#Rewritten Goosebumps meets Wimpy Kid in stinky, spooky, spider-infested showdown. A Fart Witch wants to possess Jacob’s Abuela. His brother’s armed with beans. They’ve 1 shot to save the town & Abuela—with flower potion & sibling chaos. #SayExcuseMe #MG #F #HA #QuestPit #Q

#Rewritten Goosebumps meets Wimpy Kid in stinky, spooky, spider-infested showdown. A Fart Witch wants to possess Jacob’s Abuela. His brother’s armed with beans. They’ve 1 shot to save the town & Abuela—with flower potion & sibling chaos. #SayExcuseMe #MG #F #PosterPit #Q

#Rewritten Narnia’s coming of age+cannon fire & female rage. The sea gives & takes. It took Dad—imprisoned. Then gave Mom back. Only now she’s a pirate in 1721. To save Dad, I’ll cross centuries, face traitors & become something I never expected:A Barrett. #YA #QuestPit #Q #HF #S

I need to spend more time on BlueSky...it's come a long way over the past months.

#Rewritten Goosebumps meets Wimpy Kid in stinky, spooky, spider-infested showdown. A Fart Witch wants to possess Jacob’s Abuela. His brother’s armed with beans. They’ve one shot to save the town & Abuela—with flower potion & sibling chaos. #SayExcuseMe #MG #F #HA #QuestPit #Q

#Rewritten Narnia’s coming of age+cannon fire & female rage. The sea gives & takes. It took Dad—imprisoned. Then gave Mom back. Only now she’s a pirate in 1721. To save Dad, I’ll cross centuries, face traitors & become something I never expected:A Barrett. #YA #QuestPit #Q #HF #S

#Rewritten If LemonySnicket & Cpt Underpants had a stinky lovechild. Saving the town from a Fart Witch? Normal. Saving your grandma from becoming the Fart Witch? Personal. Middle grade horror with stinks, sentient giant barking spiders & sibling chaos. #MG #Q #F #HA #QuestPit

#Rewritten Goosebumps meets Wimpy Kid. Hexes of Eternal Stench. Barking spiders. A Fart Witch bent on possessing Abuela. Only Jacob, his chaos-gremlin brother & their gang can save Woodville from destruction—with super-soakers, sibling mayhem & a well-timed fart. #MG #Q #F #HA #QuestPit

When 12yo Jack learns he's Keeper of the crumbling Skybridge-a magical link b/w Earth & Arcador, he must find 7 Starstones, battle living shadows & face his deepest fears—or lose both worlds & his missing mom forever. #MG #F #AgentGuide #LitAgents

Hubs set up our WiFi today - the network name…MI-6 Surveillance. We’re now waiting for the neighbourhood Facebook group to light up. 😈

I got a sliver of agent feedback and have rewritten the first 2 chapters of Skybridge. It feels so weird to front load the action instead of building and peeling away layers. But until I’m a household name with a loyal fan base, I guess I have to play along.

TLDR- on Twitter, I’ve shared some insight on the inherent error in AI detectors. Frankenstein - 30% AI I’ve proposed a science experiment where we get together and check the detectors on public domain books to understand the false + rate. This is more serious than I initially thought…

The Skybridge Key was half-ass written in 2020. It was only recently that one of my daughter’s friends read Chrysalis & asked me what else I wrote like that. I told her about Skybridge - she read a bit and loved it. So I cracked it open and refined it. I learned a LOT in 4 yrs.

I’ve just sent my first query for The Skybridge Key. I reviewed old query letters from 2019 for a different book and yikes. I wouldn’t have read my work either.

12yo Jack discovers he's the Keeper of the Skybridge—a magical link between worlds. To save both worlds, he must face shadows, solve ancient trials & recover 7 Starstones to heal the bridge before it collapses. #MG #2025Pit Comps-Amari+NightBros, KeeperofLostCities

When Jack(12) learns he's Keeper of the failing Skybridge linking Earth &Arcador, he must find 7 Starstones, battle shadows, a Leviathon, fiery stag & a giant moth and face his deepest fears—or lose both worlds & his missing mom 4ever. #MG #2025Pit

When 12yo Jack learns he's Keeper of the crumbling Skybridge-a magical link b/w worlds, he must find 7 Starstones, battle living shadows& face his deepest fears—or lose both worlds & his missing mom 4ever. #MG #Q #YouDeservepIt #TalkingRaven #SnarkyGuide Comps:Amari+NightBros, KeeperOfTheLostCities

Good morning and Happy Christmas - whether you celebrate the religious or secular Christmas, may your next few days be filled with all of those things which brings you joy.

So I see the “follow then unfollow” nonsense has started here. Regular following list curation required 🙄

Ugh. I had to stop myself from filling out application to greyhound rescue. I have a Saluki and two children. That’s enough dirty feet and poo to clean up.

My daughters had a sleepover a couple weeks ago - one of my girls came in with me, complaining that Archie took her spot when she got up to go wee. He thinks he’s one of the kids.

Gahhhh. 90 more minutes at work...then supper... I don't feel like editing, but I really must get started. I must avoid the temptation to write something new...

On reflection, I should have started writing fiction when I was in grad school. I had no idea the dopamine hit it gives - I would have saved so much money that was wasted in the search for dopamine. Who knew about neurodivergence back then. Nearly 30 yrs ago.

The more I use BlueSky, it feels like Jack’s taken the opportunity to re-engineer Twitter to avoid the things that weren’t great. In the world of software engineering, this is an enormous luxury - we usually don’t have the time to do foundational work because the user doesn’t see it.

UK/Ireland/Wales/Scotland check in. Who’s up and who’s gotten snow over night?

What is this bullshittery? This is not Canada, ffs.

Alex, with her boundless energy and a mind that races with curiosity, can't ignore the pull of a forbidden forest and the adventure that lies within… #TheChrysalisProject #MG #ADHDHeroes This is also shorter length MG - s

OK, everyone. I've used the Blue Sky extension to get all my twitter people, and the Porto extension to pull all of my Twitter history into Blue Sky. It doesn't get replies or quote tweets, but it works.

Thank you for sending my galleyproof @DappleGreyPress - I’ll do my final proof-read this week. 😍

GOONIES x DEMON DENTIST Join Jacob & his gang as they fight to save their town from ruin by a Fart Witch & her swarming barking spiders. Hold your nose & join the fun in a tale of siblings, friendships, courage & community. #UnlikelyHeroes #EnemiesToFriends #QuestPit #MG #HA #Q

Dad’s in POW camp. At least that’s what Bonney was told. But when she learns her family's legacy as time-traveling pirates, she must learn the ropes, navigate high seas & family secrets to rescue her father from the 🇬🇧 Navy before he’s hung. #Q #YA #ND #TT #HF #QuestPit

I just read my first chapter of Blackwood (first sloppy copy). The gothic prose is decadent, almost literary - I can tell I've been reading the classics lately. It's going to take me time to edit, but oh my. My dark, twisted heart is already in love with this manuscript. 🖤

I’m gonna say it, Twitter jail bedamned. Remember Chunk from Goonies? Elon looks like a middle-aged Chunk wearing a decaying Michael Myers mask.

I'm nearly done the first read through of Blackwood. There is much to fix/edit/tidy-up, but the words. The words. The WORDS! Note to self - make sure the head-hopping is clear in the next read through.

I'm super glad I found like 500 of you from the other place...

I've just used Sky Bridge to find all of you who are also over on the other platform. It works well - other than the search crapped out after about 500 hits.

Making sure everyone knows about sky bridge chrome extension and Porto.

My girls asked when/how I learned how to skate. Lots of memories from a different time and place... When my folks built their house in Nova Scotia 53 years ago, Dad had an excavator dig out a rink in the far end of the property. There were a bunch of kids around playing hockey.

If anyone was keeping track, I took my daughters to the rink to teach them to skate today. It went better than expected - one is off the polar bear, the other is close. Bonus points for me not falling and breaking a hip. At my age, that is a possibility now. Muscle memory FTW.

Saw @LucyChalice has a new book that’s doing well in the market (congrats!) - it’s on my TBR. It lives rent-free in my mind how THHE had lab/office/biotech-pharma scenes that were so relatable to my own experience. Romance aside, the representation of “ppl like me” resonates.

Changing things up. A few months ago, I had a crack at writing romance. I read the handful of chapters I wrote - it’s like a Xmas Hallmark movie until the dead body shows up. It sounds good. Unfortunately, I read exactly zero crime novels, so I’m setting this one aside.

Sitting here headachy. Keto flu. Need to drink more water.

Reading my first draft of Blackwood. Chapter 15 needs a massive rewrite effort. I’ve told the story but it’s rough around the edges. Also one of the longest chapters.

My girls are going to an ice skating party in December. I have three weeks to teach them to skate. They’re Canadian. This should be easy. Famous last words.

I’ve just read the first 9 chapters of my first draft of Blackwood - it still needs red pen work, but this could be the most decadent, gothic prose I’ve ever written. It’s so brooding and foreboding. 🖤

Good morning…it appears that I have developed side effects from the Covid shot I got on Monday. Chills & feel like I wiped out chasing a cheese-wheel down a steep hill. Or I’ve caught an unrelated bug. Either way. 🤒

Tumbly Tumbly Tumble Turns. That’s my poem.

Swim mum night.

Swim mum night…

I recently went back to a keto diet - I turn 50 in two weeks & am struggling with old lady symptoms. There’s some evidence that keto will make the transition to geriatrics easier. Fortunately the keto flu didn’t get me. But the covid shot yesterday has flattened me a bit.