#BlackAndWhite makes everything sadder. Will call this this one: lonely dog with hippopotamus. (he wasn’t really lonely. I was sitting 2 feet away on the sofa and there was room for him to sit next to me if he wanted to.) #cosodogs

My taste of fame today: I was part of a panel on Marketing outside the box with Go Indie Now. If you have work to market, what's the oddest successful way you've gone about it? #CoSoWriters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwqMobpJGro

Oh Lord. It’s time. The kid is learning to drive. Pray for us, if you’re the praying sort. #theygrowupsofast

I had to go to urgent care. No worries, I’m OK. But, I was highly amused by the parking. Where is the impatient parking? Because that’s the parking for me. #wordfun

What do you wish you'd known? That's what we're talking about in the Open Book blog hop today. For my writing life, it comes down to the necessity of making time for it. https://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/2023/01/if-only-i-had-known-open-book-blog-hop.html #CoSoWriters

One of my fondest childhood memories is going to the cinema with my dad to see Disney animated films. So, I am so happy that my local theater is having a Disney series this season. They kicked it off with 101 Dalmatians which is just as charming as I remembered and Amazing in the detail of its animation. Were animated Disney movies important to you in your youth? Do you still have affection for them now? #movies

As my arthritis and eyesight have gotten worse, more and more of my reading life has become audiobook-based. Audible sent me my stats, but they don't know that I cheat on them with the Hoopla service at my library and ChirpBooks, too. So my *real* numbers are even higher than this.

Are you an #audiobook reader? What services do you prefer if you are? #CoSoReaders

If you were curious about the "cooking disasters" I was talking about a few days ago, the post is up on my blog now: https://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/2023/01/cooking-disasters-open-book-blog-hop.html

#mfw as a lifelong reader, I can be hard to surprise. I’m very good at seeing where a story is going to go. But I just got to chapter 19 of Babel by RF Kuang and I did not see this coming. Don’t you love it when a story can surprise you in the best possible way? #CoSoReaders

I was writing today about "cooking disasters" and I remembered the time I tried to make my husband (my boyfriend, then) a curry…but I had no experience with peppers since I didn't grow up eating them (my dad won't eat them). I picked habañeros, because they were pretty. Oops! If you cook now, what's something you had to learn the hard way? #CoSoCooks

For the Insecure Writers Support Group blog hop today, we're talking about our word of the year. Do you select one? I like the idea, myself. This year, I've picked "finish." #CoSoWriters https://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/2023/01/iwsg-word-of-year-is-finish.html

I'm doing a submission challenge in January. It's not as kinky as it sounds--it's my writing I'm submitting, one piece a day for the entire month of January. I've done it before and it generally pays off, resulting in at least one or two publications. I LOVE writing, but the research and preparation for submitting my work is tedious, so this is how I make myself do it. Wish me luck! #CoSoWriters

Are cover reveals still a thing? Do they influence your book purchasing? #CoSoWriters #CoSoReaders https://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/2023/01/cover-reveals-as-publicity-open-book.html

So I finished my #ReadingChallenge with 55 books. My goal was 52, one per week. Did we read anything in common this year? Did you find anything new to love and you’re reading life? #ReadingLife #AmReading https://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/2022/12/my-year-in-books-what-i-read-in-2022.html

Got any interesting New Year’s plans?

Well, I went out to buy a house plant today a house plant, singular. Somehow all of these other plants came home with me. Somehow, I’m also not very sad at that. #HousePlants

I enjoyed showing off all my holiday shirts. Here they are in one collection. It’s been eight crazy nights for sure.#chanukah #hannukah

Ignore that pile of stuff on the counter behind me. We’ve been too busy enjoying #chrismakkuh to clean up. I think I found the perfect shirt for the day though. #chanukah #hanukkah #winterholidays

Three layers of #hannukah today, since it’s cold-my dragon shirt, my “ugly” sweater and my Among Us socks. There’s a lot of Christmas prep in my celebration time today, so it feels good to wear my team colors. #chanukah #festivaloflights #winterholidays