Postcard of the Day

Jul. 7th, 2025 07:12 pm

four-day weekend

Jul. 6th, 2025 10:37 pm
low_delta: (Default)
[personal profile] low_delta
Thursday evening, after yard work, I went out to my dad's. Had some whisky and visited with him and Larry. Larry showed us his photos from our trip to Scotland. Other than that, I didn't do much this weekend, except for yard work. I mowed the lawn, and spent several hours pulling weeds in the wildflower garden.

But Saturday morning... I'd fallen asleep around 1 am. Then I woke up at three. Laid there until almost four. Went back to bed an hour later, but it was soon clear that I was not a bit tired so I got up fifteen minutes later, and went to the lake. I took my camera.

When I left the house, I could see east down the road that the sky over the lake was pink and orange, which was great. But soon I got a view of the sun to the northwest - it was red. Like, red red. I was really excited, but by the time I got to the park and walked to the lake it was merely orange. And it was high enough that it was no longer lighting up the low clouds, so there was no photo left for me. Not of the sun, anyway. But the rest of the sky and lake were still amazing.

Lake Michigan sunrise

Port Washington sunrise

I was back to my car before 6:00, when the park (and the gates) opened. I finally got tired, and went to bed at 8:20, and slept for over 2-1/2 hours.

Today was chilly and wet (never hit 70°), so I didn't go outside. I worked all day on CoPA stuff, sending out emails for our book project.

A Sunshiny writerly ways

Jul. 6th, 2025 07:31 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
My cousins came today and stayed for like 6 hours so I am socialed out and my brain ain't coming up with witty writing stuff so I'm combining it with Sunshine challenge #2

Sunshine-Revival-Carnival-4.png

Challenge #2

Tunnel of Love
Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.
Creative: Write a love poem to anyone or anything you like



Now that I'm a college professor and not seeing patients any more, I have one thing I like about summer. I'm OFF WORK. Other than college sucks. Yeah I love to garden and swim but you can do both of that indoors and that's my preference. I'm heat intolerant. Summer literally makes me sick. Yeah I'm an autumn/winter kinda lady.

Yes I can appreciate all the good things that comes out of summer but yeah not really for me.



But I do have something about love written...or at least sex... have that story I wrote in a week 15K + here is chapter one. I'm proud of this one If Anything's Worth My Love, It's Worth a Fight It's Hazbin Hotel and it's naughty





Open Calls


Eldritch Prayers (Cthulhu Mythos Poetry Anthology)

Anomaly August 2025 Window science fiction stories under 300 words in length

Unseen Agreements Speculative stories that explore hidden bargains, mysterious contracts, and eerie agreements by Canadian authors

Dark Age Press August 2025 Window For Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels Sci-Fi and Fantasy

Horror on the Range Horrifying Wild West Stories

Common Bonds 2 Stories that belong in the fantasy or science fiction genre, have a clear aromantic MC, & centers around a non-romantic relationship

Tractor Beam Volume 3 Speculative Fiction, Soilpunk (they're claiming to pay 1000$)

Ten Manuscript Publishers Open to Direct Submissions in July 2025

SQUID Online: Now Seeking Submissions.


22 Young Adult Publishers that Accept Unagented Submissions



From Around the web


How Authors Can Promote Books Using TikTok and Instagram

Juxtapositions Can Make Great Sentences

Generate Greater Book Profits in 4 Easy Steps

Gazingly (Lovingly) Into the Abyss—Introducing Horrormance, the New Genre-Blending Sensation so...apparently I've been reading and writing this without knowing it had a title

How to Subtitle Your Book to Encourage Sales

Story Development: The Overlooked Revision Opportunity.

Plot Holes? I Prefer to Call Them “Opportunities for Interpretation”

How Writers Can Stay Hopeful in a Tough Publishing Climate


From Betty

Constructing a Compelling Romance

Should Your Fantasy World Resemble Earth?

Adding Dance to Your Fictional Culture

The Gravity of a Single Word: Why Writers Must Choose with Care

Write Your Manuscript Like an Endurance Athlete Trains

The What Ifs of Building Believable Alternate History

How to Avoid Apostrophe Abuse


The Living, Breathing Novel

The Emotion Amplifier Playbook for Antagonists

Three Hidden Reasons Writers Procrastinate

How does a comp title help a self-published book’s marketing plan?

A Writer Can Rely on the Unreliable Narrator POV

Postcard of the Day

Jul. 6th, 2025 01:27 pm

well I finished it

Jul. 5th, 2025 09:09 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
the story that ate my brain. Hopefully tomorrow I can post chapter one.

I also got my first Arackniss pin. It's funny. The character isn't even canon (yet), just part of the background notes from years ago and everyone has a take on him. Me included. I was not expecting to have such fun with him but he's a blank slate. Now I'm actually dreading seeing Arackniss in actual canon.

Speaking of it, now Season 3 (S2 hasn't even aired yet) has had all its music leaked. It's such a shame. And I know some Hazbin fans will buy it. If there wasn't a market, people wouldn't steal this stuff.

I started editing through the new cryptid story. Had a panic attack when there was at least two scenes missing. Found it later and then some of it was duplicated. UGH HOW? But that's the good news. This story was very close to being way too long. It's not done but I didn't have much left to play with and the villain isn't even here yet.

Postcard of the Day

Jul. 5th, 2025 10:41 am

Ridiculous weekend plans

Jul. 5th, 2025 02:06 pm
fred_mouse: Night sky, bright star, crescent moon (goals)
[personal profile] fred_mouse

I need some down time this weekend. I have any number of things I want to have done, but I'm restricting myself to things that can be done sitting on the bed, minimal movement. To whit:

  1. Finish reading The Dictionary of Lost Words - DONE! Highly recommended fictional account of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary
  2. Read Attached - book on romantic relationships. in progress (started Saturday)
  3. Finish Creating a Second Brain - collected from the library yesterday, read a chapter on the bus
  4. Finish Library of the Dead - this one is due back on Monday, and being Libby, will get autoreturned.

Which, not actually outside the bounds, as long as I am actually doing those.

stretch goals, of which I'm hoping to achieve at least one

  1. close tabs (current: 526, goal: <500) in safari
  2. finish reading the fic I'm part way through (there might be more than one of these.
  3. progress Eldest's quilt (this is not an 'on the bed' activity; it is added so that if I need to get up and move around, I have a task)
  4. write up my goals for the next 6 months
  5. blog post about how the study is going.

Pizza Party

Jul. 4th, 2025 08:52 pm
cornerofmadness: the saiyuki gang looking around a door (fangirls)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
I don't much feel like celebrating this fourth but found myself at the 4th party/doggie birthday party. My brother's sister in law has two labs. They're so sweet. She also has a pizza oven so it was make your own gluten free pizza. I definitely want one of those ovens. It's stupid and ridiculous and I still want it.


The heat, on the other hand, nearly killed me and I'm still nauseous from it. Ugh.

Have the friday fannish 50 recs


Time For Bed FAKE

Rocky Road Deadpool

Memento Torchwood

A Narrow Escape Teen Wolf

Adronitis The Owl House

i’m starving, darling (let me put my lips to something) 时光代理人 | Link Click

Allow Me To Demonstrate Hazbin Hotel

Plant The Murderbot Diaries

burned with desire Star Trek Voyager

Realism The Murderbot Diaries

For Now Prodigal Son

Another Fine Mess Torchwood

When Val Leaves A Trail Of Corpses... Hazbin Hotel

You Kissed Me Just to Kiss Me (Not to Take Me Home)
Hazbin Hotel

just spread my arms and go The Murderbot Diaries

The Great Wolf Lodge 9-1-1

Sometimes Things Don't Go As Planned Queer as Folk

There Has Been a Poisoning, Sire Hazbin Hotel

Mischief on the Loose Teen Wolf

Midnight Eclipse The Murderbot Diaries

Postcard of the Day

Jul. 4th, 2025 05:08 pm

podcast friday

Jul. 4th, 2025 08:58 am
sabotabby: (doom doom doom)
[personal profile] sabotabby
 Hi I am very tired.

Give a listen to Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff's entire last few weeks, which has been about the alter-globalization movement, but especially to this week's episodes, "Bread and Puppet: The Dawn of Giant Protest Puppets." (Part I | Part II). This is one of my special interests, stemming from how I used to teach at a puppetry camp, and I've actually been lucky enough to visit Bread and Puppet in Vermont on a road trip, albeit not quite lucky enough to see one of their shows. I am always in favour of more theatricality in activism and these episodes trace the evolution of one particular brand of theatricality that I'm especially a fan of.

I bet you will be surprised to learn that the personal stories of the two founders of the theatre are also especially interesting. Also, since Jamie Loftus is the guest, there is a tragic hot dog connection.

Since I did nothing interesting

Jul. 3rd, 2025 09:42 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
and I'm dreading tomorrow, let me just put forth all the rest of the book stuff (as I'm not smart enough to make records of communities I want to rec)

So Books I read last month. There aren't that many but if you're interested in any of them, let's talk. I love doing that



The Witch's Orchard mystery

West by God. Horror

A Spell to Wake the Dead YA urban fantasy

Dark Entry horror

Anima Rising historical fantasy

The Smoke in His Voice. urban fantasy LGBT

Verses for the Dead mystery


I also finished [personal profile] kingstoken's book bingo. I managed a black out. I can't find my graphic fore this so have the original post. You can play along too

I'm just going to list (but not link) my reads. (I'm running low on time)
Over 300 pages - Of Manners and Murder by Anastasia Hastings
Book in a series - Verses for the Dead by Preston & Child
LGBT = Disco Witches of Fire Island by Blair Fell
From your TBR pile - West by God by Tyler Bell
Recommended= Hormones, Hexes, & Exes by J.C. Blake

POC author - Silent Are the Dead by D.M. Rowell
Multiple points of view - The Ten Worst People in New York by Matthew Plass

YA - You Must Not Miss by Katrina Leno
Ebook Another Fine Mess by Lindy Ryan
Classics - The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Female author - Silent Evidence by Clea Koff

SF/Fantasy - Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis
Anthology - Minstrels in the Galaxy: Stories in the Key of Tull, Volume 1 edited by Sam Robb (hey I’m in this one!)
Biography/memoir- The Paranormal Ranger: A Navajo Investigator's Search for the Unexplained by Stanley Milford Jr
Friendship - Last Dance Before Dawn by Katharine Schellman
Banned Book - Under This Red Rock by Mindy McGinnis
Name in the title - H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P Lovecraft and manga adaptation by Gou Tanabe
Movie/TV tie in Murder by Cheesecake by Rachel Ekstrom Courage (a Golden Girls mystery mash up)

With a woman protagonist - When the Bones Sing by Ginny Myers Sain
From the library - The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix
Thriller/Suspense - The Lost House by Melissa Larsen
Set Somewhere you’ve been Lackadaisy vol 1 by Tracy J. Butler
Crime/Mystery - To Slip the Bonds of Earth by Amanda Flower

Non human pov - The Mushroom Knight Vol. 1 by Oliver Bly

Postcard of the Day

Jul. 3rd, 2025 02:48 pm

typo du jour

Jul. 3rd, 2025 11:41 am
fred_mouse: screen cap of google translate with pun 'owl you need is love'. (owl)
[personal profile] fred_mouse

..look at the underlying code or moth...

  • me, describing someone else's approach to understanding large language models.

Sunshine 1

Jul. 2nd, 2025 09:59 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
Before I get into it, just wanted to say I made it back to Pittsburgh for the rest of the summer (in theory)


Sunshine-Revival-Carnival-1.png

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 [community profile] wipbigbang stories I must finish and I do need to work on my [community profile] 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 [community profile] 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 [community profile] 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

Reading Wednesday

Jul. 2nd, 2025 08:25 am
sabotabby: (books!)
[personal profile] sabotabby
 Just finished: Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Yeah, I think this is my Hugo best novel pick. It was really good, really timely, fucking gross, and gave me nightmares. It's very much a confluence all of Tchaikovsky's quirks—rather darkly funny narrator, alien minds, and the particular type of resolution he goes for. All of those things happen to work for me quite a bit. This one reminded me quite a bit of Jeff Vandermeer but less nihilistic and I liked the characters more.

Currently reading: The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. This was the only novel on the Hugo list where I'd never heard of the author or the book. I'm loving it so far though. It's a murder mystery set in a city where only engineered seawalls stop the things from Attack on Titan from demolishing the place every wet season. A noble is murdered in a mansion (not his mansion) via a tree growing through his body. The person charged with investigating the murder is an old autistic woman who doesn't leave her house so she gets a young man to be her eyes and ears. The murder mystery structure makes it rather different from not just this batch of nominees but the other award lists in general, which is also intriguing.

The trigeminal neuralgia is back

Jul. 1st, 2025 11:04 pm
cornerofmadness: (huskerdust wing spread)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
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 [personal profile] 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.

Postcard of the Day

Jul. 1st, 2025 07:25 pm

Write Every Day - Final Tally

Jul. 1st, 2025 12:35 am
cornerofmadness: (writing typos)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness

Oh Dorothy

How is this month over already? Here’s the final tally and now we move to [personal profile] 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 [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] nafs, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] the_siobhan, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] chanter1944, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] shadaras, [personal profile] the_siobhan, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] yasaman



other days )

no more camping

Jun. 30th, 2025 10:28 pm
low_delta: (Default)
[personal profile] low_delta
Our basement is full. We need to clean it out and eliminate a lot of crap we don't need. So yesterday Cindy said "let's go work in the basement." It might have been me who suggested attacking the shelves that hold our camping gear. I used to go camping all the time, being in Boy Scouts. And then I started going camping for fun, and accumulated more/better gear. I had a lot of gear for different activities, like my big frame pack for backpacking. And cast iron for cooking. And tent pegs, ropes and poles. Stoves, lanterns, fuel.

To make any headway on the stuff, the question needed to be asked. "Will we ever go camping again?" We haven't gone in a good fifteen years, despite my thinking about it every year. So the answer was no.

So that was depressing.

And then, of course, going through the stuff and convincing myself that we needed to get rid of it was also difficult.

But how do we get rid of it? We did nearly fill up the trash can in the garage. But there's a lot of good stuff. Selling it is not worth it, so I guess giving it to Goodwill or whatever is the best route. Listing it for free on Craigslist seems like too much work, but at least someone might take it away. I need to check if anything is worth money. I have some vintage Coleman gear, but I doubt if it's old enough, or in good shape. The cast iron might be worth money, unless everyone else is trying to unload theirs too. I guess I should start by asking friends on Fb if they want anything.

And I need to make time to sort through the remainder of the stuff, checking for anything useful.

Not what I expected to hear

Jun. 30th, 2025 10:47 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
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 )

Profile

smittenbyu: (Default)
smittenbyu

December 2024

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
151617181920 21
22232425262728
293031    

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 8th, 2025 03:23 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios