iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I love Tiny Glade for "I am going to spend 5 minutes making a pretty thing." (I am slowly getting better at making specific pretty things in it, that's fine.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Having the energy today is excellent! (And also, you have cake!) But I'm also all too familiar with 'Good day? Going to regret it tomorrow? We'll find out!" science experiments.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

My evening is alternating between the following: "History, look, the number of secret marriages and deaths on specific dates are implausible, history. How am I supposed to sell this to readers?" and "Cat, that is also a place I do not need your claws."

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

... oh, and stumble on a magical problem that they can only solve together, using all their skills. This one's not a romance (they're all fourteen...) but it's got diverse characters (including a celebration of Holi), and at least one of them's neurodiverse. At cozyfantasysale.promisepress.org

cozyfantasysale.promisepress.org

Home - Cozy Fantasy Sale

This is the home page for the Cozy the Day Away Sale series, where the first-ever cozy fantasy group sale happens! Sales in 2026 will…

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Want some reading? I've put The Magic of Four in this sale. It's full of my love for British school stories, set at a magical school in 1946-1947 as they figure out what they want to do with their lives, which secret society they might join, and navigate all the challenges of the year.

The cover of The Magic of Four by Celia Lake on a tablet on a white background with glittering red and gold star confetti around it. The gold picks out the shade of the title block. The cover is a deep blue, with a map of the coast of Wales in the background and an astrology chart with Mercury visible in Cancer. In front of that, four students are gathered standing around a table, two boys in trousers, two girls in skirts. One of the girls is perched on the table, gesturing energetically.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

And HearthCon is free on YouTube. Find the schedule here: www.lazydragonbooks.com/hearthcon-2026 . Sign up for the newsletter if you want any updates. This is always a great time. (I'm on a panel about series fatigue on Sunday).

lazydragonbooks.com

LAZY DRAGON BOOKS Inc - HearthCon 2026

HearthCon 2026 Schedule Watch live on YOUTUBE OCT 3-4th For email updates on any changes, please subscribe to our newsletter.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Cozy The Day Away has more than 120 books on sale, with a wide range of diverse authors and books. cozyfantasysale.promisepress.org (More about my book in the sale later in the thread.)

Cozy The Day Away Sale : cozyfantasysale.promisepress.org : Text on the image around an adorable blue dragon snuggled up in a chair surrounded by piles of book, tea, and a cat includes "Join us October 3-4th for the 3rd annual cozy fantasy book sale." and then info about books in the sale - over 130 books, 100+ at $1 or free, 2 bundles, 124 ebooks, 60+ diverse authors, 65 diverse books, 11 audio, 10 paperbacks.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

It's a great weekend (October 3rd and 4th, 2026) It's time for Cozy the Day Away and HearthCon! Fantastic cozy fantasy books on sale! A free online convention full of conversations about cozy fantasy (come see me Sunday!) Here's the details...

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I use the dicing on mine a lot (different model) but also (with the holder + chain mail glove) the mandoline for slicing lots of onions. (For either quick pickling or caramelising in the slow cooker, depending on season and desires.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I'm looking forward to this so much - the first two are just delightful bits of magical lore, romance, people figuring out how to do things together.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

At Home to Company (FF->FFM romance, sequel to Claiming the Tower, but readable in any order) is coming out November 6th. Available wide, so also direct from me and many other places. www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/... Thanks, as always for the fantastic newsletter.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

It's my birthday today! I took the day off and went apple picking. (Also getting a long-awaited extra out to my readers, and now I get to enjoy people reading and commenting, which is honestly the best.) www.patreon.com/celialake/po... Now eating roast chicken, my traditional birthday meal.

patreon.com

Lightning and Silence | Celia Lake

A series of extras for the Mysteries Fields trilogy (released on September 22nd, 2026) You can get it (free, of course!) from BookFunnel, or

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I start a new file and get them out of my brain and into something more useful. And then I can decide what I do with them later. (Which for me is maybe Patreon serial, maybe magnet, maybe 'well, okay, book, I guess?) (and then sometimes it unlocks the words that were the planned ones.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Personal house rule: we do not turn down words in this house. We just don't. (She says, staring at a chapter that needs progress.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I mean, to be fair, we have had the same conversation in reverse about my characters.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I love watching characters being competent at specific skills. Writing, I'm also always at 'how does this inform how you think about the world and talk about it?' Their go-to metaphors or descriptions or the stuff they do (and especially don't) notice.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I always talk about the drinking chocolate in Claiming the Tower, but the tea's important too! In 1854 in the UK, a lot of the tea blends were a mix of green and black (in various combinations and origins), and it's a delightful and tasty rabbit hole!

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Oh, I love that the book got you into the blends! (Doing research for 'what are these people drinking for tea anyway' was fascinating - a friend dug up a pamphlet that talked about the specific different imports, too.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Happy Queer Your eReader Day! Check out lots of free queer reads in all sorts of genres! divinationhollow.com/queer-your-e... This includes my Claiming the Tower, set in 1854 and full of magic, insistently improving the world, drinking chocolate, and falling in love.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I'm so glad I finally nudged it to the top of the TBR (should have done so well before: @kiyanicoll.bsky.social has been telling me to since it came out, and Kiya is Right About These Things.) (Yep, still thinking about it, both on a craft 'how did you make that work' level, and a story level.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

It's been on my TBR list since it came out (it is a very long TBR list). I finally managed to shove it higher because it's relevant background reading for the book I'm drafting starting in November.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Just finished reading @finnlongman.com 's The Wolf and His King, which is absolutely stunning - I'm going to be thinking about it for a long time. (Bisclavret, identity, relationships with power and disability, fascinating use of POV, evocative setting, and a fascinating sense of minor chars.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

But so much satisfying labelling! (I have two sets of craft bins labelled. Besides the tea and all.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

My favourite editing comment thing from @kiyanicoll.bsky.social on the thing in editing: "Boy does that have resonance in middle Egyptian." (This is for the treat coming out for my birthday later in the month. Look, I share a birthday with Bilbo and Frodo, I like giving a gift on it.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I got this label printer 6 months ago because of your rec, and I love mine! (Also, my teas, miscellaneous herbs, and other small containers of things are now beautifully labelled and I can find things.) Very easy to use, the free options have actual options, and just labels stuff well.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

It is the time of year of the email hydra. Every time I answer one thing, another three emails appear in my inbox.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I have a scene in the book coming out in November where (in 1863, England) a woman goes out to the garden without her hat and gloves. She's at home, but the man she's walking with is deeply confused for a moment. (She has a reason, he figures it out, it has to do with domestic spaces magic.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Yeah, this involved two different people. (As a librarian who unjams printers on a regular basis, I did appreciate the skills involved.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I hope it went well! My voting excitement was getting to see them unjam the ballot counter for my precinct. (For everyone else, it's like unjamming a printer, but with more detailed logging of events.) The person who did it got up & said "This is why I don't wear skirts on election day."

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I am however blessing my authorial wiki for having the key info that I'd mentioned the ghost was two centuries old, and not just dating from after a point related to the plot of the book it has already appeared in. (It's a very benign ghost who leaves pretty-coloured silk flowers when happy.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Word problems for authors, tonight's edition: If it is currently 1878, and a ghost was mentioned as being two centuries old (non-specifically) in 1920, how long has this particular ghost been known to be around. (And is there a particularly good reason for a theatre ghost around 1720?)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I really love the range you share (both in terms of time period and in terms of style and focus and everything else). And of course the details! Thanks so much, I'm just over here being super appreciative.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I have been avidly following Kate's historical dress posts for a while now (and snagging info for references for writing...) But this one is particularly stunning, both in the design work and the colour. So springtime! The jewelled trim!

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

So many great books on sale (I'm not in here, but friends are, and their books are fantastic!)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I miss the Minnesota State Fair so much. (This is a great tour of the fun, including the butter sculpture to be!)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Me, clicking the link, immediately seeing the set of fidget toys with the orca and hitting 'buy it now'. (I've had an orca thing for a while.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

The hair is absolutely fantastic (and I adore the glasses with the hair!)

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Reposted by Celia Lake

☠️ Skulls and Sheets 👻 @skullsandsheets.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Had an urge to do an Edward Gorey style mari (I did one years ago) so did a doodle.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

For personal projects, I use Obsidian - not great if you have multiple people needing to collaborate, but there are publishing to a website options in various forms if what you want is a public viewable catalog/etc. Also very flexible once you figure out what you want it to do.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

The research library uses Lucidea's Presto : we don't do anything image-based in it, but I've been very happy with the flexibility and support when we've needed it. Omeka is one that comes up in discussions with other similar institutions a lot.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Research Librarian in a small field here: our archivists use ArchivesSpace for internal inventory/permissions/etc. tracking, and Quartex for public facing. (The Quartex folks have been great to work with and they're committed to accessibility - on-page transcription options, description.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I get asked for directions all the time. Also "Are you a librarian" (this kept happening when I was living in Minneapolis and would go into East Lake to pick up my holds wearing, y'know, Minnesota winter gear.) Me: "Yes, but not at this library. The folks at that desk can help!"

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Reposted by Celia Lake

Richard III Society @richardiiisociety.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

25 August 1485 – probable date of Richard III’s burial in the church of the Greyfriars 25 August 2012 exactly 537 years later, on the very first day of the Greyfriars dig initiated by Philippa Langley, a leg bone was uncovered in what proved to be Richard's III's grave.

A photograph showing the start of the digging of the first trench.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

The specific one that's a murder mystery is In The Cards (locked room style, they're on a small island), if that's the thing you're particularly looking for. (Most of the 1920s-set books are "Let's solve a puzzle/problem/mystery together" in general, but relatively few murders.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

My one living grandparent when I was growing up lived in Westcliff-on-Sea. I have a deep and abiding fondness for seaside funfairs. Margate's Dreamland opened in 1920, so it's right there when I'm writing in 1950.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Today in authorial amusement: "Okay, if I set this thing partly in Margate, I can get X and Y on a date that involves a seaside funfair roller coaster?" (This is for the solstice extra that I'm outlining.)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

These are all gorgeous stones that Elise and I picked out together. The current ones are amethyst for Fox House, two different sizes, and moonstone for Owl House. (We do have some future plans, but current goodness is also excellent, right?)

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

It is @lionesselise.bsky.social 's birthday sale! You know how she gets. Of particular note: all the "Inspired by Celia Lake" pendants just got marked down 50%. www.etsy.com/shop/Lioness...

etsy.com

View inspired by Celia Lake by LionessElise on Etsy

Shop Elise Matthesen by LionessElise located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Today in my ridiculous devotion to historical detail, peering closely at the 1878 guide to the British Museum so I can figure out exactly what these five people are looking at, what they're actually ending up interested by, and where they are in the building when they're doing it.

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Celia Lake @celialake.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Thank you for including Mysterious Fields! What a great lineup and for more additions to my own TBR lists.

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