Aggressive friendliness works every time.

Me: *looks out the window* It's rainy fall weather! Me: *walks outside* oh no. what is this 80 degree jungle air?

My monitor finally died today, four years and change after being dropped in the parking lot of a public library.

The world: Rainy and lovely The music: Calming classical The Word document: YOU WANT TO LINK TO THIS BOOKMARK? I WILL END YOU!

I have smashed The plum Flavored lacroixs That were in The cooler Hell yeah brother The dudes They do rock

This is my favorite thing I've read this week.

Forgot to make cold coffee so I'm on my second cup of tea this morning and it is not helping me.

My sinuses are very unhappy today.

IT IS THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX

I got decaf black tea (Paris from Harney & Sons) and it is literally keeping me alive this week.

I am sick. I am not surprised that I am sick. That's what happens when your baby has a cold and you're carrying around as much stress as I have been carrying. Everyone should be aware, however, that I am grumpy about it and kind of an asshole today apparently.

Me: As soon as I catch up on sleep it's over for you hoes You hoes: [blissfully unconcerned, knowing I will never catch up on sleep]

I couldn't stand to do edits so I have emailed people to figure out a calendar for meetings three months from now, is that productivity?

Horror folks, it's the middle of September, and the Stoker Recommended Reading List is looking extremely small. If you're a member of the HWA, go recommend something you've read that you loved! horror.org/awards/curre...

All things are possible but it is possible also that I am going to lose my mind before I finish this project.

Ngl y'all, I have found the bottom of my barrel and I live there now.

As a follow up to the last three posts: if you are waiting on things from me, my sincerest apologies. I have been working desperately towards a work deadline this month, the toddler is not sleeping, and my brain is literally melting out of my ears.

The S.O. and I went out tonight. It was kind of a work thing, but I count it as going out because there was vinho verde and I didn't get home until the late late hour of 9:45. I can be a human and a parent!

Ladies, gents, and folks nonconforming: we are about to enter the climax arc of this book!!! 😳

AITA? Kidnapped my wife's girlfriend after she murdered my best friend with unnatural powers. #HorrorWritersChat

Also I published a blogpost today about a lot of thoughts on my relationship with writing. Largely personal and meandering.

Lo, verily, I have written.

Just an FYI for people who may be new to the book banning stuff, when your books are banned it does not mean you’re on “the right side.” It means that your art (and probably you too) is being targeted by right wing extremists for erasure. It means you are being silenced. It’s NOT GOOD.

This conversation about marketing and traditional publishing and authors is worth reading if you don’t know what the utterly ridiculous expectations that are put on authors:

I've been thinking about the core theme of Arrival recently, which is not "wow cool alien languages can make you functionally able to time travel" (that's an idea, not the theme) but "how does one find joy despite knowing the future loss & devastation that will inevitably make a nest in your life."

Reupping from last night: The judge rejected the big Anthropic settlement for now.

Another must-read thread by @courtneymilan.com on understanding the legal issues surrounding the Anthropic settlement.

Re: that last post, I want to note that there are a lot of kinds of invisible differences on the author playing field, and it's really not a great idea to compare yourself to others and just assume you're somehow not organized enough. Some examples: (thread)

Thread! Every author I know with an assistant finds it really useful. (And one day, maybe when my kids are adults and financially self-sufficient, I would love to try that, too!)

This would still include literally dozens of my works (meaning basically everything I've had published before July 2022, plus possibly foreign translations of said works), so, yeah, let's keep going then www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

ARTICLE: They revoked his license plate as profanity. THE LICENSE PLATE: FTP&ATF ME: *Literally spends ten minutes googling trying to figure out what it means* I am an old.

Look, is anyone else looking at all this and wondering how safe it is to be a writer? Not just if it's economically viable. But how safe you are as a writer and an artist? Is it just me?

I know I have to get back to submitting and I also know that

12 days of not writing on the #WIP because of general burnout and I finally clocked some words tonight in part because I just gave up on writing anything good.

Once more I hit my Friday afternoon wall. Once more there is over an hour of work left to do.

I need to work late. I also need a snack. Which of these needs will win?

I have figured out over the past year that I am allergic to technology. Why do we need to do it differently when it is all working fine? (I am not allergic to actual innovations in systems stuff, just all the little "new versions" of files/file management/subscriptions, etc.)

Tag yourself, I'm the small idiot with a big stupid weapon.

Because I have spent all my brain power on dayjob projects this month, I am very behind on my writing goals. This is the opposite of my usual outcomes for August - I usually get super inspired by being alive for yet another year and double my wordcount.

Thread.

I have finished another chapter of my dayjob doom project, meaning that I now have 115 pages out of somewhere in the ballpark of 250 completed. A lot of it is tables. Probably.

Sometimes you just have to listen to Missy to survive the afternoon.

Putting my toddler's floor puzzle of a dragon invasion together for the 1000th time. Today his favorite dragon is the blue dragon.

I have to figure out the unwholesome history of these two immortals and my brain is not willing to create a mythology.

Gentle reader, even as you comfort yourself that reason must prevail, you wake, and realise you are the girl, wearing a raincoat and a feathered mask, and running from a house in summer.

Hope everyone is having a lovely WorldCon and associated festivities!

"jury nullification" is a thing anyone can do an internet search for if they happen to have an interest in doing such a thing

Kicked off birthday week with the family July-August birthday celebration, featuring the birthdays of my spouse, my brother-in-law, my niece, and yours truly. Featuring also my father-in-law's eggplant parmesan. I got yoga classes. My niece got A Dowry of Blood and we had a great convo about vamps.

This is a great book!

The best description of a good oatmeal cookie I have ever read.