C.E. Murphy's Blog, page 4

on holiday

I’m on holiday and have been doing a reasonably good job of not working. I’ve been reading a lot. I have, in fact, exceeded my yearly reading goal by several books already! Go me! And! Yesterday I cleared off my at-home desk, which was emotionally very good for me. And!

…no, that’s about it. I’ve been watching the entire MCU Captain America storyline and am up to Falcon & Winter Solider now, though I haven’t started it yet.

But, as I said before, part of being on holiday is teaching my husband h...

Recent Reads: The Angela Marchmont Mysteries

Recent Reads: The Angela Marchmont Mysteries (Kobo || Amazon (affiliate) || B&N)

God almighty, I haven’t done any recent reads posts in nearly a year, which is crazy because I’ve actually BEEN reading.

I’ve burned through this entire series in the past couple of weeks. Very enjoyable, if you like 1920s-era cozies. In fact, in the past year, I’ve read almost everything Clara Benson has written, and they’re all good fun. I’d recommend starting with the Angela Marchmont books, which I didn’t.

I in ...

back in the trenches

After 50k and then a week with a cold, I spent ALL WEEKEND asleep, my friends. ALL weekend. I went to bed early. I napped. I went to bed early even after napping. I napped MORE. I went to bed early AGAIN. At that point I really didn’t expect to sleep well, but…I did.

I managed not to nap yesterday, went to bed at a reasonable hour, and was RUDELY awakened by my alarm this morning, despite imagining I might actually wake up a bit early due to all the sleeping. Apparently I will require many more ...

Picoreview: The First Avenger

This is the start of a series of picoreviews inspired by a rewatch of the entire MCU Captain America storyline, which I’ve been wanting to do for a while and finally have. A reCap, if you will. O_O

The Cap movies are my favorites anyway, start to finish (Black Panther vies for a top 3 slot depending on how recently I’ve seen it, but I never wibble on the Cap films being in my top 5), so rewatching it all hasn’t been a hardship. Except Age of Ultron, but we’ll get to that. :)

Onward with the actu...

june: state of the cate

time, what is time, i have no time, how do i get more time, if only i didn’t need sleep so much. also, yes, I know, this is a bit late in the month for a State of the Cate, but what can one do about tiiiiiiiime.

Right, okay, so. Uhm.

May was very productive, in huge part because I retreated to a friend’s house and wrote 50,000 words. Then I got sick with a head cold and was just sick enough to feel sorry for myself and not get work done without being REALLY SICK, so I did not write another 35,00...

writing retreat!

This is no longer precisely up to date, because I went on retreat last month not this week, but it was written while I was on retreat and I’m finally remembering to post it, so you’re getting the live-action version of events. :)

So I’ve written, uh, 48,357 words since Monday morning, and that is VERY CLOSE to 50K, and part of me VERY BADLY wants to write the other 1643 words to get there, but…I’m writing this blog post instead, honestly. I’m tired. For some reason. o.o And who knows, I may yet ...

Call of Cthulhu: Egypt Beckons!

Despite my pleas, we did not stop Mask of Nyarlathotep to play Horror on the Orient Express as we traveled ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS from Paris to Constantinople (not Istanbul).

To Evelyn’s crushing disappointment, her (gay) fiance Freddy finally managed to get the party that they’d been hoping for sorted out, and she had to LEAVE before she could party with the Bright Young Things. Freddy, Betty, and possibly Margaret* will follow us later, when they’re recovered from their fun.

(*Margaret: a sudde...

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Sewing Machine (parts)

So as you will perhaps recall, last October I made my son a Halloween costume and put my sewing machine away.

In February, when my MIL came to visit, she wanted to enact some repairs on some of our quilts, so my husband got the sewing machine out, and…

…half of the base of the sewing machine had disappeared. The extension table/storage box part, you know? That fits around the needle plate/bobbin holder? It was gone. Inexplicably gone.

My sewing machine is only ever in one of two places: inside i...

Call of Cthulhu: Albion Ends!

It was a dark and stormy night…

We, disguised as cultists hiding in Edward Gavigan’s bedroom, simply open fire on the cultists below. Dylan (whose name, it turns out, is actually spelled Dillon) hits Gavigan with a shot from his (Dillon’s) elephant gun for 14 points of damage, which of course he just gets up from because he’s full of monster power. Dammit.

Teddy opens fire with a Tommy gun, doesn’t do NEARLY as much damage as he hopes, AND jams the gun. Fortunately, Calliope turns her mechanical...

three things make a post

Thing One – my friend, comics artist Matthew Dow Smith, is taking commissions for characters, any characters, in his “kid comics” style over the weekend. I got him to do Chance earlier in the month, and I love her SO MUCH! See her? Isn’t she CUTE?

He’s also taking teen kid-style commissions and I truly truly love him and this art style and it’s a super great way to support an artist for a very reasonable commission price if there’s a character you’d like to see done for you, so… go forth, buy a...