Jo Brience

Thanks! Progress is progress, I'm grateful to be moving forward.

Let's put it this way: a month ago I would not have described myself as a person with religious trauma. And... WELP

It WILL be cathartic, but it's a lot to push through right now.

R o u g h, to be honest. I'm still plugging away, but it's a few hundred here, a few hundred there, a thousand if I'm lucky. I won't hit my goal at the end of the month, but I'm still pretending I could. Realized this book is more deeply personal than I thought, grappling with Feelings about it

Update: I have successfully Written at Home (!) and now I have acquired some chocolates and am going to spend the evening playing one of my comfort games.

Thanks! It's not too bad, I'm just super phlegmy and tired. I'm hoping to be up and running properly in a few days.

Okay.

Okay.

I have a cold, and the common courtesy not to take it to my magical coffee shop. So today, I am promising myself a reward if I can get two scenes rewritten at home. This task has proven nigh impossible in recent months. But today, I will do it.

Timer starts now. #amwriting

today in writing news: after careful consideration of my timeline, I realized I am forced to address Christmas in this book

please, magical coffee shop, help me outline this so it makes sense

literally so fucking tired of living in this dystopia

(this is about the spineless shits who just caved for n o t h i n g)

Honestly, I'm usually an enthusiastic outliner (and it ABSOLUTELY counts as work). This one is a challenge because its original form was heavily vibes-based, and getting into the headspace to rewrite it is pushing me back into that discovery place. But it actually requires planning to work, so

The rampage was basically the whole point when I slammed out the zero draft in 2020! But I also thought, back then, that it was a "just for me" sort of project, and now I think it has a lot of potential for an audience. Just needs the front half to work with the back half.

I'm outlining tonight, which makes me feel like a goober compared to all the words I've written this month, but I decided to count it because it's important to maintain forward movement in the first (non-rampage) part of this book

SHIT I actually have to outline this section if it's going to have forward movement inside of it??? what the fuck #amwriting

I did it??? this coffee shop is magical??? I can NEVER come here except to write, this is too sacred

I've had a very bad couple of writing days (but I HAVE written a non-zero amount of words every day this month, which is a win), so today I return to my coffee shop. I'm having a truly vile but bracing iced mud water, and it would be neat if I could hit 2k again #amwriting #novembo #printsprint2025

adopted. hashtagged. no notes.

the whole point of having white boards at the head and side of my bed was so I could scrawl my half-asleep book thoughts on them without getting up! this is how I got such bangers as "THE WINTER HOUSE IS PATIENT"

and it doesn't work! if I don't keep the markers stocked!! #printsprint2025 #amwriting

and i DID

I'm sitting down at the coffee shop across the street with something called a blackberry swirl latte to hammer out some words. I'd like to crack 2k for today's session if I can.

1200 down, sitting down for the final stretch now. I always over-schedule myself on Nov 1 but I am d o i n g i t

I had a dream last night that was long, detailed, had a cogent narrative structure, and was a shockingly coherent and complete metaphor for generative AI slop. I want to write a short story about it, but it's Novembo and I have bigger fish to fry. FOR NOW

Today: trick or treating with a friend's family (because they were missing a costume in their four-year-old's desired lineup). Tomorrow: B O O K

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Ends NOV 7 ‼

spent a lot of time in therapy today unpacking a shocking amount of religious trauma I legit didn't know I was carrying around, then immediately went to a coffee shop to try and work on a book that secretly centers on religious trauma. I am making choices of a Type #amwriting #writesky

today I learned my horse's reaction when I have one leg halfway swung over her and the mounting block falls out from under me and I fall against her and then eat it on the ground next to/under her

(it's basically nothing, she was so chill, she's great. I, however, am a big doofus)

WELL looks like I'll have some additional accountability this November (goddammit)

Most often, it's a worldbuilding element that I let stew for months or years before I uncover the story I want to tell in that world. If not that, it's character.

That said, thinking about what I'm working on now, it was a moment when my oppositional reflex kicked in re: a super shitty movie I saw.

idk, sometimes you just don't have to hit reply all??

Unbelievably excited for this! I, too, am rewriting a zero draft

Oh no, I'm super out of practice starting books