Pax Asteriae

Writer of gay smut and equally-gay soft, fluffy romance.

Would also be very gay but is very asexual instead.

Probably just a figment of your imagination.

[Transmasc, non-binary. They/them.]

Public Key

npub1e92x9rpuwn65cuu0c453uzhdppx30l434h3lvmptxl25szca2qeq2vs2r6

NIP-05 Address

PaxAsteriae_at_writing.exchange@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsvj4rz3s78fa2vww8u26g7ptkssnghl6c6mclkds4n042gpvw4qvsqqvagr

Author Public Key

npub1e92x9rpuwn65cuu0c453uzhdppx30l434h3lvmptxl25szca2qeq2vs2r6

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Last Notes

2024-05-08 09:00:23

#WritersCoffeeClub 8: When writing technical or scientific detail, how much is plausible versus imagined?
Radial involves a bio-metal that makes flesh and bone change forms. I booted 'plausible' out the window years ago.
In a wider scope though... I just tend not to explain things. It's really jarring to me when you're reading a book and it launches into an explanation of how Cool Shit™ works, especially when the character wouldn't really know it. Real people don't do that.

2024-05-08 08:57:13

#WritersCoffeeClub 7: Do you add a copyright statement to your work? How comprehensive it is?
I usually add the long, generic one that lists my name and the book's publication year, the All Rights Reserved bit, and the No Resemblance bit (which I usually fiddle around with just in case the undead or alternate universes lodge a complaint), and in the future I'll be adding the 'No AI used' and 'no training AIs on this, you nasty little thief' bits.

2024-05-08 08:54:12

#WritersCoffeeClub 6: Have you ever copied a piece from another book or a movie as a homage to that work?
I started a Radial side-novel with a short line from MCR's Danger Days album, but that was mostly because I couldn't think how to start and I was listening to it at the time. I also named every business in a sci-fi after whatever song I was listening to at the time.
Simon's Radial story has elements of Hamlet, although he manages to avoid the madness. Just about.

2024-05-04 20:59:13

Ahhh I just found a white hair.
Well, I guess it's better than the time I found a bunch of jet black ones at the back of my head.
My hair isn't black.

2024-05-04 08:36:00

#WritersCoffeeClub 4: What's the worst thing about being a writer?
Brainweasels.

2024-05-03 14:29:41

I picked up smol dog's favourite sock (*sigh*) while she wasn't looking, and when she noticed she came over and pulled it from my hand with both her paws, then picked it up and killed it for having the temerity to end up in my grasp.

2024-05-03 12:25:08

#WordWeavers 3: MC POV: What do you dislike about yourself?
Milos holds up his hands, backs toward you. His fingers blur from the first knuckle, become formless, then coalesce into long grey blades.
Milos: I know they're the reason I have a job—why I have *everything*—but at the same time... I have to be so careful. If I get hurt, sometimes if I even get startled... I could really hurt someone. I—I have before. And I know they're not my fault, but... *sighs and shifts them back into fingers*

2024-05-02 15:46:59

#WordWeavers 2: What are your MC's living conditions like? Are they better or worse than average?
Milos is not the best judge of this. He thought his small room in Robin's boarding house, with its shared living, kitchen and bathrooms, was pretty good. Then he got a tiny bedsit with no heating that was *all his* and, aside from the heating, he was thrilled. Now a couple of years later he has an actual terraced house and he still can't quite believe it.
So it's very average, but he's delighted.

2024-05-02 07:47:22

#WritersCoffeeClub 2: Have you had an idea halfway or more through a project that requires extensive rewriting of what you've already done?
Luckily, most of my stuff isn't that long. But I have, so far had to add in the smut into a smut book (previously it was just sex), rewrite a chunk of a chapter to make it less icky (technical term), and got halfway through a story about Milos's new home before I realised that while the first section needed to be from Milos's POV, the second had to be Alex.

2024-05-01 21:30:05

#WordWeavers 1: Introduce your setting as if it's a character in your story.
(I don't tend to describe characters all in one go, so this is awkward...)
The courtyard was more akin to an older woman past her prime dressing in clothes too tight and too bright for attention. Sure, people tried to make it look a little better: a scatter of outdoor chairs at one of the cramped restaurants, zigzag strings of fairy lights, but the paving slabs were chipped and the bricks had gaps in the pointing.

2024-04-29 07:42:10

#WritersCoffeeClub 29: Do you share your name with other writers?
There are a couple of other Paxes out there, unsurprisingly, but as most people get to my surname and go "uhh... I won't try to pronounce that," it's safe to say there's only me with it.
I think there's an author with my birth name out there, but I won't be offering up any competition.

2024-04-28 08:04:52

#WordWeavers 28: Do you have an irrepressibly good-humoured character? How do others react to them?
In Radial there's Crow, who is usually either cheerful or pouty and is, in his own way, as much of a sex pest as Alex. Alex doesn't mind him, sometimes even finds him amusing; Milos is not a fan.
For Caeso, there's Lee, who he meets during Dirty Work and who becomes a friend (because he insisted on it, much to Caeso's bemusement). Although Caeso doesn't often make friends, he likes Lee a lot.

2024-04-27 10:14:09

#WordWeavers 27: Who's blaming who in your story?
Currently, Alex is blaming the honey tongue for being a horrible little shit who picked the wrong day to be an arse, Crow for refusing to deal with Sarah and insisting on him and Milos, Sarah for being happy to hand everything over to Alex because she has a date, and all the Valentiners having nice meals that he isn't getting to enjoy.
The honey tongue is also blaming the Valentiners for being happy, so he's out to ruin their evenings.

2024-04-26 10:08:51

#WritersCoffeeClub 26: Do you write stand-alone stories, series or both? Which do you prefer?
I write both. Sometimes the characters turn up for one and that's it, and sometimes they just turn up in my head, won't leave again, and I end up with a series. Or separate stories with one character that doesn't quite match the definition of a series. *kicks Caeso in the shin*
I don't have a preference, I'd just be happy to actually finish some things now and again. 😅

2024-04-26 08:10:58

#WordWeavers 26: In your story who's hiding (literally or metaphorically)?
Currently there's a pain-in-the-arse honey tongue hiding in plain sight and and making Alex's mood worse. There's also a Skilled who just wants to live a normal life. And then there's also Alex, who is continuing to do a fairly decent job of hiding certain feelings from himself.

2024-04-24 17:44:36

#WordWeavers 24: Do you include characters from all socio-economic classes in your story?
Usually depends on the story, but generally yes.
In Radial, Milos started out poor, became homeless, then ended up in a boarding house he could've been kicked out of at any time. Alex is well-educated and well-off, because he was compensated for the childhood as a test subject, and his job pays well as he could easily die doing it. They meet all kinds of people through work too.
No billionaires though.

2024-04-24 16:22:53

I was just at the top of the hill with smol dog, and I could hear a fairly rhythmic barking, around 1bps (barks per second). I couldn't seem to pinpoint where it was coming from, but it seemed to be getting nearer...
And then I saw a car go by at the junction, with a spaniel's golden head stuck out the back window, barking joyously once per second as the wind whipped through its ears, and I just started laughing. It looked so happy! And so shouty!

2024-04-24 08:20:16

#WritersCoffeeClub 24: When older novels use outdated or racist language, should they be edited for the modern world or left alone and viewed in context?
They should be left, with a warning added at the front so readers can be aware.
Before we start trying to sanitise the past to make it fit our modern sensibilities, maybe we should be doing something about the people who use racial, antisemitic and homophobic slurs now, most of whom will never have read the books people keep trying to edit.

2024-04-18 21:44:24

#WritersCoffeeClub 18: How important is social media in promoting your work?
I mean, first I'd need to actually promote things... I don't really use any social media except this either.
I have noticed that when I do freebie promotions, I get a lot more uptake if I post about it here than if I don't, so there's that.

2024-04-18 20:57:30

#WordWeavers 18: Do you write primarily in the same genre you read as a child?
Kind of...? We had a LOT of books when I was a child, and I was never told I couldn't read anything, so I've read crime and romance, various fantasy and sci fi novels, history books (mostly about the Tudors), horror, one random book about the Inquisition, encyclopaedias, had a crack at Chaucer untranslated; I even used to read the dictionary. Never saw the point of the Jackie Collins one, though I tried. Ironic.

2024-04-18 11:14:45

I have an ornamental grass thing that mostly just sits there and is all ornamental. This year, I noticed it suddenly had Things, and assumed they were seed heads or something.
Apparently they aren't. 🤩
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/112/291/927/131/128/278/original/3a774b89b428439e.jpg

2024-04-17 10:14:12

#WritersCoffeeClub 17: What genre(s) would you be terrible at writing?
Proper, full-on horror: there's a reason I write 'mundane body-horror.' I'm the kind of person who'd grow tentacles and go, "oh, so this is a thing now?" and carry on signing in to work every day.
Thrillers: my brain doesn't work that way.
Military fiction: probably best left to people with actual knowledge of it.
Absolutely any kind of non-fiction: my brain resolutely *refuses* to work this way.

2024-04-17 10:06:23

#WordWeavers 17: What personal expertise makes it into your books?
Uh. Filing and being a foul-tempered arsehole, usually. The asexuality crept in with a few characters. I also spent many years learning not to fall off a horse, but I don't write much straight-up fantasy.
I am an ill-educated kitty of very little brain.

2024-04-14 22:13:19

Ah yes, the moment when you're reading an audiobook blurb and you get to "sets out for the little town of Coventry" and get very confused until you realise the book is set in the US, and not in the UK where Coventry is a pretty substantial place...
(I think the name was supposed to be a pun about covens and the author didn't think to check if it might be a real place with, y'know, some 350,000 people living in it.)

2024-04-14 20:37:25

Ooh, I just noticed I finally got one of those book fair promotion spam emails. 🤣
I wonder how you take ebooks to a book fair.
Still, I think that was my very first one!

2024-04-12 11:57:20

#WordWeavers 12: What communities play a role in your story?
Weirdly, a lot of Radial seems to be about how quickly you can lose the community you're in. 😅 Milos lost his family and schoolfriends when his parents died, and then he lost his community at Robin's boarding house when Robin got rid of him. Even in book 2, he and Alex lose their work community when someone frames Alex for something, and in 4 they choose to abandon it after the events of book 3.
Huh. Never realised that before.

2024-04-12 09:11:26

#WritersCoffeeClub 12: Do you reread things you wrote some time ago? How do they stand up today?
I only ever write the stories I want to read, so I do tend to enjoy rereading them. So even though no one else really enjoys them, at least I'm happy.
As to how they stand up... well, the writing is really clunky in the earliest stuff, but eh. We're all learning.

2024-04-11 08:22:31

#WritersCoffeeClub 11: How effective are your newsletters in creating sales?
My MailerLite account got closed for inactivity late last year. So...
(Then early this year they emailed me to tell me I was using a free sending domain. So 1. no I wasn't and 2. on which account, exactly...?)

2024-04-11 07:28:55

#WordWeavers 11: How much power does your antagonist have?
For the current story, more than average humans (he's a honey-tongue: he can just tell you to punch yourself in the face and you'll do it), but less than Alex and Milos, who're trying to stop and retrieve him. Moreover, since Milos is an alfa, a honey-tongue's suggestion doesn't work on him at all so it's actually Alex who's at a slight disadvantage with it. (But earplugs are generally effective.)

2024-04-10 08:40:19

#WordWeavers 10: How much power does your MC have?
Socially, not much: Milos is a dokkalfa, so mostly a curiosity to be leched over, thanks to ljusalfa stories. Even at work, he almost got transferred to back to Research when their interim supervisor decided he wasn't actually, y'know, a person.
But physically, his ability to shift his fingers into claws gives him the power to defend himself he didn't have before, even if he's still slightly afraid to use it. 1/2

2024-04-09 12:57:34

#WritersCoffeeClub 9: Do you use a dedicated proofreader, or is one provided by your publisher?
I have yet to successfully teach smol dog to read, so until I do it's just me.

2024-04-06 09:04:08

#WordWeavers 6: Does your MC feel understood? Why/why not?
The problem is that Milos knows that they *want* to understand him. On a biological level. If he hadn't been chosen by Nazarian he'd probably have polymetal coming out of all sorts of unpleasant places in an effort to understand how it works with his alfa body and enhanced healing. And he has no doubt it would take a *long* time: they still don't fully understand Alex, and they've been working on him since he was a baby...

2024-04-05 12:05:37

#WritersCoffeeClub 5: What's the best thing about being a writer?
It's the weird magic of it. We sit down and we start to write, whether with a pen or a keyboard, and entire worlds appear on our pages. We take something where nothing existed and we create a world that other people can see.
I always think writing is the closest to magic we'll ever get.

2024-04-05 07:31:11

#WordWeavers 5: SC POV: Who is your favourite person to be around?
Crow Prince: I like being around Alex, because he's really nice to look at, but he's never let me kiss him. I guess I like Milos too, he's very pretty, but I only got to kiss him once and he didn't like it very much. I want to pet Ioann's hair, it's very pink and fluffy, but he once smiled and told me he'd hand me over to Alex if I tried to kiss him... so I kissed Simon, and told him to pass it on, but he punched him instead.

2024-04-04 08:59:42

#WordWeavers 4: Is there writing advice you used to follow but changed your mind?
I accidentally ended up internalising the one about sticking solely to the plot, which ended up with me writing very short books and the person who kindly edited A Binding Strategy suggesting it should actually be longer...
Turns out it's hard to extract myself from that mindset though.

2024-04-04 08:47:50

#WritersCoffeeClub 4: Do you feature real-world political and social issues in your work?
Depends on the story, but it sneaks into most in some way or another because every world would have their own, even if they're different.
For Milos, he raises a few eyebrows because he's an asexual former sex worker dark elf bioweapon, in a relationship with a man who spent a couple of years insisting that despite this, he was definitely straight. But since it's my world, it's all fine in the end.

2024-04-03 19:19:02

#WordWeavers 3: Antagonist POV: How do you feel about animals?
"Are you calling me a crazy cat... boy? Cat man? I could have a relationship if I wanted!
That isn't what you were asking? Oh. Well. Uh. I like cats, yeah. Dogs too. My place won't let me have any pets, so I just feed the local strays. The pigeons too. Makes the old bat downstairs furious."

2024-04-03 09:58:56

#WritersCoffeeClub 3: Do you use semicolons? Correctly?
I've said it before: you'll pry my semicolons out of my cold, dead hands.

2024-04-02 11:43:48

When you discover that your phone's autocorrect didn't like "bookcloths" (I mean, fair enough) and turned it into "book clothes" instead. Do you get tiny t-shirts and jeans for them?

2024-04-02 09:11:17

"...Release the ferrets."
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/112/200/853/570/887/628/original/5f5e9f842915ba21.mp4

2024-04-02 08:51:30

#WritersCoffeeClub 2: Do you keep a journal? Would you?
I have a bullet journal, but I often forget to use it. I don't have the attention span for proper journalling.

2024-04-02 08:48:22

#WordWeavers 2: What books/resources have you used to improve your writing? Which ones do you recommend?
Both Romancing The Beat by Gwen Hayes and The Elements of Eloquence by Mark Forsythe are excellent (and funny) and I refer to them now and again. I've read others too, but they don't really stick in the mind so much. I've done a couple of online courses too, but usually the kind that don't involve me having to talk to other people. 😅 Mostly I just read books with writing styles I enjoy.

2024-04-01 11:39:53

Today's Word Weavers is interesting for me, because I never made a real intro post to start with. (When I joined, quite a while ago, there weren't many people and I didn't want to infect the place too badly with my stupidity. Ah well, too late now. 😜) And then I have to figure out when I set Milos and Alex's intro posts, because that makes a BIG difference...
Thinking about it made me realise that Section 16 might have its own internal Fedi server though. Not that they'd get to use it much. 😂

2024-04-01 08:40:53

I love listening to an audiobook on Audible when, at the end of the chapter, a female voice cuts in: "This is the end of the CD. Please insert the next CD."

2024-04-01 07:47:53

#WritersCoffeeClub 1: What's your favourite easter egg in your own work and/or another work of fiction?
I don't do many myself and I never manage to spot them in other people's work. (I'm never sure what really qualifies either.)
In Yve's story, every company referenced is named after whichever song I was listening to at the time. There's also a couple of similar references in Tay's story.
There's a line in Radial 1 that references the first Milos smut I wrote, but that's very obscure. 😅

2024-03-31 12:49:55

#WordWeavers 31: For a giveaway, what swag would you love to offer with your book?
It depends on the book, but a hand-printed and bound copy, little photo-sized prints and bookmarks, maybe a recipe booklet with the instructions for Alex's thwarted dinner.
Depending on the book, maybe scented candles (I DID mention I'd been trying to work out the smell of an Avernus gate 😛) or other things that tie in, like a little vial on a string for The Iceheart Spear... eh I could get very distracted here.

2024-03-30 19:16:07

My three-layer mowing of the front lawn has paid off: I have two little dandelions! I also found another would-be Antopia, which has also been mugged and powdered. This does now mean I have three patches of bare soil in the front lawn... but I also have some wildflower seeds, so when I think the ants have gone, I'll see if I can get them to grow.

2024-03-30 18:44:50

#WordWeavers 30: What dessert would go best with your book?
Melting middle chocolate cake with double cream... because that's what Alex prepared and now has waiting in Milos's fridge.

2024-03-29 22:41:51

#WordWeavers 28: What scent best describes your book?
Expensive aftershave and artificial rose with an undertone of slightly overcooked food and stress, with anticipated scents of sweat and sex if Alex gets his way. (Jury is still out.)
(I can make scented candles, so I did in the past consider making ones themed around my stories. Ended up trying to work out how Avernus gates smell. And I did once buy a book based on its scent; the book was disappointing but the smell was incredible.)

2024-03-29 14:50:24

that you're a female humanoid cat: this is only revealed via an xray of you in your space suit.

2024-03-26 09:13:27

#WordWeavers 26: Is footwear important or unusual in your story?
Only insofar as Milos is happy that he no longer has to wear shoes until they wear out and fall apart (which at least gave his growing feet some breathing room). He's aware he can now afford to buy the same expensive kind of shoes Alex does... but mostly he sticks to cheap sneakers. The only stuff he'll spend proper money on is his motorbike gear.

2024-03-26 09:07:28

Cannot say I'm thrilled about Affinity being bought by Canva.

2024-03-24 09:07:08

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@npub15ax…lqq5 It's such a shock using it though, because suddenly I'm getting proper search results and not 99% rubbish! 😂

2024-03-24 08:49:49

#WritersCoffeeClub 24: What websites do you rely on most to help you with your writing?
Dictionary.com (because even though Scrivener is set to British English, it doesn't always believe it really exists), Thesaurus.com, and Wikipedia or a Mojeek search.

2024-03-23 10:32:45

#WordWeavers 23: Which do you figure out first—MCs' looks or personalities?
It varies. Milos was supposed to be a character I'd rendered, but he ended up looking nothing like it, nor had the personality he was supposed to. Alex, I had no idea of either until I started writing. Yve (in the pic) started out as fun renders, then he decided he was a character and his personality came along. Maxim was just a personality until his appearance turned up in my head. (His pink hair made me laugh.)
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/112/144/526/644/306/253/original/7c77e5c7e3807fae.jpg

2024-03-22 19:51:22

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@npub1yse…jaay Fingers crossed. I just suddenly had a wall of Rate Limited messages, and now nothing after the last ~30 messages will load.

2024-03-22 19:47:41

Is writing.exchange acting strangely for anyone else?

2024-03-20 08:44:18

Oh dear. Someone at the parish council must have seen that the first daisies had come out on the verges, because here they are to mow them. All because someone almost a decade ago told them that the verges here were nicer than in the next town over.
The next town over has wildflower verges. My council is just staffed with idiots.

2024-03-19 08:33:09

#WritersCoffeeClub 19: What do you put into your coffee? Or tea? Is this a vital part of your writing routine?
Lactose-free milk and sugar if it's granulated coffee or English Breakfast tea. Neither if it's a flavoured coffee or fruit tea from my coffee machine. But as I usually write in the evenings the writing routine tends to contain a bit more alcohol.

2024-03-17 20:20:22

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@npub1k24…26zw @npub18kv…6pnx Oooh, sneaky! 🤣

2024-03-17 20:19:26

#IrishCoffeeClub - How would your characters attempt to catch a leprechaun?
Alex would tut, because clearly there's no such thing as a 'leprechaun,' just something/one that should be listed in the Skills Handbook. He'd research it, then he and Milos would head out to capture the offending being and find out who's responsible for them.
Hopefully it wouldn't be like the time they dealt with a Ghillie Dhu, which turned out to be a short half-elf that bit Milos and caused a paperwork headache.

2024-03-17 15:08:05

#WordWeavers 17: Describe a traditional celebration in your world.
Most of them get celebrated by Alex pouncing on Milos.
Other than that, it's pretty much our world, but there are a lot of work get-togethers for things like New Year's, Christmas, Hallowe'en etc. that Milos finds incredibly wearing (not least because they're an excuse for people to drink a lot, and Milos doesn't). But a lot of them come with an extra day off, which he does like. (Assuming they don't get called in anyway...)

2024-03-17 12:04:42

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@npub1yse…jaay And now they're personalised to you and you've prolonged their lives. 🥰

2024-03-17 11:54:39

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@npub1yse…jaay If you ever see any classes for it nearby, it's a really enjoyable project to try, especially in a group setting! (In my first class I met a lady where we were both *sure* we'd met before, but neither of us could work out *where.* 😂)
How did you replace the jackets? 😯 Did you make new ones, or find the old ones online and reprint them?

2024-03-17 11:13:40

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I found one of the books I made, from my second class which was about binding books with hand-tied headbands. Let's just say that there's a reason most are premade and glued on...
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/112/110/715/901/753/516/original/65ebf92f252defc0.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/112/110/716/148/716/587/original/7ada2db38cbb3e7f.jpg

2024-03-17 08:53:18

#WritersCoffeeClub 17: Have you taken high school or college courses in Creative Writing? Were the classes useful?
I did the mandatory GCSE English (my teacher was great with teaching creative writing), then A-Level English Language & Literature, and realised after I'd finished it that I should've just done Language instead.
And I didn't go to university because it's too expensive for something I'd only drop out of.
I did do two day-classes on bookbinding though. 😅

2024-03-15 16:59:06

Fiddled with Alex's model some more. I don't know why I'm trying to make him look a bit more realistic, given his boyfriend... 😛 but eh. His G9 looked like his G8, but I hadn't actually finished fiddling with G8 when I recreated him, and I wasn't entirely happy with him, so all the bits I wasn't happy with I managed to recreate perfectly.
Does he still look like Alex? I think so...
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/112/100/742/106/657/528/original/249bdff9bea1af67.jpg

2024-03-15 12:42:52

Huh. My laptop has a Windows 11 educational license (I didn't realise this when I bought it, but it was cheap and it's reliable so it's not been a big deal), which means I have access to the Group Policy Manager. A few weeks ago, I pre-emptively set its Copilot setting to Disabled.
The most recent update only went and enabled it again. 🤦 So I changed the registry entry AND re-disabled it in Group Policy. Just to be sure.

2024-03-15 12:35:23

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@npub1py0…64pt I would absolutely read AU215X... and I misread the last one as 'Canada Dry,' which was briefly incredibly confusing.

2024-03-15 12:23:16

#WritersCoffeeClub 15: What would one of your stories be like in an alternative universe?
Several years ago, in a fit of... something, I actually turned Alex and Milos's modern fantasy into a high fantasy. I never finished it (what's new?) but it did randomly sprout an unfinished (eheh...) sequel set a few years later. There's also an AU where Milos didn't lose his parents floating around in my head; he ends up with an awful boyfriend who decided then to become an antagonist in book 3.

2024-03-14 17:31:14

I was fiddling around with Alex's model, adjusting his features a bit (ahh, the things you can't do using real actors), and suddenly wondered what he'd look like with short hair.
The answer is... odd. But what's odder is that in my head, he was a bit upset. It seems he only had cropped short hair when he was a child in the Research department (for ease of testing), and going back to it would mean something had gone very wrong.
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/112/095/219/804/264/879/original/789afaebfff5e1b6.jpg

2024-03-12 09:01:28

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@npub1dzj…4cun She was clearly working on the theory that you never know, and you might all have been murdered in your beds by this interloper if she wasn't careful. 😂

2024-03-11 22:04:24

It's funny, really. I have trouble remembering things are there if I can't see them; smol dog is completely the opposite. She saw a blackbird on the neighbour's lawn several hours ago and watched it nip behind their hedge, and she's still looking for it *now.*

2024-03-11 17:32:14

I have just, many years after the fact, figured out which Skill Lucia, one of Alex's Academy classmates, had. They didn't like each other so just avoided one another, so Alex was never curious.
He just told me he only found out that she was hydrokinetic after she tried to drown a girl in her dorm that'd been bullying her. He also said he was very happy *not* to know for those first two years... (And no, he still doesn't like her.)

2024-03-10 20:28:07

One of the weirdest kdrama tropes I realised I love is the one where an MC accidentally ends up with a gang. I saw it most recently in My Demon, where Gu-won accidentally ended up with a devoted bunch of gangsters (and their dog), but I'd forgotten it was in Strong Girl Bong-soon too. She's unintentionally ended up with an adoring gang of delinquent high-schoolers that she's made attend classes and litter pick. 😂

2024-02-28 21:24:00

#WordWeavers 28: How often do you back up your work?
My Scrivener files are backed up to pCloud, so they auto-update on my 3D and work PCs (usually always on) and my upstairs PC whenever I edit anything on my laptop. I also back them up to two big external drives, a secondary drive on the upstairs PC, and a smaller MicroSD.
Edit: I'm just backing everything up to this laptop's little MicroSD card too, Just In Case.

2024-02-27 18:23:33

So... my back garden has been overrun with brambles because I have very limited energy, even more limited bin space (thanks again NWLeics!) and a gently disintegrating body.
It's time to go nuclear on it. So, my gardening fan friends... which wildly vigorous herbs can I plant that will go ham and absolutely smother the fuck out of the brambles? Is there such a unicorn?

2024-02-27 13:07:01

GOOD.
Crooked House: Owners of wonky pub ordered to rebuild
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-68414524

2024-02-27 09:39:10

#WritersCoffeeClub 27: How do you find beta readers? Would you beta read yourself?
I used to ask on social media; usually got nothing but the faint chirping of crickets in response. 😅
I am a very slow reader these days, so I don't think I am a satisfying person to use as a beta-reader.

2024-02-26 08:23:44

#WritersCoffeeClub 26: Would you consider recording your own audiobook?
I dreamed about this the other night. 🤣
I don't like the sound of my own voice, but in one of my previous jobs, someone kept ringing just to talk to me because they liked it (bit weird). I also can't really do voices/accents, and when I narrated bits of FFXIV to myself I kept making myself laugh... but I've heard some atrocious narration in audiobooks that people seemed to like, so I guess it's always an option.

2024-02-25 22:33:03

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@npub15wt…7rek @npub1hhj…2qtv There have been some in the past. They usually do well for a few years, and then spectacularly explode. I still miss All Romance eBooks, the only platform I've ever done well on... which exploded. (It was now many years ago and I am still sad.)
https://writerbeware.blog/2016/12/30/all-romance-ebooks-sudden-closing-many-questions-few-answers/

2024-02-25 13:13:50

#WordWeavers 25: What's the most out-of-character fact about your mentor character?
I don't really know what's out of character for Robin, Milos's former landlord and first mentor-type, so I'll go for his Section 16 boss, Nazarian, instead.
Nazarian is very tall, broad, and muscular, very physically imposing and more than capable of cheerfully kicking Alex's arse when sparring... and he writes fluffy fanfic of an evening.
He's also a big fan of terrible Christmas sweaters.

2024-02-25 08:56:26

#WritersCoffeeClub 25: How do you feel about Amazon's influence on books and publishing?
On one hand, there wouldn't be so many authors and books I loved, because they would be unlikely to be published traditionally.
On the other, it needs separate management from the main site and should be dealt with by someone who actually likes it.
I think my thoughts are all a bit too complicated to fit into one (or maybe two, or five...) message(s)...

2024-02-24 13:48:43

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@npub1yy2…7vpm 🫂 To be honest, if you feel this way I think it already makes you a good writer. A *real* bad writer would believe that they were absolutely wonderful all the time!
It's already enough; you're already enough. 🫂

2024-02-23 17:31:08

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@npub15wt…7rek @npub16uc…k62q You know, I would absolutely read that, it sounds amazing!

2024-02-23 13:24:30

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@npub1yse…jaay No, don't worry, it's okay. 🙂 I have Affinity Publisher and it's a very good bit of software that I just have to stop being so lazy with. (It's so good I accidentally edited an image with it instead of with Photo and didn't even really notice, just thought it was a bit of a convoluted way to apply layer styles all of a sudden. 😂)
I definitely can't justify buying it when I don't release anywhere near often enough, and it's not like I'll recoup it in sales... 😅

2024-02-23 13:08:50

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@npub1lyr…k7hs @npub1yse…jaay I like the price of Scrivener, but as a Windows user I have a hate/hate relationship with it. 😂 It hates me, I hate it and its weird insistence that it should be "INTERNET," all caps, and that it still can't spell epaulettes even though it's set to UK English. I'm just too used to it to swap, and I do like the sidebars...
I'm a picky sod. 😛
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/111/980/948/495/855/668/original/01dd38320ddc7c05.png

2024-02-23 13:01:48

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@npub1yse…jaay @npub1lyr…k7hs That's one I'd love to try, but it's very pricy for something with no trial options whatsoever. I don't like "if you don't like it we'll give you your money back" things because they rely on me having to email them and explain. My brain hates things like that and I always either forget (because yay ADHD) or I just get too nervous to write the email.
So... unless they ever implement a time-locked trial version, it's not for me. 😕

2024-02-23 12:57:02

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@npub1lyr…k7hs I've heard good things about Vellum, but as it's only for Macs I'll never get to try it. 😭
I like loading my first (and second, where it's slightly more heartbreaking) drafts onto my Kindle, because all the mistakes pretty much throw themselves through the screen at me. 😂 Same with getting Word to read it out to me. The times I've gone "wait, what did I actually mean to say there? because that was not it.."

2024-02-23 12:49:49

#WritersCoffeeClub 23: Do you format your own work, or hire someone?
I do it myself. It's always fun to learn new things. Once I started using Kindle Create it kind of took the fun out of it, because all you need is a half-decently set up Word file, but it does beat the "I created my CSS file, why hasn't my book changed formatting? Oh I forgot to link the stylesheet" depressingly frequent event with Sigil.

2024-02-23 09:17:04

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(My first stories I wrote for sharing online were on a fantasy/scifi webpage when I was... 17?, and that was my first foray into people thinking my stories were romantic when they weren't supposed to be. And then there's the whole "accidentally thinly veiled gay demon porn for the A-Level English final exam" thing. And yet it still took me at least a decade before I just... gave in and wrote romance.)

2024-02-23 09:10:27

#WordWeavers 23: What was the first story you ever wrote?
Oh crikey, I don't know. I've been making up stories since I was young. Most of the ones I have defined memories of were from secondary school though. I remember being set homework in English when I was 11 to write a story about a gang and it, uh, got away from me a bit and I didn't finish it. I finally found it, transferred it onto PC and finished it when I was 15. Turned out quite violent. 😅 My poor teacher would've had a fit.

2024-02-23 07:44:03

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@npub1yse…jaay 🥰 Thank you!

2024-02-22 14:48:06

I really can't be trusted.
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/111/975/673/472/049/924/original/f651ff10bb500560.jpg

2024-02-21 22:22:27

#WritersCoffeeClub 21: Would you ever use emojis in your writing? Why? Why not? 😀
2003 Caeso has a cellphone (it seemed a good idea after the end of Dirty Work), but emojis as they are now didn't really exist then, and he isn't the type to use them anyway, so they won't make it into that story.
Radial is present day, but Alex's texts are so short they never include any so I'm safe on that front too.
They seem too much like a hassle to get into ebook form, so maybe I'm just creating excuses. 😜

2024-02-20 19:37:56

#WordWeavers 20: How does your antagonist sleep?
Caeso's antagonist sleeps deeply and happily in a very nice king-size bed beside Caeso's soulmate.
Current antagonist for Alex and Milos sleeps alone, not well, and is not very happy about it.

2024-02-19 22:02:09

When smol dog was Very Smol, she absolutely adored sticks. She was completely obsessed with them. Obsessed to the point of once trying to dig up a tree root because she *had* to have it. (The tree was fine, it's only a little younger than me.) And then over time she stopped caring and pretty much grew out of it.
Until tonight, when she's just found a stick she Had To Have. She grabbed it, pranced around, waved it at me, and then dragged me home to put it safe by the door in case she lost it. 🤣

2024-02-18 11:58:24

#WordWeavers 18: Does your antagonist eat healthily?
Caeso's antagonist has a demi-god (god?) body, but he does like to eat healthily anyway because even with semi- or full-deity level metabolism, he doesn't need to push it.
Alex and Milos's current antagonist eats, on average, ready meals and takeaways. Never fancy restaurants though, which is probably why they're being an irritating little shit on Valentine's day.

2024-02-17 11:32:14

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Alex says the trick to life is to have absolutely no shame whatsoever, and demanded that I add this because technically he's the main character of this story. I can't fit it into an edit though, so here it is.

2024-02-17 11:28:44

#WordWeavers 17: What’s the most embarrassing thing your MC has done?
Milos has quite a few things, but at present it's the fact that when he started his martial arts training he used to get tangled up with his own feet and fall over a lot. Alex has video evidence of it. He's still not that great now, to his instructor's eternal despair.
Caeso won't tell me, but says that there's quite a bit over 2,000 years and he doesn't feel inclined to share...