Roger Alix-Gaudreau (WIP: redrafting)

Hello! Some more about me: * MFA in 2024 * Plan to publish my debut in 2025 * Series in four different fantasy sub-genres live in my brain. So much to write, so little time! * I support fellow writers. We are not competition; we all benefit by helping each other. The world needs more great stories.

Hunter’s companion Twinkling in the pre-dawn sky. Who’s such a good boy? Up early, so I got a great look at Sirius through the skylight. From the deck, the trees hid him. He’ll be easier to see later in the winter.

In the past couple of days, I’ve written a few thousand words of planning and warmup to make a big push on my novel redraft in November. It feels good to stop letting my fear get in the way. I will have a revised draft of this book by the end of the year.

Four thousand pounds of Pellets, winter season’s warmth And morning’s workout. Left as an exercise for the reader: aching muscles and sweat chilling in the mid-40s temperature.

“The internet is a store but it used to be a library” hits me like a slug to the chest

I teared up as I wrote the end of this short story. That's never happened before. The main character is dealing with her grief over the loss of her father, and that brought up my feelings about the loss of my own dad. I didn't intend to write the story as therapy. It just kind of happened.

Three stars in a line, Huntsman rises in night’s sky, Heralding Winter. Went to bed a bit later than intended last night, but I got a perfect view of Orion just above the eastern tree line through the skylight.

Tide rising, breeze soft, Sailboat defies season’s end In October sun. Lunch by the harbor on a gorgeous day, and I'm not the only one who wishes Summer wasn't over.

Every movie, song, and book that you love was made without the technology that people who don’t make art are now insisting is necessary for making art.

Lower back revolts. Hips, shoulders demand relief. Yard work, middle-aged. True, if not particularly artistic.

They quoted me in this New Yorker piece about AI today. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Trump’s new AI website is kinda fun, it turns out.

People who park gas cars in EV charging spots are assholes. That’s all.

Asleep, breath ragged, Wrinkles smooth, pain drugged away. Ready to depart. A sad one today, from the bedside of a hospice patient.

After a 3-week delay, Hooves and Horns is available! This anthology contains my novelette "Winter Wager", in which the legendary steed Sleipnir must pull the Chariot of the Sun to settle a bet between Odin and Apollo and end an unnatural winter lest Ragnarok begin. books2read.com/hooves-and-h...

Rain falling sideways, Trees whip, leaves fly, branches fall. Early Fall fury. The general vibe in the Northeast right now.

Blood, flames, gold emerge, Brilliant against emerald, Autumn ascendant. Walking along the river today, it's clear the season is turning here.

Cranky midday mood. Writing anyway brings me Back to positive. I hit a rough patch this afternoon and almost closed the laptop and called it a day right then. Instead, I buckled down on a piece I've been wanting to write, and an hour later, the black mood was gone. Writing is therapeutic.

Steaming mug of tea, Perfect homemade remedy To cold autumn rain. I'm sure there's a more artistic way to express this sentiment. Maybe I'll spend time trying to come up with one if tomorrow's weather is like today's.

One benefit to being up with the dawn. Morning visitor Chomping on fallen apples As Nature intends.

In addition to crisp mornings, September brings something else to our house: Pumpkin spice coffee, Freshly ground beans fill the air With scents of Autumn.

Today’s haiku comes to you from, well, I’m sure you can guess… Mountain of dishes, Too much to clean before bed, Morning wake-up call.

New in PN: Retire in peace "McConnell would never be allowed to drive a car, babysit young children, or file his own taxes. Why, then, should a cognitively incapacitated 82-year-old retain one of the most important positions of power within the national government?"

Every time someone tells me Trump is my “president”, I remind them that he self-selected himself not to be, by denying aid to states led by Democrats. It sure would be a shame if he endorsed Susan Collins and led to her crushing defeat.

Hidden apple tree Littering the ground with fruit, We’ll get you next time. Today's haiku brought to you by this image of the property line between my house and my neighbor's. The apple tree is on his land, but I clearly need to watch for the next time it fruits.

I've heard the question "Are you starting your story in the right place?" several times lately. I thought deeply about it yesterday and found an entirely new way to start my story, which I think is much stronger. I guess I'm resetting that word counter on my redrafting work...

My June submission to Writers of the Future earned an Honorable Mention. I dreamt of winning (who doesn't?), but I'm happy at this signal that my writing is moving in a good direction. According to a writing acquaintance (and past winner), this puts me in the top 10% of submissions. Feels great.

Forgot my daily haiku for a few days, but here's one based on tonight's post-sunset jaunt: Chill evening breeze, The equinox approaches, Sweatshirt weather’s here.

Just submitted my entry for the final round of NYCM's 500-word Fiction Challenge for 2026. Now the waiting begins. I guess I'll write something else in the meantime. Wish me luck! #500WordChallenge2026

Did my first agent pitch event today; got useful advice from the agent about tweaking my query and pages. Encouraged by statements that the book is close to ready, my writing skill is evident, and he'd like me to query him after I make the changes. All in all, a positive learning experience.

@jbcartoonist.bsky.social They all have the constitutional and patriotic duty to impeach. They swore an oath.

Gonna try a daily haiku for a while, and see what emerges. Here is today's: Diamonds glittering Across the emerald field, Sunrise after rain.

Gotta love a bit of good news to start the day! I won first place in my group in the second round of NYCMidnight's 500-word Fiction Challenge, which means I advance to the final round this weekend, joining 87 other writers out of 3400+ who entered. That'll put a spring in my writing step today.

Haiku for today. (Written at... you can probably guess.) 5 A.M. Earl Grey, Citrus stirs the waking mind Like far-off sunrise.

I'm so disappointed this was basically a smash-and-grab. The Thomas Crowne Affair taught me to expect more artistry from the theft of high-profile art.

EOD tomorrow is the submission deadline for query materials for a pitch event I'm attending in a couple of weeks. My new query letter is locked! Now to conduct a final review/polish of my opening pages, and then this weight is off my shoulders for a little while...

Folks in Texas - check your voter registration! (Well, everywhere, really, but especially Texas!)

My story about gargoyle brothers (in streamlined form) won first place in the "non-science-fiction" category at the Speckled Spectrum and is available for all to read for free at specficwriters.com/stories/touj....

Today, I was a "leet" writer, as I drafted 1337 words on my WIP. 😜

Hooves and Horns releases on Sep 8! In my story "Winter Wager", the legendary steed Sleipnir must pull the Sun Chariot of the Greek gods across the sky by himself to settle a bet between Odin and Apollo, else a cursed winter may mean the arrival of Ragnarok. I'll share the link when I have it!

Woke up with a head of semi-formed ideas for yet another new story/setting. Brain, what are you doing to me? I shouldn’t complain. It’s great to have a backlog of ideas ready to develop. I just wish I could get the one I’m working on right. (And I might have to accept “good enough”.)

Two Black mayors took cities that the country loves to write off and made them measurably safer. That’s not a fluke. That’s a blueprint. Chicago and Baltimore just posted numbers that should be front-page news. They’re not. We need to talk about why. 🧵 www.theroot.com/opinion-blac...

Just bought my weekend badge for PAX Unplugged. It's been a few years since I last went, but I remember it being fun. It's smaller than GenCon, but that's a good thing. My wife and a few gaming friends are going, so it should be a great time. Anyone else here going to PAX Unplugged this year?

Autism is not new. We just didn’t know what to call the unusual behaviors that led to some people being institutionalized against their will.

I also woke up with thoughts on a science-fantasy series that's been bouncing around in my mind. I realized I could write it as a LitRPG in a way that seems novel, so my brain started running with it, and I put those thoughts on paper. Brain, I'd like to finish the novel I'm working on, please.

Today, I focused on crafting a new query letter for a pitch event I'm going to in a month. Got feedback on my previous one from a trusted source, so I am giving it another crack. It's still f***ing hard to capture the essence of a 95K epic fantasy novel in ~200 words.

Lost a close friend today. He’d been battling cancer for a while. Just over a month ago, we were on stage together, our final theater collaboration. Five weeks later, he’s gone. So damn fast, and he was too damn young. I’ll have to add a character to my WIP to honor him. Fuck cancer.

I wrote 1300 words today, a new opening that's truer to the MC and achieves everything I need in the opening pages in fewer words than before. Feeling good about my 5 pages for a pitch event in September. Tomorrow, I'll fix the transition to the rest of Chapter 1 and finish rewriting Chapter 2.

I sold a novelette! Opal Kingdom Press will publish "Winter Wager" -- in which the legendary steed Sleipnir must pull the Sun Chariot across the sky by himself to settle a bet between Odin and Apollo and end a cursed winter -- in their _Hooves and Horns_ anthology. More details when I have them!

I'm psyched I placed 4th in my group (of 35-40, I forget) in the 1st round of @nycmidnight.bsky.social's 2026 500-word micro-fiction challenge. I had to write a Horror story involving goggles and daydreaming, which took some doing! I advanced to the 2nd round. New story this weekend. Wish me luck!