored or not sure is interesting and not at all endlessly frustrating!!!!

The Traitor’s Mercy ebook is on sale for 99c! This is a steamy dark fantasy romance about a noble who becomes a courtesan after his family is tried for treason. Check it out here: a.co/d/h5vGjQu

The Traitor’s Mercy ebook is on sale for 99c! This is a steamy dark fantasy romance about a noble who becomes a courtesan after his family is tried for treason. Check it out here: a.co/d/h5vGjQu

The Traitor’s Mercy ebook is on sale for 99c! It’s a dark MM romance with a plethora of spicy scenes, political drama, true love, and so many hot Queer people. You can pick it up here: a.co/d/bJoCON6 #darkromance #mmromance

So it turns out the mountain goats tickets were significantly cheaper than groceries, and it was very much like being transported back in time into the skeletal shell of my sister’s jeep as we drove past rows of empty high-rise condos