Because no one wants to hear about my boring day of being too tired for laundry and since I missed it on vacation, here's a late writerly ways.

But before that there's a few more days on fandomgiftbasket and here is mine if you'd like to write me something or do a little art (Prodigal Son, Hazbin Hotel, The Amazing Digital Circus)


Only...I can't remember what I wanted to talk about. I do know that for me, finding stuff in museums is a good source for my stories. That said I am seeing a shift in my writing, more and more things are historical. Okay I've been writing historical for more than a decade but now almost everything I do is historical even if it's only in the 80s and 90s. And I'm not sure why. Is it my age? I don't believe it was better way back when (granted some of the 90s were better than what Trump's done to today). Then again I love history. I minored in it after all. Hmmm


Open Calls

The Black Beacon Book of Horror 2 they do not send rejection letters

Flashpoint Science Fiction Science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and everything in between

Humans From Earth!! SF/Horror, stories in which humans are a source of genuine horror/terror to extraterrestrials (aliens).

Stone’s Throw Noir stories of haunted characters—either haunted by the remembrance of a lost loved one, or maybe haunted by the things they didn’t do . . . or worse, the things they did do.

Planet Scumm. Speculative fiction, ideally science-fiction

Quest Magazine #1 SF/Fantasy: “Thresholds”

Space Stories from the Rock Canadian authors only writing about “space stories”



50 Magazines and Anthologies Publishing Speculative Fiction




From Around the Web


Collecting or Creating?

When to Ignore Your Editor I have a lot to say about this. Maybe THAT could be a topic.

Write Where You Know I always love a strong sense of place


Notes from the Editor’s Desk: August 2025

How to Find Publishers Open to Direct Submissions



From Betty

How to Craft a Tense School Plot That Isn’t Absurd

Seven Rules of Effective Prose

Land Travel Before Engines

Six Problems With Realistic Space Battles

Unlock The Freedom To Cheat Deep POV

How to Craft Accurate Fight Scenes.

Making the Best of Chance Encounters

How to Drill Inside Your Villain’s Head I need to read this better

Writing 101: How to Fix an Infodump

Prime the reader to build anticipation

But first, how the hell is it the Ber months already?

Also I got home to the news that Graham Greene had passed away. I'm sad. I really liked him.

So today my blood sugar was even worse (well about 400) Pretty sure the snack I chose to bring was the absolute worst thing. It's so dumb when a cracker is worse than pie and cake combined.

But I cleared out of the hotel and right over to that Macy's which I'm glad I did. They had different things than the one back in PA and the one I'll stop in on in Huntington on Thursday (cancer doc appointment) (though the shirt I was wearing was also hanging on the rack). I had four that would have worked. I bought 3. one was under 10$. The Anne Klein was still pricey but wine and black isn't a color combo I see often, very pretty. Also that blood sugar = me time slipping back to the 80s and I bought something that looked like paint slashes in deep hot pink and white....

Ran over to Michael's, found dark blue duck tape to fix my TARDIS wallet and then found a build your own haunted house kit and my dumb self bought it.

From there I went to Woodland Cemetery . Do check out the link to get an idea as to why I'd go (besides my usual love of graveyard art). this place runs regular tours and I was far from the only person roaming. Sadly the main office was closed but I quickly found QR codes at some graves to listen to the history of that person. But of course my phone doesn't believe in the internet any more so I couldn't download the virtual tour nor use the QR codes. Grrrr

I decide I'll come back another day because it's an easy 2 hour drive and there are other things I want to see (art museum, Huffman fields) so I just ambled like it was any other old cemetery and take pictures of things that interest me. Cemeteries are often put on land unusable for farming, meaning they are often hilly and rocky. I don't mind going up. It's coming DOWN that's hard on my knee.

Why Hill so steep?

As I was ambling (around others walking along with their not-stupid phones listening to spiels) I see a pergola. Wait is that a box of flyers on it? It IS! Huzzah! I have a map...my reading glasses are in the trunk inside my purse. After I get them I set off to find the must-haves for me, The Wrights (of course) Paul Laurence Dunbar, Erma Bombeck and the Deeds (who donated part of Carillon Park from two posts ago).

Deeds has a mausoleum roomier than my apartment. But I can NOT find the Wrights (or Dunbar who is in the same section) Why? I've been around this lake three times now and then I spot it. It's a still day so the flag are hanging straight down and I missed them but as the wind picked up a bit I spotted it. Well that has to be the Wrights right? Yep. Very simple burial, just the two brothers with their sister Katharine between them. Mom and Dad there too (other brothers elsewhere). I left Katharine an acorn.

Dunbar's headstone has a bronze plaque with some of his poetry. And Bombeck is literally like 10 feet inside the gate, a giant rock. I left her a rock at evil little dog's suggestion.

After being there 3 hours, I cruise on out. Time to find that thai place again. I was on Brown street but my GPS takes me off. I think nothing about it because downtown of many cities roads become one way. But I was right back into the same loop as yesterday. I gave up thinking nothing is open down here anyhow other than fast food. Let me try Carillon Brewing again. It's only a mile away. The park is open. The food is not.

Sigh now I really have to pee but decide I can go to any fast food. I get off the highway at the first exit with food and find a sit down Mexican place. Not bad, not great. Go to the Tim Horton's I spotted (should have just had one of their sandwiches....) and can I just say it, if you have food in a mall plaza put your name on the marquee at the main highway. Be like Krpger (also in this mall) I found Chinese and Pizza also open in there but didn't know they were there until after the fact. I'd much rather have had pizza and could have brought it home for tonight as I have no food here and know I'll be too tired to cook. Sigh

Tim Horton's caramel apple cinnamon latte is good btw. I plan for Long John Silver's for dinner since it'll be enough for tomorrow too...only to learn that when I went past it in Jackson last week I wasn't looking at it. Over the summer it closed. NOOOO. Yes I know it's bad but it's the only fried fish I like. And that one did a good business. Wonders if the Chillicothe one is closed too. I know the chain is on the struggle bus. Got KFC instead.

Rocket is happy to see me. No one cleaned my place when I was gone. Where's a brownie or house else if you need one.

My razor had slipped out of the case and I found that out when I slice my right ring finger unpacking. It's a 4 bladed razor. Who needs the tip of their finger anyhow?

Pictures to come another day.

lyricaltitles is running their new challenge. It's a bingo which is less daunting than whole albums. I know a few a you were interested in it.

Speaking of music it's music Monday. Feel free to share with us. We're doing the alphabet and we're up to XYZ, lumping them together since they're hard. I'm only sharing the last 5 years but you can share whatever XYZ songs you'd like.

( But it's all just Y in different songs being with You )

It was an amusing start to the day. Well...didn't start amusing. I was woken up early than I wanted by noise. When I got to the Hamptons' comp breakfast I see that the room is filled. I sit down with my fresh made sweet potato waffle (with hot apple topping) with what has to be a pro/semi pro soccer team from Jamaica (since they all seemed to be later 20s early 30s, definitely NOT college aged) and they're watching soccer as they eat and shouting at the screen and each other like we're in a sports bar. Also I was the only one not on the team sitting there

I could not have asked for a better day. So cool and with a nice light breeze as I headed to Carillon Historical Park It's 65 acres of recreated (for the most part) village where all the buildings are little museums. The big welcome building had a stein collection of over 400 steins, history on several major innovators in Dayton including the Wright Brothers (naturally), Patterson (who did national cash registers) and Deeds (who was the one to donate the 57 bell carillon tower) There was bits about the brother's inventions (also there were animatronic 'innovators' telling their stories (those uncanny valley things freak me out).

There was 90 of those gorgeous antique cash registers, things of beauty as well as function (I rather miss that in the modern age). there were some old cars in there too and the world's most confusion carousel with just bizarre shit (though in a later picture of Wilbur I know understand the St Bernard style dog one), there was a cash register (had I gotten on I would have ridden that, it's the non moving bench one for grandma) cans of pop, chip bags, various animals.

From there I bought the 5 dollar train ride just to a) sit and enjoy the cool weather b) see the park and that was fun. From there I started investigating the offerings including (but not limited to) an antique fire truck car show (including two belgians and their fire carriage), Newcome tavern from 1796, a one room school house from the 1800s, the last surviving remnant of the Watervliet Shaker village, a horse barn (no horses), the hetzel summer kitchen and the really interesting stuff was:

Sugar Camp Waves cabin. I had no idea there were WAVES doing code breaking in Dayton in WWII
Gem City Letter press - which is an operational print shop (you can get a printed souvenier (I didn't))

The great 1913 flood exhibit. I had no idea Dayton was flooded up to 20 feet and horses were on the roofs because they swam there (more than a thousand drowned, poor things)

Dayton Cyclery that had some cool old bikes

The transportation center with some really cool old train cars and trolleys

The Wright Brothers national museum which included their No. 5 flyer which Orville felt was their best one. It was bigger than I imagined. Also I had no idea that Wilbur died so young (45 of typhoid fever)

The history on the hill interpretive center talking about the Hopewell people and the fact that this hill had been a small pox quarantine hospital (and after that for prostitutes with STDS)

I wish I remembered that Carillon Brewing had food and I'd have skipped the overpriced, underwhelming food trucks (I was still a little hungry and got a giant pretzel, nibbling on those leftovers now). They brew historical recipes and the one I got, coriander ale, was one of them, low abv, nice pale ale (not my usual choice) brewed with peppers and you could feel that.

From there I went to America’s Packard Museum I think the 20s-early 40s Packards were sexy cars. They were luxury, easily 3-5 times the price of an average car. The post WWII cars are less great (not a fan of the carribbean) they have one from the Godfather. They have one from a woman who wanted it kept for her when she returned from beyond the grave (the family kept it until 2015 when it came to the museum). The museum itself is from 1917 and was a Packard dealership.

I wanted to go next to Calvary Cemetery which I saw references to at the historical park. (this is not the cemetery I planned to go to) I put it in my new GPS (I can't use my phone. It's decided it doesn't know what the internet is) and it wants me to go to KY (that is not close). What I didn't know was that the Calvary in Moraine OH WAS the right one (that's a neighborhood, or sucked up suburb)

So I came home to the hotel for tea and relaxing and looking up the damn address. Here's the kick in the head. When I came out of the historical park I turned left on Patterson. If I had LOOKED right I would have seen the damn thing. It's right behind the park. Head desk (it's only like 7 miles so it's not a big deal). This is a CATHOLIC in all caps cemetery. Okay yes I've seen ones with more crucifixes but this had some truly interesting stuff.

What sucked it was the cloudless sky. SO many pictures are probably sun glared to death (I don't know. I haven't looked yet, you'll get pics another day). There were a few things I've rarely seen (btw do watch the video at the above link to know why I wanted to see it) lots of Mary statues by herself (one with cherubs at her feet which is unusual and another with her standing on the world crushing the serpent, much more familiar, how many times did I have to kiss that statue?) one family had stylized rosaries on their head stones. Some had historical markers (which was cool),found a whole mess of Nun graves, an entire section of baby graves (will use that picture the next time I bitch about Trump and RFK). There was even a brand new mausoleum. I swear to god I didn't know people were still making them!! (built about 20 years ago. They're still awaiting the fourth member or she choose to go elsewhere. She's my parents age so she could still be out there)

I went to dinner at Jimmie's Ladder 11 a bar/restaurant in an 1800s firehouse. It was good. I had their namesake sandwich (basically a reuben and a rachel in one sandwich) which was good. I wasn't going to drink but I decided I wanted the Grandma's Puddin' cocktail. Probably should have went with no drink. Don't get me wrong. It was tasty but a little small for the price. Putting it here for my own reference Giffard Banane du Brésil Liqueur, Five Farms Irish Cream, Oyo Honey Vanilla Bean Vodka, Cream

Now I'm in for the night (too tired to swim), off to the airforce stuff tomorrow.

One of my students tells me on the way out. Are you buttering me up already? It's only day 3. Then again compared to the other two biology profs I know you had, yes yes I AM cool. In this same class we were talking about radium and I went off on a radium girls tangent and how their medical records were doctored to make it look like they were loose girls with syphilis vs taking accountability for what these companies did and how things like the FDA came from these cases and the story of Eben Byers, the rich dude who was drinking so much radithor health drinks his jaw fell off.

Don't google this. Five seconds later they're all around one one laptop, stunned.

You googled it.

THIS CANT BE REAL!! Yes, sorry radium jaw is real. And that's what runaway predatory capitalism looks like.


But also WHY the fuck was the heater on today? Yes it was 57 this morning but I didn't think (nor does anyone think) that our building has sensors that should kick on the heater. It was 87 went I got there. I bitched. By noon the a/c was back on. WTF.


Today I stumbled onto the beginnings of a charity event with the Amazing Digital Circus crew playing Peak. Okay I still don't get the whole watch people play games thing but the charity was a good one (money to help immigrants fight back against what happens after ICE) so I donated and listened for a while.


What I Just Finished Reading:

What Can't be Said - a Sebastian St. Cyr book I called it but loved it




What I am Currently Reading:

Atlas of Unknowable Things - this is strange, good but weird

Solid Gold Murder - the one in my writerly ways this sunday. It's a little better AND the dumb ass thing I was talking about has come back and hit her in the ass so huzzah



What I Plan to Read Next:
The Secret of the Orange Blossom Cake - I bumped this to here5