A.J. McCrae

I've embraced the multi-project-ness of my writing process. May take longer to finish a draft but just how my brain works best!

Nice! Yeah I did the Gauntlet last month as well, or at least attempted it 😂

After an unexpectedly busy October, hoping November proves more productive for words so giving the new thirty30k.com challenge a go! Anyone else participating? #AmWriting

That sounds like my adulting on Friday 😅 All a balance!

a cartoon of winnie the pooh sitting at a table with a bowl of food and the words yum Alt: A cartoon of Winnie the Pooh sitting at a table with an empty plate, rocking back and forth with excitement. The text says, "Yum!!"

Being an adult means making crescent rolls drizzled with honey in the middle of the day because you can 🥐

One of my tabby cats with his eyes closed and paw stretched out in pure unbothered sleep.

Oh, to be a cat whose human has been trying to work through a sticky plot point for the last 2 hours #amwriting

an old man with a beard says " these aren t the droids you 're looking for " Alt: Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars as an old man with a beard waving his hand and saying, "These aren't the droids you're looking for."

Walked the dog. Dinner prepped and ready. Garbage put out for pickup. Might actually have the evening free to do fun things!

*sees mountain of dishes to be washed*

Me holding up Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan in front of a packed bookshelf of other fantasy and sci-fi titles.

A copy of the fantasy book Long Live Evil standing spine-out on a bookshelf with a skull next to it.

The fantasy book Long Live Evil open to chapter three titled The Lady Does Dark Magic.

I started Sarah Rees Brennan's LONG LIVE EVIL last month as a buddy read with @dhstrange.bsky.social then proceeded to have like 3 weeks of no reading time 😅

But I finally finished it and it was fun! Lots of excellent foreshadowing and breadcrumb trails to follow. Can't wait for the sequel!! 💙📚

Woolly bear sighting while walking the dog today. Seen a few with a similar pattern. When I was little, I used to gather them up in a small bucket to see what kind of winter we were having 🐛

Shoutout to whoever was like the news sucks, let’s spice it up by doing a jewel heist at the Louvre

a dog is wrapped in a blanket with the words back to sleep written below it Alt: A dog pulling the covers back over it's head with the words, "Back to sleep"

The Mondaying is starting strong with no power. Guess I don't have to go to work!

a man with a beard and mustache says " it could go either way " Alt: A man with a beard and mustache saying, "It could go either way."

When I start hearing noises upstairs:

"Is it a ghost or did the cat lock herself in the bedroom again?"

My black cat leaning against a windowsill looking out, surrounded by white curtains.

My black cat seeing me watching her and turning to face me instead of the window.

Chillin' like a villain on this #caturday 😈

Stayed up way too late finishing LONG LIVE EVIL by Sarah Rees Brennan last night (very villain coded 😉). Started it over a month ago and just haven't had much time for reading. But all done and ready for the sequel next year!

a man reading a book with the words go away i 'm reading written below him Alt: A man reading a book with the words "Go away I'm reading" along the bottom. The clip is from one of my absolute favorite romcoms, Austenland.

Spending my Friday night finally catching up on my current reads. Maybe I'll even finish a book for the first time in...

...on second thought, let's not do the math 😅

I mean... that sounds like an excellent use to me 😂

Looks like I need to start developing a love of black walnuts 😂

A zoomed out view of a pothos plant with roots exposed in a clear glass jar filled with water.

A close-up of a pothos plant propogated in a clear glass jar, with roots visible.

There is something deeply satisfying about watching a plant grow 🌿🪴

A white bucket full of the round green hulls of black walnuts.

Alright bluesky, I have a 10 gal bucket quickly filling up with black walnuts and more to come from my tree. Started collecting them so I wouldn't hit them with the mower but would love to use them.

Any suggestions/ideas/fave recipes to share?
#gardening #food #foraging

A basket of green tomatoes and two small bell peppers, and a smaller plastic container with jalapeño peppers and chili peppers.

The final #gardening haul for this year. After an exceptionally late start getting my seedlings planted (the ones still alive at that point...) I'm thrilled I got this much! But, alas, the frosts are coming more regularly so harvested what I could to ripen indoors.

Next year, I shall plant sooner 😅

Thank you! 💜

From the Aegean Bronze Age, Minoan clay vessels with black handpainted decoration.on a pale biscuity-coloured slip Top left - clay flask decorated in Minoan ‘Marine Style’’ with an octopus with tentacles writhing around the body of the vase. Additional motifs such as seaweed and rocks represent the seabed. From Palaikastro, 1500-1450 BC Top right - clay rhyton in the shape of a bull’s head. A rhyton is a type of pouring vessel used for filling cups or making liquid offerings. There is a pouring hole at the bull’s mouth. From Knossos Little Palace, 1450-1375 BC Bottom left - Nautilus vessel - clay rhyton depicting the seabed with nautili, corals and seaweed. From Phaistos Palace, 1500-1450 BC Bottom right - Basket shaped rhyton decorated with double-axe motif. There is a small pouring hole in one of the bottom corners. From Pseira, 1500-1450 BC

Marvellous Minoan clay vessels made by creative potters on the island of Crete during the Aegean Bronze Age around 3,500 years ago! 🤩

Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me

#Archaeology

Missed a few days there but it's a new week! Had some breakthroughs on one of my novel WIPs so aiming to get those integrated, and want to get rolling on my new botanical horror short. #LGBTQWriteAThon #QueerWriters

Such a cool place. My gram used to take me down every summer for a week to camp there and tour the various sites.

a picture of a forest with the words best time of the year written on it Alt: Sun shining through a forest where the leaves have changed to reds and oranges. Text reads "Best time of the year!!!"

First frost yesterday. Took the AC unit out of the window tonight. We are officially in FALL WEATHER LET'S GOOO 🍂

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

In celebration of World Octopus Day, we wanted to revisit one of our favorite cephalopod sightings, the glass octopus — Vitreledonella richardi filmed during a month-long #PhoenixIslandsCoral expedition in 2021.

I'm currently working on both a folk horror and an adventure fantasy currently (and a handful of other projects in either the horror and/or fantasy space, some crossover between on a couple) #LGBTQWriteAThon #QueerWriters

kinda sweet that bookshop.org's anti-prime sale overlaps with banned books week, which means today you can get free shipping PLUS 20% off their banned books list! bookshop.org/info/banned-...

Woke up at 6am (could have done without that) and, in my sleepy haze, wrote a little 150 word drabble to edit down for a submission later. Maybe that's the trick to getting my brain to write shorter fiction 😅 make sure it's too tired to question things. #AmWriting

My horror WIP is my only project set in our world, and in modern day (no exact year and it doesn't really matter to the story). The rest of my projects are all second world fantasies inspired by the 1800s-early 1900s
#LGBTQWriteAThon #QueerWriters