CE (Catie) Murphy
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cemurphy.bsky.social
CE (Catie) Murphy
@cemurphy.bsky.social
3.8K followers 350 following 15K posts
Writer, mostly of novels. She/her. CatieMurphy.com for aaaaalllll the books. Please join my newsletter, too! https://BookHip.com/BZQWLZL
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cemurphy.bsky.social
We've been visited by a peacock!
A handsome peacock
November 12, 2025 at 4:23 PM
cemurphy.bsky.social
I did about 900 words on the other thing I need to work on, for ~3400 words yesterday. Today I'm going to do more of that & hopefully finish what I need to do on it, then try to synopsize the last section of the main project so I have a real roadmap. :p

Retreat wordcount so far: ~19k (18.5 useable)
A 4 panel Snoopy comic strip: PANEL 1: Snoopy is sitting on top of his doghouse with his typewriter, hands above it. PANEL 2: He's in the same position, now thinking, "Sometimes, when you are a great writer, the words come so fast you can hardly put them down on paper...." PANEL 3: A slightly zoomed in shot of Snoopy with his hands above his typewriter. No typing. No thoughts. PANEL 4: Snoopy's hands are no longer in the air and he's staring off into the distance, a despairing expression on his face as he thinks, "Sometimes."
November 12, 2025 at 9:10 AM
cemurphy.bsky.social
The door handles here are very stiff with useless grips: thin lines around the round handle. It's hard to open the doors, is what I'm saying. Twice now I've put lotion on my hands & then tried to open one & it's been physically impossible. I've had to wash the lotion off to get the door open!
A very round brass door handle with thin lines going around it in the same direction one turns the handle, thus providing absolutely NO grip at all.
November 11, 2025 at 1:17 PM
cemurphy.bsky.social
I found the lake on my very short walk. :)
A lake view with hills in the background and a rather impressive manor house in the middle ground, right on the lake shore. We are not staying in the fancy manor house, but the Less Fancy One farther up the hill, where you can't actually see the lake. At least not from any windows I've looked out of.
November 10, 2025 at 10:19 AM
cemurphy.bsky.social
Yeah, it's got a feature where you tell it how long you think the book is gonna be, and you can set what days you expect to write and a deadline, and it automagically deduces it for you.
a screenshot of Scrivener's wordcount feature
November 9, 2025 at 3:03 PM
cemurphy.bsky.social
I've lunched, shopped, gone out onto the grounds long enough to take these pictures, and now I'm going back to work until it seems to be an appropriate time to cook dinner. :)
a pretty green hilly view with blue skies a pretty white cat at a distance, through a wire fence a pretty hillside view a pretty little maintained waterfall
November 8, 2025 at 3:05 PM
cemurphy.bsky.social
I have found my writing space for the week.
A small dark panelled room with a leather couch, a fireplace and, most importantly, a cocktail cabinet. A small dark panelled room with a leather couch, a fireplace and, most importantly, a cocktail cabinet.
November 8, 2025 at 8:57 AM
cemurphy.bsky.social
Made my xp goal, only 3 weeks too late and 73 million points more than necessary. 🙄
A screenshot of a Pokemon Go stats page showing 276m xp
November 7, 2025 at 2:54 PM
cemurphy.bsky.social
Somehow, over 17 years there, I have never posted on Facebook on the 6th of November. I'm torn between posting this as a "look at this weirdness" thing and...you know...keeping the streak... :)
a facebook memories page screenshot that says 'NO MEMORIES TODAY'
November 6, 2025 at 7:52 AM
cemurphy.bsky.social
oooh...this next part of #CatieDraws wants us to do at least 20 & the instructor would love it if we did 100-200, & honestly having done, um, 5 so far, it's gonna take 20+ to stop having to refer back to the lesson to remember it right, I think.

they are NOT, however, very interesting to share :)
a load of pencil sketches on a single page, of different sized and shaped bodies in stick figure form. There's a note that says "Get hands in right place - the rest will work!" and this seems to be quite true, actually. a bunch of trapezoidal upper human body shapes in pencil. I am supposed to do very very very many of these now.
November 4, 2025 at 6:22 PM
cemurphy.bsky.social
AHAHAHAHA an astute reader just noticed a crossover between two of my (apparently) unrelated series and now I'm delighted with myself. :D

I won't tell you what the crossover is, but I will tell you that you can find it in PEACOCK ON PARADE. :)

www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCF3QG9...
The very pretty peacock blue and purple cover for Murphy Lawless's PEACOCK ON PARADE features a faint Celtic knot in the background, a lovely stylized peacock, and a load of pretty swirly bits and Celtic heart knots and four-leaf clovers in periwinkle tones. Cover art by Indigo Chick Designs.
November 4, 2025 at 12:38 PM
cemurphy.bsky.social
It's aaaaliiiiiive!!! HEART OF STONE is now available again! Vampires and dragons and djinn, oh my! Welcome to the world of the Old Races as Margrit Knight discovers her hot new client isn't just wanted for murder - he's also a gargoyle!

www.amazon.com/dp/B0FD4MKZM...
The cover for CE Murphy's urban fantasy (modern romantasy) novel HEART OF STONE depicts a stylized green and gold stained glass window against a deep green brick background. The title, centered in the window, has a faint heart outline behind it, and below it are two stained-glass gargoyles facing one another. Cover art and design by Fakel Barros Studio.
November 4, 2025 at 9:25 AM
cemurphy.bsky.social
A very spilled Muppet, or possibly a large fluffy blonde dog flopped inelegantly across a couch
November 3, 2025 at 6:59 PM
cemurphy.bsky.social
There's been a lot going on & I'm having a bit of trouble finding my feet for the next part of #CatieDraws, but I haven't dropped the ball entirely! This is the first part of the course: finding the middles of lines, starting to place figures in space, & developing placeholder figure shapes. :)
a collage of several pages of pencil drawings, mostly stick figures, rough perspectives, and skinny lines that are pretending to be people.
November 3, 2025 at 5:43 PM
cemurphy.bsky.social
I can see the other side but I cannot see the *bottom* and after my previous misadventures....
A long puddle stretching across a bike path and reflecting the leafless trees and blue sky above
November 1, 2025 at 10:56 AM
cemurphy.bsky.social
LOL

I just got this moving, heart-felt email about how touching & meaningful MOUNTAIN ECHOES is as the final book of the Walker Papers, & how it brought it all home.

Problem: MOUNTAIN ECHOES is not the final book, just the last one currently set for preorder.

The rest of the email is an ad :)
A screenshot of an email which reads: First, let me say this: Mountain Echoes doesn’t just close a series, it brings it home. It’s rare to see a finale that feels this personal, this full-circle. Joanne Walker’s return to the North Carolina mountains isn’t just a journey through magic, it's a reckoning with roots, family, and the ghosts we leave behind when we chase purpose. What you’ve done with The Walker Papers is remarkable; you've woven myth and modernity into something that feels both epic and intimate. Joanne has always been more than a shaman; she’s a mirror for anyone who’s ever tried to fix the unfixable, to rewrite what time has taken. And here, in Mountain Echoes, you give her and your readers that final blend of power and peace that only comes when the heart finds where it belongs.
October 31, 2025 at 12:04 PM
cemurphy.bsky.social
Ok, these two aren't entirely bad, although like most of these they don't really look like their models, and as usual they seemed better before I took pictures. :p But I'll call that enough for now. #CatieDraws
An ink sketch of a young man's profile from the right An ink sketch of a man's profile from the left
October 30, 2025 at 7:52 AM
cemurphy.bsky.social
One of the things I discovered doing the #CatieDraws project is that I still have an unholy fear of giving profiles enough depth. A little of it is that I draw eyes too big*, & possibly part of it is that I have a Disney princess scoop nose myself, but it's hard to overcome. So I'm practicing. :p
Ink sketches of four celebrity profiles. Two of them have absolutely no chance of you guessing who they are. One is one of the most notoriously famous celebrity profiles in history and does a particularly good job of showing my difficulty getting enough depth in, because it's ink and there are repeated attempts at the shape of the nose because I can't erase the failed arrempts. Another looks enough like the person that there's a chance you might figure out who they are.
October 30, 2025 at 7:00 AM
cemurphy.bsky.social
MY TIME HAS COME
Elfquest's chief Bearclaw fights the dark magic monster Madcoil in full living color(ed pencil). Elfquest's Egg contemplates his floating, stoneworked creation, also called Egg. It's fucking amazing how much of Elfquest's ENTIRELY STORY is in this panel, if you know how to look at it. Elfquest's holy trinity, Skywise, Cutter and Leetah. And also the wolf Timmain, whomst I colored in the wrong colors because it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize which wolf it was. Shut up. A scene from Elfquest's Wolfrider home life, at the Father Tree Holt, their first home, before everything went terribly wrong. Starting at the back left, far distance: Dewshine in the tree, Strongbow looking into the woods. Next row down, middle distance: Scouter climbing toward Dewshine; Pike smiling up at both of them. Behind them, Rainsong, pregnant, Clearbrook, and Nightshade; then Moonshade holding baby Dart, Redlance pointing up into the tree, and Woodlock with his hands spread as he talks to Redlance. Near distance: Foxfire, holding hands with Skywise; the healer Rain behind them Joyleaf on the white wolf, and Chief Bearclaw on his wolf Blackfell; their son Cutter behind and between them, and Treestump howling skyward with a smile on his face on Bearclaw's left. Front: Longbranch, One-Eye and an argumentative-looking Brownberry.
October 29, 2025 at 3:10 PM
cemurphy.bsky.social
The Negotiator Trilogy is now all available for preorder! LOOKIT THESE NEW COVERS! :D :D :D

Rediscover the world of the Old Races as NYC lawyer Margrit Knight's hot new client proves to be a gargoyle wanted for murder! #romantasy #booksky #fantasy #urbanfantasy

www.amazon.com/dp/B0FTFYJHH...
Three staggeringly gorgeous book covers for CE Murphy's urban fantasy trilogy, The Negotiator. They are all reminiscent of stained glass, the first in green and yellow, the second in purples and pinks, the third in reds and golds, with gargoyles, dragons and bats as elements. Cover artist: Fakel Barros Studio.
October 29, 2025 at 10:48 AM
cemurphy.bsky.social
This morning I stopped my bicycle on the way to work and this happened!
A pigeon sitting on the front wheel of my bicycle while another one on the ground looks on A pigeon sitting on the left handlebar of my bicycle while another one comes in for a landing A pigeon gazing directly at me from the handlebars of my bicycle A pigeon on the right handlebar of my bicycle having a good look around
October 28, 2025 at 5:41 PM
cemurphy.bsky.social
I do hope this goes well for him, but that aside, I keep running into this problem where the first time I saw this, which is the primary pic I've seen in ads, I went "Why does Henry Cavill look weird, OH RIIIIGHT" & every subsequent time I've seen it I've gone "...is that... Christian Kane...???"
(Allegedly) Liam Hemsworth as Geralt of Riven, aka the Witcher, with Freya Allan as Cirilla and Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, all against a fiery red background
October 28, 2025 at 5:05 PM
cemurphy.bsky.social
An XKCD comic, possibly my favorite ever: A female and male stick figure are standing together, having a discussion. Female: Silicate chemistry is second nature to us geochemists, so it's easy to forget that the average person probably only knows the formulas for olivine and one or two feldspars. Male: And quartz, of course. Female: Of course. Text below the comic: Even when they're trying to compensate for it, experts in anything wildly overestimate the average person's familiarity with their field.
October 28, 2025 at 8:55 AM
cemurphy.bsky.social
:p
a screenshot indicating I've reached level 71 in Pokemon Go
October 27, 2025 at 4:03 PM
cemurphy.bsky.social
No, he's an Irish Setter/poodle mix and much larger than he looks in that picture, which is distorted because it's wide-angle. :) These are more reflective of his actual size:
A large blonde curly dog sitting next to an old white guy who is giving him chin scritches as he (the dog) unhinges his head until it's practically lying against his spine with enjoyment A great big fluffy apricot-blonde dog lying on an old white guy's chest. The dog's head and shoulders cover most of the man's torso. A large fluffy apricot-colored dog sitting on the couch with his back to the camera, facing a big white guy, half of whose torso and all of whose head is hidden by the dog.
October 26, 2025 at 5:04 PM