“The Library at Mount Char” by Scott Hawkins is one of the best cosmic horror novels I’ve ever read, and I’m only upset I don’t get to experience it for the first time ever again.

I’ve finally established a writing routine again after what feels like months of holiday madness and a dash of existential anxiety. Feels pretty dang good.

This is a great idea, going to give this a try for January

Dealing with massive writer’s block over the holiday season, hoping this is a good omen. Stubbornness will win the day!

I’ve been less than successful at November novel writing than I hoped, but there’s always tomorrow!

A mood board for the novel. The top left image is of a full moon against a dark blue sky, framed by dark branches the viewer is looking up through. The top right image features the hands of a fighter wrapping cloth around his hand. The center image is of a Victorian library of black wood and dark red curtains and couches, a fire glowing in the hearth. Superimposed text reads, “I would burn this city if it would keep you with me.” The bottom picture is of the feet of a wolf lowering to rest in snow, the whole image cast in a cerulean gleam. Artwork is not mine, all rights belong to their respective owners. No AI images (as far as I’m aware).

Wild magic is a crime, those born with it killed the day it manifests. Only two have avoided the axe: a witch imprisoned in the forest, and a man haunted by shadows. But when both fall in love with someone forbidden to them, they must decide if love is worth their lives.

#Q #R #F #DR #Questpit

Same!! It drives me up a wall

#Romantasy lovers, what’s a pet peeve that makes you put down a book?

Been suffering insane writer’s block the past few months, I’m hoping doing (unofficial) NaNoWriMo knocks something loose.

#WritingCommunity

There was someone in the tree. Back slumped against the great trunk, long legs balanced across a sturdy bough, his head nodding towards his shoulder as he dreamt. His black hair was long enough to sway with his hand where it dangled to one side, spidery strands sparsely draped over his sleeping face—a delicate one, almost feminine in the gentle slopes of his features, from soft lips to smooth brows, a contrast to his strong jaw. Serene, and young, draped in blue mage robes splattered in red. It was nightmarish, realizing who I was looking at. How dare he look like that, after all that he’d done. Monsters didn’t have the right to look peaceful against the setting sun. They didn’t get to look beautiful.

#WIPSnips - October 31

Today’s word is “monster.” Decided to dip into my enemies to lovers WIP for this one.

#AmQuerying #AmWriting #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #Romantasy

Definitely bookmarking this

Maybe that was why I leaned nearer to him in turn, fighting my own tongue-tied silence. His fingers touched my cheek, the way they had that first night—I felt my pulse rushing. Was this why he’d kept so distant? There was this pull between us, one that demanded the space between narrow, my own hand eventually brave enough to reach to his face as well. His skin was smooth, soft, even along his jaw. The closer I came, the stronger that scent of maple wrapped around me, whispered me closer. A knock on the door. I yelped as Celeste burst into feather, swooping up to the loft as I fell into his pile of garments, wanting to perish. “Coming!!” At least that spell was broken. I sighed, all but kicking myself as I shoved his clothes under the couch and rushed to the door—how could I have forgotten? Ianthe knocked again, her playful triple rap-pat-pat, and I did my best to tell my shaking knees that those last few moments were completely, wholly, inconsequential.

#WIPSnips - October 30

Romance, dumb young love, your roommate/crush suddenly turning into a bird. Today’s word is “spell.”

#AmQuerying #AmWriting #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #Romantasy

UPDATE: @pengarr.postes.club FOUND WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR

GOD BLESS

www.graceguts.com/poems-by-oth...

The cold of remembering sealed my lips. I thought of all the angry black sigils I had seen marked up Alkiviadis’ arms, the times he had he rolled up his sleeve to help me with a task. I remembered the offhanded way he had recounted to me of the number of shifters he had killed in his enforcement. I remembered how cruel his dark eyes turned when he spoke of them, the air an impenetrable ice that could not be reasoned with. He would kill my raven. My begging would not move him, my tears could not erode his resolve. I knew that, then. He was exactly as unknowable as those helmeted guards, watching me, always, for signs of sin.

#WIPSnips - October 26

Today’s word is “hat.” Not a lot of those in this fantasy dystopia, but helmets galore!

#AmQuerying #AmWriting #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #Romantasy

You'll pry these Oxford commas out of my cold, dead, third thing hands

Love interest! The meat of the book takes place about ten years later, but the reader doesn’t find out for awhile the connection between this raven and the one that ends up in Thalia’s living room.

Because I can’t come up with a good clip for the WIP Snip today, thought I’d try something new!

The first character to speak in Raven’s Wing is a little raven shifter asking a guardian spirit why his father isn’t home. It definitely isn’t his last appearance.

#AmWriting #AmQuerying #WritingPrompts

I knew this was only a test. That whatever history Matthaois and I had, he did not intend to hurt Kalliope, and that any inclination I had to the contrary was imagined. Yet, the sight of him standing over her, smug as he was when he threw me to the dirt, it churned something in me. An anger deep under my skin that bubbled, raising the fine hairs down my arms. I wished on him the strain she felt, tightening, constricting around his heart. The praceptor had knelt to check Kalliope, nodding in approval before he raised his hand once more. “Matthaois, release.” But Matthaois couldn’t. The sparks remained as he suddenly clutched at his ribcage, cursing—only when he hunched over did Kalliope shoot up, clearly startled.

#WIPSnips - October 19

Have some magic school, protectiveness and misplaced aggression. Today’s word is “trial” (close enough to “test”).

#AmQuerying #AmWriting #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #Romantasy

“Is this relatable or is this my incredibly specific neurodivergent quirk,” I ask, sobbing into my word doc.

#AmWriting #AmPanicking

This is absolutely beautiful

"Have you had any more accidents?" This was a question asked sharply. Despite the twist in my stomach, however, I managed to reply with a smile—because I was not entitled to my pain. "No, I've been very conscientious. I only cast the magic Conservator Alkiviadis supervises. He says I have been a model student, even." I’d found myself smiling more, then, proud of the progress I’d been making. I regretted it at once. “I don’t care how you delude yourself on your own time,” he sneered. “Don’t subject me to your cheery little charade.” I stared at the ground to hide the fact some of my smile lingered, forced. Emotions were the gateway to horror. He didn’t understand. My smile was the only thing that kept the gateway closed—I couldn’t let it go, no matter how he scowled.

#WIPSnips - October 15

Thalia and her grandfather have a somewhat terse relationship. Today’s word is “care.”

#AmQuerying #AmWriting #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #Romantasy

Thanks so much!! The self-sabotage is real, but love all triumphant in the end 🙂‍↕️

Frozen in my resolve, I was forced to witness his heartbreak. Disbelief became pain, became anger, became sorrow. I saw tears shimmer across those eyes like sunset. Before he shut them, jaw tight, teeth bared. It hurt, to watch as I broke him. But I had to. He couldn’t stay here, with me. He deserved more than this. Finally, Taran turned from me. He went to the window, which was still barred by Alkiviadis’ chains—before I could stop him, he’d grabbed them. I could smell his skin burning, I saw the angry blisters left on his palms as he threw the chains aside, before pushing open the panes. He didn’t look at me again. “If this is what you want.”

#WIPSnips - October 13

Another short excerpt from Raven’s Wing. Today’s word is “push.”

#AmQuerying #AmWriting #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #Romantasy

Pitch contest complete!! Thanks for bearing with me through the repeats.

PreDV and DVPit were so much fun. Best wishes to everyone who participated, there were so many great projects and they all deserve homes.

The day Thalia’s magic manifests is the day it kills her parents. Devastated, broken, she’s eager to accept the terms of her exile: to obey, repent, and remake herself into a model citizen. All complicated when she finds herself falling for a wild man her people want to hunt.
#DVPit #R #ND #MH #DF

Thalia’s magic is a crime, her own parents slain by its manifestation. Resigned to her exile in a forest cabin, she wishes to think of nothing but atonement—until the day she wakes to find her pet raven is now a young man, standing in her living room, confused by his own hands.

#DVpit #F #R #ND

When Thalia’s magic kills her parents, she’s confined to a forest cabin. To return to society, she must suppress her abilities and follow all laws. But when she discovers her rescued raven is a shifter, a race her people hunt, she must decide if acceptance is worth killing her love.
#DVPit #F #R #MH

The day Thalia’s magic manifests is the day it kills her parents. Devastated, broken, she’s eager to accept the terms of her exile: obey, repent, and remake herself into a model citizen. All complicated when she finds herself falling for a wild man her people want to hunt.
#DVPit #R #F #ND #MH #BVM

Thanks so much!!!

Thalia’s magic is a crime, her own parents slain by its manifestation. Resigned to her exile in a forest cabin, she wishes to think of nothing but atonement—until the day she wakes to find her pet raven is now a young man, standing in her living room, confused by his own hands.

#DVpit #F #R #ND