Finished reading: Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha J. Tuli 📚

Hi Internet friends. I hope your December 25 goes swimmingly!

🎮 Finished The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom last night. Super fun! I love puzzles, I love getting to be Zelda without her having to be disguised, and I love that the world is still making new games I can play now that 3D games seem to give me motion sickness.

I’m coining a new aesthetic: Dark Twee. Think Jessica Day meets Lydia Deetz. A goth children’s librarian. More to come.

Finished reading: A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen 📚

Viking fantasy romance/romantasy. Not exactly a cliffhanger but not NOT a cliffhanger, either. Highly recommend. 🔥🔥🔥🔥

I am very resentful of my body’s need for sleep.

💬📚📝 “…in order to be a writer, you have to be reverent.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

💬📚📝 “Writing is about communicating what’s going on. Now, if you ask me, what’s going on is that we’re all up to here in it, and probably the most important thing is that we not yell at one another.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Timeless.

I’m planning to make 2025 a Year of Making, for reasons. (The reasons are that making stuff is good for my mental health.)

Finished reading: Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon 📚

I really enjoyed this, mostly for the fantasy and emotional stuff. Love a nerdy heroine and a bull-headed hero (literally, in this case). The uniquely minotaurish monster romance bits were not the main source of its appeal for me. Definitely a very hot 🔥🔥🔥🔥. Not for the faint of heart.

📚 2024 has been a good year for queer sommelier romances.

🔖 Read The open social web is the future of the internet. Here’s why I’m excited. by Ben Werdmuller.

This is a great articulation of what’s good.

I am very behind on Lower Decks and I kinda need to just hide from the Internet until I catch up.

💬📚📝 “All you can give us is what life is about from your point of view. You are not going to be able to give us the plans to the submarine. Life is not a submarine. There are no plans.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

💬📚📝 “The development of relationship creates plot.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

I’ve been writing in 750 Words for a few days. I’m feeling motivated to make notes on our travels from 2023. Eventually, maybe I’ll pull some pearls out of there and polish them up to continue my belated travel blog series.

Finished reading: Swordcrossed by Freya Marske 📚

Lovely! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

📺📚📓 Read The Great Experiment: race and authorship in Shonda Rhimes’s Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story by Claudia Calhoun (Adaptation).

This is an eminently readable and beautifully argued journal article.

Finished reading: A Touch of Stone and Snow by Milla Vane 📚

I might love this even more than A Heart of Blood and Ashes. A mild 🔥🔥🔥🔥.

💬📚 “When you make a business, you get to make a little universe where you control all the laws. This is your utopia.” Derek Sivers, Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur

💬📚 “I’m a student, not a guru.” Derek Sivers, Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur

🍿 I’ve watched still more made-for-TV holiday movies:

  • Jingle Bell Run
  • Meet Me Next Christmas
  • Hot Frosty

Hot Frosty taught me that no matter how built a dude is, no matter how kind he is, if he’s a himbo, I will not find him attractive.

Finished reading: A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane 📚

So, so good. I’m so happy to have found my fantasy romance sweet spot. 🔥🔥🔥🔥

🍿 Watched Christmas on the Ranch.

I like this but he asks her to give up her life in New York and move to his ranch in Ohio before they even kiss. Bold.

Is this still a migraine or am I in the postdrome phase? The Kimberly Hirsh story