The palace smelled of stone and paint, of people and food and beeswax floor polish.

going through some old pictures from this past year and found these gems…after the curtain closes the first act on the last show of nutcracker, it’s customary to dump ALL OF THE SNOW AT ONCE while the snowflakes are still on stage

here we can be seen making snow angels and just generally enjoying the last nutcracker of the season…when there are 27 of them and you do big party girl, snow, and flowers in every single one of them, this is the most liberating feeling in the world

and then you think, very quietly: actually. actually. I think I want a coffee. a nap. a sandwich. a book.

and I want to die turns day by day into I want to go home, I want to walk in the woods, I want to see my friend, I want to sit in the sun

I want a cleaner kitchen

I want a better job

I want to live somewhere else

Even When It Is Trying to Kill You!

Is Defensive.

Your brain exists to preserve you; it’s just Dumb, and how it goes about “preserving” is determined by evolution’s ‘Good Enough’ meat-and-chemistry mechanisms rather than a firm grasp of biology.

You know how, stuck atop a burning building, ppl will sometimes throw themselves off in a vain hope of surviving? That’s what depression-driven suicide is. You are under THAT amount of stress, often sustained for a FAR longer time. Your brain only understands “Stress”: it doesn’t know causes, it doesn’t know Events, and it only has the one set of instinctive ‘extreme measures’ to fall back on. I made things SO hard on myself for SO Long conceiving of Depression as a Fight I had to Win, rather than a chronic illness in need of my understanding and careful management.

love as a place, a lover as a home

Plot and Story Structure Book Recommendations

My favorite one is Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody. It's based on the Save the Cat! screen writing technique, but it's tailored for novels. I really love the way the structuring process is broken down, and I find it to be an easily adaptable structuring method.

Blank Page to Final Draft by Bryn Donovan is another good one that I recommend.

Finally, Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story by K.M. Weiland is another good one.

Does anyone else out there have a favorite book about plot and story structure?

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the I LOVE MY WIFE guy

the guy who refuses to listen to anyone expect his wife (even if she isn't his actual wife)

two characters deciding to live for each other as opposed to dying for each other

the guy who goes from I'LL DIE FOR MY WIFE to I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU HURT MY WIFE because she cried over him being a martyr

the female character who is a total cinnamon roll but could also kill you (she won't, but she could)

boy who takes —1— good look at his love interest and decides it's the love of his life

friends to strangers to lovers

the character who refuses violence until one of their loved ones are in danger

characters trying to wingman their friends but it ends in disaster

rom-com male dumping his love interest when she refuses to communicate with him

genuine friendship between a man and a woman without it turning sexual

childhood best friends to lovers

villains who made being bad their hobby ''i thought i told you to get a hobby'' ''i did. i choose murder.'' ''last time i checked killing innocent people isn't a hobby.'' ''it is it to me.''

frenemies who don't get along being locked in a confined space together

best friends to i don't care if we get married to other people we'll still be buried together

fake dating

morally grey female characters

characters who's smart individually but chaotic disasters when together

bad boy bad girl / good boy bad girl

long-term relationships, characters doing mundane, domestic stuff

found family (dysfunctional but we love each other anyway) and with no focus on romance

best friends to enemies to best friends (platonic version)

a character being single/becoming single without ending up in relationship

not clumsy anti-heroes, but reckless ones. anti-heroes who doesn't understand why they can't just stack their victim in the closet and get rid of the body the next day, and forget that the murder weapon is in their back pocket

a slow burn kissing early on, then denying their feelings for like eight months

“You were meant for more than me, and I’ll die fighting to give it to you.”

i used to scream ferociously any time i wanted