Miscellany and Musings

So I did try to get out of here. My hill is an ice floe but I got up there and the main highway is fine. BUT both counties are still on level 2 snow emergencies. Students are whining about it. I point to Canvas where I left them a message saying if you don't feel safe don't come. I'll put up a recording and you go suffer through that.

Rocket is being the best boy, finally using the damn litter box. Guess it got too cold to go pee outside. (He has only used that box a handful of times in 4 years. Today he walked in and did his business while I'm there like a good boy. He still wants out mind you but then he gets over it.

Another day of failing to clean (I have no energy today) but I made an eye appt, paid my membership dues for my pro organization, bought the work con and the hotel, contacted the steampunk con about their teacher discount, got the hotel for the loveland frogman festival in march (watch me get snowed into Loveland)

I did a bad thing. I took an Amazon prime trial membership because I HAD to spend the gift cards I got last work con and the items I wanted were over 50$ cheaper when I did that. Now to remember to cancel it in march.


What I Just Finished Reading:

A Curious Kind of Magic - I enjoyed this cozy mystery/fantasy thought the flawed main character did get on my nerves some times

Sugar and Vice - it was fairly fun

Sally Ride - I thought this was a YA book it was barely middle grade, more like 5-6th grade (I hate that my library system uses some reading level thing that means nothing to people who aren't parents. It's from the line that Chelsea Clinton started after the whole and yet she persisted dust up and it was nice for what it was.


What I am Currently Reading:

Zombie Day Care and something by Alison Bechdel about being superhuman. Oh joy an exercise memoir. Nearly done.

Luna Park history - it was an amusement park in Pittsburgh around 1910. Mostly interested because it feels like a place to set a story. I mean a lion escaped from it and ate a woman.

What I Plan to Read Next: La Grand Familia and some fantasy sapphic comic where chefs fight monsters...with giant forks. I know I know, the prompt is sapphic comic and this is the only one I haven't read yet at my library (I didn't like their other offerings enough to reread)

And I feel safe in saying I got off light in comparison. I mean an inch of ice in Texas? That is about twice as heavy as power lines are rated at. TN is an ice over nightmare. MA is still getting snow, NY too. I kept my power and for me that's all that mattered. I have off today AND tomorrow.

Mom's long distance driving me nuts 'well you can clean now, should be spotless.' I try to explain that's not how it works. I mostly still did grading and getting another chapter ready for the nursing AP. This takes time. Tomorrow I think I should be able to clean.

Okay my reading buddies, help me out. I was going to read Check, Please Sticks and Scones for the Popsugar challenge prompt of favorite winter olympic event. Yeah I honestly have none and now the library can no longer get that one. Ugh. So rec your favorite winter sport LGBT book. Doesn't have to be hockey. Figure skating is fine, hell if you have a biatholon fave hit me with it. got a snowboarder couple? Cross country skier who meet bigfoot?

You know that flipping fish? So I'm in the kitchen cooking dinner and I hear it flopping. Rocket is playing with it. I am happy. He sees me watching him and no lie throws that fish away from him like it was fire and stalks off embarrassed to get caught. frakking cats

it's music monday 30 weeks of music. This week's prompt is #11 a song with a long title. Share your faves too.

( here are a few )





here's the whole prompt list

( it's under here )

Out of fear of jinxing anything I shall say nothing until I know this storm is fully over. But one of the things I did today was to try and entertain a bored feline. I turned on my tesla coil...only to remember this wasn't the tesla coil Halloween decoration but it does have swirling mist. Rocket could care less. And I had a flipping fish toy that you have to plug in to charge.

I was standing in TJ Maxx excited to find this. the lady next to me was too. We both scampered off, happy dreams of excited kitties dancing in our heads. I charged it today. I got my video recorder ready. I even swept the carpet so it'll look better. I pour out a line of catnip on the fish and get it to flipping. Rocket stares up at me, wtf food dispenser? why did you give me this? But...it's cute. Play with it! He side eyed me into non existence. I even say on the recording, I'm having more fun with this than you. He does the line of nip off the fish's flank and leaves me there with my stuffed fish.

What does this have to do with writing? I've been thinking about pets in literature. I'm reading one right now Sugar and Vice with a dog (that maybe too many chapters are about). I'll be honest I don't usually give my characters pets. I tend to forget about them. In fact, I think Angel Dust and Fat Nuggets (his pet hell pig) is the most I've ever written a character with a pet and half the time I still forget about Nuggsy.

How do you feel about pets in literature? Of course it's popular. But how do you handle the pet in question in a way that whatever it is compliments the story instead of distracting from it or leave us wondering where it went? I'm not including police dogs/search and rescue in this because they are easy to make integral to the story. Ditto stories where the animals are telling it? Do you write them? Are you like me and sort of dodging it? Curious minds want to know.

Open Calls

Pathways to Imagination: Whispers Made Flesh Stories where the unseen insists on becoming known

Sley House Press February 2026 Window Romance/Genre Blend. Send us your horror, sci-fi, or fantasy with strong romance elements.


Book of Madness Cosmic Horror based upon the cthulhu mythos (though doesn’t need to include characters or deities from the mythos)

Shared World A fantasy-horror, sword-and-sorcery world called Shared World. Think Conan meets Cthulhu! It can use their pre-existing ideas, or new ones

Agita Magazine

Root Smoke: Now Seeking Submissions


From Around the Web

How to Find the Right Literary Agent for Your Book

Making Quiet but Effective Moves: An Introverted Author’s Guide to Successful Marketing

Book Marketing on Amazon: How to Get Your Book Seen, Clicked, and Bought

The Pros and Cons of Launching a Book Without a Publicist

The Hidden Constraints in Your Writing

Harlequin France ‘trials AI translation’ and they fired their human translators

Notes from the Editor’s Desk: January 2026
From Betty

Want to Write Throuple Romance? Warrior Princess Assassin Shows How It’s Done ooo i need time to digest this one

How to Improve Your Attempts to Write Fiction for Change.

Writing Goals: Going from "Aaagh!" to "A-ha!"

The Hidden Constraints in Your Writing

How to Use Character Tropes Without Writing Cliches

Tagline, You’re It! Summing Up Your Story In Two Sentences.

Betrayal And Plot Twist: 5 Ways to Hide Your Villain

The Real Story: Character Journey as Structure

Coping Mechanism Thesaurus Entry: Managing Time

Alia Hanna Habib Offers a Guide to Finding an Agent

How to Write Righteous Anger in Fiction (Without Turning Your Hero Into a Villain)

The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Writers, Part 3: Using Beta Readers in the Self-Editing Process

The Timing of Your Publishing Dream: How to Keep Writing Through Setbacks and Detours

Be Wanted in the Inbox: What Outlaws Can Teach Authors About Email List Health


Who Are You? A Writer’s Take

Listen Like a Writer: What Taylor Swift Can Teach Us About Story

The Sum of Our Longings

so my brain doesn't spiral out thinking about yet another ICE murder which is bad enough but it's the entire Trump admin (him included) trying to paint the victims as the violent aggressors. He had a legal carrier permit (which is something the right loves until they don't apparently) And what good does FBI resignations do when all that leaves is Trump's minions?

Or the fact that my student loans want me to slam my head into a wall. I tried to pay them last night and I had to update my account. I didn't want the multfactorial verification be a text because I often can't get texts here. I selected Email but it doesn't work. And doesn't work. And doesn't work. Okay fine I'll do text. I can't change it without calling them. I call today only to find out they don't work weekends. HOW are people who work all day expected to call you? Fine, I'll call next week but I gotta pay now. Phone option it is. I try that. and it keeps trying to delete my bank account. It takes me calling back and going thru it all four times before it works.

So what IS positive?

Well it's going on midnight but it's not snowing yet. (with my luck it means the power will go out over night. I can not leave it this hot in here and sleep. Ugh. I have it hot so it'll take longer to cool if I DO lose power)

Since it wasn't snowing I pay for the online Abney Park Dark Academia concert with like 20 minutes before it airs. It was actually really good. He's getting good at creating storylines for his concerts.

I had orange/peach ketel one vodka/St Germaine elderflower martinis with a twist of orange not lemon because of the infused vodka. Yum. I put all my liquor on the porch so it was icy. that was nice.

I made a call to my college friend who lost her dad about two weeks ago. I think I need to call more often. As with ELD who I talk to often, there is just something nice about actually talking to people.

I was able to cook off all the things I wanted to. The one mistake was the Aldi's struesel which I cooked to the package instructions to the least time suggested. Mom was right. I should have done less heat, longer cook. The outside had begun to burn, the goo came out but the inside puff pastry is near to raw. On the other hand it IS tasty and I would get this for company (and cook it lower and slower)

I finished the class work. I need to clean tomorrow if I have power. Here's hoping. (I suspect no one is going to work on Monday anywhere east of Kansad)

I forgot to share my story yesterday so have it now.

Title: Wake Up Your Dream

Summary: Emotional hurt and drained, Angel escapes to the carousel outside the hotel. Heaven is going to be barred to him, he just knows it. He’ll never see Molly again. What is even the point? He’s ready to give up but his friends have a different idea.

Rating: teen

Notes:Written for the allbingo prompt of Sing You Sinners and the lyrical titles bingo prompt of Lyric with "sleep" or "wake". I chose Wake Up by Julie and the Phantoms
Also written for spikesgirl58’s 6 word challenge. The 6 words were Subway, Proposal, Carpet, Priority, Nap, & Spend

( story )


And it's Science Saturday


Arctic blast probably won't cause trees to explode in the cold — but here's what happens if and when they do go boom since this was clickbait all over the place this week, here is what it is.

Scientists may be approaching a 'fundamental breakthrough in cosmology and particle physics' — if dark matter and 'ghost particles' can interact

'Pain sponge' derived from stem cells could soak up pain signals before they reach the brain this would be game changing

2,400-year-old Hercules shrine and elite tombs discovered outside ancient Rome's walls

Medieval 'super ship' found wrecked off Denmark is largest vessel of its kind

'Goddess of dawn': James Webb telescope spies one of the oldest supernovas in the early universe
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cosmic-ring-cosmology-principle?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-ushttps://cornerofmadness.dreamwidth.org/2190354.html"> A massive cosmic ring may challenge a key assumption about the universe

It was a good day. I actually slept 6 straight hours without waking up. People were in lab and engaged. I bounced early and thought well it's still sunny, let me do the laundry today (I do it on the weekend) and then go to Jackson for gas/food things I don't have, don't need, but want.

I have big heavy clothes so I need all three washers including the hated front loader. I plug in my quarters and go to turn it on cool water instead of blazing hot and...someone has broken off the temperature control knob. Well that's fun.

Put quarters in the big heavy sheets one and realize...it says out of order in small letters on the screen. Won't give me back my quarters and I REALLY want the sheets clean if the power goes out this weekend. Now I'm yanking stuff from the middle washer before it gets wet and shove the sheets in.

Go to the car to run to Jackson while this washes. My battery dies. I'm praying it's the battery (AGAIN) and not my alternator. Call AAA. It'll be at least an hour (well at least now I can finish laundry before leaving. Call Dad to wish him a happy birthday and tell him I'm stranded in the RV park's back alley (AGAIN. My battery has died back here before). He arrives an hour later and he has the big wrecker that could haul three cars. I feel bad as he has to back it out.

I race my dead-battery to Auto Zone and the guy looks at me we can't replace them in a honda CR-V. What? You have before. What year is it 2015. Oh, yeah we CAN do that. Over 2018 we can't because if you make one mistake which is too easy to do and the computer dies. I have never heard of this and resolve to ask Dad who obsesses over cars and he has a CR-V too (he had never heard of it and is now on a mission to find out) Frick and Frack might just be incompetent because he couldn't even get the housing off my battery and needs to get his coworker. He manages it. The terminal cover snaps off. he drops the battery in sideways, barely gets it back out. I drive off 230$ poorer just happy they didn't destroy my car (try Advanced Auto next time. Also they couldn't find me in the system. I've been there so many times....)

Kroger's of course is a nightmare. And the assholes in Jackson jumped the gas price over 30 cents since the day before (should have got that at work where they haven't) I get all kinds of things I can eat cold if the power goes out. That'll be tomorrow morning's excitement. I go to the library to get the book that was on hold.

I get home and my computer is off. Did I already once?!? Nothing else is blinking but firefox and edge both say thanks for updating so I think an update was forced.

I bought myself Archway Ginger snaps as a treat. They one of the few processed cookies I actually like. I now have a tons of salami, PB&J, and hard boiled eggs plus apples. I will have food.

Saying a little prayer for everyone's power.

But there was one good thing today beside Dad liking the gift I gave him. It's also my book birthday. Check it o ut!!




here on Amazon Paper back, hard back and ebook


Fannish 50 recs. Plenty of them. You can read if you're snowed in.

A Reason For Living Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem

How to Train Your Alpha Teen Wolf


An Unacceptable Loss Stargate Atlantis


Defining Love Torchwood


Workaholic FAKE


Honoring Satedan CelebrationsStargate Atlantis


Adaptability Torchwood


Not Restful The Fantastic Journey

JACKASS.OCT.11.19XX87_1.TRANSCRIPT The Murderbot Diaries

Adjacent


An Unexpected Discovery Stargate Atlantis


Awkward Conversations Chainsaw Man


listen carefully to the sound of your loneliness Helluva Boss


Alive Again Torchwood


What Cowley Knows. The Professionals


Too Hot for Comfort Stargate Atlantis


I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me). The Professionals


Pillow Talk 9-1-1


Reflection At Bedside A Study in Emerald


Winter Wonderland The Sentinel


But What If There Was a Demon vs Dinosaur Cage Match? Buffy the Vampire Slayer


Being Prepared Due South


The Fear of Not Knowing Due South


Premonition Doctor Who


One More Tattoo Teen Wolf

damn near had to zip my jacket this morning (it was 14 F) Less said about work the better (still dealing with the issues of that mix up) but the funny thing is we were loaned (from another failing program) the autoclave and incubators. So I went in to see how they were going as my researchers are ramping up. The autoclave isn't put together (and the fuse box is MIA) and NONE of the incubators are done. Me and DM were working on them. It's like incubators by IKEA and it's ALL in German and nothing is complete (I have a German student, I might drag him in there) It's so dumb I'm laughing.

Today was Cheese Cake and Golden Girls at the library. Just bring/eat cheesecake and watch a couple episodes of GG. It was packed. I was someone's hero because I gave her some of my lactose pills (she forgot hers). You'll share them? Yes, of course. It was fun except....for the two tables in the back who just kept talking thru the entire first episode we watched. Like fucking non stop. I really wanted to say hey, STFU. We're here trying to enjoy ourselves but we can't even hear teh show. I hate that women are so well trained to be 'nice' that sometimes making waves is hard. And then they had the audacity to shove in a couple pieces of cheesecake and then left without watching the first 30 minutes all the way thru. Didn't care. Glad they gone.

Came home. Realized OMG the authors zoom is tonight and I'm exhausted. I shook it off. Wrote over 2500 words in 1 1/2 hours. Well yay for me.

No fannish 50. I'm too tired again.

Also dummy went outside this morning. Refused to come back. I'm like of all days to go out and run off rocket. He's back and he's fine.

Let's talk about main characters for a moment. Your MC cannot be entirely passive. If they have a goal (as they should) then they have to do something to work toward it. They cannot sit and wait for their friends/mentors/family propel them forward to do it.

When I was young I didn't like Frodo. I liked LotR a ton (to the point 13 year old me planned to name her firstborn Aragon) But I never liked Frodo. At 12-13 I didn't really know why. When I watched the movies I realized it was because Frodo never does a damn thing. If not for Samwise and the rest, he'd have died within 48 hours and Sauron would have won.

Today I stumbled over this YT short and realized they had put their finger directly on my issue with Hazbin Hotel S2. As much as I enjoyed it, I did not enjoy the Morningstars who are, arguably, the MCs. Charlie, if you don't want to click the short, basically does nothing. She has her goals of redeeming sinners, proving Sir pentious was redeemed and protecting her friends.

For the most part, she doesn't act. She spends most of the more important moments, the time, she was the MC (and the leader) needed to act, having panic attacks instead or acting on impulse that does nothing. She relies on Husk to do therapy as well as bartending. She relies on Vaggi to run the entire hotel basically alone. She never corners Alastor to get him to do stuff. She never asks a thing from Angel (reinforcing the idea that she sees him as useless) until she bullies him into doing something he didn't want. When everyone is about to die in the finale, Emily has to step in twice when it's obvious Charlie isn't.

A lot of fans felt let down. I know I felt let down and I'm not a giant Charlie fan. I liked her (less this year) but even if she wasn't my favorite character, I needed her to do something as a MC (other than flail around foolishly). By contrast, Buffy was actually not my favorite character but she acts. She makes mistakes too but at least she acts.

If everyone had to depend on Charlie or Frodo alone, probably everyone dies. I'm not saying your MC can't have help. Of course they can. We need the secondary characters to do things too but if they're doing the heavy lifting and your MC is sitting back waiting for them to do so, then maybe you have the wrong MC or you need to find how to give them some agency.


Open Calls

Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores February 2026 Window

Electric Spec May Issue 2026 Electric Spec prefers science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we’re willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres

Slush #1 Original fiction, no set genres


78 Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers (January 2026)

106 Traditional Poetry Manuscript Publishers (2026 Update)




From Around the Web

Finding the Heart of a Protagonist: Body, Mind, and Soul

How to Describe Layout & Position


How Do You Know When There’s a Dead Body in the Room This is actually about using senses other than sight/hearing


Identifying Your Book’s Target Audiences: Your Marketing Plan Foundation


From Betty

Seven Ways to Motivate a Reluctant Protagonist

Water Travel Before Engines

Should You Show or Tell?

Five Ways to Make a Selfish Character Likable

Five Tips for Portraying Your Characters as Intended

Ways to Make The Pitch, A Writer’s Selling Point

What Type of Writer Are You

How to Take a Story from “Good” to Great


People-Pleasing Writers: The Surprising Connection that Slows You Down

Coping Mechanism Thesaurus Entry: Creative Expression

How often to follow up with a literary agent

YouTube for Writers, Part 5: How to Repurpose Content Into Reels and Shorts

How to Train Your Writer’s Eye: 7 Ways to Improve Observation Skills for Better Writing

Why Celebrating Small Wins Matters for Writers

Story Stakes: When to Reveal Them—and Why Timing Is Everything

What Else?

Hope is the Thing With Thorns: A New Year’s Reflection

When it looked like we weren't getting the snow they said I packed up and went to Point Pleasant to bum around. I will admit the coffee grinders coffee house isn't my favorite (and dudes DO NOT put the coffee of the day at some side table. Put that near the register. I totally wouldn't have bought that) got writing done. At this point Capitol One's bot texts me again about Best Buy trying to get payment for their protection membership pushed thru (this is 200$, I don't want it and this will become important)

I go to the Mason Jar antique store/country store/shit shop and I find the best thing ever. Star Trek salt and pepper shaker. I don't even haggle over the price. I ALMOST did for two other items (I am not good at this mind you) One was a pressed glass pitcher and two goblets of BLACK glass and the uranium glass juicer (both were 35$ each. Both remained in the store).



I spotted a blue glass horse bookend and thought evil_little_dog will marry me if I get her that for her birthday. I swoop over. It's 60$ for one book end. They don't have the other. I decided I didn't really wanna marry ELD anyhow.

I waltz down the street (with my ST shakers) to the Point Pleasant Trading Company which specializing in cryptid shit. (btw cryptids are absolutely saving PP from oblivion. there were tourists everywhere. In Jan. In the cold.) They had absolutely gorgeous Mothman/Flatbush Monster/Loveland Frogman/Big Foot t-shirts. I don't need a 35$ t-shirt(the number of the day is 35) They had an amazing cardigan with mothman and the silver bridge. No Dana you DO NOT need a 60$ cardigan. But it's in my size. NO. Bad Dana. And the upstairs was rocking. they've added sound to the Black Light Mothman Experience Indoor Mini Golf (Why will NO ONE play with me? WHY)

I bought nothing there and crossed the river back into Oh and headed to Remo's this absolutely terrifying local treasure of a hot dog stand inside a (collapsing) house. Got lunch. (because I forgot my freebie thing for the Mexican place) Went to the library to get more books for popsugar because I can absolutely read this many at once, right? (ha) I did not go to the Lego exhibit they have right now. It opened this week and had 20000000 kids in it (well it felt like it at any rate)

Went to the boba hut. My credit card is declined. Naturally. Because I'm going to Aldi's next. I know why. Remember that Best Buy thing? Yeah so Capitol One decides OMG red alert (in spite of me telling them it's fine two days ago when I THOUGHT I had canceled that membership). They texted me we'll close this card and send you a new one. I'm now steaming. At least I have another card.

I hit Aldi's. Get cheese I don't need. I don't even remember which ones. Got some frozen things I don't need (like I needed cheese) go home with my boba. I'm a mile from home when one bursting boba wings up that straw at mach 1 and straight into my vocal cords and pops. Mango liquid shoots down my bronchial tubes and like any good asthmatic tube, they immediately clench up and fill with mucus. By the time I park, I'm crackling and wheezing like I've pneumonia and in need of a trach. every time I cough I taste mango. How much fluid was in one tiny boba?

I get inside, deal with Best Buy and this time it went thru because I got the survey of sadness. Why did you leave us? I call up Capitol One and I'm coming in hot now. We'll close this card. No chucklefuck you won't. I explain 4 times what happened, told them every charge that should be on that card this week. Those aren't fraudulent? NO. In theory I can use this card again. If I can't heads will be on pikes.


And fandomtrees released. Let me share my cool gifts plus all the ones I wrote (I get the feeling the other Hazbin folk either aren't Huskerdust shipper or saw I had 3 fills and moved on because only one person took up on my HH prompts and did two (including my new icon)


My Gifts


Hazbin Hotel Icons So pretty

softer addictions Hazbin Hotel, NSFW

But What If There Was a Demon vs Dinosaur Cage Match? Angel the Series/Buffy the Vampire Slayer (by [Bad username or unknown identity: spikedluv)] La Famiglia I'd love if some people read this one as it's original fiction and I feel like maybe I should revisit it down the road.

Of Slayers, Sisters and Sleepovers Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Heirlooms Past and Future Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Fernweh The Raven Cycle

Biergarten Blues Grimm

Murder Most Midsomer Murder She Wrote/Midsomer Murder


Technical Difficulties, Please Stand By Hazbin Hotel

The Things to Which Fate Binds You Hazbin Hotel

A Very Vee Sinsmas Hazbin Hotel

A Wake For a Snake Hazbin Hotel

You Had Some of the Best Times You'll Never Remember With Me, Alcohol Hazbin Hotel



And have a couple pictures from the Welsh New Year Thing Last night

( under here )

Honestly we didn't get a lot of snow but under it was ice. On the road between Jackson and Gallipolis (the two places I talk about all the time) had TWO five vehicle crashes and multiple small ones including the fire chief getting run over by someone who doesn't know what red lights mean (he was transported to the same trauma center I had been in) By 1 pm the most of it had melted but you know what I'm not arguing with a day off.

Mom, of course, thinks any spare second I have should be me cleaning. She's not wrong but still...that said I DID pick one major project and I did it, namely three bins of sockets and undies and a huge ass pile of clothes (still mostly socks) so I made 5 piles, summer socks, winter socks, fuzzy socks, socks I don't want period and lonely socks looking for mates.

So the piles are gone. The undies are gone because why in the name of god was I holding onto them. Many socks ready for donation and two uncomfortable realizations.

1. I have more fuzzy socks that any one human should. I know some are tight and need to be donated. Some have holes that I wear in bed in the fall/early spring while reading if my Raynaud's kicks in. Well pick two pair Dana and toss the rest.

2. That was NOT a bin of old undies. Under them was dozens of printed out stories, catalogues for book clubs that have been online only for YEARS and books. WTF? At least the books are now out on a shelf, the catalogues in the recycler and I'll sort the stories later to see what needs read and what can hit the recycler.

I did finish the last two stories I could possible write for fandomtrees and maybe if we're lucky everything will release this weekend. Both of the recipients had 2 by the time I got these done but that's fine. Now they have 3.

I found a place in Pittsburgh I need to visit (and I thought about a little vacation right there in the city if it's not crazy expensive) the weeping glass


I have some community recs this thursday fandomtrumpshate is gearing up so if you want to look it over to join in an raise money to do good now's the time.

And I got a few communities (new to me) from tozka that looked cool. Check them out

vintageads I think I'll need to join this one. It'll be a good source for historical fic

bookclub_dw This is a monthly book club where members of the community host book club discussions once a month. - I don't need a new one but maybe you do