@@TheDarqProject not my vibe based on that title although it would be hilarious if the title was not an indicator of what the book was about. 😆 But absolutely! The covers for books one and two are EXACTLY what I mean! How cool is that?!?

@@cvvzdesigns thought I filmed 22, but apparently I missed a day. Doesn't really surprise me with all the other video clips I've been filming lately. 😂 I was a little freaked out but I knew there was always the fire alarm which automatically disables the magnets holding the doors closed even when sensors aren't working so I did ultimately have a way out. Just not a convenient one they would have liked me for if I'd used it.

I make cards! …sometimes. 😂

It sucks that we can't make others follow budgets that we need in order to survive.

Blue's always held well in my hair, thank goodness. Just doesn't seem the silver will. We tried manic panic in the oldest's hair and it looks awesome (she wanted red), and the youngest wants green, so I'm thinking of looking to see if they have a silver, or a blue-ish silver, and if they do... I might give it one last attempt myself.

He is. I love my writer's block.

That's what I want to do. I just didn't know if it would be weird. 😄

@@SDHegyes Nope. Dew eet.

I usually try to pre-schedule the week's posts for that reason. It's just been storming for 2 weeks (unusual weather for the time of year honestly) and the internet's been wishy-washy, and posts I thought I'd sucessfully uploaded weren't finished between a power blip.

It did not turn out the color I was seeing in my head, but that doesn't really surprise me. It's not the first time I've tried gray (although I seemed to have forgotten that until I was looking through pics of all the hair colors I've tried over the years), and it's never really taken the gray. Vlog going up now going into more detail!

To be fair, he'd been waiting for a response from her and had tried calling her multiple times but she was playing a game or something on her phone and didn't catch it. lol I'm a last resort "is she OK?!?" target.

@SDHegyes maybe... but I'd encourage him to trust you to let people know if she's NOT. If she IS OK and this is how he gets to invade her space, could become a pattern. Boundaries are a thing to be learned early! The genuine concern is cute though. Mine is 12. No hurry! But he's been learning to respect privacy & and boundaries

Right?!? I actually love it in a way because that means they trust me in some way right? She hasn't mentioned it, but it might be that she even told him to reach out to me if he couldn't get up with her because I'm quick to respond to everyone as long as I'm awake and catch the notifications.

I follow this artist on IG and her work is so pretty and the messages are so relatable. As soon as I saw this deck for sale, I knew I had to get it.

I feel the throwing them out. I keep side-eyeing my kanban board and I'm like... I have no idea what to do with you... I think it's time to admit that it just doesn't work for me.

Thanks! I'm always trying new things. Someday, something will click and I'll add it to the mirium of things that do.

Thank you. I know. It's just so disappointing because this was the first job where I actually felt like I was in a good place. I think that's why this... betrayal? (I don't know what else to call it; it feels like one of those "at least they showed their true colors before..." moments) hurts so much. *huggle*

Is Mercury in retrograde? I've seen it joked about so often now that I haven't a clue when it actually is, and I don't follow enough to figure it out. I'm not even certain what it means for Mercury to be in retrograde, but that's something to tackle another day. Burnout sucks. From work. From reading. From writing. From everything. It just sucks.

That's exactly what I was thinking! Also, I think it's complete BS that they can't approve me and Justin taking 2 weeks when (I looked back and confirmed this) she took 2 weeks off to go to NY near the end of last year ANNND one of our other employees was out with the plague that shant be named! for a full week while she was gone. So she can't use either "we can't guarantee 2 weeks off" or "it's because you'll both be gone at the same time" as an excuse. We had less people working then, so it's legit just BS. Here's hoping I'll be able to leave earlier than planned.

@@SDHegyes Can you go over her head?

Thank you. I really do hate ranting on the internet (mostly because a part of me worries my boss or company will find it though I've hit the point where I don't care if they do), but at the same time... Yeah... It's a crock of shiutake mushrooms...

I love the idea of having a swiss cheese brain. I've always said I have the memory of a goldfish based on the idea that they can only remember the past 5 seconds (although I think that's been debunked)... Anyway... What was I saying? Oh yeah! *huggle*

I love the Sterling Ink products I've tried so far. This little notebook originally had a different purpose, but I never ended up using it for that so here we are.

@@StephanieWhitson I love these cards and I follow the artist on IG.

@@StephanieWhitson that makes perfect sense!

Nice! I'll have to check them out!

That's where I'm stuck at. Thanks for commenting and adding your input on the subject. Crime fantasy sounds so interesting!

That makes sense.

This would also end up requiring book sellers to start carding people and that's not their job. They should be closer to a librarian than a bouncer.

Also a Microbudget MPAA rating costs the company making the movie $2500 and it only goes up from there. Sorry I have feels.

You come from a film background too, so this makes sense! I didn't even think about the fact that there's a company with regulations behind rating systems. I still think it would be easier to come up with a rating system rather than trigger warnings, but make it more like author discretion? Kind of like how authors advertise using chillies for the level of spice in their books? Maybe the number of knives could be how violent it is, number of blood droplets talk about how gory it is? I don't know. You've given me a bit to think about though...

Trauma-causing events, yes. Phobias, no. That's actually a really good way to think about it. Ugh! Yes. SJM is a HUUUGE author right now in adult romantasy, but when her ACOTAR books first came out, they were advertised as YA because SJM was a "YA author". Even today, when I walk into my local BnN, I can find ACOTAR in the YA section even though it's NOT for teens because they didn't want to split the two series into different sections. Yes, I realize that's the problem of the store rather than the author, but imagine if SJM wasn't as popular and more unknown. I bet parents would be SCREAMING that we've allowed things like that to happen. I fully believe it happens now BECAUSE she's so popular that people are like, "They should know already..." The next 7-Day Book Challenge is Sept 16-22. I'm excited! Hoping to finish the Sultry Solstices series with it although I changed out one of the stories out so... Dunno if I'll finish, but I'll get close!

Yeah. I've told my girls (13 and 12) they can read my writing, and if they have questions about something, please address it with me. We have the same rule with books they're reading or movies they're watching. There's lots of "taboo" topics we've discussed because they knew others who'd been through traumatic experiences and were asking questions, and while, yes, they are young, and someone out there's going to tell me I'm a screwed-up parent for having those kinds of conversations with them, I'd much rather they have the knowledge than find themselves in a situation where they don't know what's happening and can't get out of or talk about because of shame/guilt. Sorry. That was a long rant to lead into my next point. While I tell my kids they can read my writing because I'm a source they can go to with questions, in general, I say that my books aren't for kids and label them as NA for that reason. It'll be parents' discretion at that point, like it is for me with my kids. Completely agree with the fact that there's genres where you should expect certain things: death, murder, gore, violence in horror; hand-holding, kissing, petting, smexy times in romance (depending on spice level); mystical creatures and magic in fantasy. And I agree we shouldn't have to hold reader's hands which is part of why I have such mixed feelings about trigger warnings... It's such a fine line because I don't want to write an SA scene that takes up less than 500 words (and while the effects of the scene are long-lasting, the event itself isn't mentioned again), not warn someone about it, and then find out I've traumatized them. This in a NA PNR book where SA *could* happen but isn't necessarily common in the genre. Although, to be fair, I've read A LOT of PNR books that then use this kind of content as the basis for why an MMC is The One™ for the FMC, but that's another gripe for another day...

@@SDHegyes I'm with you when it comes to tiny humans. Like with TV shows and movies, if we watch something that's potentially problematic, I make sure they know that they can walk away if it's too much, and I'll answer any questions they have. As for trigger warnings... I dunno. I feel like you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. Personally, I'd leave the scene in. It's meant to make folks uncomfortable, not glorify it (and I've read plenty of "extreme horror" that you can totally tell is just an SA power fantasy the author has contemplated a time or two...) And OH, the Stockholm Syndrome. Oof.

Music is my jam. I don't need someone to sing to me though. I sing all on my own and tend to make up my own songs about whatever I'm doing at the time. lol

No cancer. I don't think I'd have ANY hair if I did (still trying to convince Da Hubz to let me shave my head completely), but no. I was trying a new style because I don't like things touching the back of my neck, so I had my undercut shaved and was wearing the rest of my hair up. I still have the same haircut actually, but my hair is longer and I buzz the undercut now rather than shaving it. Thanks for commenting!

They have! But even more so, I have made some great connections and found new people who's videos I enjoy watching. Thank you, Shanon, and Devon for putting it all together!

Right?!? I joke every once in a while that I have a bunch of stories in edit mode and sometime in the next two years I'm just going to be pumping out stories to the point where SOMEONE is going to accuse me of using AI to write, and I'll be like, "No... I just couldn't afford an editor for XYZ project until ABC time and now I'm releasing everything I've been holding on to."

Love a good replay! Thanks for watching!

It was definitely not one of my smartest decisions, but it was fun to try!

Woo hoo! Yeah... Definitely didn't go as planned (what little planning I did), but now I know for next time! lol

@@StephanieWhitson all of the dragon fantasies!!!

If I had managed 12K I would have been ecstatic. I knew it was a wash as soon as the snafu occurred with the animals we were pet sitting. One of the indoor dogs made a prison break and disappeared for a couple hours before she finally returned, but had me worried sick the entire time she was gone and I couldn't get up with her owners to let them know. They finally contacted me 6 hours later after she'd gotten back so I was able to give them good news but yeah... My anxiety went through the roof during that time and there was nooo coming back from it. I am pleased with what I got done based on that alone. 😂

Oooh! Even a writing retreat at home would be lovely. The kids are sleeping in so late every day this summer I'm able to get a lot done once Da Hubz leaves for work. I can pretty much work his whole shift without any interruptions... As long as the animals are satisfied, which they usually aren't because the dogs tend to follow my schedule more. I'm sorry about the water pump. Having replaced ours twice in two years (our fault both times since we let the cisterns get too low before we hauled water), I can tell you it sucks! I can't imagine hauling water to and from a well by hand. Yikes! You deserve all the rest and relaxation you can get from everything you've got going on. 💙 Here's hoping everything starts calming down enough you're able to.

I love the idea! I just realized we made the spreadsheet and I don't know about you, but I never touched it again after sending you the link. 😂 Oops? I'm game for doing it again and having a solo retreat together out-of-house when we do. I don't know what I'll work on but I'll make sure it's better prepped!

@@SDHegyes I checked it once after you sent it to me, saw it was empty and just accepted the way of things. hahaha Yes, next time we'll have a solid story we want to finish, distraction-free workspace, AND we'll use a spreadsheet!

@@evatianne We liked da spreadsheet. Must uses da spreadsheet! 😂

Let me check. I know we talked about it but I can't remember if one was made. Once I know, I'll create a post on my community tab about it.

Here ya go: kzbin.info/aero/PLTQTDUB-E3fef-9SQTKV_Wa1HOnOrUbsS

@@WriterSamWicker Thanks!

Exactly! Funny story. I had every intention of using my spinning wheel to work on projects this month and I haven't spun it once since I did this challenge because I've been working on this project for all the task blocks I've had for writing.

She was always more on BookTube than Authortube but she was one of the first people I started watching on KZbin who did anything writing-related. I'm a little sad I don't see her post new content anymore because I always enjoyed her videos.

Nevermind, apparently I had to bitch about it first🤦‍♀️

Mwah ha ha ha ha! It was just testing you.

I'm still mad about it. I had to take Da Hubz to work today because I needed the truck and he watched my face as the rooster crowed this morning and laughed when my face twisted into something dark and nasty and I grumbled about it. I think I'm more mad about it because my mom has been all "you need a rooster" and I've been gung-ho against it and now I have one and I'm just like fuuuuq... Nooooooo...