I beat Mass Effect 2 (everyone survived!) and I need an outer space break so I may move on to...Baldur's Gate.

My shepard has the squad's loyalty and is making plans to get it on with garrus i, meanwhile, am strategically dissociating so that's how things are going

How do you know when a draft is done? Well, sometimes you know because you can feel that while the draft is flawed, you can no longer see it at all, and you need an editor to see it for you, so there's no point in staring at it anymore. Anyway, I turned my draft in just now, hooray.

Fucking…fuck

Fiction Standout #1: To Clutch a Razor by @veronicarothbooks.com feels like a novel's worth of story in a novella-sized container. This sequel to When Among Crows digs deep into complicated family relationships and decisions with no right answers. Dark and intense and so good.

Today I benched 100 pounds and now my entire body is noodles

Man I forgot how awful Kaidan is in this game (Mass Effect 2) SCREW YOU KAIDAN

I've decided to start running, and once I decide something I tend to get started right away, which is how I ended up jogging in 15 degree cold today

At San Diego Comic Con I got into an elevator with the actor who played Jake on Animorphs. (Shawn Ashmore has done many things but that's what I, personally, was excited about.) He smiled, I smiled. Rode in silence to the lobby.

As per personal tradition, this year's wee Summary of Art! #art #illustration

2025 book recs, including a reappearance from @kerstinhall.bsky.social (am I making it awkward, Kerstin?) and also @sarahmaclean.bsky.social @ceejthemoment.bsky.social @christinalauren.bsky.social @amytintera.bsky.social and several other people who are not on bluesky shorturl.at/VUm3b

does anyone else's boomer parent insist that you and your siblings were perfect angels as kids and never fought or misbehaved, or is it just mine

I basically did an ME1 speed run because there's more tedium in that game than I remembered... but now I'm on ME2 and I have secured Garrus and Mordin, so all is well

Meanwhile, my mother can't abide clutter, so she donated all of my childhood books the second I moved out. WITHOUT WARNING. 😂 (not really complaining-- when she passes I will have to go through no more than five well-labeled plastic tubs, which is a tremendous kindness.)

When your family insists they’re all introverts but then they plan a gathering for the third day in a row. None of those bingbongs are introverts! the real introvert (me) is STAYING HOME!

I just want you guys to know that my dog is sweet and perfect and has never done anything wrong in her entire life

i keep dying in the damn mako (AGAIN!)

that's it, I'm starting Mass Effect again

the thing about my husband's family is that you'll be the one who makes bread for years and then some of the others decide to start making bread, too, and because they're ridiculous people who optimize everything, they get a lot better at it than you are and now it's their job not yours

🎶 leave the halls, just stay in bed fa la la la la la la la la la 'tis the season to feel dread fa la la la la la la la la 🎶 🎄

Fa la la la

everyone in fantasy books getting scars from serious things and no one is ever "yeah, i was fifteen and forgot that hot glass looks like cold glass".

Chicago is being at the hair salon talking to your hairdresser about how the rat hole was made by a squirrel and everyone else in the salon joins in like “aw, how disappointing”

it is taking ALL OF MY STRENGTH not to reply to this stupid scammer asking me about a 60,000 dollar loan who has been texting me EVERY DAY for OVER A MONTH

me, a person who can't read SFF while drafting, surfacing from finishing a rough draft

I AM TRIUMPHANT. SHE IS FINISHED.

"All I did, over the course of these drafts, was anchor the story, give it stability and depth. So if you’re stalled in your draft, ask yourself: have I given all of these elements roots?" New newsletter: a case study of finding a book through a series of experiments. tinyurl.com/3ycr74kb

Is it a rug sample or is it a tiny oasis of softness placed there specifically for this dog?

Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, DC, Disney Animated or Pixar.

me yesterday: omg I'm so close to the end me outlining today: lol no you aren't you dumbass

my music listening age was 27 and my husband's was 72, and you know, that does actually tell you a lot about our respective vibes

life with an aging dog is so fun. you get to keep playing "is she shaking because she's cold, suffering from some hidden pain, heard a weird beep somewhere in the house, or because she's excited to receive pets" over and over again.

I ate so many fruit snacks today

Me totally running out of gas today coincided with me reaching THIS PART of the book which is...cruel of my brain. So cruel.

my husband just talked me through receiving a delivery for a large, heavy object like a new mom talks to someone watching her newborn for the first time. "Here are the 3 routes they can take through the house. If there's two guys, give them THIS tip; if there's three, this one. If they get fussy--"

Netbomaxflix where vanessa hudgens stars as a bakery owner and the city's most infamous drug lord with a heart of gold. Somehow they look alike, so they have to swap places when a Christmas adventure goes wrong. It's called Powdered Sugar.

Checking in @adamchristopher.me I passed the 100K mark yesterday but I have a lot of scenes left to write so apparently this book is going to be a monster. How's things? #donebyjan1

if, in this holiday season, you find yourself reflecting on the experience of going home to your family and discovering for the first or the millionth time that you see the world in fundamentally different and irreconcilable ways, perhaps upsettingly so, i have a book recommendation for you.

me after any interview no matter how well it goes: HOW DO I CLEANSE MYSELF OF THE HORROR OF BEING PERCEIVED! (answer: shake it off, literally, and put on soft pants.)

"Every year since 1999, the program has sought to 'highlight how what is taking place in our macro-culture at a moment in time is expressed through the language of color.'" hear me out, though-- they actually did this exactly just not in the way they thought www.cnn.com/2025/12/04/s...

when i'm drafting fast like this i basically can't have thoughts that aren't book thoughts so i keep opening up social media and marveling at all the thoughts people have, and try to rustle one up for myself mostly this does not work

I don't work in an office and I manage no one but I live for "where are they now?" month at Ask A Manager. GIVE ME ALL YOUR OFFICE DRAMA, WORLD.

oddly reassured (? not the right word but you get it) by this quote from Lilly Wachowski about the right's claiming of The Matrix, given some of the Divergent misinterpretations I've encountered over the last fifteen years variety.com/2025/film/ne...

now i must locate the foot balloons and cajole the dog into accepting them

Ultimately the game I actually chose was The Outer Worlds and it's great so far and fun but I think I am still pining for the Horizons

earlier this year i stopped getting health insurance bills and realized it was because I had a new address (even though I did opt into paperless billing but let's not even START with that) i called them to change my address. it took me an hour to get off hold, then the call dropped. (1/?)

Okay so next I’m considering: - Skyrim - Baldur‘s Gate - replaying the Mass Effect games for the fourth time I’m wary of BG3 because it seems like it might frustrate me at first. not sure why I have that feeling

woke up missing the Horizon games

90K, baby! ~30K to go, probably!

I think I'm gonna have to start signing initials instead of my full author signature just to reduce strain on my wrist.