I read a lot of really good romance novels in 2025. (limiting this to contemporary romance otherwise I'd have way too many to choose from.

Me: Yeah, I am going to slow down on reading this year to make room for other hobbies. Also me: Starts and finishes a whole book on New Year's Day. It's not my fault. The cover is cute and both leads are demi and bi and also fat rep and neurodivergent rep.

Made a bingo card of things I want to do in 2026

My embroidery journal for 2026 Close ups of a couple of my favorites in the thread. I free hand these and so they're a little hit or miss.

Find it fascinating that much of the appeal of Stranger Things S1 was the mysteriousness of the dangers and every successive season has chosen to chip away at the mysteriousness.

It's the time of year where people talk about writing wins for 2025. I frankly don't want to reflect on my writing year because even though I revised a lot, it was pretty miserable from an industry standpoint. So let's say I kept writing and leave it at that.

Was my mom trying to be queer affirming by giving me subtle rainbow earrings or did she just think they were cute

Love that the BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries was like we followed the book as closely as possible but we did also add some thirst trap scenes of Colin Firth. As a treat.

Every time I check out a library book by a white author, I also check out a book from a BIPOC author. Been doing this for a couple years and have found so many gems I wouldn't have otherwise. It's easy and free and nobody can stop you.

Couldn't decide what to read for my Christmas break and decided to just be unhinged and start three different books today.

Recently read and loved Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland. A cozy contemporary romantasy with a slow burn romance and a cast of sisters.

Lily's book is in the database of books stolen by Anthropic, and the theft is always gross but there's something extra sinister about stealing from an unhoused author. Please consiter contributing to Lily's family if possible. There are lots of ways to help listed on her website.

Spent a lovely evening with friends making homemade wreaths and garlands. And there really is just something about making things with good company.

Once again in a work meeting where people are talking about how they use AI and it's entirely things that could be easily accomplished another way (eg, simple google search) or things that cheat them out a learning experience.

Apologies to my boyfriend for having to learn things about publishing because he's dating me.

In 2026 I hope to make a positive difference for how people perceive & talk about fat characters in TTRPGs - Include “no body shaming/fat phobia” in lines and veils. Bring it up in your session zero - Ask artists to give your character a double chin or belly. if it’s not right give clear feedback

Thinking about how on my very disproportionately male work team (technology department) on a disproportionately male party planning committee, the three women still did a disproportionate amount of work to make the holiday party happen.

We're going to make it 💪 Feeling spread a little thin, but honestly very grateful that I have so many lovely people to spend time on around the holidays.

I enjoy watching LotR with my mom because every time an orc is on the screen she goes "Hmm, I don't like that one."

✅️ Christmas treats to give away

Still so helpful

Someone congratulate me on my choice to rest tonight instead of powering through my to-do list

I would also love to put together a collection of Amazon wishlists to donate to in the future (for struggling indviduals, or charities or like classroom supplies). If you know of lists, please pass them on to me!

Boosting for the daytime crowd. Alternately, if you have or know someone who has an Amazon wishlist, I'd be happy to make some purchases off a wishlist ❤️

If you don't work in publishing you probably don't have a conept for how much Ed is writing. His articles are novella lenth. He's putting out work the length of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis or a Goosebumps book like weekly. Big Hamilton-wrote-the-other-51 energy. Don't mess with him.

Two embroidery pieces I finished this week (for Christmas gifts). Yeah, I've got range.

I got a couple Amazon gift cards from work that I'd like to pass on to someone seeking mutual aid. Cards are for $35, which hits the threshhold to get free shipping without a membership. Temporarily opening my DMs, giving away on a first come basis. No questions asked other than your email address.

One of the downsides of QueryManager as an author is not being able to see forms when an agent is closed. I used to prep materials in email and just save as a draft to send when the agent was open, and I don't think there's really a way to do that in QM.

I sure write a lot of characters who have arcs revolving around completely remaking themselves for a girl who has had the same haircut since middle school. Or maybe that's why I write so many.

Getting very tired of having my sexual orientation being used to describe right-wing incel asshats.

One thing about me is if you recommend something to me and I take the recommendation I will follow up to tell you what I thought. But also it might be an embarrassing amount of time after you recommend it because I am in a constant state of backlog.

I'm honestly more intrigued by my brothers' yearly music wrap-ups than my own.

Does anyone have experience moving from Spotify to a different service? Especially importing playlists. I know Spotify is terrible, but I have been there over a decade and have like 100 playlists so moving is daunting.

Thread of my book recs from Indigenous Peoples Month so that they're in one place. I've got recs across a variety of genres in fiction and nonfiction!

Me looking at my December schedule

Book rec: An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States by Kyle Mays (Saginaw Chippewa) One of my favorite books in the a-peoples'-history style. An accessible look at an understudied intersection of history.

Arab Lit Quarterly is making all of their pdfs of works with Palestinian authors free for #ReadPalestine week. arablit.gumroad.com

Another memoir rec: Spíləx̣m by Nicola I. Campbell (Nłeʔkepmx, Syilx, and Métis) "In the Nłeʔkepmxcín language, spíləx̣m are remembered stories, often shared over tea in the quiet hours between Elders...spíləx̣m explores resilience, reconnection, and narrative memory through stories."

Book rec: A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott (Tuscarora) "The Mohawk phrase for depression can be roughly translated to 'a mind spread out on the ground.'" Elliott's memoir explores the mental health crisis in her community as part of the ongoing trauma of colonialism.

I don't do a lot of picture book recs, but Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Mvskoke Nation) is such a beautiful story. Illustrated by Ying-Hwa Hu and Cornelius Van Wright I'm also a fan of the YA novels I've read by Cynthia.

I have a lot of grief from publishing, but it's not really about the sting of rejection as it is about all the things I haven't done because my focus on publishing. Not even accomplishments, but all the movies I haven't seen or games I haven't played because writing took too much of my time.

Bonus rec: Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice (Anishinaabe) An apocalyptic survival thriller in which an Anishinaabe man and his family try to survive when their small community is cut off from the rest of the world.

Obsessed with "Unless we put on the best talent show this town's ever seen" as a trope tbh

Book Rec: Rez Ball by Byron Graves (Ojibwe and Lakota) A coming-of-age story about a teen basketball star trying to take is rez team to their first high school championship while living in the shadow of his deceased older brother.

My biggest win isn't word count, it's that I've written every day for the past two weeks and *enjoyed it* I'm at a point in publishing whre finding joy in writing is very difficult, so it's always a win to actually have fun writing. #FiFRevPit

Book rec! Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land by Noe Alvarez (Purépecha) The son of Mexican immigrant laborers documents his participation in a Peace and Dignity Run with other Native/First Nations people across North America

Good CPs are so essential. Find some tomorrow with this sweet event from #RevPit!

If there's publishing journey discourse again, then I'm just going to softly throw this back into the universe. aimee-davis.com/2023/05/08/n...

I've thought a lot about what someone should takeaway from publishing journey posts. I think for newbies it's encouraging to see their rejection numbers are normal. I got to a point where they became discouraging again because all but a handful were way shorter than my journey.

Utah is getting a map that has a strong chance to flip a house seat blue! A district court judge has thrown out the gerrymandered map the legislature proposed and chosen a map that meets the law's anti-gerrymandering standards.