iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 3h

Susu supervises everything I make. Her feedback is mostly slow blinks and strategic positioning on top of whatever I'm working on.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 4h

Tomorrow morning! Spark to Story, 10am to noon at the Rantoul Public Library. Free, hands-on, and you'll walk out with real words on the page and a plan for what comes next. Come as you are, notebook optional. Pass this along to anyone who needs a nudge.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 14h

My cat Susu has never once supported my career but shows up in everything I make anyway. Judgmental little supervisor.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 16/10/2026

No paid tier, no membership fee, no gatekeeping. Scribes Guild is just a free Discord for writers who want company on the messy parts. Invite link is on my website.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Saturday at the Rantoul library I'll have prompts printed, pens on the table, and a seat saved for you. You bring the idea, even if it's just a scrap. Spark to Story is free, 10am to noon, and nobody has to be good at this yet. Share this with the friend who's been circling a story.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

My brand is books and handmade things and an actual chaos garden - roses, too many birds, a cat named Susu, and a family of neighborhood cats who've adopted the whole thing. It all makes sense if you squint.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

I started Calmillusion Press because I needed a publishing imprint and also because my middle name means calm and my first name means illusion and that felt like a sign.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Becky's Enchanted Emporium is heading to Etsy in January 2027. The shop name might be B.E.E. 🐝 Full conversation on The Makings of an Artist. #etsyshop #handmadejewelry

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Becky Wanzek's market tip: watch what's popular and make for it. New movie out? Make the themed piece. Full conversation on The Makings of an Artist. #craftmarket #smallbusiness

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Every month I pick one book and get genuinely excited about it like it's the first time I've ever read a fantasy novel. This is not a performance. I just really love books.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Not everything makes it to social media. Most nights it's just me, the cats in the yard, a cup of tea, and whatever the roses are doing that week.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Four hours after work, and one of them is dinner. Becky Wanzek spends the rest in her art room. "This is my unwinding." Full conversation on The Makings of an Artist. #sidehustle #creativelife

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

I am a certified Pokemon Professor. This has nothing to do with anything else in my life and I refuse to explain further.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

"What do you want to do for the rest of your life?" Becky Wanzek still doesn't know. But she always knew it would involve art. Full conversation on The Makings of an Artist. #artist #creativelife

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

GenX women were raised to be capable and then largely ignored for twenty years and now we are writing fantasy novels and running book clubs and making things and we are fine. We are more than fine. Honestly, I think we prefer to be ignored. Lol

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Jon is steady and present and loves our cats and neighborhood birds with a devotion I find both baffling and deeply endearing. Twenty-nine years in and he still surprises me.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Midlife is not the beginning of the end. It is the end of the beginning. There is a difference and it matters.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Champaign-Urbana writers, Rantoul is a short drive north and worth it for this one. Free Spark to Story writing workshop at the Rantoul Public Library, Saturday Oct 17, 10am to noon. Bring a friend who keeps saying they'll write a book someday.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

My chaos garden has opinions about what grows where and I have learned to respect them.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Lara goes on a quest not because she was chosen but because someone had to and nobody else was going to. I wrote that at 50. Draw your own conclusions.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

The neighborhood kittens found my garden before I found them. Watching them stalk beetles through the roses is basically my favorite unpaid entertainment.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I write in the mornings before anything else happens. Coffee first. Then Lara. Then the rest of the day can do what it wants.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Started making zipper pouches because I needed something I could finish in an afternoon. Now I have eighteen lined ones and a problem.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

The market table is my favorite place to be. Something about handing someone a book you wrote with your own hands. Nothing else feels quite like it.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Some of us waited a long time to finally have room to ask what we want to make. If that's you and the answer is a story, come write with me. Spark to Story, free, Rantoul Public Library, Sat Oct 17, 10am to noon. It's not too late to start.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Fleck showed up in chapter two, adopted Lara completely, and has not been sensible about it since. Some characters just know what they are.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I published Waterweaver by sitting on my couch one night and just doing it. No agent. No plan. No idea what I was doing. The bar for starting is lower than you think.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Her mom was terrified of spiders. Now she feeds one that lives in her bathroom. Jumping spider whisperer @authornikki.bsky.social on how that happened. Full conversation on The Makings of an Artist. #jumpingspider #fantasyauthor

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Every morning I write before I do anything else. Some mornings it's five hundred words. Some mornings it's fifty. Both count.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

What does a fantasy author with twenty books write in? @authornikki.bsky.social on Papyrus Author and its character database (it even catches misspelled names). Full conversation on The Makings of an Artist. #writingtools #amwriting

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I sold my first book at a market table to a stranger and she came back the next week to tell me she'd finished it in one sitting. I love hearing from my readers!

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

At eleven, @authornikki.bsky.social wrote a book about talking unicorns in space and told her teacher she'd be an author. Twenty books later, she's still at it. Full conversation on The Makings of an Artist. #amwriting #fantasyauthor

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Her publisher wanted a romance. Her book didn't have one. Fantasy author @authornikki.bsky.social on the edit she wishes she'd pushed back on. Full conversation on The Makings of an Artist. #writingcommunity #fantasyauthor

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Scrivener is the best writing software and I will not be taking questions. Just kidding, I am always happy to answer questions.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I have one black cat, a yard full of neighborhood cats who've unofficially adopted me, a chaos garden, a fantasy series, and a handmade goods brand. In a different century I would have been considered either a wise woman or a problem. Possibly both. (I am pretty sure the same is true now too.)

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The antagonists in Waterweaver are bureaucrats with smiles who weaponize rules against people they've decided don't belong. Very fantasy. Very not.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The book club Discord has sections for the book, for writers, for art and crafts, and for general chaos. The chaos section is the most active. This tracks.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Book two has a drum circle, a confidence canyon, an ancient dragon, and Lara falling off things repeatedly. She laughs every time. So do I.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The empty nest is a strange grief because everything you made is still there and thriving. You just aren't the center of it anymore. That takes some getting used to.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Seven color realms. Seven kinds of magic. One very tired midlife woman traveling through all of them. This is the Chroma series.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I set up a market table with books on one side and handmade goods on the other and somehow it all makes sense together. Author and artist. Same person. Same table.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Rantoul friends, Spark to Story is back at the Rantoul Public Library, Saturday Oct 17, 10am to noon. Free writing workshop, no experience needed. Bring the story you've been carrying for years. Know someone who wants to write? Send this their way.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I published the second edition of Waterweaver after readers gave me feedback on the first. Listened to them, did the copy edit work, republished. That's the kind of author I want to be.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Somewhere between homeschooling four kids and writing a fantasy series I apparently became a person who makes things. All the things. Constantly. Send help or fabric.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Susu keeps a close eye on the neighborhood cats through the window. Territorial supervisor. Does not get involved. Judges everyone.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I started Scribes Guild because I wanted writer friends who got it, not a class to teach. Inside, I'm just another author talking shop. Come be a peer, not a student.

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

There's a button in my recording app that fakes eye contact. That's creepy. So here's the real me instead. Hoodie, ponytail, no makeup (and looking down half the time). Show up real. Show up messy. Full vlog on YouTube: @mayagouliard #CreativeLife #ShowUpMessy

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

"It's better to practice fifteen minutes every day than eight hours on a weekend." Shoshie Bauer on creative muscle memory and just showing up. Full conversation on The Makings of an Artist. #creativehabits #artistlife

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

"All art will make you better at your art." If you have ADHD and keep setting creative things down: you come back to the things you really care about. Shoshie Bauer and me on The Makings of an Artist. #adhdcreative #artistlife

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Maya Gouliard | Fantasy Author @mayagouliard.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Waterweaver exists because I sat with a grief I didn't know how to hold and turned it into a world. That's what creativity is for, I think. Among other things.

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