P.S.C. Willis 🌈🖋️ Crying Out for Magic - Out Now!

Oh, absolutely. I am not suggesting we stop, just saying it won't make us calm.

I would prefer fewer work stress dreams and a return to the whimsical nonsense areas of my brain, please and thank you.

#Writesky

Saw a post about a brain imaging study showing that 'writing reduces emotions.' And I was like 'What? Ridiculous! Writing stirs up your emotions! You have to connect with the scene!'

Turns out it meant journalling about your actual feelings, not making up imaginary people and then upsetting them.

Monday Me is very grateful to Past Me!

A pain au raising with a few bites taken out of it

It may be Monday BUT I wrote words during commute time, and I bought myself a second pastry at writing group yesterday for this morning's breakfast.

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Excuse me while I flex that some of the '[something] [something]' in my draft now contain actual content. 😎

#WritingCommunity #AmWriting #WriteSky

A laptop keyboard with a cartoon book timer placed on top of it

Adventures are nice, but a weekend of lie ins, regular routine, and lots of writing time is also wonderful.

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity

You had me until 'zero cats.'

I need this to get published so I can comp it for my superhero book...

Good guess!

Guess who's in here...

I got a short story acceptance today! Can't wait to tell you more about what it is and where it's found its home!

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Exciting moment as a long time Countdown and @susiedentwords.bsky.social fan the other day when I heard the word 'deplane' in the wild.

In spite of taking a lot of flights, I'd never heard it outside of the show before - 'disembark' being far more common.

Quote reads: "Tell me you have hot gossip or I will be forced to throw this flapjack in your face, and that would be a criminal waste." Ellen dropped into one of the blue plastic chairs of the college snack shop. [Underneath, a picture of a rectangular baked oat bar].

American readers... I need you to know that in the UK, a 'flapjack' is not a pancake thing, but a syrupy, buttery baked oat bar.

That way, you can fully appreciate and visualise this moment from 'Crying Out for Magic'...

#writesky #writingcommunity #quotes

A picture of the above named pastry along with a cup of tea

Writing café didn't have what I wanted, so I was forced to try something new and it was 😋

Outcomes of today's session:
- ate tasty pistachio and yuzu pastry
- finished fixing annoying find/replace errors
- wrote 565 words on a short story and decided the overall plot arc (probably ish)

#writesky

Haha, I love it but the last thing I need is encouragement to add MORE ellipses.

Yes, I am a real writer and I have read over this MS.

...which somehow still included the line 'they again dismiss it again.'

#WriteSky #AmEditing

Chapter 15 - answers in a teacups. Fun fact: in my drafting process, chapter 15 was one of few chapters with an actual title. I never thought up enough to make it worthwhile, but I was sad to let this go as it was SO perfect. The chapter features both characters finding answers in cups of tea in different ways.

Title - Crying Out for Magic Read Along in Real Time. Picture of a Hallowe'en mug with a teabag tag hanging out of it reading "Let's Par-TEA." Labels read Hallowe'en all year long, rooibos and puns. Caption asks what is one of your regular mugs and what's in it?

The cover of Crying Out for Magic, captioned 'Available now. Happening now. Grab a copy and join in the read along in real time.'

I forgot to post on Monday! Chapter 15 is one of my favourites. Is it because it has satisfying plot progression? Is it because 'tea solves everything' is one of the main messages I want to give?

Little of column a, little of column b.

Share your mug photos below!

#readalong #amreading #writesky

a woman wearing glasses is waving her hand while sitting in front of a window . Alt: a woman giving herself a high five

Is there anything more satisfying than hearing readers comment with the exact themes and tone you hoped to convey in your story?

NAILED IT!

#writingcommunity #writesky

Title: Crying Out for Magic - Read Along in Real Time. Large central text 'TFW you bring the 'you hang up'/'no you hang up' energy to a hug. Arrow points onwards.

Chapter 14: He kind of wanted to pull back enough to be looking Draven in the eyes. To be face to face, so they could… But hadn’t he put the brakes on that? Wouldn’t it be confusing to unbrake it right now? “Bye then,” Niall murmured into Draven’s hair, making no move to break away from him. “Yeah, bye,” Draven echoed, pressing his head against Niall’s chest. “K… Bye,” Niall said again. It would definitely be confusing. Right?

Will Niall do what needs to be done? Find out by joining the read along in real time of Crying Out for Magic.

What do you reckon? Does Niall go for it or bottle it? Comment below with your guess, or get the book and find out.

#writesky #readalong #portalfantasy #cosyreads

Mess #WIP progress continues - I have a version of my opening scene that I am happy with! (For this draft).

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity.

Developmental - zeroth draft up to first.

A journal titled 'Editing Progress for Welcome to the Mess.' The journal is decorated with doodles of lightning, a trash can, a laptop and soup. It appears on a purple lightning background. This aesthetic continues throughout.

Notebook reads: It's hard to know how it's going. I find editing progress so difficult to measure. Do you measure in time? But then there's no end point. Scenes edited? But there's so many other things, and I need to celebrate my wins to keep going. A to do list seems like the best way but...

...I'm never sure what to put on it, my brain jumps about, doing multiple steps at the same time, and for some, I don't know when I've done enough to call them "finished." (This is followed by a list reading: read through, make notes, redraft plan, start rewriting scenes - these are checked, marked with a question mark and with a 1/2).

But today was a pretty exciting day* (Image of a folder for the first draft above the folder for the zeroth draft). *explanation that this was the folder being created, as some of the drafting had already started elsewhere in a random document.

Editing progress is much harder to measure than drafting progress. But this edit now has... ITS OWN FOLDER. Truly, a milestone.

#WritingCommunity, do you struggle with any of thes? How do you track your editing progress? Especially if you’re more chaotic.

#writesky #amediting

Protest banners displaying 'duck ice' and standwithminnesota.com which is a site for donations.

Reading is political. Writing is political.

Flood the world with art about love, kindness and fighting for good.

To celebrate getting to the part of the book where my characters finally meet, I did a little read aloud. It's too long for here but you can see it on 📸 (same handle).

#readaloud #writesky

Crying Out For Magic

My debut novel was published last year by a queer SFF press!

An overly optimistic mage and an awkward fantasy nerd could be all the love and magic the other needs, if they can bring both their broken worlds together.

#QueerWritersChat #writesky

www.spacewizardsciencefantasy.com/book/crying-...

'How Not to Drown' by CHVRCHES feat Robert Smith. Which is ironic, cos it's a song about having the joy of art sucked out of you by becoming part of the corporate machine.

I have a few songs that don't have specific writing attached, but they stir BIG FEELS, and deserve stories to spring from them

I'm P. I write cosy, queer SFF

My current (main) projects are querying a gentle book about befriending trees and taking up crafts, and 0th to 1st draft on 'Legends and Lattes X The IT Crowd.'

With lots of short stories and other ideas getting occasional headspace.

#QueerWritersChat #Writesky

Ash trees, please, not trees of ash.

#7SyllableSentence

Thank you! I still keep going to look at the list to check it's real!