@stevendbrewer@wandering.shop

The bartender slid over a tumbler with two fingers of booze. Larry passed a #bill across and then left the change on the bar. He took a sip, grimacing a bit at the harsh flavor and wondering if he should have specified something better than just a well drink. Then he looked to his right. #wss366

As he waited for his drink, Larry surreptitiously looked around at the women nearby. There was a brunette to his left that was ravishing. She was wearing a tight top with a scandalously short skirt. She perched on the barstool with her legs crossed and her eyes slitted as she surveyed the room.

We got Tanuki-chan a balloon for the New Year. She was quite suspicious of it at first. #DogsOfMastodon

#WritersCoffeeClub Have you ever made up something in a story which has come true in real life?

Non-human biological androids… Not yet.

I did write a proposal in 2016 for a university course based around an augmented reality game participatory virus simulation, in which campus students would "infect" each other and the class would role-play trying to identify patient zero and studying the spread of the pandemic, while learning biology. It wasn't funded. But, if it *had* been… How timely!

#WordWeavers MC POV: If you could make the antagonist do one thing that doesn’t involve anyone’s death, what would it be?

"Mother," Cecelia pleaded in her mind. "Why can't you simply love me for who I am!?"

A Camellia blossom in the Lyman Conservatory at Smith College (January 11, 2020) #Bloomscrolling

Today's #WritersCoffeeClub prompt got me to flesh out my thinking into a blog post: https://stevendbrewer.com/toward-a-successful-new-year/ #writing #WritingCommunity

*Lady Cecelia's Choice* is Part 2 of *Lady Cecelia's Journey*, a sapphic romantasy road story. It has not yet been scheduled for release, but if you subscribe to my mailing list, you can receive updates when it appears. https://author-sdbrewer.micro.blog/subscribe/

The door opened a crack & Kasseh peered in. Seeing Cecelia awake, she opened the door & wheeled in a #cart with a tray, laden with covered dishes.
"I brought you your dinner, Milady," she said, eyes downcast.
"Kasseh, why…" Cecelia began.
"Ssst!" hissed Kasseh, her eyes flashing through her bangs. Lord Kenderback followed close behind her. 
"Your maid, I told, that you would likely be ready to dine this eve' & some light food for you, I directed her to prepare." 

#wss366 (Lady Cecelia's Choice)

#PennedPossibilities New Year Bonus Question: What kind of drunk is your MC?

When Revin was promoted to Master's Mate (in *The End of His Rope*) the pirates proceeded to get him really drunk. After dancing and laughing and making a fool of himself, he puked and passed out. Since then, Revin is very cautious about drinking anything with alcohol.

On Monday, Jan 6, 2025 at 3pm Eastern, I am offering an informal demonstration of how I set up my author website at stevendbrewer.com. I will briefly show how I use Dreamhost to register a domain name, set up a website, and select Wordpress. I will then show how I have set up options in Wordpress to create a website. I'm doing this following a request from my weekly writing group, but anyone is welcome to attend. I've set up a registration page to receive the Zoom link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0oce-tpjIiEtOviBilm-Mm9S55bbFb85LL

#WritersCoffeeClub Jan 1: What are your writing goals for 2025?

1) Have fun. That's why I'm doing this, after all.
2) Work on publicity. You can write all you want, but if you don't publicize your work, it doesn't get read.
3) Submit more.
4) Finish on-going projects: I'm getting close to a first draft of The Ground Never Lies. I also want to finish the 3rd novella of the sequel to Revin's Heart. I have another half-dozen things to work on.
5) Support my writing communities (here, SFWA, etc.)

I forgot to update the filename for the prompts for @wss366 and, briefly, it rolled over to the list from 2024 where the prompt for Jan 01 was #noword — because we actually started on the second. Maybe someday I'll write the code to have it lookup and read the actual spreadsheet. But that sounds like work. Anyway, it's fixed for this year.

Tanuki-chan saw this rock through the fence and kept barking at it. So we brought it inside the fence for her. She looked at us like we were stupid or something. "It's a rock!"

#PennedPossibilities Decide on a favourite character of yours and tell us this: What is something that makes them stand out among your other characters, and why do you love them so much?

In part, I wanted to write Lady Cecelia because she's a botanist. As I was writing Revin's Heart, I could only describe plants generically, because he doesn't know them. I also enjoyed having her explore & discover the queer community at the same time that I was. Plus she's smart & loyal & so much in love.

#WritersCoffeeClub What were the big writing moments for you in 2024?

I've written a blog post with my Year in Writing for 2024: https://stevendbrewer.com/year-in-writing-2024/

I have made a big pot of chili that should be ready by lunchtime. Chili is one of few things I can make that everyone in the family enjoys — as long as I make it low-sodium, without meat (for the vegan), with lots of meat on the side (for everyone else), and without hot peppers (for mom).

"That's where you're wrong," she said. "The problem is people. People are easy to kill, but no-one can fix them."
He regarded her skeptically.
She laughed and tousled his hair. "Think I'd look good with a #crown?"
"You don't need a crown to look good," he mumbled, reddening slightly. #wss366 (2/2)

"You're powerful enough, you could set yourself up to be king," Rory said.
Tseluna scoffed.
"Well, you could, couldn't you?"
"Oh, I could easily destroy the world," Tseluna said. "Overwhelming human armies would be trivial. But what then?"
"Well… You could fix things." (1/2)

Engendered Writing Could you write or have you written a positive story with toxic masculinity as an element?

In *Revin's Heart*, there is a character, Beck, who demonstrates toxic masculinity. It's worth pointing out that he is not solely a bad guy, and has other dimensions I think readers will appreciate. A reviewer wrote, "First, let me say, Beck gave me the icks shortly after meeting him, and I'm happy about the way his role in the story played out." https://waterdragonpublishing.com/product/revins-heart/