Here's my monthly round up of book reviews! Slower reading month for me, but some good ones here by @cornellwriter.bsky.social, @authorwinifred.blacksky.app, @tahernandez.bsky.social, and @abigailtaylor.bsky.social You can read full reviews at www.helenwhistberry.com/blog

Very proud of myself for having a mature, assertive, reasonable converstation where I made some valid points and didn't get flustered or visibly lose my shit. The person I was talking to? An aspiring author who told me he plans to USE CHAT GPT TO WRITE HIS BOOK 🤬 Hopefully he will reconsider? 🙃

Just finished my workday and between Thanksgiving and the time off I took, I have 11 days off starting now. Whoo! It's very needed, I have been starting to feel the burnout a lot more, so I'm excited for some downtime.

Baguette, anyone? I roped my spouse into dressing up with me this year too, and he was a good sport about it. Happy Halloween! #halloween #happyhalloween🎃 #expedition33 #clairobscur #clairobscurexpedition33

Hey look, it's another AI-generated author marketing spam email. Only this time, they sent it to the wrong person because this is not even my book. (Though you really should read Survival Kit by A. H. Haga because it's great.)

Lor has a sister, Savanah, who she was very close to. She's referred to throughout the story but died during the global pandemic and societal collapse that happened before the story starts.

"Our goal as writers should be extreme empathy." -Leigh Bardugo I had the BEST time last night at this panel/discussion with Leigh Bardugo and Brandon Sanderson for the 10th anniversary of Six of Crows.

I just finished beta reading this, and I loved it. If you like vampire stories, don't miss out on this one! Check out that epic cover!

Since many of us are cancelling streaming services, now might also be a good time to support writers and artists. Times are extremely tough for creatives, so why not buy a book, commission an art piece, sign up for a Patreon, tip your favorite creators. Everything helps.

I still have such a fondness for Mitul and Kamaal's romance in my Curse of Shavhalla series. Second chance romance between two middle-aged men, an artist and a musician. We see it all play out through the eyes of the traumatized teen they take under their wing and basically adopt. 🥺💙

What an interesting day to be in the OFMD fandom and online writing/bookish spaces. I will say this for the OFMD fandom: we are NOT cool with this, and if they thought they were going to be making money appealing to us, they were mistaken.

My current random creative obsession is altering old t-shirts, and then I also want to try bleach painting. Anyways, I just left the thrift store with a sack full of clothes to play around with and I am very excited.

Large sections of the indie author community seem very happy with using generative AI for "writing", covers, promotion, translation, audiobooks and all the rest. I'm tired of it. It's parasitical behaviour, IMO, and it damages the reputation of us all.

Hi authors! Please remember to file a claim!

we're also burnt out because writing takes more brain power than AI bros can IMAGINE--literally, they cant even conceptualize what one prompt does to the environment its as draining as therapy, work or school A LOT of the time for me. creativity is a SKILL and skills require WORK

Also related (or maybe the same): Suspense is not generated by the reader not knowing what happens next. It's generated by the reader CARING what happens next.

Etsy recommending me my own stickers

oh my new sticker from @tahernandez.bsky.social arrived at the perfect time

Really wish my order of Tethered Spirits paperbacks had shown up before this weekend because I've now sold out of them and still have a few hours to go at this con. They'd better be here before the ren fair in a couple of weeks but Amazon is being SLOOOOW

Oh hi, yes, that's me. Thanks to the folks in the comments who linked my listing. I know it says there are only a few left but I make them from home and can do more if needed :)

Kids went back to school today, and as much as I love summer and having them home, it was definitely time 😅 They were super cute this morning waking up early and getting ready because they were so excited to go back.

Made some more Expedition 33 art stuff this weekend, including these two sticker versions of Verso. 😁 #clairobscur #expedition33 #clairobscurexpedition33 #verso #fanart #characterart #stickershop

Wanted to try this apple core art trend with Lor and Harlow from my work-in-progress cozy post-apocalyptic novel. #applecore #characterart #arttrend #sapphicart #digitalart #artistsofinstagram #authorsofinstagram #cozybooks

Made some good progress on my WIP last night, and today I'll get to incorporate the scene I've been dying to get to since I started. It was one of the first dialogue scenes I wrote for this book, and I'm super excited to build on it.

Anyone looking for a quick escapist fantasy novel about a magical traveling circus, fantastic creatures, and sticking it to bullies?

Had a scare tonight, just picked my husband up from the emergency room. He was exposed to some chemicals at work & was having a really hard time breathing, had to be sent to the ER in an ambulance. Looks like everything is going to be okay, but I'm still pretty stressed & watching him like a hawk 😬

Finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 last night. I am emotionally devastated in the best way. What a phenomenal piece of storytelling! Just stunning. I will be thinking about this one for a long time to come.

This. I prefer to write chronologically most of the time, but when I'm stuck, it really does help to jump to a different scene that I'm more excited about. It's a lot easier to fill in the blanks from there.

Advertise your book with the cover & content warnings only CW: Explorations of trauma and mental illness, violence/blood, death, references to self-harm & suicidal ideation, discrimination, torture and imprisonment, terminal illness

A kid maybe age 5 or 6 just came to my farmer's market booth trying to convince his dad to buy "a violence one" of my stickers or buttons. The dad reminded him that "we don't condone violence" and they settled on this insead. 😂 The kid was very excited to put it on his shirt.

Hey look. Writing progress! It's been months since I've been able to post an update about my cozy post-apocalyptic novel in the works, but I've gotten back into writing pretty consistently over the last week and the words are flowing. I'm really enjoying getting to know the characters better.

Got paid today and I'm dying to buy and start playing Expedition 33. The responsible part of my brain says I should probably finish the Fallout New Vegas DLCs I bought last month before I start anything new. Anyone want to take bets on how long it will be before I cave in?

So all my books are now on Itch, and I'd love to put them in some bundles, but I'm not really sure where to find upcoming ones. Can anyone help me out?

Listen, I don't want to jinx anything, but I'm on day 5 of a solid writing streak after months of writing nothing, so I'm pretty damn excited about that.

My Mexican mother in law told my husband that the arroz rojo I made with dinner was really good, and I'm gonna be riding the high of that compliment for years to come.

Just...writing momentum. Like, actuallt sitting down and writing the damn thing. It's all outlined, I just haven't had the motivation as I've been so focused on art and other creative projects. But I do want to get back to it soon!

Karaoke family night with all my nephews (age 9 and under) is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time 😂

Does a sticker count? #OFMD

I've been avoiding the fire part of this painting for so long but now it's all I have left and I'm still scared. 😬

Decided to add my books to itch.io and it is taking FOREVER (which is mostly my fault for trying to make all the pages look extra pretty). Anyways, it's a work in progress, but here's me. Especially good for folks who may want my books but don't want to give money to the 'zon. Tahernandez.itch.io

Finally nailed down exactly what I want on a big banner for my in-person events, so that's my fun creative project for the next couple of weeks. Here's an illustration in progress.

Explaining the phrase "I support women's rights and women's wrongs" to my 14 year old, and her response was, "But when is a woman ever going to be wrong?" 🤦‍♀️😂

Happy Pride! If you see this, QRP with queer art. 💖 Here's some of my own art. Mitul and Kamaal (first two images) are from my Curse of Shavhalla fantasy series, and of course I have all kinds of OFMD art because I'm obsessed. 🌈❤️

HAPPY PRIDE 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Off to my tattoo appointment 😊

These are definitely my new favorite art thing I've made ever 🏳️‍🌈❤️😊

IT'S HERE!!! This is probably all I'll be doing with my spare time until I reach the last page. ❤️

Me in 2022 ordering a 500 count box of label paper for shipping orders: Yeah, I'm probably never going to get through all of these. Me today grabbing some label sheets for the printer: They're all gone? What? How did that happen? To everyone who has supported me along the way: thank you. 💙

Well, my big local con in September didn't accept me (again 😩) so I applied to Rose City Comic Con instead. Hopefully that one will work out. 🤞

Ordered the backing cards and packaging stuff for my Pride koi enamel pins, even though the still won't be here for another few weeks at least. I'm already getting so antsy to see them, they're going to be awesome.