@toddlockwoodart.bsky.social any chance you’re in the market to make a debut author’s dreams come true?

the "we must cuddle for safety" scene was adorable. I love that trope. And I liked that it gave me and opportunity to learn a little more about Seraphina as a character.

that riddle was EXCELLENT. This kind of thing is so hard to pull off successfully and you really nailed it. I honestly could never have thought of something that clever.

I love all the little details of world building you've peppered in here that make it feel alive without bogging me down in jargon. It's a really nice balance.

I really liked how layered your narrative is, I think you use the first person voice so well to convey your sense of humour whilst underneath weaving a well observed and tender story. I think that this makes your story feel really human, which aids and enhances its vampiric content.

I loved that the bard kept character the whole way through with his wittiness and sarcasm. I feel like they stayed true to how they're perceived in most games and stories.

He is a very recent widower

I had a similar experience with a published author connection I recently made, who was experiencing these issues constantly - and Meta largely does nothing. We got the Bsky account taken down, but the struggle is real.

The biggest tell is when they start selling you on a service you can’t Google

I’ve given myself a personal challenge to carry forward the same world from “How A Bard Is Made” into all of my future Writing Battle stories, and I’m pretty happy with how this one went, regardless of whether I win or even make it into the top 32.

Gotta be a writer thing. I took Mon/Tues off to relax and ended up writing most of the 2nd chapter of a new Romantasy idea.

Well the bitch of it is that the house is still out of session. A thing they have intentionally been doing to prevent needing to swear in Adelita, which would give the votes needed on the Epstein files. So even if this passes Senate, it still won’t progress.

I grew up in a military town where people constantly came and went, all 18 childhood years, and was never asked this question. In fact the question was always the other way around for the Mil-kids having to move all the time.

I’ve told several people recently this is how I feel when I think back to what initially got me into writing, which was discovering - while in middle school - that Christopher Paolini managed to publish Eragon (and develop multiple fantasy languages) as a minor. That was life changing.