Good morning, Readers!

I'm over at Black Gate Magazine today, offering some suggestions on possible Christmas gifts for those creative people in your life, who can be terribly tricky to shop for.

I don’t think it could have escaped anyone’s notice that Christmas is just about a week away. Is anyone prepared? I know I’m not (Don’t panic, Sonia.  Don’t panic). Many of you might have a creative in your life that you’re struggling really hard to come up with meaningful gifts for. I get it. It’s really tricky. I figured I would put together a small list of gift ideas that perhaps you can draw inspiration from while shopping for the difficult creative in your life.
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Disclaimer: Creatives aren’t a monolith with the same tastes and preferences. This list may or may not work for you or your favorite creative. Also, as I’m a writer, I tend to gravitate towards gifts that would suit writers, but many of these would work for an awful lot of creatives.

Good morning, Readers!

I did really well yesterday. I wrote the blog post for my own site, the blog post for Black Gate Magazine, and a three thousand word short story, which will be published as part of Renaissance Press' holiday blog roll.  I also, in the evening, managed to sketch the first of the three drawings I decided I wanted to draw for that same story... because I am a sucker for punishment.

It's not a good drawing, but it'll do.

I mean... that list of things is not nothing.  Today, I have another Black Gate Magazine post to write (as I'll be on holidays when it's my turn to post again), the first drawing to give some colour to, and a second drawing to complete.

Still on the list, writing and scheduling the rest of the blog posts for while I'm on holiday, one more drawing, and tonne of videos to edit.

Wish me luck!

Unfortunately, I will have to put my French lessons aside to get this all done, but I'm alright with that.  I'll pick it back up as things calm down.

On that note, I have another blog post to write.  I have to go do work now.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

I have so much to get done this week before I go on holidays.  My holidays this year begin the 23rd of December, and will continue until the 6th of January.

I have blog posts to write and schedule, both for here, and for Black Gate, as well as a story to write for my part in the Renaissance Press blog roll.  I have videos to edit, upload and schedule.  I also have to query agents today.  I might skip the querying on the 23rd and 30th, though.  I'm sure most of them will be on holidays anyway, and don't need my over-eager letters filling up their inboxes.

Since that's the case, I'll leave this blog post really short.  Actually, pretty much all the blog posts will be super short in the next three odd weeks.

This week, I will still be streaming.  I've finished Far Cry Primal, and it was great.  The Sassy Review has been written, and is waiting for the new site to transfer over.  It will probably go up in early 2020.  The new game I'll be fumbling my way through is Death Stranding.  It looks good, if odd.  I appreciate odd stories.

Today will be spent querying agents, writing the first of the Black Gate posts, and getting started on my yule story for the blog roll.  In that order.

Needless to say, I won't be getting much writing done in these next few weeks.  It's a bummer.  I hoped to have this manuscript finished by the end of the year.  That doesn't look like that's happening.  Le sigh.

Anyway, I really need to get started.  Have yourselves a great day!

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

So, last Friday a friend of mine, who is doing game design at Carleton, had a showcase along with the other students, at Carleton.  Budding game devs set up booths to showcase the games they've been working on.  I had plans to go, but my digestive system had other ideas.  I was not well, so I instead went home for fear that I had a stomach bug and would infect literally everyone around me.

For the record, my digestive system is only now starting to get better.  I still get bouts of nausea, but it's not nearly as bad as it was Friday night.  Incidentally, other folks in the office have the same complaint, so I'm thinking it is a bug of some kind.  Thankfully, I've not been kneeling to the porcelain god at all, so maybe it's just everyone is having grumbly tummies for unrelated reasons.

Anyway, I missed the game dev expo, and felt really badly about it.  Luckily, I can still sample the games!  They're all on itch.io!  Unfortunately, the only Microsoft computer I have access to is a refurbished ancient piece of crap that can barely run my tablet.  I am expecting a tonne of crashes, but I'm really looking forward to giving this game a shot.  I'm also going to have to switch out to a mouse again.

Still, the premise looks fun - you play a disgraced knight trying to escape a dungeon, and all you have to help you along is a shield you managed to nick from a guard.

Dungeon crawlers are super fun, the sprite looks adorable as fuck, and I can't wait to have a go at this game.

If you think this is a demo you'd like to try your hand at, you can!  Go here to access the game.  And if you do, I'd love to hear what you thought of it.

Right, French lessons then writing.

Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Last night, there was no training again.  This is not because training has ended at this location for the holidays, as it has at Carleton, but because the location was in use for something else.  So, I did what anyone might do on a Tuesday.  I recognised that it was a cheap night for the movies, and headed out to watch something I've been waiting to watch since the first trailer dropped.

If you're not interested in the majority of my thoughts, you can stop after reading this sentence:

Knives Out was fucking delightful.

Okay, now to the nitty gritty.  As a whodunit, it's pretty much par for the course.  If you pay attention, you'll know who was responsible fairly early on, though they do a good job of misdirection.  I did doubt my guess most of the way through, but was ultimately vindicated.

The story itself is was great, with so many laugh out loud moments, and brilliant dialogue.  The acting was sublime, as we can expect from such a cast.  It looked like they were all having so much fun making this movie, and they managed to keep me smiling throughout.  The direction, too, was excellent.  Of note, if I can explain it without giving any spoilers, included cutting often to the slamming of a cane's foot on the ground as a character approached another, creating tension and a sense of menace extraordinarily well.

I know the internet has exploded about Chris Evans and the jumper he wears (that's 'sweater' for my North American readers), but I used to work in an Irish store that sold clothing items, including Aran knit jumpers, and so I'm not as affected by it as other folks seem to be.

For the record, every man should have at least one Aran knit jumper.  They are lovely.

What made me swoon, however, was the house.  Why is no one talking about the house?  Oh my gods, this house!

I think I was a terrible rich person in my past life, and I've been booted down to a poor person in this one as a lesson in empathy and humility. My tastes far outstrip my budget.

Anyway, the setting was gorgeous.

Look, I can't say too much more without spoiling everything, so I'll leave off here.  Knives Out is a brilliantly funny, twisty, and ultimately heart-warming whodunit that was a fun way to pass the evening.  I highly recommend seeing it.

Right, I have to go and do my French lessons.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Last night was the first Monday in roughly three months that I didn't have martial arts training.  Sure I have skipped a few Mondays due to extreme fatigue or otherwise feeling unwell, but this was the first Monday when nothing was actually scheduled.

So, I spent the night on myself.  I gave myself a facial.  Drank tea.  Read.

At the end of the evening, I crawled into bed feeling more relaxed than I've been in a long, long time.  I was positively serene.  It was lovely.

I should really do that more often.

Today is slightly less serene.  As is often the case with submitting, I awoke to a rejection in my inbox.  I'm not mad about it, just a little sad.  I am grateful to the agent, though, as she was not just kindly, but also explained why.  And it's absolutely a legitimate reason.  Hopefully, though, someone will fall in love with it.  Hopefully.

Still, I'm riding the wave of serenity for today.  With luck, it'll help me get a lot of writing done.  Which will happen after my French lessons.  I say that like I have a tutor.  I don't.  I'm on Duolingo.  What can I say?  It's free.

Right, I'm off then.  I have to get this French stuff done.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

So... never trust me around anything breakable.  Ever.  I am the literal worst thing to ever stomp into a home.  Give me unbreakable plastic things only.  Plastic tumblers.  Plastic wine glasses.  Plastic everything.  Wrap me in bubble wrap; not to protect me, but to bind me up and keep me still.  If I don't move, nothing will break.  Whatever you do, don't let me touch anything.  Anything.

Anything.

Yes, this was prompted by an actual event.  No, I'm not going to talk about it, except to say that I am terrible.  Not just clumsy.  Terrible.

I have nothing really interesting to add, other than general update stuff.  Last night, the Amazing Flatmate and I put up our tree, watched A Muppet's Christmas Carol, drank eggnog, irritated the cats, and did Christmassy-type stuff.  It was a lovely night.

Since I haven't much to say, I'd like to direct your attention to a great video by Dave Control, to whom I'm subscribed on YouTube.  He's arguing that, contrary to what George R.R. Martin might have claimed in a recent interview, video games can absolutely be considered art.

To his list, I would also add the following titles:

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
The Last of Us and
God of War (2018)

All of which affected me deeply (Hellblade left me a sobbing wreck), and could have entire essays devoted to them (my favourite being how surprisingly feminist God of War was).

Anyway, the above video is well worth watching if you're at all interested in video gaming.

I'm off now to go pester agents and hope one of them likes my stuff enough to take it up.  Have yourselves a fantastic day.

Ciao!