Tag: Social media

Essays, Memes, Pets

Six comments you’ll get when you share a cat story online (every damned time)

Mandy Webster

Last year, my sons brought a kitten into my house. He’s about eight months old now, and let’s just say he is not a snuggle cat. Pick him up? He cries like you’re assaulting him. Attempt to pet his face? He’ll try to bite your nose. Classic kitten chaos.

This is Charles. AKA Homer. AKA Peter. AKA Poor Richard Pepper Puss n Boots. He’s filed himself under M for Menace.

But recently… something magical happened. I got out of bed to pee, and he followed me into the bathroom. I sat down, and he started rubbing against my legs. I thought, “Wow, he actually wants me to pet him.” So I did. Then, in a move that shocked my entire soul, he put his paws on my knee like he wanted to be picked up. Pants down, of course, because timing is everything. I picked him up anyway. And then—brace yourself—he curled up into my lap (well, the bottom of my pajama top, not my actual naked lap, thank goodness) and snuggled in. I thought, great, now I have to sleep on the toilet tonight, don’t I?

Continue reading “Six comments you’ll get when you share a cat story online (every damned time)” →
Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Made You Look by Tanya Grant turns influencer culture into a deadly game

Mandy Webster

A snowstorm, a retreat full of influencers, and a killer among them—Made You Look by Tanya Grant (on sale November 18, 2025) takes a sharp, unsettling look at what happens when image-driven lives collide with deadly reality.

Get your copy of Made You Look from my independent online bookstore today!

Sydney Kent is the star of the show—the influencer everyone wants to be or be with. But her friends and colleagues—Caitlyn, Lucy, Jeff, Nash, and Brent—aren’t just background players. They’re the professionals who make her shine, whether as photographers, stylists, or managers. When the group travels to a secluded Catskills retreat, it’s supposed to be an opportunity for fresh content and brand partnerships. Instead, a snowstorm traps them without Wi-Fi, cell service, or an escape route. That’s when the murders begin, and the real cracks in their “team” are forced into the open.

Continue reading “Made You Look by Tanya Grant turns influencer culture into a deadly game” →
Education

These kids ain’t stupid

Mandy Webster

TicTok. YouTube. Snapchat. Day in and day out, our children are rotting their brains staring at these stupid-making apps. What is the world coming to? Is it as bad as their grandparents might think? I would argue no.

The other day I was hanging out with my 16-year-old in his bedroom because – well, he’s 16: if I want to spend time with him, I go to him. I don’t wait for him to feel like coming to hang out with me. I would never see him. My son likes to play video games on his tv while simultaneously watching YouTube videos. On this day, I asked him what he was watching. He said, “Oh, it’s just some video about Satan.”

Wut?

Continue reading “These kids ain’t stupid” →
Biking, Illinois, Nature

Instagram stories: Life on the prairie

Mandy Webster

I like Instagram, but I’ve found that I don’t particularly enjoy following people I actually know. I’m friends with most of them on Facebook, and many of them automatically share their Instagram photos to Facebook (including myself). It gets old, after a while, seeing all the same photos twice. I have considered unfollowing all the people I know on Instagram and following only complete strangers.

Central Illinois prairie.
My latest Instagram posts are photos from a long bike ride out on the Central Illinois prairie. The corn is just now cropping up, but before I know it, I’ll be riding my bike through green canyons of corn.

Continue reading “Instagram stories: Life on the prairie” →

Memes

Human beings are weird

Mandy Webster

Human beings are weird meme
Human beings are weird. We spend our whole childhoods learning not to be our weird selves, and then we spend most of our adulthoods trying to find ourselves.

So why not cut out the middleman and just let our children be who they are? Go be your Weird Self. What if that’s the only thing standing between you and happiness?

#beyourweirdself Continue reading “Human beings are weird” →

Digital Marketing, Novel Writing, Publishing

Writing is your business: justify the investment

Mandy Webster

BLACK BALLOON SALESMAN ON SOUTH SIDE CHICAGO'S...
Zemanta offered this image up in response to my blog post. I love it! Could anything (even writing) be more fanciful than selling balloons on the street? How is that somehow more acceptable than investing in a writing business? | BALLOON SALESMAN ON SOUTH SIDE CHICAGO’S 47TH STREET MANY OF THE CITY’S BLACK BUSINESS OWNERS STARTED WITH… – NARA – 556217 (Photo and description credit: Wikipedia)

Did you know 50 to 70 percent of small businesses fail within the first 18 months? I am curious as to how that statistic stacks up in the entrepreneur–writer world. How many would-be writers give up within the first 18 months?

Have you ever considered taking time off work to write? Did you then decide not to because you couldn’t “afford it?” How do you justify the time spent on an activity that may or may not pay out in the long term? Well, let me ask you this: How do most small business owners justify the time and expense sunk into the more than half a million small businesses opened in the U.S. each year? When you consider the odds, how can anyone believe they can afford to open a small business? Continue reading “Writing is your business: justify the investment” →

Blogging

And here’s my boring blog post for the day

Mandy Webster

I’ve been busy with work lately and haven’t had much time for blogging. I’ll be back next week once I’ve settled into this new semester a bit. Until then, I am piggy-backing off The Bloggess today and showcasing pictures of my office, which is way more messy than hers is!

my office
Here’s where the magic happens. Yes, that is the obligatory cat sitting in my office chair. There’s another cat around here someplace, but who knows where. She’ll jump out and attack my feet after I sit down.

Continue reading “And here’s my boring blog post for the day” →

Blogging

I do my best blogging at the coffee house

Mandy Webster

The view from my comfy chair at Cafe de Arts in Waukesha, WI proved very inspiring last weekend.
The view from my comfy chair at Cafe de Arts in Waukesha, WI proved to be inspiring last weekend.

I love blogging while sitting in a coffee shop. Whenever I meet my writer friend for a day of coffee and writing, I always end up putting my intended work aside to write at least one blog post. At our last session, I ended up writing three different blog posts before the afternoon was done.

Maybe I should just plan on going out to a coffee house once a week to write all of my blog posts. When I blog at home, my blog posts often come out concise, professional, and utterly boring. At the coffee shop, I get creative ideas and write posts I think people might actually want to read (I hope.) Continue reading “I do my best blogging at the coffee house” →

Blogging

Do you wanna write a guest post for my blog?

Mandy Webster

Do you wanna write a guest blog post for my writing blog?
Do I look busy to you? Nah, it’s nothing. Really.

I’m teaching six courses this semester and writing a thesis. So yeah, I’m a little busy right now. I want to keep my blog going too, so I’m wondering: Would any of my writer friends and readers be interested in writing a guest blog post or two this semester?

I’m a starving artist (well, not literally, I just stuffed myself on Chinese food at dinner tonight,) so I can’t afford to pay you. But, if I publish your guest post on my blog, you’ll get a by-line and a link to your blog from mine. So, that’s something, right?

Anyway, if you’re interested, Continue reading “Do you wanna write a guest post for my blog?” →