Hey Firefox users.

I don't know how The Raven Scholar keeps up its pace for 650 pages without flagging, but it should be studied. I devoured it like it was 1/3 of the length it actually is.

I think I would have made an excellent Gilded Age divorcée. Relegated to Newport and no longer invited to boring society events? Sign me up.

I miss the In Wild Air newsletter. Perfectly Imperfect is fun, but it's not quite the same.

Thrilled to reveal the glorious cover for my new book, MAGIC MAKER: THE ENCHANTED PATH TO CREATIVITY. My intention for this tome is to help you supercharge your own creativity using magical techniques, as so many visionaries have done throughout history (and as I do myself). Out Oct 14!

later:

romance heroines love to see their love interest for the first time and be like "never before had I seen such a cruel, uncaring countenance" girl you are going to be gasping for it in 250 pages. as soon as he processes his trauma from the Crimean War its over for you

I have openings in my editing calendar. I do primarily developmental edits of novels and novellas, and I have over a decade of experience. More info and contact link here: www.kathowardbooks.com/editing Please feel free to reach out with any questions!

What makes sex scenes work? What do they tell us about the characters and their relationship? How do they advance the story? if you need a break from the news and the heat this terrible Monday morning, I have done an unreasonably deep dive into a scene from Cecilia Grant's A Gentleman Undone.

World Bee Day, you say? In honor of that, here, from a few years ago, is one of my short stories, "Telling the Bees": www.sundaymorningtransport.com/p/telling-th...

Oh hey, it’s me. ☺️

IF YOU'RE IN LINE TO PISS ON STROM THURMOND'S GRAVE, STAY IN LINE

knowing that there are people who, on any given day, could, if not actually end all suffering on earth, do something close enough that their name would reverberate down history as the notion of a living miracle has changed my understanding of humanity in a way I don’t really know how to live with

Read The Will Darling Adventures. Okay, bye.

I love it when my pet sighs. Like what ails you my little unemployed freeloader.

A life-changing author for me.

This is as much the era of MCU good guys will save us pornography as “aspirational” bad guys. Hear me out, how about instead of asking artists to take on the responsibility of guiding society toward virtue we put money into our schools and go back to teaching media literacy and the humanities.

(yall gotta stop ceding ground to puritans. don't give them stickers or mpaa ratings or "mature" sections or "clean" imprints. they don't get a little censorship, as a treat.)

Getting back into the habit of perfume journaling as I test samples, and I think I'll post random lines here as I work through my ridiculous backlog. Today's test was Sarah Baker's Far from the Madding Crowd: "Smells like the liminal space between the cosmetic and shoe departments of a Dillard's."

Fuck it: French fries for breakfast it is.

And I almost forgot because I'm so terrible at these things, but this is the 🚨last day🚨 that the audiobook of Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death--narrated by Raven Wildewood-- is on sale for $8. www.audiobooks.com/promotions/p...

Is this what people who see Jesus in a piece of toast feel like?

JFC

the venn diagram of stuff i think i will eat when i am meal planning vs stuff i want to eat at actual dinner time is two circles, separated by an infinite distance through time, space, and other dimensions whose qualities are so inconceivably foreign to us that we could not possible conceive of them

every angry take I’ve seen about using technology to offload the work of being a human is correct, and I’ll just add: you learn things from art you don’t like and/or finish! you learn things, about yourself and about the world, even from experiences you don’t enjoy! friction is necessary for growth!

Terrible week to give a shit

Me, cleaning out Henry’s schoolwork folder: “Henry! This is really good!” Him: “Yeah! That’s Martin Luther King, Jr. [flips a few pages] And this…. …is a Predator after he falls into a cactus.” 🌵

Halfway through Too Like the Lightning and I keep swinging wildly between being intrigued and delighted to wanting to fucking die.

incomparable

the thing about the Gaiman story, as with so many stories of monstrous men, is that it's the same boring solipsistic pathology over and over and over. they all think that they're God's Specialest Boy and that if they do something, it can't possibly be wrong or bad. it's so pathetic.

I want to stop using my phone as my morning alarm; does anyone have a personal recommendation for a nice, gentle alarm clock under $50?

🥁 Announcing the Public Domain Image Archive! 🥁 We are v excited to share our new sister-project, the Public Domain Image Archive (PDIA), a curated collection of 10k+ out-of-copyright historical images, all free to explore and reuse: pdimagearchive.org @pdimagearchive

I wrote about moss and lichen and how to survive when greed makes the ground parched, and cold and parsimony is our portion: buttondown.com/theswordandt...

I just want to announce that I’ve had The Lions of Al-Rassan on my Goodreads TBR since 2007, at @cupiscent.bsky.social’s behest, and I just started it today. It’s called a TBR, not a TBRI or TBRN. 😌

@junkyardmessiah.bsky.social I have been waiting with bated breath for Dune: Prophecy since you were announced as creator and it is everything I wanted it to be and more. So many congrats!! Cannot wait to ride the ride.

Dream publishing job for @dieslaughing.bsky.social

Ever been on a treadmill when the electricity goes out? Welp.

Yet again, I see that People Magazine is too cowardly to admit who the real Sexiest Man Alive is:

can’t believe they’re calling it dune part two and not deuxn

I regret to inform everyone that if you’re over the age of 35 and wake up with a sort lower back every morning, daily yoga/stretching helps so damn much and I am genuinely sorry to bring you this extremely annoying news.

I've had inquiries, but I still have room, so I am bumping this again, capitalism still being a thing.

Spent today rearranging our living room so that we can fit a 5th bookshelf in, and now I can bust some books out of boxes and precarious bedroom stacks. Oh, and there’s a hell of a monsoon outside. Living my best Saturday night / Venus retrograde life tbh.

Henry got his new backpack today, a big kid backpack for Kindergarten, and I am not okay. Also my third nephew was born yesterday and those photos are certainly not helping tamp down the sniffly softie mom vibes.

Emmy D’s “The name—of it—is ‘Autumn’” is the 1862 version of Slayer’s “Raining Blood,” for real.

K and Henry are doing a bookbinding project together today, which reminds me to ask if anyone has experience converting an attached garage into a workshop/studio? Is that something you have to clear with the city? The garage is now K’s bindery space but it’s, you know, HOT AS HELL here in AZ.

‘Tis the season for all the people who find out I loathe melon to gasp, “Even watermelon?!” YES, EVEN. I’d probably say especially if cantaloupe didn’t exist. You think any melon gets a pass from me? I am vigilant. Committed.

Been thinking about this. The loss of twitter is a real issue for those of us who rely on it for creative opps bc so many editors use it as a well. (*Also* the aggressive shift to author-marketing-themselves is going to have to change, because that level of platform/audience doesn't exist anymore)

The dreaded summer cold has landed face first in our household on the long holiday weekend. Awesome.

Me: “Why does he have his eyes scratched out?” Henry: “Jellyfish don’t have eyes. His name is Mr. Crab Potato Jr. He’s saying hi. Also he’s displeased.”

That's writing. You're describing writing