My view as I cleared my driveway for the first of what I expect to be MANY times over the next few days. I remain grateful for my snowblower.

Wrote my way up to a ceremony today. Now I need to figure out how much of it to include. If I try doing all of it, I'll need to make it shorter than people have been acting like it will be. But I think "Toss tradition, let's abridge things and get on with life" fits the participants. #writing

Most trash in Ashareen is magically disintegrated these days. (This is alluded to at least once in Harmony when discussing public trash receptacles.) Most modern people have trash boxes in the their houses, but historically you had to tote it to a public disposal point.

#Critterary A zymra is a cute bat-winged ferret-type critter commonly kept as pets. But zymrae are also the mascot of Yskies, a group dedicated to achieving voting rights for Yskereen. Illustrated zymra made on commission by @sugarycarousel.bsky.social in the official colors of Yskereen. 🧵

Finally got to ski today! This was very good. Then found put my employer spontaneously and without warning removed another employee benefit. This was very NOT good.

I hope to finish the first draft of First Verse of Winter. I'll try to get a newsletter out. And in non-writing, I plan to get on snow at least twice. (Starting in a few minutes! In fact, I think my partner may be waiting for me to go...) #QueerPrompts

#Critterary Faereen has a few cryptids, as in weird creatures people tell stories about but which probably don't exist. But some Earth cryptids are simply beings that wandered through a gate from the faerie world to here. And MAYBE the Faerae ones are visiting from a 3rd world.

#Critterary Realizing I skipped the part about introducing myself. Oops! I'm Andy, ze/they. I write cozy queernormative fantasy about polyamorous nonhumans in a ski town on a magic-tech world. I published a novel last summer and HOPE to release a novella and a second novel in the series in 2026.

#Critterary The most noticeable cat in Harmony is Vil's pet Ninka, a white fuzzball described as being the size of a German Shepherd. The most noticeable cat in both WIPs is Yves, a catkin father of two, musician, skier, and regular at the Rabbit Pub due to his secret* love for the bartender.

#Critterary I've written vampires but not in anything that ever got shared. Although some people say I myself am a vampire... Something to do with my allergies to sunlight and silver, extreme paleness, discomfort with crosses, and preference for rare meat on the rare occasions I elect to eat meat.

#Critterary Starting late. Sorry. Forgot the hashtag to look for. Pets are important to me so my characters tend to have them. My fantasy world also has people who are furkin or scalekin, but they're more PEOPLE than creatures. One is even an MC in a WIP.

Despite having to do something that scared me at work today, I did NOT shut down and managed to write 3k words today. The novella is at 33,646 words with four scenes left to write. So I'll have plenty of room if I need to expand an arc or two in revision. #writing

My main resolution is to be less goal obsessed. It made me miserable last year as failed goals stood out far more to me than accomplishments. #QueerPrompts

Dear rotwit revving their car in the parking lot across from me, You're clearly trying to slide out. I recognize that's fun. But we haven't had snow in days and it isn't icy right now. So if you're wondering why you're making a ton of noise but not sliding around like you want, that would be why.

Last year, I planned and planned. And when I failed things early in the year, that meant my whole timeline failed. So I spent 10/12 months of 2025 feeling like a complete failure. This year I'll be taking things week by week and we'll see what happens.

Lost my entire day to dread over something I'm going to lose all of tomorrow over if someone doesn't take enough pity on me to excuse me from attending it. Have spiraled down to a very unpleasant place.

Melancholic is certainly a decent description for my 2026 thus far.

It's strange how close to home something on another continent can hit. Last night, a fire in a locals' bar in a Swiss ski town killed at least 40 people. Many of them teens. My heart goes out to Crans-Montana and all the grieving friends and family there today.

Fireworks are actually illegal to launch where I live, but all these rotting tourists with no respect for the area or the people who live here bring explosives up with them and the cops don't have the manning to stop them. Which is maddening because they use predictable spots.

It's not even midnight on the US East Coast yet and rotwitted asshats are already assaulting me and my poor dog with fireworks. #BanFireworks #NYE

Wrote 2,493 words today. Which brings my 2025 total up to 332,985 words. Too bad most of them were repeatedly rewriting the same book. But, hey, at least I'm happy enough with the current version of said book I probably won't completely redo it again! #writing #writingCommunity

Your book may be written by a ski instructor (or maybe a Ski Patroller) if every ski scene features people specifically checking for other skiers before starting their runs. #writing #SkierResponsibilityCode #SkiSafely #SkiInstructor

Wrote a very poignant scene today. Then realized it isn't part of First Verse but belongs in Melody. So now have a hole to fill because all that was left in that section was a 400 word exchange that I don't feel needs expanding. It's a really nice scene though. :)

The Arbor Day Foundation sent me a letter saying if I donate they'll send me 10 flowering tree saplings suitable to plant at my address next spring. (5 each of 2 varieties.) A few problems beyond the obvious bad look of using paper to ask people to help trees...

I'm writing a series where the main cast changes every book but the small town setting stays the same. So, yeah, side characters have gotten and will continue to get promoted to the spotlight. Bex and Vanya are more secondary chars in Harmony than side ones. But Bex's love interests for sure count.

I learned bookwym.social exists yesterday when someone on Mastodon tagged me in a really sweet review of the Harmony of Falling Snow she posted there. bookwyrm.social/book/2194505...

Ever spend several minutes looking for your phone before asking your watch to find it, promptimg you to discover the phone is in your pocket? No, me neither. That is totally NOT a summary of how I spent the time my tea was steeping.

I enjoyed this book. If you're interested in a deeper review, I blogged about it. andorabrokaw.com/2025/07/06/t...

"AI is only inevitable when we believe the lie of its inevitability." Well put. AI is NOT inevitable.

The year’s not over! If you’re looking to slot something queer into your TBR, most of my list would apply and most are on the shorter side!

Working on Winter's First Verse, I added two extra chapters to the outline, so it's 9 chapters now. But I've written 6 of 9 now and the wordcount is at 27k, which puts the expected final count closer to 40 than 30k. But that's still a novella. :) #writing

#AwesomeCharacters Most people in my fantasy world have dynamic eyes that reflect emotional states. Vil and Vanya's have snowflakes, Yves's have vines that shift color as well as growing in number, and Etsian's get covered in silver fog. But most folks' just change texture or have bursts of light.

ALL OF THIS. We have so much when we have each other, when we help & ask for help from our community. genAI cannot touch the deep well of knowledge, generosity, & creativity we have in this community. Tech bros just want to convince us that has no value. One more lie to pad their pockets.

Hey, I just wanted to let my fellow authors know that it’s totally OK to post your achievements and wins. In healthy author community, we get excited for each other. Don’t feel ashamed or guilty or weird. Except the good kind of weird. We love cool weirdos. Please continue to post all the things!

This was advice I gave at my event at the bookstore here recently. When the world is overwhelming, when the creative process is a struggle, it’s the community you’re a part of with fellow indie creatives that helps get you through to the finish line. That community is the help - not AI!

Weird. Also wrote about this today. Yves isn't sure why butterflies terrify him, but the phobia once led him to dump his kid out of a chair so he could use it as a weapon. Against a butterfly. Granted, he was trying to protect the kid. But still...

I actually wrote a scene where someone sees a doctor today. But the charm-tattoo nurse was way more interesting. They also work as a decorative tattoo artist at a co-op I'm going to have to include in another book. Headcanon: they did Maggie's excellent vision enhancement charms. #writing

As my followers likely know, The Harmony of Falling Snow is participating in the year-end sale at Smashwords. Other writers with books in the sale, please comment on the original post so we can have a nice collection of links. www.smashwords.com/books/view/1...

Most of the goals for the week were personal things like surviving Xmas and getting older. (Yesterday was my birthday.) I didn't manage to ski as it was too crowded for my anxiety, but I did register for some Jan clinics. And I passed halfway in the novella, which is nice.

Today is my birthday! If you'd like to give me a present and you've read The Harmony of Falling Snow, I'd really love for you to leave a review anywhere you're comfortable doing so. Note: You don't need to have loved it and the review doesn't have to be long. Links to a few review sites below

Friendly suggestion: if anyone who received an Amazon gift card for the holidays has been considering buying the Kindle version of The Harmony of Falling Snow, you can find it here: www.amazon.com/Harmony-Fall... (The print version is currently only available from 3rd parties. No idea why.) #books

This is from one of my oldest friends, so if anyone can help them find housing on the (WA) Peninsula fast, I'd really appreciate it! I trust they know that my home is open to them if they need it, but I'm too far away for a commute to their current jobs.

When the polite, cultured Dr. Pepper consumes a special draught, he turns into the brutish, monstrous Mr. Pibb.

My daughter's partner joined us Xmas afternoon. Happily observed of my punk counterculture Xmas playlist, "Your Xmas music and what my family plays are very different." I left the explaination at, "Anything my mom would listen to is triggering to me." It took me decades to play Xmas music at all.

Santa brought me the Fairy Cat books by Hisa Takano. They are SO cute and wholesome! My only complaint is that there are only two of them. (In English anyway.) I absolutely love them and my fantasy world has pocket kitties now. #manga #books #worldbuilding

I hope all my friends and followers are having a lovely day, whether they consider it a holiday or not. My daughter is visiting and snow is falling at my house, which means I'm happy.

I usually give at least one homemade gift to each of my family members on gifting days. But I pinched a nerve in my dominant shoulder weeks ago and it's still limiting me, so some of them just aren't getting finished. :(

Rhy's fingers hovered over the keyboard as the quick brown fox was about to jump over the lazy dog for the 7 billionth time. But the vixen sat rooted to the ground. Refused. With a yawn, the lazy dog finally bestirred himself and walked away. All Rhy was left with was qwertyuiop. #vss365

My employer made an interesting choice today to piss off 100% of their employees. Guess maybe they think there's too many of us?

The Winter Solstice is my favorite day. Because it is the shortest day. A Winter Solstice on which it snows? That is the best day possible. There will not be another day this lovely in my hemisphere for at least another year. #LetItBeDark #AllergicToSunlight