Day 6 Theme - Her Own Personal Code

Feb. 6th, 2026 06:14 am
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[personal profile] cmk418 posting in [community profile] halfamoon
Today's theme is Her Own Personal Code.

Here are some ideas to get you started: What rules guide the way she lives her life? What rules guide the way she wants others to live their lives? Was this something she developed over time or something drilled into her as a child? Did religion or a particular mentor play a role in the development of her code of morality?

Just go wherever the Muse takes you. If this prompt doesn't speak to you, feel free to share something that does. You can post in a separate entry or as a comment to this post.

Want to get a jump start on tomorrow's theme? Check out the prompt list in the pinned post at the top of the page. Please don't post until that day.

podcast friday

Feb. 6th, 2026 07:06 am
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[personal profile] sabotabby
 There's a lot of good stuff on the podcast feed this week, but look, we all have to be Elbows Up these days or whatever, even though Canada is a fake country, because it's better to be a fake country with healthcare than a fake country with crushing medical debt. So I must proudly wave the flag when Behind the Bastards notices and recognizes an actual Canadian bastard, as they did this week with Romana Didulo, Queen of Canada (Part 1, Part 2).

Her Majesty is not a successful cult leader by American standards; she basically ruined the lives of a few dozen people and hasn't directly killed anyone that I know of, though in terms of indirect deaths through encouraging the spread of covid, she's likely ended at least a few lives. She's a fascinating study, though, in Why People Believe Batshit Things Against Obvious Evidence and Logic, and she's worth learning about for that alone. This is an obvious mentally ill person with no charisma, elevated to fame by some rando on the internet, and enabled by a media ecosystem that considers all opinions equally valid unless they're left-wing opinions. In a better society she'd be given the help she so obviously needs; in ours, her worst tendencies were encouraged and rewarded.

Of course, this is all ancient history from the early 2020s and is of no instructive value now. Just, y'know, interesting to listen to.

ETA: I am remiss in not mentioning that there's a third part to come next week. I had like 10 minutes left in the second episode and did not realize there was MORE ROMANA to come.

Do hard things badly, keep dancing

Feb. 6th, 2026 05:58 am
sorcyress: Drawing of me as a pirate, standing in front of the Boston Citgo sign (Default)
[personal profile] sorcyress
Very long day yesterday. Thursdays are my busiest days at work, where I see all five of my classes rapid in a row, with just my lunch break in between. It always gets me a little bit bleary-eyed, and then today we had conferences after. At least those were scheduled in the earliest time-slot we ever do them --we move the times a bit so that different parental situations can have access at different times, and this was the 3-5 event.

Then, as Clayton-workbestie and I were walking home, I mentioned offhand "oh, and I have to go teach Scottish now". Which was actually a great comment to make, as it led us back to my absolute favourite walking-home-conversation-topic, to wit, the pedagogical and logistical differences between teaching high school geometry, Scottish country dance, or Japanese tea ceremony. We know a surprising amount about each others' niche hobbies, just from being passionate and enthusiastic about them, and willing to nurse that enthusiasm in the other, and it's really nice.

(the biggest conclusion this time was the pairing of advantages/disadvantages. I can run a dance class on a school night, because setting up and tearing down only takes me about 15 minutes on either end (plus a potentially infinite amount of prepping a lesson plan, but I can get by if that's measured in a single digit of minutes). He can't do that, needs much more time to prepare fancy snacks before and carefully hand-wash and ensure all the dishware is dry after, but if only one other person shows up to his class, they will have a marvelous and fruitful time, where I get nothing but footwork practice at that point.)

And of course, every time I say the phrase, I think about a post Tricia made years ago, about a gentle correction BDan gave her when she said "I have to go dancing tomorrow". Change "have to" to "get to". I _get_ to run my dance class on odd Thursday nights.

Really truly, it has been astoundingly consistent, that no matter how up or down I'm feeling beforehand, I have not yet had a week where I came out of class feeling bad. Varying levels of tired, but the fact that I've bent the world to my will enough to have this one little bright spot of joy and community is amazing, and I feel consistently so privileged and excited to get to witness it.

Also it's _so nice_ to have simply embraced my ethos of "do hard things badly" and just run forward with it. Another difference from tea ceremony --they have more of a set and ordered curriculum, which is lovely for them, but doesn't have as much flexibility for my style of "you've been here like twice before ever and just walked in a few minutes late? yeah, we're just gonna throw you in, do your best"

I'm also so privileged to have found-made-cultivated-developed-whatever a group of people willing to extend me grace and patience as I learn the best ways to say the things to share the idea. I still need to remember that modeling is often best, but on any given dance, I can feel myself getting better within the moment as I encourage them on. Truly, my class is spoiling me for regular teaching.

(that's actually not a joke --when I last taught at Cambridge Class, the biggest and much more traditional class in the branch, I found myself second-guessing and being slightly shocked at how much support these far more experienced dancers needed, and having to occasionally rewrite programs between weeks to take some challenges down a few notches. Which is really just a different culture of dance --there's much more of the "wanting to do the same things enough times to feel confident" where I'm more, as I said, be okay with doing things badly.)

Maybe I should write a continuing set of ethos up sometime, what I'm actively hoping to cultivate. Include things like "we communicate without words [except the caller]" and "we keep trying to find our spot". The compliment for the two newest dancers on the floor tonight was that both of them were very good at _not stopping_. One of them, the one who's only come two or three times before, is the one we all cornered at the end to express astonishment she does no other form of dance.

"If you're having fun, you definitely should come back, because you have a quite good sense of how to communicate non-verbally" I say (approximately) and Alex interrupts to say "if you're having fun, you should come back because you're having fun" which I appreciate. It's all a very good situation, honestly.

And it's nice to know that there's something feeling interesting and exciting and sustainable in my world, especially when some days my job is feeling, uh, not those things. This year has been very long and hard, it's important that it also has dancing.

I love you,
~Sor
MOOP!

(no subject)

Feb. 6th, 2026 10:23 am
oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)
[personal profile] oursin
Happy birthday, [personal profile] rymenhild!

2026 Pulp Factory Awards Finalists

Feb. 6th, 2026 08:57 am
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Posted by Mike Glyer

The 2026 Pulp Factory Awards finalists have been announced. These works received the most nominating votes from members of the Pulp Factory, a professional association of pulp writers, artists, editors and publishers. Voting is open to the public – ballot at the link. … Continue reading

February 2026 Queer Romances

Feb. 6th, 2026 10:00 am
[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by Dahlia Adler

‘Tis the month when romance is on the brain, and these books are here to deliver! Give yourself the perfect valentine with a queer romance or five!

Get Over It, April Evans

Get Over It, April Evans by Ashley Herring Blake

Author: Ashley Herring Blake
Released: February 3, 2026 by Berkley
Genre: , ,
Series: Clover Lake #2

A summer job at a lake-town resort brings together two women with an unlikely connection in this new contemporary romance by USA Today bestselling author Ashley Herring Blake.

April Evans’ life is in shambles. She’s had to close her tattoo shop in Clover Lake and she’s subletting her house just to make rent. And her love life? Nonexistent ever since Elena, her ex-fiancée, left her for a younger woman three years ago. When she is asked to teach a summer art class at the town’s new resort called Cloverwild, April jumps at the opportunity, especially since the job comes with boarding. She’s sure that this is the silver lining she needs . . . until she meets her Daphne Love, the woman who stole her ex-fiancée. And even worse, it’s clear Daphne has no idea who April is.

Daphne Love is cursed in, well, love. She thought she’d found the unconditional love she craved in her girlfriend, Elena, but now she’s single again and utterly brokenhearted. When her friend hooks her up with a summer gig as an art instructor at a swanky resort in New Hampshire, Daphne feels optimistic for once. If only she had a roommate and coworker who didn’t seem to hate her on sight.

Their already-tense relationship gets even shakier when April and Daphne find themselves competing for a rare opportunity to showcase their art in a London museum. But slowly, barriers begin to fall, and an inexplicable allure keeps drawing them closer, leaving them to wonder if the perfect picture they’re looking for can only be painted with each other.

Ashley Herring Blake needs no introduction; you see a new Sapphic romance by her, you grab it. This is the second book in the Clover Lake series that kicked off with Dream On, Ramona Riley, and it brings with it pan rep, religious trauma, and lots of Feelings, perfect for those who love their romance with a side of angst.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Promise Me

Promise Me by Sara Cate

Author: Sara Cate
Released: February 10, 2026 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: , , ,
Series: Sinful Manor #2

He let him get away once… Now he has seven days to get him back.

Fifteen years ago, Declan Barclay left for uni with plans of becoming an artist and escaping his family’s heavy rule. What he didn’t expect was to meet a soft and enigmatic actor in desperate need of guidance…and a friend. Declan quickly took Colin Shelby under his wing and the two were inseparable ever since.

That is until the night before graduation, when lines were crossed and everything changed.

Now, after years apart, Colin is back in Declan’s life, but he’s not alone. He’s made a promise to marry someone else, and Declan only has seven days to win back the love of his life. There’s just one His family is counting on him to pull this wedding off at Barclay Manor.

With just one week until vows are exchanged, Declan must decide—stay silent and lose Colin for good, or risk everything and ask the one who got away to promise him forever.

Another “needs no introduction” author, Cate’s taking her talents to m/m with this second book in the Sinful Manor series that promises to be spicy, sweet, seductive, and Scottish-accented.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Motor City Love Song

Motor City Love Song by Lisa Peers

Author: Lisa Peers
Released: February 10, 2026 by The Dial Press
Genre: , ,

No one knows why the queen of indie rock vanished from the Detroit scene twenty years ago. Now, her ex-girlfriend is determined to track her down—and what she uncovers will change everything.

Detroit, 1997. At the Artemis Club, Paloma is chasing rock-and-roll stardom, with her girlfriend and manager Jace committed to making her a worldwide indie sensation. But when Paloma suddenly disappears from the public eye in 2001, Jace is left to pick up the pieces.

Two decades later, Jace thought she’d left music for good. Yet when the Artemis Club is threatened, she commits to saving the venue even though she’ll have to track down Paloma, whose early-career hit just went viral. Paloma has her reasons for not wanting to be found, and Jace isn’t eager to reopen old wounds. Still, each keeps measuring her life against the love she lost. With the Artemis’s fate at stake, Jace and Paloma are pulled back into the scene they once ruled…and back toward each other.

Told in two voices, this sapphic salute to Detroit’s garage band era shows that sometimes, the truth is the most powerful love song of all.

Peers’ Love at 350 was a delight, a Sapphic take on Great British Bake Off that was honestly way more show plot than romance, though it was so much fun that I wasn’t complaining. But maybe the only thing I love more than a cooking/baking theme is music, and specifically the kind of garage-band indie-ness that this book centers on, and I have no doubt Peers will knock it out of the park.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

A Vow Made Twice

A Vow Made Twice by Emma Denny

Author: Emma Denny
Released: February 12, 2026 by HQ
Genre: , ,
Series: The Barden #3

The heart-stopping new love story from Emma Denny, following beloved characters from One Night in Hartswood and All the Painted Stars.

‘I loved every moment’ Freya Marske, International bestselling author of A Marvellous Light, on One Night in Hartswood

……..

Haunted by love. Bound by duty.

After inheriting his father’s title, Earl Ash Barden has no choice but to find a wife to ensure the family line. But Ash has pledged himself to another, and making new vows – even with his lover long-since dead – feels like the ultimate betrayal to his memory.

Skilled bowman and unconventional widow Agnes Forrett wants two to be true to herself, and to avoid marrying the childhood friend her family is determined will take her hand. When Ash arrives in her keep, she realises he’s the perfect choice to grant her the freedom she needs to be the person she is – be that lady, lord, or something else entirely.

Agreeing to enter a marriage of convenience, their plan is set … until a roadside attack thrusts a familiar face back into Ash’s life, and with it a choice about his future. Whilst his feelings for the ghost from his past remain as strong as ever, he can’t deny his growing affection for Agnes too. Now Ash must ask can one heart truly be pledged to two people?

Bless Emma Denny for taking queer historical romance into the rarely seen Medieval Era with the Barden series, and for mixing it up each time. First was the m/m One Night in Hartswood, then the f/f All the Painted Stars, and now we’ve got the first polyam, complete with nonbinary rep that’s just the chef’s kiss on the whole sexy endeavor. Here’s hoping there’s more of this series to come!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

In Her Spotlight

In Her Spotlight by Amy Spalding

Author: Amy Spalding
Released: February 24, 2026 by Kensington Books
Genre: , ,
Series: Out in Hollywood #4

For fans of Casey McQuiston, Alexis Hall, and Meryl Wilsner, an actually hilarious, sweetly sexy, gloriously relatable, second chance, sapphic rom-com from the acclaimed author of For Her Consideration, starring a franchise Hollywood actress aims to prove her chops in a theatrical production directed by her ex whose heart she broke a decade earlier.

Hollywood actor Tess Gardner is not the kind of famous she set out to be. She’s ready to show she’s more than Princess Platinum of the Vindicators series, a pretty face with CGI superpowers that literally sparkle. Tess wants to prove herself as an actor and that means theatre—the true calling of her thespian heart. But just when Tess lands a part working with an acclaimed stage director, a brewing scandal forces him out. His replacement? None other than hip, buzzy director Rebecca Frisch. The same Rebecca Frisch whose heart a firmly closeted Tess broke over a decade ago during summer stock . . .

As Tess wrestles with her lingering guilt and attraction to Rebecca, she also finds herself struggling to rein in her superstar status backstage. When things unexpectedly reignite with Rebecca, Tess bristles even more against the walls of her A-list life. Since the industry’s made it clear that girl-next-door superheroes can’t also be gay, coming out isn’t realistic for Tess. And ultimately, Rebecca will head back to New York and likely seek out a less complicated relationship anyway.

Will the curtain close on her chance for happiness or will Tess finally take a leading role in her own life?

Spalding’s f/f Out in Hollywood series, which kicked off with For Her Consideration, has been a staple of Sapphic Romance for four years running, so it’s definitely sad to say goodbye! But Spalding has a long history in publishing (beginning with YA, including several queer entries), and I have no doubt she’ll be bringing something else fun to the table next.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

in solitude, a song was born

Feb. 6th, 2026 01:50 am
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[personal profile] varlaamthecreator posting in [community profile] 1character
Character: Misty Monsoon | Rainmaker
Fandom: Toontown: Corporate Clash
Theme Set: Beta
Rating: Teen & Up
Warnings: References to past abuse, heavy canon divergence & OC-insert nonsense

Out on the pier, thinking on how far she's come, Misty joins Midnight in planning their future.
Or: Misty's journey across stormy and sunny skies, finding love transcending both, in 50 sentences. Read over here.

This is also my entry for Siege the Valentines 2026.

February Declutter Challenge

Feb. 6th, 2026 09:10 am
mekare: Firefly: Inara drinking tea, listening (Inara)
[personal profile] mekare posting in [community profile] unclutter
I really need to do this, so why not make it an event where people can join in?

February here is all about carneval, Valentine's Day and unending winter weather. So, let's look at a couple of new areas (pick and choose):


  • STUFF TO MAKE YOURSELF LOOK DIFFERENT: old make-up, hair accessories, brushes, combs, hairclips, dried out nail polish etc.

  • BATH PRODUCTS: out of date creams, lotions, oils, bathing salts, old tooth brushes etc.

  • CLOTH: that towel with the holes (repair or put it to some other use), washcloths, reusable make-up pads, cleaning cloths (the ones that almost fall apart),...

  • PERFUMES: that gift someone got you, but really you never wear it, or maybe it's so old the scent changed



Let's free up some space in the space where we get clean! Or alternatively, let's clean those brushes and combs, replace that mangy toothbrush with a new one and throw away make-up we never use anyway.

Optional: if you have plants in your bathroom (I do), let's give them some love.

I'm open to more suggestions! Let me know what immediately came to your mind when you read the challenge.

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