I also won't use "Do It For The Plot" because it's supposed to mean "Don't Worry About The Consequences" and that is terrible advice in writing and in life. You should do everything with the outcome in mind, even if the outcome is only "Let's have fun!"

I've been told "Do It For The Plot" is now a Gen Z slang phrase and I have never loved a generation more. Excellent work. Well done, Gen Z. I'm so proud of you.

@AskTheDevil As a random aside from the usual banter... it's been a really rough week. My grandma is in hospice care and my best friend was diagnosed with terminal cancer over the weekend.

I am currently torn between crying and erasing this universe from existence to make the pain stop. The balance of the two extremes leaves very unconcerned about what choices other people make.

I've come to the conclusion that all the YA books where someone is sorted into a group or assigned a job by magical means are all wish-fulfillment for stressed parents with adult children who haven't decided what they want to do.

I want to say that, in my defense, I was left unattended. But I've been left unattended regularly since I was a small child and I've done okay so I'm not sure that excuse works any more.

The ending of my book is still WRONG.

But I can't fix it yet because I don't know how.

So I'm going to go run errands and pack.

Literary Writer's Search History: All for synonyms of common words.

SF Writer's Search History: Strictly NASA and names of plants.

Fantasy Writer's Search History: Baby Name (dot) Com

Crime Writer's Search History: "How To Stab Someone"

The Seoul police budget is roughly $946 Million USD.

The NYC police budget is $5.75 BILLION USD.

Seoul has 9.6 million people. NYC has 8.3 million.

Seoul has masking and one of the lowest crime rates in the world.

So, no, New York doesn't need to ban masks.

https://www.numbeo.com/crime/in/Seoul

I tucked anger away in a box. Folded up my feelings and stowed them in the overhead compartment like a good passenger on the airplane of life. Allowed the rage to simmer only long enough to heat my cheeks but never enough to burn down the prison I was trapped in.

#ChristmasCryptid

You get to read along while I edit my book.

:)

Because... why not?

The upstairs room was grand, high-ceilinged with woodland greens and golden teak, fit for an empress and empty as the promise of any empire. It was too large, too cold, too empty to ever offer comfort. Every breath echoed as if I were the last living creature in the universe.

#ChristmasCryptid

"I'm a feral monster of a human being who has all the social graces of an enraged ogre and the personality of an incensed scorpion. There's nothing likeable about me."

"You talk so tough, Sunshine. But you've got nothing to back it up."

I glared at him.

He bopped my nose.

#ChristmasCryptid

"I think the title was something like Real Men Do Meat."

"That was a cookbook? Sounds like erotica."

"It had hotdog recipes."

"Not helping, babe."

"Babe? Did I just get babe'd?"

"Don't read into it."

"I'm growing on you."

"Like a fungus."

#ChristmasCryptid #GrumpySunshine

I am traveling in July and will be using BlueSky almost exclusively because that's where I have the most followers and interaction.

Feel free to check on me there.

https://bsky.app/profile/lianabrooks.bsky.social

The hold music stretched, playing some symphony that sounded vaguely like something I'd heard at a Julliard concert when I was twelve. Maybe that meant it was popular. Or easily playable by any knucklehead who could tell which end of an oboe to blow in.

#ChristmasCryptid #SorryOboeists

#ChristmasCryptid isn't really Grumpy/Sunshine.

It's Grumpy/Grumpier.

"Do you always introduce yourself like this?"

"No. Generally I don't speak to anyone at all."

"I'll feel special then."

"Don't. I'm only talking to you because there is no polite way to ignore you when you've dragged me from my home and across the state."

#ChristmasCryptid #GrumpySunshine

My friend is thanking me for letting her kids come over to play and I don't know how to explain to her that befriending me is akin to befriending the dark, ancient power deep in the heart of the forest. We're friends now! I'll do anything for you! Including trying to bend the nature of reality! <3

Writer Brain Hack:

To switch easily into the writing mood for a book I create a playlist for each one. It's usually about 60-90 minutes long, it starts with a couple of lyrical songs to pull me in and give me transition time, then instrumental, then closes with lyrical songs.

#Writing #AmWriting #CoSoAuthors #CoSoWriters #CoSoBooks