I don't really post here much anymore. I'm on "freds" now, but 50k words on my WIP! Yahoo. Yipee.

A woman dressed up as Gandalf the Grey from Lord of the Rings but the costume is pink with big white platform boots.

A woman dressed up as Gandalf the Grey from Lord of the Rings but the costume is pink with big white platform boots. She is holding a baby dressed as Frodo Baggins.

Gandalf is in his Barbie era #LordOfTheRings

Figured out how book 1 of Sinner Academy ends 😇

If I've done my job right, then hopefully the reader will be clawing at their own face needing book 2 🥰 #writesky

Unfortunately, my sister Lacey still has two more years of school. Her debt hasn’t been paid off yet. We have until she’s eighteen to get it squared away, or she’ll be forced to go into recruitment. It’s basically the meat grinder for the military. Usually you’re sent to die on the front lines with minimal training and a crappy kit. Other times, you might be tasked as experimental fodder. They’ll do stuff like wrap your legs in wet rags until they fall off, have some scientists write some notes on trench foot, then go ahead and call it even—even though the government makes school mandatory and sets the fees. Needless to say, I’m not scavenging for some light fun. I love Lacey. The thing I love most about her is that she’s alive.

#WIPSnips - More from Sinner Academy (my academic, battle-royale, dystopian novel. In Eden, once you're over 18, the government can kill you for breaking the law. If the criminal is between 18 and 25 did well in school? Then they're sent to Sinner Academy, where they MIGHT survive.) #writesky

*Camera pans to me furiously tapping on my computer screen because it has been 1 hour and the ABC live federal election results page hasn't updated* #auspol

Ok, so I do my best plot development as I lay in bed trying to sleep. HERE'S THE PROBLEM THOUGH: Both of my WIPs are up to scary parts?? Like... I end up scaring myself and then can't sleep (because I'm a big baby) and I end up having nightmares... lmao uh oh. #writesky

A cat looking at a burger. The cat is labelled "Me" and the burger is labelled "Australian Federal Election Results"

I DON'T NEED SLEEP I NEED AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION RESULTS

It irritates me that the NYT mini crossword doesn't update at the same time as Wordle and Connections. I have no right to be irritated, I play for free, and STILL

Snape from Potter Puppet Pals asking "What is that mysterious ticking noise?"

AU where Severus Snape ends up in Fourth Wing and Xaden keeps getting annoyed by Violet (this is extremely niche I am so sorry)

We’re interrupted as the entire crowd seems to collectively turn their attention to a conduct auditor walking around the lunch room. He stops at a guy in a blue button up shirt and, what I assume, is natural red hair. The conduct auditor pulls up his helmet so he can stare down the red-head. The auditor pulls out a small vial with a white powder inside. The cork is small and doesn’t make a sound as it’s pulled out of the bottle, the white stuff sprinkled over his plate. “Continue your meal,” he orders. The red-head looks up. “What the f—” His words are cut short by a gunshot, as the rest of the table gets lightly splattered with his blood. In the final years of school I’d learned that Eden had put a lot of research into accuracy weapons, but it was never mentioned that they’d be used to not risk casualties in lunch rooms at crime college. The conduct auditor’s footsteps are now the only sound in the room as people are trying to avoid eye contact. His head is scanning side to side for his next victim. He stops at a chubby blonde girl with a baby face and white blonde hair that’s been styled in an intricate braid. She looks angelic in her yellow tulle dress. The food in front of her is sprinkled with the same white powder. “Eat it,” he demands. The girl’s blue eyes seem to well with tears. She doesn’t say anything back. I can’t do anything but watch on as he slowly raises his gun to her head. “Or are you questioning the love The Headship has for you?”

#WIPSnips - Excerpt from Sinner Academy (Dystopian Fiction in a college setting, Hunger Games x Fourth Wing)

I didn't have "explode" so I hope a guy getting shot in the head for not eating mystery powder when ordered to by a glorified cop is a close enough ✨vibe✨(I wrote it tonight) #indieauthor

Sinner Academy is now at 11,500 words. Mermaids With An S is at 18,000. Between them, that's like... 1/3 of a book. Wild. #Writesky

Because I live with 2 of the little guys and they are definitely not humble or meek 🤣 (they like to think they are the bosses and will YELL if you're even a minute late for their dinner haha)

YTMASFTM?

The console switches on and text appears on the screen. “Welcome, First Year Eurydice Slater. Please design your room. Tell me what you like and I can provide some decor options. Alternatively, choose from the catalogue (1 of 125,000 items).” In the south of Eden, we didn’t really use technology that much. It was expensive and seen as a wasteful luxury. We got to use consoles at school though. They’re used in war, so of course we had to be able to use them. I can move a mouse, and my typing is pretty good. I opt to tell the console what I want. … What do I want?

#WIPSnips is from Academy For Sinners - A New Adult, dystopian survival novel set in a university where each student is a criminal of the state. Only 70 of the 278 first years will make it to the second. There WERE 280, but being frozen isn't for everyone (think Hunger Games x Fourth Wing)

Me holding a can of Cotton Candy energy drink I'm about to throw in the bin

Finally threw out my emotional support Bang energy drink that expired in 2022 because they cost $5 and its the best flavour but once I drink it, then I won't have it, so I never drank it, even though it's my favourite flavour, but once I drink it I won't have it, so I never drank it, even though it'

Thanks - It was originally going to be a mouse as they can also represent humility, but are seen as "pests" by some people (Pride are seen as cowards, because they "didn't want to face justice") ... but then I considered how fast those little dudes can scamper and thought it was too on the nose.

The doors swing open and a parade of seven banners make their way through the room and position themselves around the hall. They weren’t what I expected at all. I thought wrath might be a dragon or something, sloth… well… a sloth, envy? Maybe a snake? Instead, it’s kind of random. Wrath is a red banner with a lamb, Greed is green with some kind of dog-rodent thing on its hind legs, Lust is pink with a wolf—of all things, Envy is yellow with a bat, Gluttony is orange with a spider on it, and sloth is a purple banner with an octopus on it. There are a few other sea creatures on Sloth’s banner, but I don’t recognise them. The Pride banner is the same shocking hue of blue as my hair, if not a little paler. Right under the fancy embroidery showing the name “Pride” is… a turtle? I don’t really understand what a turtle has to do with pride. The student holding the banner is looking over us like we’re rotten garbage left out in the sun, so I don’t think he’s the best person to ask. “Why do you think our animal is a turtle?” Faith whispers to me out of the corner of her mouth. The second year holding the banner darts his eyes over to us. I think he heard us, but he doesn’t directly address us. Instead, in a bored—yet very loud—tone, he announces, “The emblem of Pride is a turtle. All emblems are motivation for what we should strive for in our rehabilitation as soldiers of the state. Turtles have been known to represent humility…” He scanned the group of us, making sure we were all paying attention. “And they don’t run.”

#WIPSnips - Academy For Sinners. Once you're 18 in Eden, the government can kill you if you break the law. Unless you're smart.

Houses at Sinner Academy are chosen based on your crime. Except for Pride. You're put there if you think so highly of yourself that you could outrun The Headship.

Well, there ARE all those thinkpieces going around talking about how men aren't reading as much - it'll get dads into bookshops - 2 birds with 1 stone 😂

YES I know at least 2 dads I need to gift this to when it publishes! 🎁

Students using ChatGPT to write their papers are missing the best part of uni: Being in the library at 3am, serenaded by the "clickclickclick" of LoL players, on your 4th Redbull, freezing, at least 25 tabs open, telling yourself you'll ABSOLUTELY start sooner next time with no intention to change.

Me, my husband, and my baby, dressed for Good Friday by the Cross.

"What do they call it, Keith?" #goodfriday #JustARegularSupperWithTheFellas

She took time to check in on me, make sure I knew I was doing a good job, and continued to cuss out the woman to me 🤣

Bonus: Right after, a man that looked like Santa helped me put back the high chair when I was struggling with the pram.

It was a good day.

(end)

I get literally stopped in the street to get told my baby is cute, so even if she meant ugly, pfffft let her be wrong.

Didn't matter, the cleaner had my BACK. She immediately called the woman a b-tch, apologised to me, and was simply not having a bar of it. (3/?)

Now the cleaner always stops to tell me how great I'm doing and how cute my baby is.

Baby was eating sushi, so she had rice all over her face. Two woman walked past and said "ugly baby" - I think maybe they meant messy? I wasn't bothered. (2/?)

Someone called my baby ugly today 😳 - a thread

Baby and I go for lunch in the local food court once a week since she started solids. I use a splat mat and some time in our first few visits, the cleaner stopped by to thank me.

(1/?)

Thank you! I'm only about 7,500 words in but have 3 books mapped out already 😅

Maybe it's like an upside down flag. My brain is sending out an SOS for some more coffee. 😂

put, not but* 🙃it's been a LONG day, friends.

We don’t have time to confer with each other. On instinct, we both run. It’s our only hope, and I know that we’re going to have to leave Eden. I want to leave Eden. I have the gut feeling that Cameron wants to leave Eden with me, too. And we’re going to be successful. The corner is coming up fast and the patrol is still far behind us. That’s when I get confirmation of my gut feeling. Cameron grabs me by the shoulders and kisses me deeply, and the dirt of the day seems to melt away from my body. The patrol fades to nothing. Something brushes past my hair. His hand? I open my eyes and look a little past him to see the other patrol blocking our exit point. The next something doesn’t brush past me. Searing pain shoots through my leg as I drop to the ground, and I realise I’ve been hit with an incapacitation dart. I’m eye to eye with Cameron who’s also been hit. He’s never looked scared before.

#WIPSnips of my second WIP: Sinner Academy -- A New Adult dystopia where criminals are but to death. Not the smart ones between 18 and 24, though. They're sent to Sinner Academy, where they're given a second chance to survive.

#writesky #writingcommunity #WIP

Pro: Casually wrote 2800 words tonight, so that's pretty good.

Con: Probably wrote one of the most ambitious chapters I've ever written and it may end up backing me into a bit of a corner but I HAVE to see how it plays out