celebrating a certain thing that's about to be out like, real soon (yes it's bhba)

When you realise you've named a cat in your story after one of your all time favourite cats in science fiction. (Not exactly the same, but mere letters away). But it takes you two weeks to realise this.

Ever find yourself wondering if small museum curators are feeling okay?

Local library offering me yet another afternoon of writing-sanctuary time.

What's everyone's favourite name when they can't think up a new character's name? Might used to be Jay but for a while now I've known a Jay so it can't be Jay.

Drop some COATS www.clothestodyefor.com/wp-content/u...

Raindrops in my coffee cup. 🩵 🌧️ (Could be a song title, I know. But genuinely: there a little drops of rain in my coffee. Acquired on the short walk back to work.)

Every time I try and make a zine I spend most of my time trying to figure out how to fold and cut it, and where the sketches go, and where the story or message goes. Always good when you get to the message bit though, hey.

I need to make a zine. Maybe half a dozen. I don’t care what goes in it (yes I do) but maybe like a bunch of tiny ones with micro-fictions. And leave them who knows where. Maybe single line stories. ‘Her boot was a silent friend, keeping her toes warm and her body ready for action.’

My friend is a big fan of democracy. Her heart and mind are amazing. She taught me today that you can whistle through a gumnut. Next time you need to whistle (or scream), why not try a Gumnut Whistle for Democracy instead? HT @morganiseit.bsky.social

Sometimes I go to post something and all I can think is [INCOHERENT RAGE AT NEONAZIS] and so sometimes I instead gaze at the sky. Just for a while. Before I return to the screaming.

If I just start opening my mouth wide will all of these unwritten words finally pour out of my brain and coalesce into something I can use? Or will I instead make giant behemoth sounds until my lower jaw disconnects and drifts slowly to the bottom of the deepest ocean? Who can say. Who can say.

Democracy is important. You should vote whenever and however you can. That means if you don't vote for Cat in this vitally important wine writing competition, you are LETTING DEMOCRACY DOWN.

I love an op-shop with a goth sense of humour. 🖤🥾 No way these legs just ‘happened’ to fall in that box that way.

w/o downloading anything new, where are you mentally?

Can we reach $2500 by end of August? I know we can. And this is for good - translating African stories!

You know your darling one gets you when he delivers a kindness like this for your birthday! 🌈💚 I used to own this as a kid, and play it on repeat. Nothing remains from those years, so this gift is like restoring a bruised memory. So there, Death! Survived another year, & with rainbows to prove it.

Knuckles are weird, huh. Tiny little microcbots in-between our finger bones. Possibly powered by winches that are kept in service by surly bone gnomes. I imagine.

I just remembered it’s #smaugust. #art

Oh yeah, If you are curious about my stories. I am on draft2digital. Fire Heart: books2read.com/u/31ovpM Cold Steel: books2read.com/u/brxNnW Flame of the Spirit: books2read.com/u/b5GdNp

A version of me: listens to Cold Chisel's East on vinyl. End of story. The full & true version: confuses East with Breakfast at Sweethearts. Her beloved kindly redirects her to the right album. Listens. Ends up down an weird rabbit hole where she reads the life story of assassin Charlotte Corday.

Winter's sunlight gets deep in my bones, and in my heart.

⚠️ 💛 C U T E 💛 #mothfacefriday

If I were a different type of person, I’d share pics to show how awesome the (IPED) editors conference was this week. And it was. Inclusive editing. Lushly overacted hyperthetical. Friday afternoon gin bar. But, actually, it’s been magnificently rainy, so here’s a resting umbrella shot instead.

Do you ever go through a patch of ‘what the hell do I think I’m doing out here, pretending I am creative or can write’ and then slump so low with it all that it becomes hard to look at an empty page or your latest project without wincing? Yeah? Me too. It sucks. Here’s a quokka to cheer you up.

This game is a storyteller’s playground! Total and utter delight and a pondful of kindness. 💖🌈

Further riches: an initial table of contents for SHATTER THE SUN: QUEER TALES OF UNTOLD ADVENTURE (expected spring 2026). Hype to work with all these writers (and see the illos soon to come from @mspencerdraws.bsky.social). www.neonhemlock.com/shatter-the-...

Here's our cat, Franklin, attempting take-off. In case you needed to see that.

Blue kick-off to the day. Anybody got any weird bug or cute pup or kitten pics? Or words?

I've been quiet here lately, but life is ... ya know. But lots of beautiful children's picture book stories are forming. I think writing 'em has caused some older stories to idle but many, many new ones to form. I sometimes think I should wear a bucket on my head. To stop ideas from flying in.

Magnificent hat-based thread. Watch it through to the end. Adorable and fabulous.

Feels like I have more oxygen today than I have in over a month.

One part of my story skeleton currently just reads: 'Shop. BYO sarnie. Happiness.' Not sure I can improve on that. Or that I need to.

Is it just me who comes up with what feels like the perfect title for a story only to spend 3 weeks changing it or refining it. And then 3 weeks later realise you've ended up back at that first title anyway?

At the tippy top of a minifig tower, stands our hero, Rose Tico, weapon ready, all backlit and full of feist.

Always.

Join us! #JubileeCho

This giant face mural has often flipped me out, but now with the tree/eye patch … I’m sure as hell writing it into a short story now.

Today is Closing the Gap day. It’s a day to raise awareness of the health & life expectancy gap between Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Aboriginal Australians. These words created on the lands of the Kaurna people. Always was. Always will be. closethegap.org.au/history/

What’s this weird stuff falling from the sky? I reckon I used to know a word for that. 💙

Practice dragon.

I think I need to see a cat. I’m guessing some of you do too. Here is our little chap, Franklin. All floofy friends welcome.

Why do so many people want to live forever? It all just seems like a lot of extra work.

The world needs more good humans, and the type of person who listens, learns -- and owns it when they find that what they believed or "knew" turns out to be wrong, misinformed, or not the only way of doing or being #lifelongLearning

No cheating. Post the last photo of your pet.

While over for GenreCon, my friend @becksandthecity.bsky.social and I took a solid outing to QAGOMA. Absolutely brilliant gallery. This image captures some of a piece by Albert Yonathan Setyawan: 'Spires of undifferentiated being'. Phenomenal artist. www.albertyonathan.com

How great are metal public transport seats in boiling hot weather

When someone asks me 'why I write' this is sort of what happens in my head. (AKA: I haven't posted for a while, so let's dive in with a lush stream of thoughts, and just move on.) myloveofwords.com/why-write-a-...

The timing of this article cuts deep. Just got out of GenreCon. It’s Writers Week here in my hometown. Over a week to celebrate the humans behind the words. And then we get served this: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

“Tech people will never gaslight me into thinking that their product is capable of producing commercial-level translation, much less literary translation. ‘Oh, it's three years away’… They've been saying that for at least three decades. It's not only vaporware, it's decades-old vaporware.”