Not A Safe Place

Settling in for my morning writing session with herbal tea and peanut butter apple slices. What's your preferred snack?

He was a cook at the restaurant/bar I was a bartender at, and almost punched a costumer once because he overheard him talking about how women belong in the kitchen. Told me he thought women should stay out of kitchens, that cooking is a man's job and when I asked him what he thinks women should be doing, he went quiet for a moment, then proceeded to explain to me the following

"I trust a bitch to run a kitchen as much as she can run a country, they should do shit like plumbing. Or electricity. Something you can just learn to do and don't need to lead, you know?"

We had an openly gay coworker who looked like it (crop tops, dyed hair, make-up) and he was often harassed by the waiters from the football bar next door. The gay dude had the same name as the Guy, who insisted that we would specify the he isn't gay, so they just became "Name" and "Not Gay Name". He was fine with that.

Boss gave us one meal from the menu a day as a job bonus, and we had this very shy seventeen year old working with us who was already nervous around men, but Our Guy was a 6'3 dude who only stopped yelling and cursing when he was not speaking at all. If he was the one cooking that day, he'd peek out of the kitchen an hour before he'd start closing it up, and would shout at you if you haven't ordered your meal yet because he hated cooking once he already cleaned. The waitress was scared shitless of him, and so whenever he would yell at her to "fucking order already", she'd panic and just pick something.

She didn't eat much but the first time she tried to throw out almost the whole plate, he got so personally insulted that he berated her for not picking something she'd like, and demanded to know what he did wrong. He got really upset about apparently not being able to cook something that this kid would like and I'm pretty sure he started putting in extra effort to make sure she would eat it this time? It lead to him quite literally standing over her like a hawk when she ate to "see her reaction" and demand an immediate review to see what he can improve.

My friend thought he was really funny before I explained to them that I'm pretty sure he thought he was being mean (but hey he it wasn't misgendering so yay)

I like how his issue isn't with the "that shit ain't in nature" thing he mentioned, but the idea that being nonbinary is some form of self-deprivation and that they deserve a gender like everyone else.

Today is April 1st, but this is no joke. The "CC & JT Amateur Hour" is really nominated in the Authors & Books category of the Women Podcasters Awards!

My 65th daily YouTube for 2026 is up! Today I reintroduce myself as I test out a microphone.

A lot of you already knew about him - he's iconic in '80s-era computer hobbiest circles for his quirky airbrushed illustrations of surreal concepts or futures.

Either way, I bet that none of you have seen all of his art, because his Byte covers are just scratching the surface.

For example, this cool series of four illustrations ran as interior art in Byte's tenth anniversary issue. He has a ton of other interiors and lots of non-Byte work for ads and catalogs, too.

Valentine's Day may be over for the year, but romance is always in the air at Two Moore Books!

The video I posted today may be of interest to anyone considering starting a podcast. I not only talk about how @jthume and I record, but also include links to the equipment we use and our two podcasts. I hope you'll check it out!

My husband, @jthume, just revealed the cover for his next release. In my video today, I give him a shoutout and also talk about how we juggle the scheduling and finances for our tiny independent two-writer publishing house.

Looking for a cozy romantic read? "From Tundra to Tiara" is a contemporary with adventure and a reluctant royal while "#Passionrestored" is a paranormal featuring a more mature main couple. Try one (or both) today!

Four hurricanes, the Outlander series, and turning thousands of words into four books of excitement and emotions: only the tip of the KJ Waters experience.

Check out our podcast interview with this fascinating author!

Tomorrow marks the end of my first month of posting a video to YouTube every day. In honor of the event, I've set my January wrap up to premiere at noon Pacific time. I hope you'll check it out:

Over on my YouTube channel, I talked a little about my experiences co-writing two books: