State of the TAM - 22 March
OK, first of all. Sorry about last week, I know I missed a newsletter. I had a neurologist’s appointment at the hospital last week and I was a bit het up (so far though, it’s all been positive! I have a few more appointments, but doctor is fairly sure it’s nowt bad going on in there….turns out my awful goblin plot brain doesn’t show up on an MRI :D). So I kind skipped a couple of responsibilities with online stuff.
But now I’m baaaaa-aaack!
…although I’m not sure there’s anything else worth mentioning going on! Designed some swag. Worked on potty training the puppy.
Rhys is going to show me how to make musubi this weekend!
But that’s about it :D I’ll try and do some more cool stuff next week!
Pupdate of the Week
Izzy Bo Bo continues to be a cutie. She has grown a bit and picked her favorite toy (the bunny that nearly matches her!). Off to the vet’s this week for her second jab and I can’t wait to be able to get her out for a trot. So far she’s been confined to the garden, but she can’t wait to get her nose out there into the big, wide world.
I don’t know I look so nervous in this picture :D
As for Jax, the Writing Staffie is absolutely enamoured of his wee sister. So far the main issue is stopping him going over to poke her awake so they can play again. She is a dinky girl! She needs her sleep!
Free Audio Chapter of the Week‘Shift Plan’ by TA Moore is a Night Shift short story and a prequel to Split Shift. Find out more about who Kit Marlow was before he joined the Night Shift, and how he became the man Cade Deacon gets to meet in the books! Chapter Two up now!
Written by TA Moore
Narrated by Michael Fell
If you prefer to read rather than listen, you can get Shift Plan in mobi and epub on the website.
The complete Night Shift series is available on Audible, also narrated by the awesome Michael Fell.
Book of the WeekI just think this book sounds wicked cool! Look, I love teen detectives AND Scrabble, so it just sounds like a lot of fun.
Hanna Alkaf @hannaalkafThree months until QUEEN OF THE TILES drops on April 19th, so I’m doing what all the cool kids are doing 
January 16th 2022
363 Retweets1,276 LikesThey Wish They Were Us meets The Queen’s Gambit in the world of competitive Scrabble when a teen girl is forced to investigate the mysterious death of her best friend a year after the fact when her Instagram comes back to life with cryptic posts and messages.
CATALYST
13 points
noun: a substance that speeds up a reaction without itself changing
When Najwa Bakri walks into her first Scrabble competition since her best friend’s death, it’s with the intention to heal and move on with her life. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to choose the very same competition where said best friend, Trina Low, died. It might be even though Najwa’s trying to change, she’s not ready to give up Trina just yet.
But the same can’t be said for all the other competitors. With Trina, the Scrabble Queen herself, gone, the throne is empty, and her friends are eager to be the next reigning champion. All’s fair in love and Scrabble, but all bets are off when Trina’s formerly inactive Instagram starts posting again, with cryptic messages suggesting that maybe Trina’s death wasn’t as straightforward as everyone thought. And maybe someone at the competition had something to do with it.
As secrets are revealed and the true colors of her friends are shown, it’s up to Najwa to find out who’s behind these mysterious posts—not just to save Trina’s memory, but to save herself.
Oh my god, look at this unicorn. Look into its mad, staring eye and know glory. This unicorn would 100% be my companion if I’d ever gone on that magical quest into the Otherworld. He’d have been fecking useless too.
Alex Eccleston @AventuraObscuraUnicorn, Arnold Böcklin, 1885. 
March 20th 2022
35 Retweets196 LikesMust Read of the WeekThis sounds like the perfect job! I could give 100% to being an awkward, not very social dinner companion. I mean! It’s the job I was born to do.
More seriously, it’s fascinating. I’m intrigued by how this idea is culturally influenced. I think that the Western version of this ‘rent-a-companion’ would be a lot more drama and theatrics? There would be scripts and expectations. The quiet minimalism of a quietly reserved companion who demands nothing doesn’t seem like it would click.
I could be wrong though!
Meet the Japanese man paid to do nothingShoji Morimoto has built a cult following by offering himself as a warm body who can simply be there, liberating his clients from social expectations, write Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Julia Mio Inuma
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Before moving out of Tokyo for her new job, Akari Shirai wanted to eat at the favourite restaurant she used to visit with her former husband. There was one issue: she didn’t want to be flooded with thoughts about her divorce by going alone. But she didn’t feel like inviting a friend and explaining the situation, either.
So she rented Japan’s “do-nothing guy”.
I am looking forward to this.
This dog does not look real.
Also help him!
WeRateDogs® @dog_ratesThis is Rocco. He's doing his best. 13/10 someone help him (IG: rocco_roni) March 22nd 2022
1,805 Retweets21,339 Likes
