Thread a friend reminded me of. Apparently the wall calendar market is DIRE.

Okay so Rhystic Studies made me fucking cry (in the good way) at 3pm on a Thursday! www.youtube.com/live/qsdJ2Fv...

the only way you are going to push back against slop is by showing up for real artists. share their posts, buy their art, hire them for commissions, listen to their songs, buy their books etc.

Today reminded me that conrunning is sometimes just a *grind* of sitting in front of a computer screen for hours while the cat tries to push it off my lap.

This is how I'm feeling about my programming track at LAcon right now:

One of my favorite people has a rare skillset in leftist land and could maybe be useful to you...

So I’m experiencing rather serious financial difficulties from medical bills and…capitalism and I would love to not have to declare bankruptcy or do a gofundme which seem like the only way out right now but maybe if everyone bought some shirts or signed up for Patreon? Signal boosts appreciated🖤🦷

IMO, learning about non-Western craft traditions and styles can open our mind in terms of how we view and understand aesthetics. Many places have great traditions; they are just not covered enough in Western European and North American media.

Today has been a frustrating day of trying to start tasks and running into roadblocks. "Let's ship out this online order! Oh? USPS online payment processing is glitching? Awesome." "Let's print labels for another project! Oh? The label printer needs charging & the cord isn't in the box? Fantastic."

"Cost of living crisis" is actually a really tame way to put it. Blaming "costs" (set by whom?) kind of makes the problem more abstract, a matter of bad accounting. "Crisis of rising poverty due to wealth hoarding and devaluing labor" is more accurate.

"Civility" says "this man is anointed as one of us and therefore must be accorded a courtesy that he will never extend, and in fact is explicitly arguing must not be extended, to people who are not part of the in group."

I make such large batches of dictionary pendants in part bc they're easier to do assembly-line style. But also, I never know how the acrylic will interact with the paper and the patina of the frames (before acrylic application and after):

Regardless of whether this is a good app or not, I generally believe the desire to complain about this place not giving you the same feelings as Twitter in 2015 or whatever is pretty much exactly like being nostalgic for high school

In other news, I'm absolutely enthralled by these videos of luxury packaging creation: www.instagram.com/meuxodoo_

Several months ago, I put a project (book purses) on pause bc I tried something new and it was coming out weird and I was frustrated. Today I came back to it and it looks MOSTLY FINE and it took 5 min to fix the little details that bugged me. Why am I like this.

As a science fiction writer I really fucking resent tech bros for ruining the phrase "artificial intelligence." 80 years of it being all about cool androids and interesting computers destroyed by five years of "Spicy autocorrect making everything shittier for money." NEVER FORGIVE.

as i keep saying: they are operating under the logic of colonizers and rapists

I am extremely not anti-taxation for social programs. I am looking down the barrel of an authoritarian government that is kidnapping people off the streets and holding them in concentration camps without due process of law.

Was reading through this again and I keep coming back to a specific point these days: You say sure, some chatbots are bad, but Claude is really good for coding! Is it good enough? Is it good enough to justify the real harms this technology is doing? Is that acceptable? tante.cc/2026/04/21/a...

Time for my annual offer! If you're attending the #HugoAwards as a nominee & want a pretty custom necklace for the event for FREE, DM me! I specialize in celestial, nerdy, & witchy themes but love new challenges! I'm size & gender inclusive, & just want you to feel special on your big day!

Got myself a little shipping label printer from phomemo.com and it works like a DREAM. (My wife got me one of their little label printers a few years back for my birthday and I liked it well enough to stick with the same brand.)

on my birthday I took to the newsletter to write about the AI commencement address backlash, and how growing anger at AI is now irreversibly tethered to justified rage at the extraction class -- whether AI boosters like it or not

If you're attending @wiscon.bsky.social this weekend, check the art show for an exclusive coupon code for anything in my shop! samhainpress.com/shop

👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

Not NICHE but: I still mourn TWoP. I was never on the forums, but dang the recaps were great!

Difficult post, but past time to rip the band aid off. FIYAH is going on hiatus indefinitely, with issue #40 currently set to be our last for the time being. The mag cannot continue running at a loss, and needs time to reassess operations from top to bottom if a viable path forward is to be created.

The fun thing about dictionary pendants is that the weirder the image, the more likely it will sell. The guillotine and the anatomical diagrams will probably sell faster than the pretty profile or the seahorse:

The face of a NAUGHTY GREMLIN who just TRIED TO ESCAPE out the back door:

I've mostly updated my online shop with the current stock of terrarium pendants (pictured) & dictionary pendants, though I really should condense the listings to make them less unwieldy. But that would mean basically creating brand new photos/listings and #WisCon is THIS WEEKEND (tomorrow!), ope.

Do you know what tomorrow is!!!!!! It's time!!!! WisCon 48, a feminist inclusive SFF convention, starts 5/21! Are you excited? I'm excited. We are all excited here! Register today - there's a sliding scale fee! #WisCon #WomeninSFF #Feminist #Onlineconvention #Sciencefictionandfantasy

My kingdom for a tech ecosystem that will stop smothering me with apps and devices that constantly try to engage me in conversation against my will

Last of these bracelets are now live on my website! Next up: Terrarium and dictionary pendant updates! samhainpress.com/shop

9/16 of these new bracelets are now live on my website! samhainpress.com/shop

Have finished listing all my new necklaces and I'm on to bracelets!

Have an electrician in today to swap out some fixtures (I'm firmly of the belief that no matter how easy it seems, electrical work should be done by a pro in a house this old) & to look at the funky lighting in the kitchen. He looked at the latter and went ".....huh" which is always a good sign lol.

Realized my stock is in okay shape for online sales but shockingly depleted for the multi-day Pride market I have next month, augh. Guess who's making more jewelry, AND SOON!?

Updating my inventory today - fixing prices/tags and relisting items at my shop! Samhainpress.con/shop

I've been on dates with people who were rude to servers and other restaurant workers. There was no second date.

Really wish global warming hadn't increased the number of tornado warnings in our area (among everything else)...

Dev Patel.

Did I lay down to take a nap? Yes. Did I actually sleep? No. Am I more tired now than I was before the attempt? Yes. That's the opposite of how this should work!!

Am at a Mother's Day market today and the number of older ladies going "COOL! BUG JEWELRY!" is giving me LIFE.

If anyone nominated for a #HugoAward wants some jewelry, my offer is still open!

A lawn care company rep knocked on our door and I was immediately like "No thank you." Dude: "No? I just saw all the weeds and thought..." [gestures to our many, many blooming dandelions] Me: No, we like the sunshine! Dude: ....all right, then.

Sun-dappled baby:

single greatest boost to collective mental health the world has ever seen

my take on the met gala. 1. supports the costume institute (MMoA). it’s art. 2. it’s always been excessive. it’s high fashion. i like fashion. it’s ok to enjoy it, if that’s your thing. 3. protests being staged around the event? super good w that. gets eyeballs on issues. hell yes! also:fuck bezos

Cat behaved during her vet visit and was called "adorable" and "perfect," so I'm getting a good grade in Pet Owner, which is normal to want and possible to achieve!