I had the morning off of ‘mom-duty’ because of appointments. I told my sister S I’d be there by noon definitely, but would try to get there earlier, just so I didn’t have to rush. I got there around 11:30am.

I had a chiropractic appointment this morning (to go over results of last week’s tests and an adjustment) followed by a pedicure (I cancelled the last appointment because mom was still in the hospital so I really need it as I have an ingrown toe nail issue that needs addressing almost every visit). I chose a pretty lilac purple for my toes. I also got in a walk around the park.

I was also relieved early because my one sister has ‘summer hours’ and gets out early, and since she wasn’t staying the night, she bridged me and our other sister. I was home early enough to grill baby back ribs for Pip’s supper (saving the frozen GF pizza for another night). I also did a load of laundry, emptied the dishwasher, hand-washed dishes, and scooped kitty litter.

I started the second Lily Adler book, watched an HGTV program, and showered.

Temps started out at 66.7(F) and reached 84.4 that I saw. It was beautiful today, hot but not humid and there was a lovely breeze. A perfect day, really.


Mom Update:

Mom was up and sitting at the table with my sister, who was putting together a puzzle, when I got there. Mom didn’t seem that interested in the puzzle, but she was eating a yogurt. She later got on her tablet and then ate some rice krispies. I turned on Matlock while I was eating lunch, but it was a bust because it was two eps that my mom didn't like to watch (with Matlock being locked inside a prison to solve a crime).

I asked my sister S about scheduling for Friday and she was like, I can barely think about Thursday. *rolls eyes* I told my sister A (can't recall if I mentioned it to S) that I want to have a meal free to cook something for the holiday, either lunch or supper. I'm happy to spend the day there as long as I can get off early enough to grill (and it better not rain). We'll see what happens.

Before I get into it, just wanted to say I made it back to Pittsburgh for the rest of the summer (in theory)




Challenge #1

Journaling Prompt: Light up your journal with activity this month. Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025.
Creative Prompt: Shine a light on your own creativity. Create anything you want (an image, an icon, a story, a poem, or a craft) and share it with your community.. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

For July I have two open calls I want to write stories for. And I have two wipbigbang stories I must finish and I do need to work on my fandomtrumpshate story. In the meantime I'm working on some story that bit me yesterday. In fact on the 4 hour trip today five stories were trying to take dominance in my brain as I drove.

My other goals are to see some of the sites I've been trying to get to for years. It doesn't look good. Sigh. No one cares what my work goals are (including me if I'm honest)

I DO have something I'm proud of. Two somethings that I spent most of June working on. Both are from the Hazbin Hotel fandom (so mind the tags, this is the most violent musical animated comedy ever I swear)

Dandelions This is my unconventionalcourtship story. I am very proud of how this one turned out and have gotten some nice comments about.


The Power Play series is something I created for the getyourwordsout Yahtzee challenge. I am a little disappointed at how much this is flying under the radar. That said, I think it's a very good one that I enjoyed doing.



I'm going to break the book report into two days because I'm hot, tired and cranky. (and that story wants me to get back to it)

What I Just Finished Reading:

Dark Entry - a short suspense/horror novel I got last year, not bad but predictable

Verses for the Dead - a pendergast novel from Preston & Childe. enjoyed it but the ending was too hollywood

Chasing Evil - this is written by an FBI agent (ex) and his professional relationship with psychic John Edward (wish there had been chapters by John too)



What I am Currently Reading:

Kill You Twice - a pretty graphic (i don't mind) police procedural but it's a tad soap opera for me

I Need You To Read This - an arc of an advice columnist trying to solve the murder of the woman she's replacing. It has a neat cover, sleek red with the title as keyboard keys but they're tactile.

War Child - a Deep Space Nine Novel

Pantomine - an LGBT (intersexed main character) fantasy



What I Plan to Read Next: something for popsugar

Off on holiday from tomorrow, back Monday, probably will be a bit sporadic on here in terms of comments and not posting, so will catch up properly when I get back!

Challenge #1

Journaling Prompt: Light up your journal with activity this month. Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025.
Creative Prompt: Shine a light on your own creativity. Create anything you want (an image, an icon, a story, a poem, or a craft) and share it with your community.

For me I think it's going to be easier to set myself some goals for the second half of the year, rather than focusing on July, bearing in mind that my July involves two trips during which I'll be less online. So, I'll start with finally finishing that Dark series that I started at the tail end of 2023 and then got stuck on because I keep being drawn back to the conclusion that I wanted to avoid (brief spoiler-lite context: once I had more of an understanding of the timelines of this show, I understood that giving this character his happy ending just wasn't possible). I also would quite like to do something with a School Spirits plot bunny that could turn into a series (bit complicated to explain if you didn't watch season 2). And I also keep saying I'll go back to Lost's "Sun went back to 1977" series which I haven't touched since 2010 (Smokey McSmokeFace, that one's on you. Well, technically the writers, for going in the direction that I was not okay with.)

I'm getting the to-watch list down a bit, but still going to keep that one (I find that easier when I'm properly able to focus, meaning NOT in the middle of a heatwave which for some reason seemed to hit me harder the last two days even more so than 2022 did and left me not feeling like doing anything much. In that state, I can handle old favourites I'm familiar with, but not so good with something fairly new to me.

Ever since Isabella and Isla presented me with a Make Your Own Luna Lovegood crochet kit for Christmas (and that was 2022, so it's been a while) and I didn't like to admit that I'm clueless about it, I've thought I should get round to starting. Maybe this will be the year I get round to it.


I may not do both prompts all the way through, but here's a creative response:

Title: But I Still Need Love 'Cause I'm Just A Man
Fandom: School Spirits
Characters: Wally
Pairing: Wally/Maddie
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers all the way through Season 2
Summary: Wally knows he couldn't expect Maddie to stay with him; he envisions how she could have ended up resenting him if she'd chosen to remain a ghost to be with him, but also can't regret that he's spoken up about what he wants for once.

( Read more... )

Each year thousands of tourists visit the huge, prehistoric stones, marveling at their awesome size and mystery. Then one group came not to marvel but to resurrect the dark primal magic of Druid horror; to call up the unholy power that had once reigned supreme; to loose its terrifying occult power again on an unsuspecting world. They called themselves The Conjurers.

Harris is a good writer; I truly enjoyed The Portent. But she has the unfortunate habit of often leaving too much unexplained. The characters don’t ask the questions that most people would ask, do things that you can’t help but wonder what the hell they’re thinking.

This is especially true of the main character, Easter Mulraven. Her husband mysteriously disappeared years before. Her parents are dead. Lonely, she starts taking in the young people who wander into the village. She asks nothing about them; seems to be under the spell of one particularly striking young man. But the people of the village want them gone. They won’t really tell her why, other than a rather odd warning “they’re evil.”

There are some truly gruesome and terrifying events that take place, but since everyone talks, and thinks, in riddles, it’s hard to figure what exactly is going on. I’m still not totally sure.





( Mount TBR 2025 Book Links 1-25 )

26. Lost and Found by Marilyn Harris
27. Strange Weather: Four Short Novels by Joe Hill
28. Three Wild Dogs by Markus Zusak
29. Full Throttle by Joe Hill
30. Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next #2) by Jasper Fforde
31. Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky
32. Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King
33. Pearly Everlasting by Tammy Armstrong
34. The Women of Troy (Women of Troy #2) by Pat Barker
35. The Conjurers by Marilyn Harris







Written by a female author
1. The Conjurers by Marilyn Harris

I finished five books this week! That's what happens when you spend the days at your mom's and have so much time to read.


What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: The Ape Who Guards the Balance (An Amelia Peabody Mystery) by Elizabeth Peters, The Prince and the Apocalypse by Kara McDowell, Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells, Where Memories Lie (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) by Deborah Crombie, and All Mortal Flesh (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) by Julia Spencer-Fleming.


What I am Currently Reading: I haven’t had time to start another book, but my plan is for it to be the second Lily Adler book.


What I Plan to Read Next: I have the next Amelia Peabody at the library, so probably that one.

---

Book 48 of 2025: The Ape Who Guards the Balance (An Amelia Peabody Mystery) (Elizabeth Peters)

It was slow-going getting into this book, but once I did I really enjoyed it. ( spoilers )

I enjoyed this book and have requested the next. I'm giving this book four hearts only because of how difficult it was to get into.

♥♥♥♥

---

Book 49 of 2025: The Prince and the Apocalypse (Kara McDowell)

This was so good! I can't recall who posted about this book, but thank you! ( spoilers )

I highly enjoyed this book and have already requested the next from my library. I'm giving this one five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥

---

Book 50 of 2025: Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries) (Martha Wells)

I really enjoyed this! Though I'm glad I was warned to read it out of order as it would have been weird to read this one then System Collapse. ( spoilers )

I enjoyed this book and can't wait for the next one to be released. (I heard there *is* a new one coming out, but I haven't seen a release date for it.) I'm giving this one five hearts. And have the urge to re-read the entire series.

♥♥♥♥♥

---

Book 51 of 2025: Where Memories Lie (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) (Deborah Crombie)

I really enjoyed this book! ( spoilers )

This book was very good and I'm giving it five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥

---

Book 52 of 2025: All Mortal Flesh (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) (Julia Spencer-Fleming)

This book was so good! ( spoilers )

I really enjoyed this and look forward to reading the next in the series. I'm giving this one five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥

I was at mom’s by 6:45am so I didn't have much time to get things done before I left. I did manage to fold a load of laundry, hand-wash some dishes, cut up chicken for the dogs’ meals, scoop kitty litter, pack my own lunch, and dropped Grant at the garage. Whew!

My sister called to tell me she got out of work at 2:30pm and could relieve me early, so I was able to get home in time to actually cook supper! I planned to grill something, but it started to pour the moment I got inside the house, so instead I got sauce out of the freezer to defrost and we had spaghetti. I also baked chicken for the dogs, did the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, and did a load in the dishwasher.

I started and finished reading the next Clare Fergusson book and watched the rest of the Hannah Swensen movie.

Temps started out at 72.1(F) and it was only 73 when I got home ~3pm since the storm was moving in, but it had to have broken 80.


Mom Update:

In mom’s own words, today she was ‘whooped’! ( more back here )

That's fun. Woke up this morning to find no pillows on the bed. That was how this day was going to go. I didn't clean nearly anything again but it is what it is.

I got into the two mouse drawers. I still don't know what the hell they were in there for. I'm glad I got new organizers because it was a wash in there (and now I realize that all the pantry drawers on the bottom need to be cleaned out too but that's a problem for future Dana. (and given how exhausted current Dana is, she had better have another hemoglobin test)

I threw out most everything but the stainless steel utensils. they went into bleach water and I'm taking it to the parentals after this because they have a hot water tank that gives more than luke warm water and a dishwasher and I promise you if the autoclave wasn't acting hinky at the end of the semester I'd have taken the spoons and forks with me and autoclaved their ass.

Got another story rejections. Ah well.

I forgot to mention yesterday I went into the Shoe Dept on a whim. I keep forgetting this Chillicothe store and they had the perfect sketchers (which shockingly worked for me. I just hope they're good for standing in long term. So far I've not been too impressed with Sketchers) Anyhow they were 50% off and it was also the last day of my birthday discount. Got them for under 30 so can't complain.


What I did do today: write like a maniac (like 10 pages worth) on a story I have no business working on now but it ain't gonna let me go so trying to get it all out of me. My biggest question, why do I always write nothing but oral sex for these two. I mean really?

And for the Sherlock fans on my list kingstoken is running a Watson Birthday prompt fest. You can find it here. if you'd like to take part


Hey fannish 50 time and I'm taking a week's break from the ladies of fandom but before I even get into that, did anyone watch Peacemaker? I really only knew about it from one of fan artist faves art and a vague idea from Suicide Squad (I was never much of a DC girl) . Anyhow, it's now running on AMC so I recorded S1E1 and as much as I like John Cena (don't even get me started on my 80s era wrestling fetish) this was...the most mean spirited thing I've seen in forever. Does it get better? Couldn't even really enjoy Cena in his tightie whities thanks to the crap they had him spewing.



Okay so what AM I going to do with fannish 50? Music analysis. It's not surprise I love music. I. love. music. I have countless movie soundtracks (probably more of them than I have actual movies). I was in band since 4th grade. Choir until it was obvious I can't sing. Was in multiple bands in college (even played for Bush the first's inaugural festivities)

That said I think the first time I ever really thought about really analyzing music and its use in fandoms was with the Buffy episode The Body where there was NO music and you could see a) how used we are to having musical cues b) how creepy it was without it.

Back in Prodigal Son's hey day one of my Pson friends was a music/film teacher and she did deep dives on each episodes which you can see here. Angie's dissection of the music (and more) was great (and often funny with the memes).

Now I've ben sharing fan musicians efforts for a lot but nothing more. I am not huge into reaction videos (I don't get why they're so popular) unless they have a different slant, such as the psychologist who is going into the psychology of the characters and now, musical analysis by music professionals. There are a few out there but I found myself drawn to Peter Barber, an opera tenor (I oddly have three friends who are former opera singers)

He does a good job with Hazbin Hotel (and I hope he branches out) Strangely enough he didn't watch the show at first but went back and is now hooked on it so he has context. If you like this thing, check him out (also he's not wrong about Keith David's voice. Husk's voice is pure sex, damn, love those bass voices)





And Peter covered Loser Baby. Him I like, his partner for this a little less so.

Murderbot: Good ep. ( spoilers )


Resident Alien: Good ep. ( spoilers )

More big activity this month as the renovation continues. A very busy and stressful month!

5. Read Vorkosigan series
Thanks to friends, I was able to find an ereader app that works on my tablet and then sent the books I am missing to me, so I could read again, yay! Thank you, spiffikins and mrlnpndrgn!

Read Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance and Flowers of Vashnoi. Ivan and Ekaterin get their own books!!

28. Weight monitoring
This was depressing, although not unexpected. Still stress eating, still gaining weight. Must find the discipline again. I don’t feel anywhere near as good as I did before gaining, although stress is likely a big part of that.

29. BMI monitoring
We all know what happens when you gain weight. The BMI goes up. *sigh*

33. Semi-annual checkup with PCP
Not nearly as bad as I’d feared, despite the weight gain. The visit was cordial and he was kind and sympathetic about all my stress issues and didn’t lecture me on the weight gain. Most of the labs were way better than expected.

35. Tracking A1c to keep under 7
Honestly, I was shocked that my A1c came in at 6.6. It’s a far cry from the previous 5.7 but I’ll take it, and at least it remains under 7.

67. Replace damaged closet door in middle bedroom.
I had thought to replace two doors in that room but the entry door was salvageable. The closet door was purchased, painted and installed. I have a new handle but someone needs to drill a hole in the door so it can be installed.

69. Replace damaged subflooring at stairway landing
Done! Also ended up replacing a few pieces of subflooring in the upstairs family room – most likely pet damage from previous years.

71. Renovate upstairs bathroom
This part of the job was seriously noisy but the room was gutted at long last. All the tiling is done as well – the shower and the flooring, with plumbing rough-ins. The old hanging fluorescent light in the bathroom has been removed and a nice clean can light installed. Still waiting on a few things to be done, but the main bones are there now.

73. Repair damaged wall areas in upstairs rooms
Lots of remudding work involved on the ceilings and walls. Quite the lengthy process – mudding, sanding, remudding, more sanding. So much dust! The A/C got so clogged it stopped working. I’m changing filters every couple days at this point to get rid of lingering dust.

74. Paint ceiling, walls and trim upstairs
The upstairs painting has been completed, and as I said elsewhere, the white on white effect is underwhelming to me, but at least it is done and is fresh, clean and the rooms upstairs are now flooded with light.

This wasn’t a separate item in my list, but the electrical work is also completed upstairs. Those horrid old fluorescent lights in the ceiling have been replaced by snazzy new can lights, 6 in the family room, 1 in each closet and 4 in the bedroom. Oh, and one in the bathroom. Let there be light!!

92. Curate book collection
Done and done! I did go through my final selections and decided to keep all of them. I’ve kept around 50 books, just those I tend to read over and over.

I arrived at mom’s at 6:15am, so, as you might imagine, I didn’t get a lot done before I left. Mom agreed that she would like to get out of the house and go for a ride, so I was able to get my shopping done at Price Chopper while she people-watched in the parking lot. (We also took the groceries to my house so I could put the cold stuff away, and stopped to fill her gas tank and for me to pick up a book at the library on the way back to her house.)

I was relieved at 5pm. I stopped at the library again to return a book I finished reading this afternoon. After I got home I did a load of laundry (washed and dried), hand-washed dishes, scooped kitty litter, and took a shower.

I finished the Duncan Kincaid book I was reading and watched the first half of the new Hannah Swenson movie.

Temps started out at 54.1(F) and reached 89.2 (at 5pm when I got home; Pip said it had gotten up to 93). I’m really glad I wore shorts even though it was a cool morning, because it heated up quickly.


Mom Update:

Mom felt alright today. ( more back here )

Oh Dorothy

How is this month over already? Here’s the final tally and now we move to nafs’s blog for WED.

I got bunnied by someone’s draw it in your style challenge and they’re allowing stories. 1575 out of the gate

Let me know what day you’re reporting in for. If I've missed you on the tally let me know. Feel free to jump in at any time.

Day Thirty cornerofmadness, nafs, cmk418, the_siobhan, sylvanwitch, badly_knitted, trobadora, ysilme, goddess47, carenejeans, chanter1944, brithistorian, shadaras, the_siobhan, china_shop, yasaman



( other days )

So I went through the early fog and rain to see the surgeon (at an hour when I usually am waking up so that was a fun drive). He had me up on the table and as I'm getting there, I said I know I'm supposed to be here for the hernia but I have thyroid tumors and here's the report. Do you do that kind of surgery too or do I need ENT? He does it.

He examines me. The actual hernia is actually very small and not in need of surgery (yay) but the real problem is that collagen disorder of mine (the is it Ehlers Danlos or is it something related debate). The aponeurosis that holds the right and left abdominal muscles together (the linea Alba) has pulled apart, a diastasis. They don't operate on that because it's not a hole. That said if I lie back and tense those muscles you can see my stomach like the xenomorph baby is about to pop out. Guess that's something to get used to.

On the other hand, he was STUNNED at how piss poor the ultrasound was from my local hospital. He was rather angry about it. Me too. I said this is why i'm here. He wants another one now but that means staying here all summer (and I have commitments that won't allow for that) because the new ultrasound can't be scheduled for a couple weeks and then if the surgery isn't soon after the insurance goes 'oops you waited too long.'

The surgery is detailed here He doesn't say I need surgery but I know the answer is very likely because I am having obstructive/compressive issues with my esophagus and evil little dog will concur, I'm starting to get a hoarse voice when I talk.

I'm done by 930 in the morning so I go to the coffee house and start a story I said I wasn't going to write last night (I need to be stopped, ha)

I hit TJMaxx which has everything I wanted, two different bamboo utensil organizers (since the mouse pooped on the ones I have and will be tossing), a dish drainer (I need to toss mine) and wood hangers because omg the current flocked ones (which I used to love) are so cheap and breakable I'm over it.

You know I try to avoid politics (for my own sanity more than anything) this article annoys me while on one hand I hope that he does end anyone who votes for this bill but in reality it's a perfect example of the problem with many political systems. At the end of the day most are plutocracies. Most of us remember when Musk was the darling of the democrats only to have him flip and do so. much. fucking. damage. this year. But he's not wrong about this bill. If it does go through I hope every last one who votes for it is never reelected because their base will be hurt by this as much as the democrats. I knew Musk and Trump would flame out, their egos are far too big. It was faster than I thought it would take but longer than I wanted it to take. Sigh.


And of course it's Music Monday. I'm doing the alphabet again concentrating on the last 5 years but you can share whatever you'd like. We're up to the letter M

( M is for Music )

It's the winter in July fest at allbingo. Here's my card

Fruit Cake	Oranges	Party	Shopping	Decorating
Blankets	Feast	Pie	Peppermint	Panettone
Wooden Shoes	Hot Cocoa	FREE SPACE	Bacalao	Hats
Yule Log	Pig Roast	Silver & Gold	Midnight Kiss	Snuggling by the Fire
Feast of the Seven Fishes	Baking/Cooking	Food Board	Candles	Hiding Gifts

We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.

I didn’t have to be to mom’s until 9am this morning, so I was able to get some chores done before I left: I dried and folded yesterday’s load of laundry, washed another load and got it in the dryer, did some hand-washing of dishes, baked chicken for the dogs’ meals, paid some bills online, swept the hallway, laundry area and kitchen, returned another book to the library, and scooped kitty litter.

I had scheduled it so I would be relieved at ~3pm so I could actually make supper, so when I got home I did more dishes, emptied the dishwasher, made supper, did even more dishes, shaved, tossed a load of bath towels into the washer and remembered to also put them in the dryer.

I finished Fugitive Telemetry and started the next Duncan Kincaid book, and watched the current ep of Resident Alien.

Temps started out at 61.5(F) and reached 78.2 (that I saw at 3:30pm), but 85 according to Pip. It was cool in the morning, but sunny with a nice breeze in the afternoon.


Mom Update:

Mom was tired today. ( more back here )

I believe I started with Stephen King, seems good to end with him too

How is this month over already? I’ll be back tomorrow with the final tally. And on July first we move to nafs’s blog for WED.

It was an editing day Got about 600 words and the penultimate chapter of Dandelions posted.

Let me know what day you’re reporting in for. If I've missed you on the tally let me know. Feel free to jump in at any time.

Day twenty -nine cornerofmadness, the_siobhan, sylvanwitch, badly_knitted, trobadora, ysilme, goddess47, carenejeans, chanter1944,



( other days )

I almost went for links only but I started reading today a revised edition (I think it's moving from self pubbed to traditional) of a novel called Pantomine by L.R. Lam and the main character is intersexed (and apparently the series had been popular)

This seemed like the best thing to end Pride month on. Lam goes on to talk about what the series meant to fans and why it was being revamped and rereleased and they mentioned something I've been talking a lot to evil_little_dog and sysann recently. I've mentioned it here before. There is no ONE right way to be something.

Lam put it as 'no group is a monolith' and my works won't be for everyone. I feel that was most likely added to the author's preface because of the hate you can get on social media (someone eld and I both followed on YT/FB committed suicide in part over the pressures and the hate directed their way last week). I wish fans could understand that. All too often you get people tearing down someone because the experience they read in the book was not their experience and therefore not valid.

It's hard. You know you can't please everyone. You don't want to accidentally hurt a group of people. On the other hand, people do need to realize that their way isn't the only way either. For example (which I used before) several years back pre-Covid my local writers group had four trans members. Not one of them had the same path or level of acceptance from friends and family so when I see someone screaming 'that's not how it is to be trans' I think of this. By this hard stance, you're saying only one of those four people are right.

And it's not limited to that of course. You pretty much name a group or career and someone will be there to screaming that's not how it's done. So how, as an author, can you minimize that?

Do your research. Provide sources in the author's notes if you can. Get sensitivity readers if you can (which isn't always easy or affordable especially if you're a self pubber). Know you can't please everyone. Do your best.


Open Calls

Of Love & Dragons Love stories between dragons and humans (Dragon lords, princesses, etc)

Twisted Dreams Press is open to Horror Novels and Novellas

Horrorsmith Fear Forge Horror Novels


Bullet Points Volume 11 Dark military science fiction

Infested Publishing Is Open To Novels and Novellas from UK Authors

Ongoing Submissions: GRADEside Middle Grade & Young Adult Horror

A Breath of Time Love where time itself is conquered (time travel, time bending, etc)

Diabolical Plots 2025 Window Science fiction, fantasy, horror (everything must have a speculative element, even horror).

25 New Literary Magazines (Seeking Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry)


Flame Tree Publishing they have a couple of open calls


From Around the web


How Writers Can Stay Hopeful in a Tough Publishing Climate

Need a Good Book Editor? Top Up-to-Date Recommendations

The Power of Reddit: Reach Millions Through Ask Me Anything Events (I had never even thought of using Reddit)

The Secret to Avoiding the Sagging Story: What Makes a Good Middle

Notes from the Editor’s Desk: June 2025

4 Unique Writing Habits of Famous Writers

Ten Books in Ten Years: A Conversation with Indie Author Tank Gunner


6 Steps to Self-Publishing a Book.

Marketing Planning For First-Time Authors

From Betty

Six Common Problems in Short Stories

Eleven Signs Your Story Depicts Abuse

Do You Really Have to Use a 3-Act Structure in Fiction?
Reader Friday-That Stinky Mood

The 3 Components that Keep Your Story in Balance

Silence the Inner Critic

Series Words of Wisdom

Help! My Romance Draft Is a Mess (Now What?)

Writing 101: Semi-Colons & Other Tricky Punctuation Marks

Should You Write What You Know or Aim to Experiment?

How to decide if a writer’s retreat is right for you

Not Every Quirk Is a Flaw: How to Identify a True Character Flaw in Storytelling

Three Questions Writers Can Ask When Feeling Overwhelmed or Confused

Usually zwei_hexen does this around half way through and I meant to but this month has been on fire. So why not at the end(ish) Let's see what you've been working on all month if you want to share. The rules of the game are lifted directly from zwei_hexen's usual post.

Do you have a passion project, not-so-guilty pleasure, hot obsession, or slow-burn romance with a fandom? Newest fics you posted? Chapter updates? If so, would you share it with us? Whether it's a 300K WiP or a double drabble, please feel free to leave us a link to it in the comments.

A few simple considerations:

Age restrictions and content warnings: Please keep in mind this journal is public and has no content warning. For your convenience, we've put in an age restriction to this post only, so you can also post headers and summaries to more mature-rated stories. However, please put in warnings if what you share might contain possible triggers and put any mature and/or NSFW content (images, text examples, etc.) behind a text link only, to keep this journal a safe place to visit for everybody.

Comment size, images and headers: As cuts don't work on comments, please crop/downsize images to 600 pix max for the longest side and limit text samples to about 20 lines. If you post an AO3 header with a wall of tags, please limit them to about 4 lines here and indicate that there are more.

For ease of browsing, please name your fandom in the subject line of your comment and consider making different comments for each fandom you’re sharing, if you’d like.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them here or to drop a note to cornerofmadness

We’re looking forward to seeing what you’ve been working on! Also, please check out the older rec-your-work posts you can find under the link on the top right of the journal; we try to keep the fandom tags updated on these entries for your convenience.