I've been trying to go to the Pittsburgh Botanical Garden for days but it keeps raining. Today was beautiful. The high was 75 F (24C) and no rain with enough cloud cover so the digital camera wouldn't be washed out by light. And naturally it's not open on Mondays. Sigh.

At least the writers' zoom went MUCH better this time.



Journaling prompt: What games do you play, if any? Are you a solo-gamer or do you view games as a social activity?
Creative prompt: Write a story/fic around the theme "game night".

I've got nothing for the creative prompt but games...I don't get to play as many as I'd like. As a family we play poker, blackjack and Uno when we can. Online I basically play June's Journey right now (I love hidden object games and this one is free and while you can buy stuff to get further along you can still get everything you need without having to do that so that's a bonus (I mean most of the free games you have to keep buying things to clear a level and I won't do that)

I used to play video games like a fiend. In the 80s I haunted arcades. I would have killed to get an ESports scholarship like some of my students do today. I had an Intellivision in the house and then later a Sega. Then medical school happened and I had time for nothing.

By the time I was no longer seeing patients I had a nerve damaged hand and a lot of games are out of the question as a result. It's too painful. Also I tend to get obsessive about it and it is probably better I don't play.

I started playing Dungeons and Dragons and other TTRPGs when I was 13. I would still be playing if I could. There are no local games and I don't really want to do this online since every time I've played an online group game it has ended badly. Like SO badly. I don't want to go through that again. And that makes me sad.

I did get introduced to having a 'gaming office hours' at my work con this year and I love that idea. Instead of only coming to see the professor because you aren't understanding something, you come and play games with me and then if you need to ask questions you can. Also gamification is becoming BIG in teaching and I'm hoping to work up a game or two as a teaching tool. I do love my games.

And for another love of mine music! It's music monday. I'm doing the alphabet challenge where we're sharing songs that begin with a specific letter. We're up to P. I'm only sharing songs from the lasts 5 years (but you can share whenever you'd like)

( Not a lot of Ps )

So say I as I get in the car to come home. We met Lucky Uncle's wife. It was her birthday over the weekend and in a few days it'll be the first anniversary of his death so we took her out to one of her favorite restaurants: Chinese. Always dicey for a diabetic but I usually do decently in selection. This one had a dish that was represented by a hot pepper and a ginger sauce. I ended up with a sauce so sweet it was ridiculous (it also had no heat and no ginger) but my aunt is like Sheldon and is already a mess so I didn't want to send it back and give her reason to go off. I figured it won't be too much worse than general tso's which I can eat with a mild bump in sugar.

This one sent my sugar so high it was beyond what a Dexcom could read. (Yes I took my insulin, yes I'm fine, it's back down to under 150).




Okay this ride in the graphic looks like fun

Challenge #4

Fun House
Journaling: What is making you smile these days? Create a top 10 list of anything you want to talk about.
Creative: Write from the perspective of a house or other location.


Not much is making me smile. However I DO have a list of things I love to talk about. As for a story, well I don't have that either BUT I did finish an original horror story today that has a cabin in the woods as a central location. It's not quite on point but there you go.

1. Books My genres are mostly mystery SF/F/UF and horror (all of these both adult and YA) see me on wednesday for my current reads

2. music, I will listen to almost anything. see me on mondays for music

3. cooking, I don't share recipes as much as I should. I watch a ton of YT cooking channels

4. history, it's my jam. Love historical books fiction and nonfiction, also follow history YT channels

5. Museum, I love them even little ones. Yesterday I went to a local one for a town next to where I grew up and learned Jay Livingston wasn't the only famous person out of McDonald PA, we have one woman who won 8 emmys and one pulitzer prize winning photographer

6. gardens, I will try to make gardens and museums cornerstones of my tourism but it's not just about the big beautiful gardens and conservatories, I do garden (not as well as I used to now that I'm getting old and more disabled) but I love talking about it

7. science and medicine, I am a doctor and now a biology professor, I love science and sharing links. I'm good with biology and chemistry. I'm not great with physics, astronomy and archaeology fascinate me

8. writing, I'm a published author (points to the above reading genres), I love talking about writing, looking for beta reader/critique group members in search of a group, see me on Sundays for writing links and open calls

9. cats! Well animals in general but I'm a cat person. I take care of the outdoor cat (who does not want to be indoors which sucks because he's FIV+) Rocket refuses to be inside but he is also the most amazingly friendly cat. Some jerk dropped him off. I tried to rehome him then (4 years ago) because I was barely walking after nearly losing a leg and didn't want to be tripping over a cat just then. See how well that worked out (He's also cat number 42 I've rescued from this place)

10. My fandoms! Star Trek is my forever fandom. My biggest fandoms (in terms of me getting eaten alive by them and me writing scads for) were Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the series, Fullmetal Alchemist (still my absolute favorite anime/manga), Prodigal Son (I am still bitter about its cancelation), The Owl House (ditto about the bitter) and my current obsession, Hazbin Hotel. I'm into a lot more (especially manga/anime) so if any of those are yours let's talk (or if there's a mystery/cop drama, SF/F/Horror show, anime/manga I haven't mentioned ask if I'm into it)


And it IS Musical Monday. I'm currently doing the alphabet using the last 5 years only (But you can share from whenever you please). I'm up to O

( Ooooooooo )

My cousins came today and stayed for like 6 hours so I am socialed out and my brain ain't coming up with witty writing stuff so I'm combining it with Sunshine challenge #2



Challenge #2

Tunnel of Love
Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.
Creative: Write a love poem to anyone or anything you like


Now that I'm a college professor and not seeing patients any more, I have one thing I like about summer. I'm OFF WORK. Other than college sucks. Yeah I love to garden and swim but you can do both of that indoors and that's my preference. I'm heat intolerant. Summer literally makes me sick. Yeah I'm an autumn/winter kinda lady.

Yes I can appreciate all the good things that comes out of summer but yeah not really for me.



But I do have something about love written...or at least sex... have that story I wrote in a week 15K + here is chapter one. I'm proud of this one If Anything's Worth My Love, It's Worth a Fight It's Hazbin Hotel and it's naughty





Open Calls


Eldritch Prayers (Cthulhu Mythos Poetry Anthology)

Anomaly August 2025 Window science fiction stories under 300 words in length

Unseen Agreements Speculative stories that explore hidden bargains, mysterious contracts, and eerie agreements by Canadian authors

Dark Age Press August 2025 Window For Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels Sci-Fi and Fantasy

Horror on the Range Horrifying Wild West Stories

Common Bonds 2 Stories that belong in the fantasy or science fiction genre, have a clear aromantic MC, & centers around a non-romantic relationship

Tractor Beam Volume 3 Speculative Fiction, Soilpunk (they're claiming to pay 1000$)

Ten Manuscript Publishers Open to Direct Submissions in July 2025

SQUID Online: Now Seeking Submissions.


22 Young Adult Publishers that Accept Unagented Submissions



From Around the web


How Authors Can Promote Books Using TikTok and Instagram

Juxtapositions Can Make Great Sentences

Generate Greater Book Profits in 4 Easy Steps

Gazingly (Lovingly) Into the Abyss—Introducing Horrormance, the New Genre-Blending Sensation so...apparently I've been reading and writing this without knowing it had a title

How to Subtitle Your Book to Encourage Sales

Story Development: The Overlooked Revision Opportunity.

Plot Holes? I Prefer to Call Them “Opportunities for Interpretation”

How Writers Can Stay Hopeful in a Tough Publishing Climate


From Betty

Constructing a Compelling Romance

Should Your Fantasy World Resemble Earth?

Adding Dance to Your Fictional Culture

The Gravity of a Single Word: Why Writers Must Choose with Care

Write Your Manuscript Like an Endurance Athlete Trains

The What Ifs of Building Believable Alternate History

How to Avoid Apostrophe Abuse


The Living, Breathing Novel

The Emotion Amplifier Playbook for Antagonists

Three Hidden Reasons Writers Procrastinate

How does a comp title help a self-published book’s marketing plan?

A Writer Can Rely on the Unreliable Narrator POV

Before I get into it, just wanted to say I made it back to Pittsburgh for the rest of the summer (in theory)




Challenge #1

Journaling Prompt: Light up your journal with activity this month. Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025.
Creative Prompt: Shine a light on your own creativity. Create anything you want (an image, an icon, a story, a poem, or a craft) and share it with your community.. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

For July I have two open calls I want to write stories for. And I have two wipbigbang stories I must finish and I do need to work on my fandomtrumpshate story. In the meantime I'm working on some story that bit me yesterday. In fact on the 4 hour trip today five stories were trying to take dominance in my brain as I drove.

My other goals are to see some of the sites I've been trying to get to for years. It doesn't look good. Sigh. No one cares what my work goals are (including me if I'm honest)

I DO have something I'm proud of. Two somethings that I spent most of June working on. Both are from the Hazbin Hotel fandom (so mind the tags, this is the most violent musical animated comedy ever I swear)

Dandelions This is my unconventionalcourtship story. I am very proud of how this one turned out and have gotten some nice comments about.


The Power Play series is something I created for the getyourwordsout Yahtzee challenge. I am a little disappointed at how much this is flying under the radar. That said, I think it's a very good one that I enjoyed doing.



I'm going to break the book report into two days because I'm hot, tired and cranky. (and that story wants me to get back to it)

What I Just Finished Reading:

Dark Entry - a short suspense/horror novel I got last year, not bad but predictable

Verses for the Dead - a pendergast novel from Preston & Childe. enjoyed it but the ending was too hollywood

Chasing Evil - this is written by an FBI agent (ex) and his professional relationship with psychic John Edward (wish there had been chapters by John too)



What I am Currently Reading:

Kill You Twice - a pretty graphic (i don't mind) police procedural but it's a tad soap opera for me

I Need You To Read This - an arc of an advice columnist trying to solve the murder of the woman she's replacing. It has a neat cover, sleek red with the title as keyboard keys but they're tactile.

War Child - a Deep Space Nine Novel

Pantomine - an LGBT (intersexed main character) fantasy



What I Plan to Read Next: something for popsugar

A day that disappeared so fast I barely knew what was happening. I managed to get some writing but barely. I
am struggling on that front today.

Sent out my thank yous and failed to call my insurance. That was my boxing day (that and laundry)

I did sign up for storygraph today (female run so that's nice). So far, it looks like the import didn't work and the graphics are blah but we'll see. (same name as here)

But it got me thinking about reading challenges and all that jazz. What are you all doing? I'm doing Popsugar challenge, Storygraph's onboarding challenge and on facebook Cloak & Dagger, alphabet challenge, and the literary destination challenge (read a book in all 50 states and other countries count too), and on goodreads 50 book challenge and the Mount TBR challenge.

Here in the blogs duckprintpress is having a challenge over on storygraph
The Duck Prints Press 2025 Queer Book Challenge! and my friend evil_little_dog has a challenge here. on LJ


The Haunted Minds Horror book club on FB has shortlisted Gasps, the horror anthology I'm in for an anthology award which is cool.


Mom randomly recorded Scooby Doo and the Gourmet and it turns out that two of the main characters were Bobby Flay and Giada de Laurentis and it was actually quite fun.

Since I didn't get to this yesterday

What I Just Finished Reading:

The Vanishing at Smokestack Hollow - true crime, not bad, no resolution because well the crime is unsolved so...


What I am Currently Reading:

The Lost House - icelandic noir arc, I want to slap this protagonist

Once Upon a Seaside Murder - fits a popsugar prompt and ...I want the protagonist to be the killer's next victim. I paid money (not much) so I want to finish it. If this was a library book it would be back by now. The sleuth is a snob, a bitch and even admits kindness is not something she does. Ugh.

Murder on Marble Row - a historical mystery set in NY, it's not bad. It was part of a gift last year book 6 in a series of about 2 dozen.



What I Plan to Read Next: working thru a bunch of mysteries to give them to mom (but I ain't giving her that seaside one...).

But it didn't last long enough for me to get out there and go for a walk. Pouts

I did a lot more on the research today and I thought it was doing great but then I realized this pile was only a quarter of what I have....repeat my new mantra with me. 'you have enough to do your presentation. You aren't writing the book by March. You can complete the reading this summer.'

And sadly having another bad sugar day and feel drained.


Title Need to Know


Summary: Sir Pentious’s self-sacrifice hits Cherri harder than she’s prepared for. She wants to channel her emotions into actions.

Author Note - Written for spikesgirl58’s six word challenge and the six words were Heir, Missile, Hurt, Authorize, Concentrate, & Silver and for the lyrical titles challenge for the prompt of a grief song using Empty Bench by David Kushner. You can find the song here.

( story under here or at the link )


Waiting For The Sun Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Odd Ailment Torchwood/Doctor Who

What are you Doing New Year's Eve? Despicable Me/ Minions

Love's a gamble, and baby I'm all in. Hazbin Hotel

What Must Be Star Wars

better luck next universe Deadpool/X-Men

It's the Thought Addams Family/Sapphire & Steel

On Torchwood Business Torchwood

Three Nights to Win Your Heart Hazbin Hotel

Pausing at the Bus Stop on a Snowy Day Buffy the Vampire Slayer/NCIS

The Mistletoe Petition Oz

Scoop The Owl House

For What Is Telling Hazbin Hotel

[ART] Where ya goin', gorgeous? X-Men

[ART] Claws out X-Men

[ART] Jubilee Pinup X-Men


[ART] Lap kitty Deadpool/X-Men



Advent Joy


Day 20 Clean out your closet and donate unneeded/wanted clothing


I spent the week before I left doing this and I'm counting it

Day 20 tea - Roasted Chestnut rooibos - another red rooibos (eye roll. I've counted them this is the 8th tisane out of 20) This was red rooibos, orange blossoms and chestnut flavoring. Very little of it. tasted like red rooibos. I don't like red rooibos much so yeah this is a no.

So have one of my new fandom blends from Adagio, (one day I should make my own blends) Husker for Hazbin Hotel's Husk. it's black tea, yunnan jig tea, wuyi ensemble tea, natural creme flavor & gunpowder and it was good. I liked it.