A letter written for my not-gonna-get-boosted-parents, that I'm not sure I'm going to send, a thread: Hey Mom and Dad --

So, first off, I'm not super proud of the fact that my first response to finding out y'all aren't going to get boosters was cussing and hanging up on you, Mom.

1x

okay, after my tweet last night, turns out y'all are into the gross stuff, apparently especially scrotal related gross stuff, so here goes -- I won't post any pictures, what y'all google is on y'alls souls.

Fournier's gangrene is a nec fasc that effects genitalia...

1x Nec fasc = necrotizing fasciitis = flesh eating bacteria.

Like those things you read sometimes -- "she jumped in the lake, and went to sleep, and when she woke up we'd had to amuputate three limbs"

only this time on men's junk.

2x

A really random thread (because I haven't written enough fiction today and still have words in me) about why working on a burn unit rocks and it's the best place in the hospital. Follow if interested.

1x First off, everyone thinks it's gory and horrible and you can do it and shit smells but fuck all that.

The true magic of the burn unit is this -- demographically, the ppl who get burned are most likely to survive.

2x

A meta-thing in this week's What we Do in the Shadows, is them playing MUSE during the 'Twilight' kickball part, bc Stephanie Meyer is a huge MUSE fan and each of her movies got their own brand new MUSE song.

Also, that show continues to be the only good thing in this timeline. This is the only level of fame that I aspire to, really.

Pay off my house, not have to work again, fine, but to be in a sitch where someone is, "Oh yes, to accommodate you, we'll pay Matt Goddamned Bellamy to write a song specifically for your proj."

I'd die and go to heaven.

This is the most followers I've ever gotten in a day.

I'm getting the irrational urge to say something stupid or do something dorky to scare you new people off. I think the thing that I'm feeling here now is the awkwardness of this being a semi-professional and branded/ing 'author' space for me...but also where I whine about why the fuck hasn't Neelix died yet, I've been watching Voyager for 7 effing seasons, WHY.

Zomg, y'all are really getting the word out! Year of the Nurse is down to #108 on Amazon's free list & I've done 0 promo other than mention it here. I'mma do a Freeboosky on Tues, and my mailing list on Weds, but this is already super amazing!❤️❤️❤️

amazon.com/Year-Nurse-Cov… I've also gotten my first 'well at least it was free' one star spite review, lol.

One of the reasons I didn't go free sooner was because by casting a wider net, you get readers who don't like your stuff and your rating # goes down.

Saw someone w/a fiction revising Q elsewhere and thought I'd answer it here bc I'm clearly not going to get any 'real' work done on a release day, lolsob ;)

So -- How Cassie Edited 400k of Fiction Last Year, here we go!

1x First off, I'm not going to lie, it helps if you've been doing this forever (I'm like 23 years in) so yeah, experience is a magic of it's own.

But if my experience can help you, all the better, the world needs more great books!

2x

If you ever what fiction I wrote last year to stay sane(ish?) and happy(some!) and alive(woohoo!) it was writing this book here: an opposites attract sexy paranormal romance and charming as hellllllll. :D

amazon.com/Wolfs-Princess… Today is Wolf's Princess's release day! :D

And one of the things I'm most proud of in it is that it's alllllll about consent. (All of my stuff usually is, except for the things that are explicitly labeled not!)

But in this book I had the characters make a game of it...

2x

Someone asked me earlier today what would happen if hospitals actually did start refusing anti-vaxers care for covid, and while that idea sounds great right now when we're angry (and may indeed kinda-sorta wind up happening via the 'magic' of private health insurance...)

1x we can't actually go down that slope, because that's partially what got us here -- those people, already not trusting the health care system.

If we start refusing them care directly, other than the burden they're already putting on themselves and their local EDs...

2x

Hey all! I made this video for tiktok but it hates me, so I'm reposting here.

I'm getting anxious about not reaching enough nurses as things get worse so if you're a nurse or a HCW, respond w/your email and I'll send you a copy of Year of the Nurse.

vm.tiktok.com/ZMRJj4mmf/ Book contains: cussing. Political commentary. Profound disappointment in governmental oversight. Suicide warnings.

It's a heavy book, but it's good, and if you're a HCW with MH issues right now, you are not alone.

sitting here on the couch trying to figure out what this unwarranted panic attack is all about and there are too many options, lolsob. It started after sidechannel work gossip revealed some of my favorite and strongest coworkers have left/are leaving my hospital, and segued into generalized publishing malaise because I am tired of pushing Year of the Nurse, and oh, then, *points at covid map of US*

*kaboom*

While the venn diagram between hospital work & police work aren't 100%, they do share many similarities -- we're both forward facing to the public, we work with people from all walks of life, and we're both threatened with personal violence.

1x And, sometimes, sadly, people do lose their lives.

When you accidentally harm someone at the hospital, it's called an sentinel event.

Immediately afterwards a fleet of people step in and consider what happened, how to fix it, and how to stop it from ever happening again.

2x

Trying to stay vigilant about recognizing my PTSD-hypervigilance is going swimmingly, lolsob. Anyways, here are some plants from today:

After having worked in an ICU this past year, I would literally get any vaccine on the market shoved into my arm, while I (& possibly the person providing it) were blindfolded, even if I knew it was mixed with lead & arsenic (which I know they aren't.)

1x Like they could spin the wheel of goddamned theoretical contaminants, and I'd be all, 'You know, guinea worms don't sound so bad, by comparison, shoot one of those fuckers in there too.'

2x

My mom does have covid.

Explaining to her how to prone herself.

Texting my dad with quarantine instructions for himself and everyone in my brother's household and everyone they saw over Xmas.

While at work.

Taking care of covid patients. My current pt, I asked our MD what the plan is, and he was all, "find more people to carry the coffin" -- by which he means involve a few more services, so we can get this family to understand that the patient won't make it.

My elderly parents, who I, even as an ICU RN, could not talk out of making a cross country move and visiting all of their relatives along the way, are in Texas now.

My aunt and uncle who they saw in AZ are now covid positive and my mom is sick.

I just want to throw up and cry. If my mom does have covid, which seems likely, seeing as they visited my aunt/uncle 2 days prior to their positive diagnosis -- they hung out with my brother's wife's whole family on Christmas, including her elderly parents as well.

I'm seeing a lot of trash takes on ICU capacity today, so here goes me explaining things (before I very much log off to write):

Yes! We have flu seasons here! And yes, our hospitals can get full during those flu seasons!

But what armchair ICU managers aren't realizing is

1/ that it is unheard of for ALL ICUS EVERYWHERE IN THE STATE to be under thread of running out of beds (or currently out of them!)

Usually regions of the state can help one another. There's a fire, a disaster, the ambulances run, everyone pitches in.

I used to be a burn RN

2/

It's really frustrating to not have the right words to explain all this covid/nursing as someone who writes professionally. When you're a writer you're used to thinking, 'There's some perfect way to explain this experience. If I keep trying, I'll get it right, and people will understand me. I can make this experience universal. I can change lives.'