New blog post: https://hexedhearth.net/2026/06/22/midsummer-2026/

#midsummer #blogging #personalBlog

New entry on my personal blog!

An Album for each Year of my Life (idea stolen from @jake4480 )

#geminiprotocol gemini://antonyfb.com/blog/album-life-years.gmi

#indieweb https://antonyfb.com/blog/album-life-years.html

#blog #blogging #personalblog #music

Father’s Day is a weird day for me

https://snowebell.cc/fathers-day-is-a-weird-day-for-me/

New entry on my personal blog. Been a minute, just letting folks know that I'm trying to get back on the horse.

#geminiprotocol gemini://antonyfb.com/blog/the-slump.gmi

#indieweb https://antonyfb.com/blog/the-slump.html

#blogging #personalblog #blog

“The Guardian of Couture” Sneak Preview

“I actually can’t believe that we have the grandson of Joseph and Elodie Mae Lancaster and Henry and Rachael Monroe as the newest Guardian, taking up the same role that his parents denied,” Francis said as he, his fellow Couture senior members, and the other editors-in-chief and their assistants were taking in what’s been said. “Part of me still thinks that we’re waiting for him to change his mind- grab that NDA and walk away with only the memories of his first two weeks at Couture.”

“Well, Francis, he didn’t sign that NDA and I don’t think he plans to,” Emilia remarked, shaking her head and smirking to himself. “Alcide’s meaning what he says and saying what he means. He has nowhere else to return to in Texas as his state-trooper older brother and his cronies will shoot him dead if he returns. And if not for that, he basically burned all his bridges regarding his hometown and his family.”

“And speaking of family, what’s your take on his younger sister Paige?” Jim Nelson from GQ asked. “Anyone else thinks that she’s a bit lofty in what she said?”

“I would’ve known via Dark Mauve if the young woman’s words weren’t being as truthful,” Anna Wintour replied. “Same for Ellen. Some of those heroes at that ballroom have the ability to tell the difference between liars and honest people. And they’ve been listening in on this meeting. There’s no form of deception from that young woman.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean that she wasn’t training herself to hide her emotions,” Francis rebutted. “Then again, Alcide did say that he never had a proper chance to get to know her better since their parents kept them apart.”

“Back to the matter at hand, we do need to prepare ourselves for the rest of the weekend as well as prepare Alcide,” Ellen stated. “He and the other interns- River, Gio, and Kumiko- will be still on the clock with performing errands for everyone while being prepped for the first real event: New York Fashion Week. And let’s not forget that they’ll be at tomorrow evening’s gala that features the villains and rogues as well as the Mafia families.”

Blanca nodded. “Ra’Keem, Ja’Nisha, and Snow had themselves a ball getting the theme Walking on the Dark Side: The Sartiorial Finesse of the Fashion Underworld in line with the decor and commissioning the other designers to create the dark-themed gowns and tuxedoes,” she stated. “We know most of these celebrities from tonight will be there tomorrow as will Trump and his brood, the Obamas, the Bushes, and even the Clintons. But we’ll also see some of the foreign dignitaries from the UK- Scotland in particular, Italy, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, China, Germany, Japan, and even Brazil and Mexico. Megan Thee Stallion has RSVP’d as have Cardi B and Offset, Gene Simmons from KISS, T.I., and several other celebrities.”

“Hot damn,” Derrick whistled. “I bet these new Guardians will be on their radar more if they haven’t yet. Especially Alcide since this moment has been waited for everyone’s whole lives. He was so…well, chill isn’t the proper way to say it when the reveal happened. But it’s kind of accurate. Did I even mention that the Usos and the McMahons have won bets on how these kids would reacted? They won the pot and then some.”

Ellen fought the urge to smile. “Alcide’s definitely like me when I was his age,” she mused. “But it doesn’t mean that his journey’s going to be any easier. He and the others are stepping into a whole new world where fashion and comic books collide in more ways than one. And I promised my late friends that Alcide would be as prepared for the challenges ahead. But it’ll be up to him to make his own choices and cut his own losses…”

You’ll never forget the first time!  Catch up with the first 15 chapters of ” The Guardian of Couture” today, available EXCLUSIVELY on Wattpad! Don’t miss it! 

A short note about last week's Homebrew Website Club: Eastern (June 17 2026)

View full note: https://burgeonlab.com/notes/2026/0620-5328/

This is post 59 of #100DaysToOffload

Syndicated via: https://getindiekit.com/

#indieweb #homebrewwebsiteclub #hwc #smallweb #smolweb #personalsites #personalsite #personalblog #personalblogs #blogging #blogs #websites

I got an early birthday gift :)

https://snowebell.cc/i-got-an-early-birthday-gift/

Weekly Wrap-Up Check-In

Hey, y’all. JDE here. And as you can tell, it’s almost the end of the first half of 2026 and yours truly is feeling all types of emotions and yet needs to pull it together.

As I write this post, I’m wondering what my next move will be like for the rest of this year regarding not just my writing career but also my personal life. And yours truly is thinking about making some move that may or may not jeopardize my already-strained relationship with my family members. I won’t get into all the details, but you can say that I’ve been told what to do and how to do it and yet want to be taken seriously and have independence for life. Because I know that nothing can last forever and I need to start preparing for life outside my family when they pass on.

As for my current job, I’ve been learning a lot about work as a front-service clerk (janitor, cart-service manager, and bagger) at the grocery store and yet I still need to know more about financial stability and all that. Seems like I have to know more about my futures and understanding how it’s serving customers despite how I’m feeling. I’m improving, trust me, but I’m understanding that I can do more.

And when it comes to my writing career, I understand that I need to continue to find the balance between my work life and my creative-writing life- let myself make time for writing, blogging, and creating. Now, I am going to make this clear: I’m going to invest more time in writing poetry again since I’ve been looking at my old portfolio that’s full of written poetry coming from 2017 and 2018. And I intend to transcribe them as well as a short-story piece that I’ve also written back in 2018. I don’t know when I’ll publish them, but when I do I’ll be sure to make the announcement when the time comes. This is going to be when I share all my aspects of my life in my rhapsodic spoken words.

As for my stories on Wattpad, I’ll be working on my ongoing pieces- three of them being close to finished before the end of July while the rest of them being finished by the end of the year. And I intend to publish one of them by next year. All I ask is that you bear with me as I get through with them all while sharing sneak previews and what to expect. And remember, folks, that I’ll be starting a spinoff blog known as “Unscripted Jarrick Exum” and the launch date for that website is set for my 35th birthday (August 29th).

This new blog will detail everything regarding my ongoing journey as an indie/self-published author, my life with Asperger’s Disorder (autism), and my take of the world’s version of events. And I will give you fair warning: I won’t be holding back. So get ready for the official launch, you guys, because I intend to be unfiltered and unapologetically authentic about myself and how I see the world.

With that said, you guys, I thank you all for listening to my words and giving me this space for venting my emotions. I still feel a bit mentally and emotionally exhausted, but I am feeling better about talking about what I want for my next move in life and what I’m envisioning for my future. As for any future sneak previews from my ongoing stories on Wattpad, I will share something next week. I will see you guys later.

After #fosstodon upgraded to Mastodon 4.6, I'm trying this new feature called collections!

➡️ https://fosstodon.org/collections/116776403249838997

What are Mastodon collections:
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/04/designing-collections/

#personalblog #blogs #personalsite #blogging #blogger #mastodon46 #mastodoncollections #starterpack

Freedom Day: June 2026 Edition.

Almost up to 5 years away from the grind now.

Happy Juneteenth for those who celebrate.

The kittens turned 9 months old officially this month. Aww.

World War Flea has broken out in our house. Seriously contemplating NBC warfare to get rid of them. (The fleas, not the cats or the humans.) Not sure how they got in. We just want them out.

I’m slowly getting back into the groove.

Blog, blog, video, DTRPG project, then rest and repeat. My Magic Item Book is taking way longer than anticipated. I’m honestly shooting for Christmas 2026. The Dragonbane Book of Magic changed up a ton of things, but my goal is to be in line with official rules.

Other things are getting readjusted for mental and physical health, cats, kids, and my dear wife. Twilight Sword’s Third-Party expansion by yours truly is still waiting for the CAT license, and I have to write the stats for things. It’s been an idea running around in my head for years and I think the video game nature of Twilight Sword will fit perfectly. Also, there’s art issues…

2026 has been kind of a beating so far.

Depression, fell behind on all of my projects and then very slowly started getting better long enough to get hit with it all over again. The fallout over a discussion regarding AI art has driven a lot of this. But I’m not getting into all of that again. You didn’t see the first couple of drafts of this article. (Over 3K words the first time.)

On any given day I run the gamut of emotions from angry, frustrated, resentful, bitter, depressed, confused, exhausted, then quiet resolve and sleep. I’ve been all over the spectrum from wanting to abandon the hobby/industry entirely to doubling down on everything. But, knowing what I don’t want helps shape what I do want.

A DungeonTube thing I noticed is a number of creators that are either covering topics I had videos about last year or freakier yet, ones I planned to do next week. Like WtF? Am I that far ahead of the curve on some of this stuff? Odd for a guy in my position to be seeing that.

So, back to the daily grind we go. Blog, YouTube, DTRPG project, happy family. Eventually convention panels/con invites, monetization, book deals and maybe more. Sometimes I sure could use some good news. I’d like to go a week without a plumbing malfunction, sick kid, Biblical-level plague, angry wife, or major catastrophe first. We need to have a much, much larger discussion about AI art and editing tools at some point, too.

I say it every year, but I think 2026 bears repeating it. This year I intend to write more, read more, and discuss cool TTRPGs as well as supplements. Most of all, let’s just have more fun. Let’s explore. Let’s save the kingdom from the evil warlord. Let’s discuss all the fun stuff in gaming that we love.

With the world in the state it finds itself in today, please be kind. Please be considerate to one another even if we don’t agree. Lastly, please pursue the thing that brings you the most joy without harm to others. Thank you!