#ScribesAndMakers day 15: You are in an art contest (or collaborative game if you prefer) with someone of similar skill level. Choose your 'weapon': pencil, pen, paintbrush, digital pen, or clay.

This reminds me of a contest/game from my past, when I and a few friends were all DJs. We'd do something we called "Iron DJ" (a nod to Iron Chef), where we'd have to pick a theme for a set from out of a hat, and then spin a short set based on that. Themes included... 1/2

...things like "the four elements", "past, present, and future", and a whole bunch of other things I can't even recall right now. They definitely weren't all simple sets of things like that; some were more creative.

So anyway, my choice is DJ equipment! 2/2

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#ScribesAndMakers day 16: You wake up to find someone staring at you. Who is it, and why are they there?

It's my partner, who came over to surprise me with morning snuggles.

#ScribesAndMakers day 17: What's an animated movie you love?

_Princess Mononoke,_ by Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli.

#ScribesAndMakers day 18: Vinyl, compact disc, digital, or radio?

Digital. It's nice not to have to lug around lots of physical objects to have music.

#ScribesAndMakers day 20: When it comes to theater, do you prefer tragedy or comedy?

Comedy, although it's a close thing. Watching someone completely ruin their life can be grand and full of pathos, and many of the best soliloquies are from tragedies, not comedies. But in the end, I prefer to walk out of the theater having laughed and had fun rather than having gone, "OMG, can you please not do the obviously catastrophic things?" for a couple of hours.

#ScribesAndMakers day 23: If you garden, do you give away anything that you grow? If so, what do you give away the most of?

I don't garden.

#ScribesAndMakers day 24: What's a work of science fiction that you love? What do you love about it?

I'm going to say, completely unironically: ST:TOS. Maybe it's partly because I grew up on it — and look, I'm not saying *every* episode; some of them were real stinkers¹ — but by and large, the message that humanity can come together, overcome our differences, triumph over the three evils of racism, militarism, and greed, and even ally with alien species in the pursuit of... 1/2

...knowledge and peace, is one that I wish more works would promote, and more people would follow, today. 2/2

1. I know, you're thinking of "Spock's Brain". But "The Empath" is even worse. Hoo boy, does that one suck!

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#ScribesAndMakers day 25: You're going on a creative retreat. What's the most important thing you need to bring with you?

My laptop, obvi! I can't write without it.

Okay, assuming "whatever tools you need to do the creating" are considered to be already included, then... what the hell, I'm going with the alexandrite earrings and pendant my sweetie gave me as things to spur creativity.

#ScribesAndMakers day 27: Are you good at threading needles?

No, but I have hardly any practice at it. I'm sure I'd improve quickly if I started sewing on a regular basis.

#ScribesAndMakers day 30: Hogwash?

Folderol! Stuff and nonsense! Indeed, as the kids say these days: that's AI!

#ScribesAndMakers day 31: Share something about your creative work this month.

My first version of chapter 9, scene 1, was a real banger. And then I realized that the whole rest of the chapter would be stronger if I decided the MCs (including the one who was the POV for that scene) *don't* know the thing I'd had her agonizing over.

So I tore it down and redid it.

That's a good capsule summary of my creativity for this month.

#ScribesAndMakers day 1: What's one creative thing you'd like to get done this month?

At least one chapter of my WIP. Preferably two, but I know that's not a reasonable target.

#ScribesAndMakers day 2: Do you have any annual traditions not tied to holidays?

None that I can think of.

#ScribesAndMakers day 3: What's a creative project you would want to give someone for their birthday?

Well, I can bake a pretty nice chocolate cake...

#ScribesAndMakers day 4: Our next featured creator is a comic artist. Tell us about a comic strip or web comic you enjoy.

It's an oldie but a goodie: I'm still enjoying Questionable Content (https://questionablecontent.net/) I'm still impressed with how much Jeph Jacques has managed to change the comic while still keeping it so much the same.

#ScribesAndMakers day 5: You now have the same occupation as the main character of your current WIP (or book you are reading/last read). What job are you doing?

Looks like I'm simultaneously:

1. An architect;
2. A librarian;
3. A radiologist, specializing in MRIs;
4. An unemployed ex-accountant who might be able to make a living at painting if I gave it a shot; and
5. A front-end web developer.

(By a curious coincidence, #5 is, in fact, my actual job in real life.)

#ScribesAndMakers day 6: Our featured creator makes graphic novels. As a reader, which do you think is more important in a graphic novel, art or words?

By their very nature, graphic novels place equal importance on both of those things! (That said, I tend to focus much more on the words when I'm reading them — but that's a tendency I'm trying to overcome, because I think it's a bad one.)

#ScribesAndMakers day 8: How do you define a book? Do audio books and graphic novels fit your definition?

Audio books yes, graphic novels no. To my mind, the addition of all that art makes the graphic novel a different form. Not worse (or better), just different.

#ScribesAndMakers day 9: Is one really the loneliest number?

Yes.

#ScribesAndMakers day 10: What is the most out-of-character creative thing you enjoy? That thing that never matches the assumptions about you.

Probably pop music. I think people who know me would expect me to like, or not be surprised at me liking, things like rock, alternative, and minimalism. But pop is something I think would raise eyebrows.

#ScribesAndMakers day 11: Aside from the official birthday song and the ubiquitous Beatles song, is there a song about birthdays you like?

I'm not even sure which Beatles song is intended.

ATM, I'm kind of leaning toward what I've always heard called the SCA birthday song, which is performed as a dirge-like chant punctuated with grunts: 1/2

It's your biiiiirthday,
Ugh!
Happy biiiiirthday,
Ugh!
May the candles on your cake
Burn like cities in your wake
On your biiiiirthday
Ugh!
Happy biiiiirthday
Ugh!
Death and gloom and dark despair,
People dying everywhere
On your biiiiirthday

...and so on. A cheery little number, huh? 2/2

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#ScribesAndMakers day 12: Guffaw?

I'm usually more of a quiet laugh type, but if the joke's really good? Yeah, you'll get a full guffaw out of me!

#ScribesAndMakers day 13: How well do you sing? If you don't consider yourself a good singer, do you sing anyway?

Not well enough to satisfy myself, but well enough to do okay at karaoke, as long as I pick a track I can do justice to.

#ScribesAndMakers day 14: How are things going for you this month, creatively or otherwise?

Creatively? Not too bad. I've wound up getting on two-hour writing jags a few times, and my word count so far this month is over 8,000, even though I had to cut a few hundred at one point.

#ScribesAndMakers day 16: Do you have a favorite decade of music? Which one(s)?

Nah, I try to keep it fresh and keep up with what's going on. There are cool things to be found about every decade of music that I'm familiar with.

#ScribesAndMakers day 17: Share a fun memory from a past SAM prompt.

Interacting with people around the answers to https://wandering.shop/@kagan/114478930786331470 was a lot of fun.

#ScribesAndMakers day 18: Our next featured creator has done her own book covers. Have you ever or would you ever do your own cover?

I would absolutely not; graphic design is not one of my skills. If for some reason I had to, I'd go with some kind of design based on text and abstract shapes, because art is even less one of my skills. But in reality, I plan to either let my publisher handle cover art (assuming I find a publisher), or contract an artist/designer (assuming I don't).

#ScribesAndMakers day 19: Our featured creator is an avid gamer. Does gaming affect your creativity?

There are parts of my current WIP that sprang from pondering long and hard about some of the implications of a few concepts from the TTRPG _Shadowrun_.

#ScribesAndMakers day 20: The alpha male is a misconception perpetuated in popular media that our featured creator works against in her wolf books. What's a misconception that bothers you in popular media?

The "we only use 10% of our brains" thing is the first one that comes to mind. Oooooh, do I hate that one!

[Edited to Add: And I love the variety of really good answers other people are giving! *So many* excellent ones!]

#ScribesAndMakers day 22: 2 lines from other books and 1 from mine

1) The solitary, steep hill called Corona Heights was black as pitch and very silent, like the heart of the unknown.

2) A dial selected music channels: jazz, jazz, classical, swing, opera, jazz — wasn't this the city? Where was the rock?

3) Tonight was a night for secrecy and going unseen. Unfortunately, those were things he’d always sucked at.

Which one is mine?

#ScribesAndMakers day 23: Answer to yesterday's poll.

Oooh, a tie! Looks like I got the difficulty right. 😄

All three lines are from urban fantasies. The 1st one is the 1st line of Fritz Leiber's _Our Lady of Darkness_, a mix of horror and early UF that's set in San Francisco.

The 2nd comes from early in _The Last Hot Time_, by John M. Ford. It's straight-up UF, and set in a changed (and incredibly cool) Chicago.

Mine is the 3rd, from very early in chapter 2, introducing Kevin Wingard.

#ScribesAndMakers day 24: What's something you learned about one of our community member's creativity from the hashtag games?

Holy crud, I've learned *so much* about *so many people's* creativity! There are a ton of people out there doing all kinds of creative things; I couldn't possibly pick just one!

#ScribesAndMakers day 25: Would you stream your creative process/the creation of your work? Why or why not?

I assume it'd be boring as hell to anyone who wasn't inside my head. There's a reason "hacking" scenes in TV and movies don't show real hacking: because it's boring AF to watch someone just sit there at a keyboard for hours on end, only typing occasionally. The same goes for writing, or at least for *me* writing.

#ScribesAndMakers day 26: Do you abandon creative projects? If so, how do you determine when to abandon them?

It's more accurate to say that some (many? most?) projects simply get rotated to the back burner, because let's face it, there are only so many hours in a day. Some even get put into storage for a shorter or longer time, but could always be returned to the main burner.

The only way I think I'd *abandon* a creative project would be if I felt I could no longer do anything with it.

#ScribesAndMakers day 27: Splat?

Ugh. I just got up, it's too early for me to go splat again yet. Much as I might want to. (Last night's sleep was not restful, and I don't even know why. I don't recall any bad dreams. I just woke up tired and achy. Ugh.)

#ScribesAndMakers day 28: How did your month go?

Not too bad. I spent an average of 1:22 writing on work days and 1:30 on weekend days, and produced 16,254 words (plus however many I'll manage today), which is a nice climb from the past few months. Completed 6 scenes (which roughly equals two-thirds of a chapter, I guess). And you never know, I might finish a 7th today!