We used a laser pointer with Poppy for the first time tonight, and, um. I think he's having an existential crisis over not being able to locate the red dot. He keeps pacing the room it was last in with a concerned look on his face.

We thought we were adopting a cat, but got a hybrid potato/air raid siren instead.

Some brightly colored figures from Lucid Eye and Gringo40s in my post for the AHPC today: thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2026/01/from...

*childish grabby hands* My plans for "low-buy January" may be slipping away from me.

The downside of participating in the painting challenge I'm in is that I can't post miniatures as I finish them; I get one day per week I can post to the challenge blog, and then there's a 24 hour moratorium between my post going live and me being able to reshare the photos separately elsewhere.

Let myself have a little skim-through of the first draft, as a treat. Cleaned up two sentences that weren't as clear as they could have been, and fixed a couple word choices where, for example, I'd used "darkness" in two consecutive sentences. NOW I'll stop touching it for a day.

I really need to get me some of the Celtos models - I've only been ogling them for 20 years!

Oops finished the first draft. This is a shorter one. 3,120 words at first blush. And, a rarity - a good title came to me immediately! "A Very Good Dog" takes place early in Tarskia's adventuring career, and involves a winter storm, a haunted shrine and a cute dog with a secret.

Many years ago, I sat on the other side of a cubicle wall from a coworker who played music at her desk without headphones. She'd found the perfect volume where no one would complain to management. She had a playlist of six songs; two of them were Toto's "Africa."

My books are my survival. I don’t have any other job, safety net, family to fall back on. This is it, my best effort poured into my writing, and often what comes back is just enough to keep me moving to the next thing. When you buy my books, tell a friend, as for them at a library, it keeps me going

Cold and winter seem to be recurring themes in my writing. Not sure how much of that stems from growing up in Buffalo; but three published Call of Cthulhu scenarios set in icy climes (including Saturn's moon Titan) and it's showing up in my short fiction now too.

Got inspired, laid down 1100 words on a new story while I wait for my beta readers to get back to my on the previous one. Now to take Gina to her annual MRI and get some reading done in the waiting room.

I finished reading Issue 0 of @newedgeswordmag.bsky.social this morning, having taken my time to drink in and savor every word. Long story short, I'm in love. And I'm so glad I've already got issues 1 and 2 winging their way towards me. I suspect issues 3-7 won't be far behind.

When I ran Perilous Tales at Wargames Among the Warplanes back in September, one of the players commented that the hit point tracker-dials I had were hard to read (pink numerals on clear red acrylic). So I ordered some MDF ones and assembled them today. Hopefully easier on the eyes!

Robert E Howard's house is in serious need of repair, or it may fall apart. #Help save #RobertEHoward 's home, where he created #Conan , #SolomonKane , #Belit , #Kull , #Valeria & so many more. #Donate at rehfoundation.org/save-the-reh... Please spread the word.

I think I want to try and return to "the internet is a place that you visit" instead of it being a parallel life that I carry in my pocket. Deleting social media apps off my phone and putting strict time limits on usage for everything else on it.

Some new reading material arrived today! Playing catch-up and exploring the sword and sorcery fiction released since like... 1996. I think the previous newest S&S material I'd read was some of Leonard Carpenter's Conan novels. Excited for some new blood 'n thunder prose.

This is why I won’t do commission painting. Painting toy soldiers is done strictly to nourish my soul.

From everything I’m hearing about the last season of Stranger Things, I feel like I made the right choice by not continuing with it past the first season.

Helped someone track down a line of miniatures they’d seen pictures of, but didn’t know the name of the line or the manufacturer, and didn’t have pictures to show, just a description. Feels good.

Back at work for the Mondayest Friday since… last week.

Gina is winding yarn to knit from, and someone is *interested*

What was the last movie or tv show you watched in 2025? I liked Plus-Sized Misadventures in Love quite a bit right up until the last episode of the season.

Trying to “turn the cube” of perspective. 2025 was the worst year I’ve had for TTRPGs since 2010, and I had a major crisis of confidence. But I still put myself out there and tried, despite the state of the world and being a caregiver for a chronically ill spouse, and that’s worth something.

“You’re so nice and helpful. Are you on some kind of psych med to make that happen?” Or “You look like you’d be popular with Wisconsin housewives.”

Out of everything I accomplished hobby-wise this year, I think building up my terrain collection - especially with a number of modern, urban buildings - has been my favorite. #scenery #wargamesterrain

And I think that’s a first draft finished! 5,100 words on the dot. Now to resist staring at it and poking for a day.

Received our annual jar of homemade Chex Mix from my aunt and uncle today. I will having this jar empty by the end of the day on the 1st (I’ve already eaten some)

I’m an Atlantean-born king of Valusia, bedeviled by serpent-men.

I think this is going to be next on my "to pick up" list. Rekindling my love for sword and sorcery and playing catch-up on the new wave of S&S fiction with an eye towards always having a paperback to read in the evenings. I love what @newedgeswordmag.bsky.social is doing and happy to support!

Another 571 words added to what I'm tentatively calling "The Shadow Over Khasten Hall." I've always sucked at titles but I'll workshop something snappier. It's my first go writing sword and sorcery instead of just reading it; I'm just doing it for the joy of writing right now, but who knows?

Got a high-five from Gary Busey.

Just retrieved my trash can from halfway down the street. The wind is intense!

My first entry has gone live at the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge Blog: thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2025/12/from...

We’re getting hit with a hellacious storm tonight through tomorrow night. Heavy rain, localized flooding, wind gusts up to 70mph, likely downed trees and power lines, followed by freezing conditions. I’m so glad I’ve managed to build a life where I can just not go out for 48+ hours.

"But hear me out, AI can..." No, bite me, the whole thing is a disaster. The fascists in power are pushing their toxifying hallucination machine on everyone so we really don't know what we can trust, making it easier to dupe people through the brands these billionaires want us to buy from. Fuck off

If this isn’t nice, then I don’t know what is.

On the subject of miniature dinosaurs, I found this Reaper Miniatures Carnotaurus I painted a while back. This is the second copy of this figure I’ve painted, and this is in Reaper’s “Bones” plastic. The metal version I painted previously had some mushed detail in the scales.

Laid down 2500 words on a short story today. Took the bones of an unpublished RPG scenario I wrote more than a decade ago and have wrestled with on and off ever since, and stripped the gaming mechanics out of it and started rebuilding it as a weird fantasy/horror story.

3D printed Allosaurus I ordered arrived; the detail is a bit soft (especially around the mouth) and it has a POWERFUL resin smell to it that I’m not thrilled about. That’ll take some airing out.

So I guess a publisher I had a number of short stories with awaiting publication has closed its doors without notifying authors. Their website and social media presence is gone, and the one collection that was published containing my work is marked out of print on Amazon.

If you’re in the market for a low effort New Year’s resolution, can I suggest “removing ‘content’ and ‘content creator’ from your vocabulary”? The artists and entertainers you’re referring to deserve better, even and especially if you’re using it to refer to yourself and your work

Quote post with older piece you still like. Reaper Miniatures’ lake monster. I did that gradient with a paint brush, not an airbrush!

Okay Poppy. Belly to the raised platform the woodburning stove is on. Why not?

We don’t know that Poppy has ever had a Christmas. This time last year he was homeless, so we wanted to make today special for him too. I filled his stocking with different colored bottle caps and might have overwhelmed him.

If you haven’t seen the Twilight Zone episode, “Night of the Meek,” I highly highly recommend it. This is the most sincere Christmas special I’ve ever seen and Rod Serling’s writing hasn’t aged a day. www.dailymotion.com/video/x8gll7c

Gina went big on supporting my plans for wargaming in Mesoamerica in 2026. Terrain, some figures, a guide to Maya art. Even got me themed playing cards for Tribal!

Mom bought little puzzles to play a game with - whoever completed theirs the fastest won a box of Lindt truffles. I was victorious!

“You bungling fat-head! I asked for a football!”

Listening to this while trudging through a shortened workday. I found “Bloodstone” in a $1 bin like 20 years ago; I always dug it and I’m realizing how much it influenced my own home D&D games. I think I’m due for a reread.