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...

Apparently our patio door is now a drive-thru restaurant. Depicted here, the food chain: with a fledgling robin; it's mama; and our recently acquired (indoor only) apex predator.

Happy Canada Day from Kanata! 🇨🇦

Happy Canada Day! Celebrating by christening my new grill. Missed my old BBQ. Charcoal's great but wanted the added flexibility of propane. Net loss of one burner, but they don't make my old model anymore.

"Northwesternmost" seems like a simple, yet absurdly long word. Definitely a Scrabble play and a half. Musing on it while I procrastinate during proofreading. #amwritingfantasy

Evening stroll through the marsh path. #Kanata

Last day to pack lunches and get the kids up for school. For the foreseeable future, early morning is all me from here on...

So today's going to be the real scorcher, eh?

Very pleased to have been introduced to more of Bluesky's writing community this weekend. Happy to meet you all!

I've had some feeds selected, but never really used starter lists. I know I should really build connections here, given Bluesky has fastly become the most authentic human-focused platform. If I pop up in your follows, say hello :)

@eliseswritings.bsky.social Hi Elise, how might I go about being added to your Fantasy Writers list?

A note to say last month's newsletter about Plotting (and how that might evolve and expand, based on my experience) is now linked to on my website, along with previous issues. #amwritingfantasy Sign up now to get June sent to your email at the end of the month. www.ianrobertross.com/newsletter/

Set a reminder for four months from now. I want to dress up as an em-dash for Hallowe'en. A lot of you might find it terrifying, I expect. ;)

My wife has declared war on the chipmunks who have taken over our front step and who are now sending expeditions to conquer the space under our backyard deck. Today, she called me to come quickly to see. Like something from a rodent end times prophecy, an albino chipmunk appeared. I'm a bit worried.

Just under eighty pages to go for proofreading and the second draft of Kings of Kramwen will be ready to be sent out for beta reading and outside editing. Still weighing the outcome of a couple of characters. They're not all out of the woods yet. #amwritingfantasy

Cute, but the more time I spent solving this, the less time I am putting into getting my current WIP completed! #procrastination

It's #Caturday... Here's our little goblin. She's taken to wrapping herself up in the drapes when looking out at the front yard, but all that neighbourhood surveilling seems to tucker her out mightily. #catsofbsky #kittens #cats #catsofbluesky

Gotta get some work done. Need motivation and a pick-me-up that isn't a Saturday morning piece of chocolate cake. Seriously, what do skinny people do?