My story, "A Hint of Cinnamon, a Whiff of Mint" is in this, along with a whole bounty of other positive stories, which I think is an excellent way to end the year!

Can confirm: It is silly and fun and surprisingly challenging!

hello, writerly & creative friends! i've been working on an unhinged random title generator. ^-^ features: - 55+ different title structures - 6k+ words in lists! - no gen-AI = endless possibilities for chaos 👀 I hope it inspires you! (or makes you laugh!) perchance.org/sffh-title-g...

I'm so happy this story found a home with TTL! I'm proud of how it turned out, especially that I somehow managed to thread that needle between humor and sadness, which is something I'm still working on mastering (my secondary proudness is wiggling knitting into a story mwahaha).

Nine years ago Mike Fitzgerald wrote up an extraordinarily fascinating breakdown of the differences between the Tom Stoppard shooting script and the original Jeffrey Boam draft of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. It's well worth your time: www.creativescreenwriting.com/indiana-jone...

Well. It's not gonna win any awards, but I've made my first shirt. It's not great. The seams are rough and the collar is all twisted, but it is technically wearable. In my defense, I did accidentally choose hard mode by picking a stretchy knit and deciding to use my Featherweight with a zigzagger.

YESSSSS IT IS TIME TO OBSERVE! I am so excited!

Do you remember?

UGH, FINALLY done with this shawl. It shouldn't have taken this long, but I kept missing on the halfway point (note to self: weigh the yarn next time). I had to rip back to the middle so many times you'd think I was trying to stave off rude houseguests. But it's done and I'm freeeee!

Dessert mode: ACTIVATE! Best Pie: Blackberry Best Ice Cream: Salted caramel Best Doughnut: Boston cream Best Bar: Mint and dark chocolate Best Cake: Chocolate truffle cheesecake Best Other: Chocolate pasticiotti

This is also how science communication works

I have a new story out at @translunartl.bsky.social y.social! It has knitting, and dragons, and grief, and flaming hamburger! translunartravelerslounge.com/2025/08/15/y...

The local farm stand has figs!!! Looks like I've got an impromptu jam session tonight now!

Oh wow, it is! It was inadvertent, but I did in fact have something round and delicious - a blueberry/dark chocolate/white chocolate muffin!

I want ten of these.

Once again I had a fantastic time at @4thstreetfantasy.bsky.social! This continues to be one of the highlights of my year. Seeing old friends, meeting new ones, listening to clever, creative people talk about interesting things, and maybe getting just a liiiittle lost in the book sauce.

As part of my attempts to get better at sewing clothing and my desire for more silly in my life...BEHOLD! PINK AVOPANTS!

And now, a scene of gratuitous violets.

Whew, finally finished this silken monstrosity! It's quite well traveled, having gone with me to MN and Ireland before I realized it was getting too unwieldy to travel and needed to be finished at home. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

It's true!

I keep expecting this strawberry to leap up and run off the counter accompanied by appropriate cartoony sound effects.

Huh, so I am mistaken about the pollen! Apparently a dust cloud plus ash from wildfires traveling out of the southwestern US hit some rain over us last night. That's...not something I expected.

Good grief. I walk outside and the weather is 60F, the dead nettles are blooming, and there's pollen on my car. Spring hasn't sprung, it pounced.

I've started playing this and omg it is FASCINATING. The aesthetic/writing is like a mix of Welcome to Night Vale and Undertale and is managing to hit that sweet spot of weird/creepy/funny/endearing that I adore.

Woohoooo! This is awesome news and I'm thrilled!

Oh man, we just finished watching the first season of Star Trek: Lower Decks and I feel like I want to scream and laugh and cry all at once.

Well, we made it. If you’re reading this, the world hasn’t killed either of us yet, and whatever 2025 may bring, I think that’s worth a fistbump. Good job, y’all.

Painted my nails Sailor Galaxia gold for New Year's. Less about festivity and more about feeling the need to arch my back and puff my tail up to make 2025 think I'm bigger than I actually am so maybe it won't mess with me.

Hm, only got 11 submissions in this year. Kinda a little disappointed in myself on that, but on the up side I should hopefully be able to beat that next year! And if nothing else, it's greater than 0, so that's something.

WELP time for me to start screaming in utter delight. I loved Heaven's Vault and would love a second one!

Yep definitely needed to tweak the water - dropping the ratio to 5 cups water, 2 cups oatmeal got me a much creamier result that was more like what I made in NM. A good reminder that location and equipment matter when cooking!

Interesting (but kinda expected) thing learned: equipment probably has a hand in this too, but slow cooker oatmeal made in a temperate rainforest doesn't cook up the same as slow cooker oatmeal made in a desert. It's muuuuch soggier. Looks like I need to tweak the water in this recipe!

"Butterfly Effect" is by far my favorite piece I've ever drawn. I know I keep sharing it, but I just hope it brings joy when people see it. (Plus I don't have a whole lot of new art to share.) #paleoart #sciart

I'm home after having had an amazing time at the Wayward Wormhole, New Mexico edition! I learned so much and met many amazing people, including classmates @sljohnson.bsky.social @moniqueac.bsky.social and Janet, and instructors @catrambo.bsky.social @arleysorg.bsky.social and Minister Faust!

I saw the Milky Way for the first time last night, having lived my life in urban/suburban areas and can confirm: It is pretty. Dang. Amazing.

In what feels like a very Me-thing to do, I stayed up way too late last night making apple butter and finishing reading a book on archives. On the up side, I have apple butter now!

Old fashioned fudge attempt the second: Improved results! Texture is more fudgy and flavor is good after adjusting the cooling and stirring temperatures. It looks like the surface of an alien planet, though. Also need to use the proper size pan next time so I don't end up with a fudge frisbee.

First attempt at old fashioned fudge: Well, it TASTES good, but texture needs work. Pretty crumbly and hard. It's also clear I need to figure out the optimal cooled temperature so I'm not attempting to stir a tar pit. More experimentation needed!

Finally got around to opening up my learn-to-solder kit, and I did my first soldering project! Still getting the hang of positioning, so one of the LEDs is a bit off. It looks like it's a MASSIVELY dizzy robot. But the eyes light up, so I consider that a win!

Me making peach jam from scratch: "Agh, so much work, gotta blanch, peel, and cut the peaches, and then it takes forever to gel." Me tasting my peach jam from scratch: "OH RIGHT! THAT'S why I go through all that work!" Up side: Waiting for jam to gel is an excellent time to work on draft revisions!

After an excellent time at 4th Street Fantasy meeting many lovely people and seeing old friends I am now HOME and can collapse. I was traveling internationally for work not even a week beforehand so I'm ready to be Not Traveling for a while! Amazing time, my brain is full and my heart is happy!

I had a short story come out today in Worlds of Possibility! This story is about a little dragon and their friends. There's a bunch of awesome stories by amazing authors in it, too! Subscribe or get your single issue here: www.juliarios.com/introducing-...

Is this my longest-ever short story title? Quite possibly! And I have no regrets. ;) You can read my new story now in Worlds of Possibility's June issue: www.juliarios.com/introducing-...

I have a story out today in the latest issue of Worlds of Possibility! "A Hint of Cinnamon, a Whiff of Mint" is about love, and fudge, and secrets, and octopi. I hope everyone enjoys it! Get your copy here: www.patreon.com/juliarios/sh...

For everyone in the totality path tomorrow, I wish you clear skies! I went to Columbia, SC for the 2017 eclipse and it remains one of the top moments of my life. You are in for a treat.

New story day!!! "Deli and the Glamcake Breakout", about a wayward cake on a mission, is in TTL issue 10! I'm super excited to see it out in the world! It started as a strange little snippet in one of @catrambo.bsky.social 's writing games sessions, and ended up taking on a life of its own!

Finally finished my OTHER knitting monstrosity from last year! THIS is what I call a shawl. Not sure what the next big project is, for now I'm gonna swing to the other extreme and work on tiny baby mitts for an incoming baby.

I also managed to read 47 books, which kinda astounds me when I see it laid out like that. I hadn't set a specific reading goal for myself but DANG I almost got to 50!

According to the Submission Grinder I did 18 submissions this year! Not as many as last year and not as many as I'd like, but it's a number greater than 0, so that's gotta count for at least something.

🎵 Oh Chemistree, Oh Chemistree 🎶 How lovely are your beakers. ⚗️