Right down to the wire but got my Christmas cross stitching done!! Forgot to take pics of a lot of it but I thought this one came out super cute 😊

Spent the last two days doing very little and finally, for the first time in weeks, felt comfortable enough to do some writing. I love having the mental space to write, to organize, to tidy, to clean, to read.

Ok that's pretty cool. My sister made this for me, super cute, super awesome!

#crossstitching #eevee #pokemon

Thinking hard about submitting to this. Bare minimum, it's got me writing, so I'll take the win either way.

CAG Mini Grant Application Thank you for your interest in the Comics Advocacy Group Mini Grant! This application will open on December 1st, 2024, and will close at 12pm EST on January 15th, 2025. By submitting this application...

Hello, comics folks! The 2024 Comics Advocacy Group Mini Grants are officially open!

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Mostly, I want someone else to read it with me so we can discuss because I think it's one of those books that can easily generate a 45 minute conversation. And, honestly, I think any book that can do that is worth the read -- unless I get to page 470 with no answers. Then I'll be annoyed.

Naturally, it has redeeming qualities. The characters are all fairly interesting, and it's well-written with good pacing. You WANT to keep reading. There's also been a fair amount of research into post-WWI spiritualism. New conflicts keep arising, and it's a good example of a novel of manners.

I still have about 200 pages left (it's a LONG book), so a lot can and likely will be resolved, but I've hit the point where there are so many loose threads that I just want to Google the summary and see what happens. I don't want to read 470 pages only to be left dissatisfied.

(That's blowing right past the potential selkie/mermaid sighting, which didn't even get any word count on wtf it was. A statue? A poor drowned woman? An apparition? Forget about discussing that, folks, you're not going to get it.)

There's still time to resolve this, but I'm also not sure if the author has decided whether or not mediumship is a fraud or not. Early on, it seemed obvious that mediumship was fraudulent. But now we're edging into the improbable. So ARE spirits real in this book?

So the title rings discordant with the tone, which is itself... sort of maudlin. Our main character Evelyn opens the book essentially trying not to have a panic attack because her husband told her he speaks to spirits. And well through chapter 19, she's battling the same urge to crumble.

First off, the title is a pun, and while I do enjoy puns, the book itself is fairly serious. I'm not sure if there's actually any humor in it, and I'm 60% through. We have surprise pregnancies, fraught marriages, hidden love children, world wars, and SO MUCH GRIEF. But the title's a pun?

I'm currently reading the book Hazardous Spirits by Anbara Salam, and I'm pretty into it -- although I can't tell if I'm into it because it's actually good or I'm just like, "Where is this going? This is going to be a train wreck, isn't it? Well, I have to read until the train wreck."

I'm toying w making some tiny zines right now for just this reason. Kind of excited about it, actually.

Me to teens: Draw! Write! Make zines! Make comics! Do your own thing! Creativity is precious and valuable all on its own!

Me to my work: Well, this is kind of cringe. Better burn it and then hide in a hole for 12 hours.

It just goes to show that quantity is not nearly as important as quality and that things can change and improve w time. I feel good about doing this event again next year, and I know a lot more about what we can make different. Feeling good. 😊

Glad I took time to recover. By the time I went back out, it was obvious the kids who were here were having a great time. And we had a large influx of pp who came for the pizza and movie and stayed to play the other games. We even had quite a few at the Magic: The Gathering event!

Taking a moment to regroup since I do feel a bit emotional. And then we'll face the day w greater equanimity.

I'm going to try to find wins today, and I think they will exist. I gathered a good group of staff, and I know who's excited for these types of programs now. I have better contacts for the future. I should probably do this during fall break during the week. I know things.

The most heartbreaking part of librarianship is pouring everything you have into a program only to have a lackluster community response. I spent MONTHS working on this teen gaming program, and 40m in, we have like 8 participants. I am working so hard not to cry in front of my staff.

Cover art for the novella You Will Speak for the Dead by RA Busby. The cover depicts an antique china cup with a hedgehog.

You may not want to eat while you read this.

Available from Stelliform Press and Amazon

#horror #rabusby #ecohorror #bodyhorror #fungus

here are some guidelines:
- preference for short pieces: max word count is 5,000 but the shorter the better. so rare that the longer submissions justify their length
- really not into "MFA realism", particularly of a North American kind (will expand if asked)

Hey folks, figured I'd post a reminder here that my #zine anthology Wolves.Gay is open for submissions til the end of July. The Queer Futures issue is accepting writing and art themed about queerness and wolves. Read more about it here: www.wolves.gay/about/wolvesgay-vol-2-qu...

One-Page RPG Jam 2023 A game jam from 2023-07-16 to 2023-08-19 hosted by Unknown Dungeon. The biggest tabletop game jam is back again for another year, with the 2023 One Page RPG Jam ! This jam is about making new, one-pag...

I'm working this weekend on a couple submissions for the One-Page RPG Jam! I'm writing down some ideas today and I think I might try to stream the creation process tomorrow!