Celebrating 52 years old today. If my life was a deck of cards, I'd be down to just jokers. #OnceMoreAroundTheSun

Looks like a spicy drive home today. #ONStorm

Wait! Shonen Knife is touring with Toad the Wet Sprocket?! But there are no Canadian shows? Damn it.

A good night for 막걸리 and 뽕짝 music. This is the first step in turning my backyard into a full-fledged 포장마차.

Pro-Prologues or Anti-? What say ye #WritingCommunity? There's a bit of backstory I've been planning to write for the last couple of years. It was going to be for a prequel collection of Caphedra short stories but it would be a great lead in to book three, but I'm on the fence about flashbacks.

Sentence fragments. Thoughts?

Looks like our countries will celebrate in tandem this year. While fireworks fly south of the border for Independence Day, up here in Canada we're lauding our nation after weather forced a delay in our Canada Day festivities. To both our countries, long may we prosper, remain free, and live happily.

Raise the sails and haul anchor! This was too much fun not to post here--a photo from Montreal ComicCon, with Epic Cosplay Expérience, who were the group that created the awesome viking photos I posted couple of years back. (All done through donation.) #SetSail it's #APirateLifeForMe #Cosplay

Just saying, that short story is finally edited. Now on to having a read through for a couple short works by another good writing friend. (Although it's sunny and I have the day off, so backyard chores are calling.) #writerlife

I must say, Mother Nature gave us quite a show for Canada Day. Just as I thought another tempest was barrelling down on us, we were treated to skies like this in Kanata. Happy birthday, Canada. #CanadaDay #DominionDay #OhCanada #Ottawa

And another round of storm... Gotta get my burgers done.

Street's all flooded. Although, by the looks of some photos on the internet, the 417 is nearly submerged in places. #ONStorm

Celebrating our national day in the most Canadian way possible, by listening to the CBC on a battery-powered radio by candlelight because the power's out. I might even light up the kerosene stove later to melt chocolate for Nanaimo bars as another thunder squall passes through Ottawa. #CanadaDay

Stormy out there. Lost power a couple of times but just blips. What's next, Ottawa? What more weather does Canada Day have in store? Still hoping there will be a more festive kind of fireworks tonight. #ONStorm #Kanata

Looks like nasty weather coming to Kanata. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned the word 'derecho' earlier. #ONStorm

Everyone needs time to recharge. This is as close to glamping as you can get in a minivan. Testing the solar panels for an EcoFlow River 2 I impulse bought last year (77W now.) Also added a tiny solar-charged vintage-style radio with shortwave for the full prepper effect. #HotAuthorSummer #offgrid

Feels like I get to go camping only once in a blue moon. Well, that might be right since I am next to a campfire under the pleine lune tonight at Camping Lac St. Georges in Quebec.

Seems kind of desperate--am I'm up for a part in the new series? Nah. Just another scammer. I had three emails last week from "Stephen King" but this is a record. Note, I get double those here, because they send to both my writing and marketing accounts. Not blurring the name; it's not real anyway.

I know Ottawa seems more spread out than Toronto, but this is ridiculous: Toronto covers 630 sq km with 4334 people per, while Ottawa sprawls over 2778 sq km with 334 people per sq km. Toronto outmeasures Ottawa by a factor of 13 to 1. Wow. #CanadianTrivia #CanadianGeography

How am I still only on page 6 of 15, editing this story?!

Go Canada! Match ended 6-0 over Qatar. We got a bit of a breather in our before going for the double header, with South Korea about to play Mexico. #WorldCup2026

Keep bringing that sunshine.

Slightly under the influence, I spend half an hour explaining to my youngest why I love structure in poetry. She asks me, "Is this why you like Eminem?" Yes dear, it is.

I've been quite negative on AI, but damned if Google's algorithm isn't pretty damn good at choosing a playlist based on mood... youtu.be/ILWSp0m9G2U?...

Part of me still has this anticipation that the giant arch at the White House is actually a cover for constructing a real life stargate. I'm not sure which is harder to believe: alien disclosure is imminent, or they're actually resurrecting gladiators, bread and circuses. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Savouring a dilemma over morning coffee: Should I indulge myself and include one more point-of-view character? My plot outline says I can manage without, but I love the character and it'd be fun to get in their head. They have a key mission in the book that will otherwise happen off-camera. #writing

Didn't hate myself enough to get up mega early this morning, albeit I would have likely started into the third book of my planned trilogy if I had. Most of the opening chapter's key points are swirling around in my head; I just need to seize them and line 'em up. #amwritingfantasy #writingcommunity

Give a honk! If any of you other Canuck authors and writers are using Gander, come find me there too! #indieauthor #canlit #booksky #amwritingfantasy #writingcommunity gander.social/profile/ianr...

Should be working on a short story but that third book do be callin'... #amwriting #indieauthor #writingcommunity

I just heard a cover of a Fleetwood Mac song by Tori Amos and I feel like I've unlocked an ancient sidequest and my world is changed.

First time trying a Toronto cocktail, which is why I picked up some Fernet-Branca to go with the Forty Creek whisky. I didn't use maple syrup this time but will try it in the next one. #SaturdayNight #KanaturdayNight

Should be writing. Should be editing. Does any of that stuff ring a bell?

Any Canadian writers on here, hit me up on Gander at @ianrobertross.gander.social. I am trying to build my flock, or feather my nest, or whatever the lingo is. #IndieWriters #CanLit

Gazebo fare. First meal in the new gazebo with the charcoal barbecue: barbecued pork shoulder and tenderloin, roasted root vegies with eggplant and mushrooms.

Going through my annual reminder of how, during a certain portion of my life back in the preceeding century, about 80% of the people I hung out with were Geminis♊ ...and more than half were regulars at the Grad House at Dalhousie University. Happy collective birthday to you all. #astrology #zodiac

Book Three... looks like I can do it in 46 chapters, so I estimate it will be just a smidge bigger than Crown of Caphedra. Remind me of this post to see how close I was once the book is completed. #AmWritingFantasy #WritingCommunity #EpicFantasy

First heat warning of the year for Ontario. Happy Victoria Day. If you want me, I'll be reading in the shade of my most literary gazebo.

SPFBO XI update! Very happy to say Crown of Caphedra is selected by its reviewer as a semi-finalist! The contest has truly wonderful novels, so this is great news. Finalists will be confirmed in a few weeks. #IndieAuthor #Fantasy #FantasyAuthor #FantasyBooks #BookSky www.tiktok.com/@talis.libra...

Had a great afternoon at the Stittsville Book Fair. Thanks to all who came out and who support local authors! It was well attended and a very enjoyable event. #WritingCommunity #IndieAuthor

This spam email started my day with a laugh: "We help authors produce professionally narrated audiobooks with real human voices... Your books would likely be around 4 finished hours in audio format." My book is over 20 hours recorded. I could only imagine the voice that squeezes it into four hours.

If you are following SPFBO XI this year, you may remember that my novel is one of the 300 titles in the running. The judge assigned is dark fantasy/horror Booktok reviewer Tali's Library, and she just posted here review of Crown of Caphedra. Watch it here! www.tiktok.com/@talis.libra...

New chill space is sorted after a weekend of waterproofing the deck, another weekend setting up the gazebo, and serveral more days getting the extras sorted. I plan to do a LOT of writing here this summer. #CreativeSpace

Alright. I think I can rest (reasonably) assured that I have yet to watch/listen to every artifically grainy, accoustic cover version that exists of 'Nights in White Satin' by the Moody Blues on YouTube. I keep finding more, but I guess I should save some for the weekend, right? Okay, time for bed.

New creative space taking shape in the backyard. I have a big weekend ahead assembling and outfitting to make it nice retreat from all the distractions. #WriterLife #WritingCommunity #BackyardSpaces #SerenityNow

Good bit of advice to follow from now on: When ordering author copies from Amazon, do it in even numbers--or better yet multiples of four. That way they're shipped in a box. Of those I just received, the odd book from each shipment ended up damaged and having to be returned. #writingcommunity

I finally got that short story done last night. Standalone non-adventuring fantasy piece. Perhaps, it needs some more fleshing out, and maybe I need to wind up the tension too, but it finished at a tidy 4k words so I have room. ❤️🧙‍♂️⚔️ #AmWritingFantasy 🪐📚💙

Just like that, I am worldbuilding again. Magic system and cosmology/creation myth now; politics soonish. #amwriting #sff #booksky #amwritingfantasy

Can someone explain Instagram to me? How can 100% of my views be from followers, but non-followers make up 27% of my engagement?

Woohoo... I have bookmarks!

Too early in the week to feel this worn out. But how are you doing?