I usually get home late in the evening so I'm not here to make supper, but with the holidays I have the whole day to cook. I made the Saturday night staple of molasses baked beans on the weekend, and today is clam and scallop chowder. Nice and nourishing fare for winter days. Tomorrow is turkey day.

Booyah. The first 25 chapters (out of 57) which my editor returned to me have been gone through. Back to her for the rest. Get ready to return to Caphedra in 2026. #amwritingfantasy #writing #booksky

Ah vacation! I've got a fresh Americano coffee and I'm ready to sit down and do some editing on my novel without distractions. I'm just going to turn on the TV for background noise. I'm sure it's a slow news day. No distract-...

Winter Solstice music, live online at 7pm PST Dec 21st, 2025 cheknews.ca/events/?_evD...

Entering the festive season here in Ottawa. Most of my gift shopping is done so I'm hoping to spend the next few days cooking/bbq'ing and editing. Maybe I'll do some actual writing, too. #HappyYule #MerryChristmas [Photo: In front of City Hall: trees, flags and skating rink illuminated at night.]

Just got some good news from my domain provider/tech team regarding a new Caphedra side project. #writingcommunity #amwritingfantasy Sign up for my newsletter and I might have some news when I mail out at the end of the month. www.ianrobertross.com/newsletter/

Okay Bluesky.. I need to be editing this morning. Anyone got a pep talk? #writingcommunity

If "Yellow Snow Warning" is not the Canadian phrase of the year, then colour me shocked. #ONStorm

As an English language writer, I find it interesting that among visitors to my website, China represents 10% more traffic than even the US. More surprising, they all come from Lanzhou and that got me curious. Turns out, police have a habit of shaking down writers there. www.rfa.org/english/chin...

Time mangement would come in realy handy right now... [watches clock tick] Yep... any time now.

Getting feedback from my new editor this morning. #writesky #catsofbsky #booksky

Shout out to the person who bought my e-short story, 'Final Tally' the other day! Good to see my brief foray into scifi getting some love. www.amazon.ca/Final-Tally-... #writersky #scifi #specfiction

Well, I'll be damned. I got that chapter done today. There's something tangible to this new writing project now. It needs a little more worldbuilding depth, but the story is out of the starting blocks for sure this time. #amwritingfantasy #writesky

It feels like a slow start. It's taken me over a month to get to where I'm going over the first half of a new chapter, for a new book, for the third time... and I'm probably going to cut most of what survived the first two writing sessions, but I think I have a fun story here. 📚🪐💙 #writesky #booksky

I've never been a fan of tattoos, but if I could get "Do Not Disturb" inked into the back of my neck, it might be worth the investment.

Getting name whiplash from book marketer emails. A pitch today began with "Hi, I'm Name#1", signed off with "Best regards, Name#2" and came from the Gmail addess of an entirely other Name#3. Far cry from the anonymous one yesterday that mistakenly left '[Your name]' unfilled in the signature line.

Well, we're into it now. Supposed to be 10 to 15cm of snow today and it's just starting. Time of winter: 11:05am, November 9th. It has begun. #ONStorm

It's a little early for Caturday, but Theia dressed up for Hallowe'en and I had to post. #catsofbsky

Happy Hallowe'en! Hope you all have a frightful and fun evening. Rain in Ottawa has kept our trick-or-treaters down in numbers this year, but props to the kid who dressed up like a payphone with a working keypad. That's the best one of the night so far.

Firing with both barrels tonight... well both grills, anyway. Bulwinkle's on the menu. Moose steaks, burgers, and meatballs. Red wine juniper berry sauce on stand-by.

Getting close to newsletter writing time. What do you folks wanna know this month? #writingcommunity #authorsofbsky #amwritingfantasy

This is why people fear AI. I saw this on my Facebook feed this morning. It's a comic page where Lex Luthor is empowering Bruce Wayne to make the world a better place, and the first question Meta's AI asks: "Can Lex Luthor be stopped?"

It pays to be local. Attending Can*Con today, in my own backyard.

Hey book marketers! While I accept the possibility legitimate marketers might exist, why not show me you're serious? Along with your pitch, send a photo of you holding up a copy of my novel. That's the only way I can trust you are familiar enough with my work to partner with. Sound fair?

One of the most brazen scam emails I've ever gotten. Danielle Steel, you say? These and the fake book club pitches seem to be the main ones clogging up my inbox these days.

Theia's becoming a pro-traveller. Back the road this long weekend for a Canadian Thanksgiving road trip. #CatsofBluesky #Caturday

The garbage collectors in our neighbourhood are getting a bit cheeky. Our municipal overlords allow one "over-sized" item in the trash, so today I put out our old couch. They must've counted every part individually, because they took one cushion, left a note for "too many items", and left the rest.

Long week... short weekend. Anybody wanna proofread a newsletter before it comes out on Tuesday? *yawns with glazed eyes.*

I have a dozen new follower notifications, but my follower count has only gone up by two... I feel we are a fickle bunch on Bluesky. (Actually, I expect they're all just bots and Bluesky is getting better at playing whack-a-mole.)

Taking the O Train to work reminds me how Hallowe'en comes earlier and earlier each year.

Scammy book marketers used to hit me up for tens of dollars. Then that became hundreds. Now they're pitching four-figure packages. In a perverse way, does that make me more successful, or is inflation that bad for everyone? #writingcommunity

I guess I should have remembered that tomorrow is the first day of fall... what with that frost warning we had to round out summer last night. #brrr

Spooky. I was watching the latest GenV episode and something(?) triggered my Roku's voice search. It's spontaneously searched for the movie "You're All Gonna Die" (and reported no results on Prime.) I went back to the same spot and it searched for "Tell me Something." Didn't happen a third time.

Glad to see that Bluesky keeps up with cracking down on spammers. My inbox looks like a ballpit of faceless blue dots marked as "deleted account".

Starting a completely new book tomorrow. Characters, plot, conflict all fleshed out. Dare I write in first person? #amwritingfantasy #writingcommunity #writing

I think I've just reached the 'Odin hanging on Yggdrasil' part of the bottle... #drinkresponsibly or #youwillputoutaneyewiththatthing

It's been a while since I hit the grill and after a long week at work I decided to get edgy by breaking out one of the bottles of mead I made during the pandemic. #YOLO It packed a punch then, and tasted how honey would, if bees ran on JP-5. Let's see if it's mellowed out a bit since then. #homebrew

'Crown of Caphedra' is being featured in a special giveaway! At the end of this month, one lucky winner will receive loads of eBooks and a brand new Kindle! Join the giveaway now and cross your fingers for your chance to win. #BookGiveaway #BookSky #epicfantasy www.bargainbooksy.com/fantasy-give...

Lots of new subscribers to my newsletter this month. If you're one of them, tell me what you'd like to know. Today is probably the day I sit and start drafting August's mail out. (And if you're not already signed up, please visit my website to join. I email the end of each month.) Cheers! #booksky

I can't believe that just one week ago, I was still on vacation. Long week, but welcome to Friday, everyone.

It's been a few years since I was on the Halifax Harbourfront, standing by the old HMCS Sackville. Why did I get older while the Sackville seems to look newer?

Stopped to watch the water bombers tackling the Oldfield Road forest fires between Miramichi and Bathurst. #nbfires #newbrunswick

Active project out of my hands. My third book is half-plotted but needs development of the antagonists' schemes before I leap into it. I have two 'front burner' novel ideas and a couple of spares. I consolidated my napkin notes of short story plots yesterday; made a new writing template. #writing

Here's the stats for 'Kings of Kramwen'. By comparison, 'Crown of Caphedra' is around 220k words, (still a decent value for your money, especially since it's $0.99 in the US Kindle Store right now.) www.amazon.com/dp/B09M7V62SS If you've not picked it up yet, do it now before the sequel arrives. 📚🧙‍♂️⚔️

I broke the news in my newsletter, so now I figure I can break my social media embargo: My manuscript for 'Kings of Kramwen' has been sent off to my editor. Next step is in her hands, until she sends it back and I incorporate her changes. After that, it won't be long... #amwritingfantasy #booksky

#SummerReads Now's the chance to pick up a copy before the sequel drops this fall. The epic fantasy, Crown of Caphedra, on sale for a limited time for 0.99 in the Kindle US and UK stores. www.amazon.com/dp/B09M7V62SS

Not a good day to leave my sunglasses at home.

Major work and writing milestones, both in the last 24 hours. What a whirlwind. While I make myself some coffee and cook up an omelette for breakfast, sign up for my newsletter and I'll share some good news about Kings of Kramwen very soon. www.ianrobertross.com/newsletter/

I count 19 pages left to proofread/line edit.

'The death of a king and the schemes of the power-hungry lure three steadfast friends into a war of succession and the fight for a crumbling capital.' #booksky Crown of Caphedra An epic fantasy (615pp), by Ian Robert Ross. Available in ebook, paperback, and audio. www.amazon.com/Crown-Caphed...