Hi my name is Callie and I have a comma addiction.
\nAs I refurbish old posts, I’m am finding my biggest issue is the onslaught of unnecessary commas! Why did I feel the need to instruct so many breaths and dramatic pauses??
\nSo there. Only used 1 this whole post.
\n", "date_published": "2026-03-11T19:59:15-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/03/11/hi-my-name-is-callie.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/03/08/the-book-was-better.html", "title": "The Book Was Better", "content_html": "The book is always better
\nThe viewings leave such to be desired
\nNothing is taken down to the letter
\nAnd I want the director fired
\nWhy can’t he take the light
\nThat burned so brightly in me
\nthat kept me woke throughout the night
\nAnd shine it out for all to see?
\nHe’s pilfered and he’s filtered
\nTo condense into the time
\nAnd I am left bewildered
\nAt the audacity of his crime!
\nThe faces wrong, the words atrocious!
\nA subplot gone, my rage ferocious!
\nA forced romance, there goes the sequel
\n(It can’t advance without its equal).
\nI sit here mad, in my uneasy chair
\nI’ve been had, and it isn’t fair
\nFor I will watch this film again.
\nThe story botched, but still a win.
\n….a poem inspired by Netflix’s recent movies on books I have absolutely adored. I ate “The Guernsey Lliterary and Potato Peel Pie Society” like a famished reader. It was so well done and I fell in love with each character, and how the author made all of it so real. And I don’t mean in the way some excellent fantasy authors make you seriously consider magic, but as if I was truly peering into these people’s lives. I felt a different, but equal, kind of joy from reading the series of “The Thursday Murder Club” books. Less real people, but just fun to read in the same way beach books are, but a little more cerebral.\nThen I watched their Netflix counterparts. Look, I knew going in. I’m one of the “DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE?!” complainers. And on top of that, it was, ya know, Netflix. So when characters got mushed together and subplots traded in for cameos, I only groaned minimally.\nAnd really, I shouldn’t groan at all. Because “Guernsey” is now one of my treasured volumes. It’s one I will tell others they HAVE to read, but refuse to lend my own copy out (we all have a few of those, don’t we?). But- and here’s the turn- I wouldn’t have even looked it up if Netflix hadn’t suggested the movie to me. It came up on my “for you” list and I thought “well that sounds more like the title of a book… an interesting book.” So I went on my search, found it, and the rest is me curled up in a ball well into the night in my plant nook.\nSo can I complain? In this time of growing illiteracy (both basic and media and artistic, really all senses) shouldn’t we be celebrating anything that can lead people to story? Or should we be arguing that instead- these things should be done perfectly right?\nI’m really asking. I’ve argued myself in both directions.\nI suppose tonight my stance is, this book led me to rhyme for the first time in weeks, and I am grateful for any way it came to me.
\nWhat is your top “The Book Was Better”?
\n", "date_published": "2026-03-08T20:06:38-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/03/08/the-book-was-better.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/02/24/of-course-i-still-use.html", "content_html": "“Of course I still use checks! Anyone taking your money should hear the power flick of your pen, dearie.”\n#unrelatedcharacterquotes
\n", "date_published": "2026-02-24T21:19:37-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/02/24/of-course-i-still-use.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/02/19/new-conspiracy-for-a-new.html", "title": "New Conspiracy for a New Age", "content_html": "With too many conspiracies being proven true lately (and mostly the sad, bad ones) I think we all deserve a new fun one. As a treat.
\nEspecially since so many of the entertaining ones have been stolen from us, like good ol’ Nessy (who at best was a monk’s fever dream after too much scribing with dubious-plant-based inks, and at worst was a money grab, and realistically, probs both).
\nSo I give you: There is no Eye in Evolve.\n(Get it? No I, no eye? Hee hee)
\nIt starts with a great base: Jellyfish are trying to take over the world. Why? Easy- they’ve managed to float basically unchanged through all of history, ever, no matter if oceans freeze (they don’t even go dormant really. They just kind… stop… until they melt) or meteors take out half the population- big deal! They’re good! Just wait for the random midnight that happens under certain moons to repopulate under conditions even horoscope girlies think is a bit much.
\nUntil us- humans are starting to change the ocean in ways that jellies are having to actually adjust to. Ugh. They are having to evolve for the first time… like ever. Well, more like the 3rd time, but that’s about 45000 fewer times than the next least-evolving species. They’re shifting the genus around to deal with acidification and temperature change and food scarcity. This is too much for the jellyfish. If they’re gonna have to make an actual effort- damn it- it’s gonna be a big one.
\nYet hate is a strong feeling for a brainless floating blob. They’re not taking over the world to kill us all- no no! That would really trash up the waterways. They just think they, we, the planet, would be better off jelly. Jelly is great. We should all be jelly.
\nThe process? Gotta take those weird mammalian things that crawled out of the waters back to a more suitable standard.\nThe first move? Get rid of the eye. Don’t need that. Jelly got rhopalia, does the trick.\nRhopalia are VERY light sensitive. Obviously, infiltrate leading technology (easy- have you ever seen an AI bot and a jellyfish in the same room? No. How about an IT expert and a jellyfish? No one has. Ever. Cause they’re the same). Blow up the lights. Lamps? Huge bulbs, never go out. Make them literally buzz with annoying power. Phones? Big huge screens that each update get subtly brighter. Make bigger phones more socially cool. Cars? Turn those beams UP. No human should be able to see when driving. Give up the eyeball or crash trying.
\nIt might… it might also be moths in charge. Never mind I’ll worry about that later.
\nThis is why you’re addicted to your phone. It’s not marketing schemes, it’s not the government taking your data. It’s the jellies.
\nAnd oh, what’s that? You can’t see now that your ridiculously over evolved orbs are reconstituted to a nice little sensory nerve? I guess you’ll be doing a lot of grasping around in the dark. If only you had more arms… many of them… maybe it would be easier to not move so much. To just… float along? BOOM. Everything is jelly.
\nI mean this conspiracy has EVERYTHING! A not-so-innocent-afterall main character, government infiltration, a long-con. I think it’s gonna go places.\nMostly wet places. As all places should be. Dark and wet and filled with yummy zooplankton…
\n…what?
\nJellyfish. There’s no Eye in Evolve.
\n", "date_published": "2026-02-20T00:06:39-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/02/19/new-conspiracy-for-a-new.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/02/17/i-swear-the-damn-light.html", "content_html": "I swear the damn light
\nIs brighter than it once was
\nIn the dark I hide.
\n…a haiku for my conspiracy that the lowest setting for screen light on the iPhone is brighter than it once was. Let me lower it further! How am I supposed to waste bed time in these conditions??
\n", "date_published": "2026-02-17T22:16:21-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/02/17/i-swear-the-damn-light.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/02/09/you-look-like-death-reheated.html", "content_html": "“You look like death reheated.”
\n“… the saying is death warmed over.”
\n“No baby, you look like death forgot you in the back of the fridge and then threw you in the microwave.”\n#unrelatedchacterquotes
\n", "date_published": "2026-02-09T09:33:33-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/02/09/you-look-like-death-reheated.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/02/07/so-yeah-im-throwing-stones.html", "content_html": "“So yeah, I’m throwing stones from glasses houses. But at least I can see clearly from in here.” #unrelatedcharacterquotes
\n", "date_published": "2026-02-07T20:34:53-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/02/07/so-yeah-im-throwing-stones.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/02/03/i-like-my-tea-hot.html", "content_html": "“I like my tea hot enough to burn the day away.”\n#unrelatedcharacterquotes
\n", "date_published": "2026-02-03T20:57:03-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/02/03/i-like-my-tea-hot.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/02/03/im-going-to-start-doing.html", "content_html": "I’m going to start doing #characterquotes. I’ll write out a phrase that came to mind & made me think of a character I either have created or should but has nothing to do with any story ever.
\nIt will look the same as me having a mild mental break with ThE VoiCeS in my head but I’m okay with that.
\n", "date_published": "2026-02-03T20:56:08-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/02/03/im-going-to-start-doing.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/01/08/dracula-in-my-home.html", "title": "Dracula in My Home", "content_html": "You scream.\nI scream.\nWe all scream.\nBecause you’re in my house and neither of us wants that.\nOh tiny creature of the night\nThey say you are fear\nBut I see fear in your tiny eyes, your shivering wing.\nTrust me.\nI shiver as well when the world is too big, too bright.\nNow get in the tupperware\nso I may release you into the dark.
\n", "date_published": "2026-01-08T09:05:05-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/01/08/dracula-in-my-home.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/01/05/this-little-piggy.html", "title": "This Little Piggy", "content_html": "I rise\nJust to fall again\nSlam again\nBetray my friend\nWho is just there\nOn the end\nDoing their little best.
\nWhy are you not like the rest?\nWhy do you keeping passing\nor, is it failing,\nThis test?\nWhen it’s clear you’re not wanted\nNot needed\nNot heeded.
\nYou’re not meant to roam\nYou’re meant to head home\nBruised and battered\nAs you are
\n…a slam poem for my broken pinky toe that I slammed again this morning.
\n", "date_published": "2026-01-05T11:55:49-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/01/05/this-little-piggy.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/01/03/i-made-some-sliders-it.html", "content_html": "I made some sliders.\nIt settled a rage in me.\nMustard has answers.
\n…a haiku for dinner fixing my hangry-ness before I became violent.
\n", "date_published": "2026-01-03T19:51:46-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2026/01/03/i-made-some-sliders-it.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/12/31/sometimes-i-wake-in-the.html", "content_html": "Sometimes I wake in the night- my subconscious brimming with brilliance that it cannot contain! I thrust myself out of bed towards a pen. Many of my proudest works have been born at midnight.\nOccasionally though, I find the sticky note in the morning and it says like “purple bowl.” Wtf.
\n", "date_published": "2025-12-31T09:15:02-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/12/31/sometimes-i-wake-in-the.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/11/17/they-quoted-byron-not-shelly.html", "content_html": "They quoted Byron.\nNot Shelly.\nA beautiful, faithful adaptation I was about to be on my feet for!\nAnd the finale card?\nA quote. By Byron.\nNot her word Beware. Or her line on Beginning.\nThey instead End with Byron.\nIn 2025\nTwo men named before Shelly.\nAnd they still ask who the monster is?\nRage.
\n", "date_published": "2025-11-17T21:30:08-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/11/17/they-quoted-byron-not-shelly.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/10/31/131825.html", "content_html": "In today’s plan of “I’m so independent”
\nI hung up some shades, no attendant
\nNow I did break a glass
\nand fall on my ass
\nbut damnit the shades look resplendent!
\n", "date_published": "2025-10-31T13:18:25-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/10/31/131825.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/10/19/professionally-artistically-disinterested.html", "title": "Professionally, Artistically Disinterested.", "content_html": "You: A recent college grad with a black hoodie pulled tightly against the world and a scowl that would freeze lesser men.
\nMe: Just wants some frames for my new art prints. I have a coupon.
\nBut I see you, friend, far more than you think I do. I smile brightly, purposefully widening my eyes like a puppy does when emphasizing play over battle. You deepen your frown, clearly interpreting my joy as ignorance. It’s fine. We begin an awkward dance of matte colors for my paintings.\nWhen you finally say something past “no” it’s that these paintings are awfully “whimsy.” You mean “whimsical” and you mean it as an insult. You are baiting me into playing the Karen for a scenario you have already picked out in your mind for this interaction.
\nBut like I said- I see you, friend, far more than you think I do.
\nHow do I tell you that I too was once a recent college grad, determined to fill the world with art? Sure that I was the savior of my medium, positive that the people around me were obstacles. I didn’t buy a black hoodie, as black washes me out a great bit, but I did get so angry at everyone and everything that I ended up on a therapist’s couch.
\nI can’t be your therapist in this small moment- there’s not enough pause between “what about the gold for this one-” and “well that one looks a bit bright-” for me to tell you all the answers to questions I know you have.
\nIf you could only see me for a moment.
\nI too had to build a non-art life. We unfortunately live in a world that no longer barters. I could not play Chaucer and pass off my rhymes for bread. No I had to bend my abilities to a paycheck, just as you do: me behind a desk and you behind this counter. But there is still rebellion to be had, my friend! Look before you at my fanciful pieces. We are color matching the crown on a watercolored otter’s head, the oiled water drips off a heron’s escape, the sketches of sun cresting over the very mountains that shadows us this moment! Is this not beautiful rebellion?\nI built my non-art life so large that I no longer simply shelter art, but celebrate it!
\nCan’t you see?\nI continued to build up my non-art life and my non-art paycheck and now I can do the very thing I first set out to: Art. I have space, I have coin. My walls are a celebration of divine inspiration. There is not a Fall Festival that cannot feel me coming for their pottery and their paints! And through my non-art sacrifice I have gifted myself time. Time to learn shading waters and sculpting on the wheel. Time to put those rhymes out into the world.
\nBut you cannot see. Not past your own pain, certainly not past that old hoodie covering even your eyebrows. Not yet.\nSo tonight I will pray for you and paint for you (though it’ll be a pink, drunk octopus of which you would not approve), that your non-art life brings you too, to this very artistic place.
\n", "date_published": "2025-10-19T10:14:25-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/10/19/professionally-artistically-disinterested.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/10/16/sometimes-i-still-feel-ish.html", "content_html": "Sometimes I still feel 27ish. I truly forget my age.\nBut then I pull my back doing something stupid and I feel all 86 of my 33 years.
\n", "date_published": "2025-10-16T07:34:18-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/10/16/sometimes-i-still-feel-ish.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/10/12/one-of-my-favorite-things.html", "content_html": "One of my favorite things to do after an art festival is follow all the artists I fell in love with there on instagram. Like yesssss fill my feed with color and inspiration!!\nabstract pottery to tiny metal mice sipping from acorns to iridescent herons soaring over water color moonlight. Good stuff.
\n", "date_published": "2025-10-12T11:42:49-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/10/12/one-of-my-favorite-things.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/09/30/there-is-a-cricket-outside.html", "content_html": "There is a cricket.
\nOutside my bedroom window
\nPerhaps a frog.
\nSolo in the night.
\nTiny singer in my head
\nChirp chirp chir- SHUT UP.
\n…a duel haiku for the enthusiastic performer keeping me awake.
\n", "date_published": "2025-09-30T21:35:16-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/09/30/there-is-a-cricket-outside.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/09/16/to-watch-you-go-on.html", "content_html": "To watch you go on
\nIs both my joy and burden
\nMay Spring come again
\n…an ode to the hummingbirds leaving my yard for their continued migration
\n", "date_published": "2025-09-16T14:22:58-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/09/16/to-watch-you-go-on.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/09/10/i-will-bedazzle-this-i.html", "content_html": "I will bedazzle this, I will bedazzle that.
\nI’ll bedazzle the house, the walls, the food stuffs, and yes even the cat.
\nI’ll make the whole land shimmer,
\nEverything I touch will shine.
\nand if the world grows dimmer,
\nI’ll bedazzle ‘til it’s fine.
\n…an ode to this week’s craft obsession.
\n", "date_published": "2025-09-10T17:39:29-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/09/10/i-will-bedazzle-this-i.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/09/06/im-watching-shangchi-and-youre.html", "content_html": "I’m watching Shang-Chi and you’re telling me ppl didn’t like this?\nSome of y’all’s parents didn’t have you watching Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon as kids and it shows. Tsk tsk.
\n", "date_published": "2025-09-06T17:58:03-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/09/06/im-watching-shangchi-and-youre.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/08/28/when-the-yard-bunny-is.html", "content_html": "When the yard bunny is not afraid of you, but is afraid of the hummingbird, it is both a compliment and insult.
\n", "date_published": "2025-08-28T11:36:04-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/08/28/when-the-yard-bunny-is.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/08/25/the-three-muskateers-ones-engaged.html", "content_html": "The Three Muskateers
\nOne’s engaged, one wrote a book.
\nThen there’s me, Porthos.
\nA haiku for being in one’s 30s. The selfish goblin in my brain, whispering grimy words of imposter syndrome, will not keep me from being joyful for my friends.
\n", "date_published": "2025-08-25T10:48:11-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/08/25/the-three-muskateers-ones-engaged.html" }, { "id": "http://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/08/17/for-such-a-small-thing.html", "content_html": "_For such a small thing
\nYour loud invasion angers
\nLiterally, stop._
\nA haiku for the mouse LOUDLY trying to scratch its way into my bedroom all night.
\n", "date_published": "2025-08-17T22:25:18-04:00", "url": "https://quilledsister.micro.blog/2025/08/17/for-such-a-small-thing.html" } ] }