If you're an author, you're probably fretting over your next bookstore event. Will anyone show up? Will anyone buy the book? Will the floor helpfully open up and swallow you whole so you don't have to face a sea of empty chairs? But even if no one shows up to your event, it will be OK because 🧵

Briefly streaming some painting. Maybe I'll finish those fields... www.twitch.tv/mytherea7v

It's been a bit since I posted art. Partly because I've been very busy, but mostly because my attic apartment gets so hot in the summer, I can't run Photoshop (or any complex video game). Anyway! City is taking form. That one tower in front is my favorite. I wonder how it looks zoomed out...

Release day was yesterday and once again, I'm late, but yee! "Children of Miracles, Coffins of Brass" is out in the world in this snazzy issue 5 from Trollbreath Magazine! (I believe it will eventually be posted to be read without a subscription but, y'know, there's always instant gratification.)

The first half of Worldcon was lovely! The second half...was somewhat limited. Tested positive for Covid, so self-isolated in my hotel room for the rest of the con. -sigh- Next year, maybe. (Still testing positive for Covid, and not feeling all that great, which is why this post is, er, late?)

At Worldcon in Seattle! There are far more hills than I was expecting. Also, my feet are very sad after 10 days of hiking around followed by...yet more hiking, just now on more concrete. Still having a blast though!

Mendenhall Glacier! And Nugget Falls off to the side hiding behind the trees (I got much closer to the Falls and have a bunch of photos of it on my camera). It was quite wet today; a reminder that the Tongass is a rainforest...

Taking advantage of being in port to make social media posts! Day...five? Six? of the cruise. So far, I've seen Ketchikan, Sitka, Glacier Bay, Icy Straight Point, and now Skagway. Juneau is tomorrow, then Victoria, then Seattle/Worldcon! Oof, my feet hurt. So much walking, despite being at sea.

In Seattle and boarding the ship for my first-ever cruise! Yee! I am very excited; I'm going to see Alaska!

By chance, I stopped writing yesterday with a lot of 3's? Not planned, unlike some of my other screenshots, which admittedly can be a bit staged. Niran has been summoned in the middle of the night to meet his god. His god needs to *warn him* next time; he tried to claw the messenger's eyeball out.

They went on a (short) adventure today. Just to the vet for a monthly shot for the one but the other didn't want to be left behind. A good adventure was had.

The question is...will it remain a novella? Or will it become a short novel? Or, worse, will it instead fall into that difficult-to-market no-man's-land of 50k-60k? We shall see. Niran is having a really, really bad night, and this is just the beginning. Why am I so mean to my characters?

Somewhat late, but I was accepted to VP 2025! Aaaah! I am so thrilled, and also a little bit nervous, and totally shocked that it happened. Was not expecting this at all! Aah! So excited to meet my cohort and learn from our instructors and read everyone's work! Aaaaah!

Under my other hat of librarian, I'm off to Philadelphia for ALA! Wee!

Sadly, no streaming this week. There's a heat wave and I live in an attic and have heat-sensitive MS. The room with my art and gaming desktop is, unfortunately, averaging about 80-84F, and art is both taxing on my system and on my brain. That kind of heat is a no-go for me. So no art this weekend.

Tonight's progress! I am rather displeased with that city. That city needs work. But most of the colors are blocked in for the background! It's shaping up to be a nice, sunny day that Gev is in too sad of a state to really enjoy.

Going live on Twitch for another painting chill-out session! www.twitch.tv/mytherea7

Exactly. This.

Contract not yet signed, so no details yet, but woke up this morning to a short story acceptance! Yee!

So I'd meant to take a break after finishing this draft for Mandate, play some Oblivion, maybe some Skyrim, read a book, watch some TV, do some art. This lasted pretty much a week, and next thing I know, I'm writing a companion novella? Wee? I was unsuccessful in my aims to play Oblivion. Drat.

Convention season is about to start, just as a new variant of COVID is spreading that people describe as like swallowing razor blades. Socials are going to be full of con pictures. Are we going to see any masks in them? I want to believe y'all care.

Huh! Bunch of new follows this morning. Wondering if I've been added to a starter pack? Either way, hello, new people!

Tonight's progress. Mostly finished the sky and started blocking in the mountains. My neighbors started setting off fireworks, so I ended the stream--partly because the microphone was picking up the noise, partly because it was scaring my dog, and partly because it was scaring *me*.

Going live on Twitch again! Another painting and chill session: www.twitch.tv/mytherea7

Progress made during today's stream! Much of the sky is in and we can see it shall be a lovely, sunny day for Gev, even though he'll look utterly miserable by the end. Next time, planning to finish the sky and start the mountains. I love painting clouds. They're very forgiving, in their bulbousness.

Trying a new thing: streaming! Tomorrow at about 12pm CST, I'll be streaming the first part of myself painting this mock-cover for Prophecy's Exile. Hang out with me and listen to fantasy themed music as I do an incredibly repetitive task for about three hours? www.twitch.tv/mytherea7

Tuesday evening reminder: Write the book. Make the zine. Pack the shelves. Fill the world with so many stories they'll never be able to silence us all.

Question! Are there any art portfolio sites that haven't been thoroughly infiltrated by AI? I used to be an active member of DeviantART but it's nearly unusable now. I've tried Artstation, but it's more concept art and U5 stills, which is fine, but not what I'm looking for. Suggestions?

Trying something new and posting blog updates on here. Because social media-ing, I guess? rjhowell.com/2025/05/15/n...

And calling it finished (for now). I might end up tweaking it later, but that'd be for when I order the print version on canvas. Still have no idea where the light sources are in this one. Upgraded my tablet halfway through, so differences in technique might be equipment related.

And on this day of May 12, 2025, I have completed the drafting of Prophecy's Mandate! At 246,393 words, it is officially the longest book I've ever written. IT IS FINISHED. Well, mostly. There's revisions and all those placeholders to fix, so not done yet but done for now. Full screenshot, for fun.

Sticking these three uncommons in one pack back-to-back *had* to be intentional.

Me writing the penultimate chapter: ...all right Birul, I need you to stand up. Stop kneeling at Gev's feet and get up. *Birul proceeds to do a very good impression of a recalcitrant dog that doesn't want to take a bath.* Birul: nope. am dead. am boneless. you will never get me to use my feetsies.

HUH! I got a glitch in one of my booster packs. That shapeshifter does not belong in this set. This is the LotR set from 2023. That shapeshifter is from 2020! I have never pulled a card from that much of the wrong set from a sealed booster before. New one for me! Fitting that it's a shapeshifter.

I went to a gaming store. I sold some old Magic cards. I then turned right around and bought more of that dangerous, dangerous cardstock in shiny wrapping. *proceeds to huff the scent of freshly opened booster pack* I really like the LotR Magic set, I really do.

I knew better and yet... I ended up jumping a little ahead and blocking out the scenes for the last chapter instead, so still productive. But at some point, preferably tomorrow, I do need to figure out how to start this one.

Okay, a lot of people are expressing outrage about this, and I also feel outrage about this, but since everyone else has already expressed my feelings for me, I'm going to put on my Teacher of Analytical Thinking Pants and point out something important.

Regarding the latest Worldcon fuck-up, I did receive the panelist interest form, took one look at it, realized it would take hours, and promptly quit before starting. It asked for detailed, bullet-pointed lists of what a panelist could offer, talking points, subjects, etc. It was bizarrely thorough.

We arrive at the penultimate chapter. When all those things I set up over the course of three novels finally culminate in revelations, at last, at last! So, so close to finishing this behemoth of a book. So close! A friend says this should be the motto of this series:

Yeah, that deadline didn't happen, but I got a little more of it done. Discovered that my 15 year old Intuos 4 was dying, and had been for aWHILE, thus all the very weird glitches and frustrations I was experiencing, so ended up buying a new one on sale. It's so compact! And has bluetooth? 🤯

One of my favorite airport art displays, the Minneapolis light blimps. I have absolutely no idea what it's called, but they make me smile whenever I fly out from here.

Obligatory book display post! A little late, but there we are. I do have fewer books on that table now than when I originally took this photo on Friday. Last day of Minicon!

Aaand so I missed my flight, had a panic attack, learned that there's workarounds if it wasn't your fault (I was going through TSA for over an hour and I missed the flight by 3 minutes), got a ticket for another flight, and I'm about to board. My luggage, sadly, is now in Minneapolis without me.

Up bright and early for my flight to Minneapolis, and already, I've had the most stressful shower of my life. I had an...unexpected friend join me. Thus commenced the fastest shower ever as I tried to get the soap off as the giant wasp was waking up and starting to move around.

Still chugging away at this novel. At 225k, and all I have left is one long-ish chapter and an epilogue of rapid vignette reaction shots, and then...this monster will be complete. Then I get to go back and replace all my placeholders with actual names. Then -dun dun dun- editing. *screams*