Posted by Wil https://wilwheaton.net/2025/11/you-walk-outside-and-everything-just-says-soon/ https://wilwheaton.net/?p=9828 There is a massive winter storm barreling toward us right now, expected to arrive in the next 18 or so hours. Yesterday, it was unseasonably warm and stupidly beautiful. Today, it’s eerily calm, under grey skies. The air is so still, it carries the train whistles from all the way across the valley, and every lawnmower in town sounds like it’s next door. You walk outside, and everything just says, soon.1 Even the corvids and squirrels seem reluctant to come out of the trees, It never rains in Southern California, man. It pours.
This past weekend, though, it was great, and I was grateful for it.
Last Friday, Anne and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary. We have both been so busy and overwhelmed for so long, we planned to skip our usual weekend getaway and just go out for a really fancy dinner, instead. So we went to Mozza in Hollywood, where I think Anne discovered that pasta can actually be wonderful and not what her husband struggles to assemble in our kitchen.
We had such a wonderful meal, and such a nice time out, on a Friday night like PEOPLE WHO GO OUT TO DO THINGS! And that would have been enough, but about two weeks ago, Anne said that she was really missing our usual weekend away, and how did I feel about using points to go somewhere close? I admitted that I, too, was feeling sad we weren’t going to have two days of absolutely nothing but Us. Funny how we both really wanted to do this together, but kept talking ourselves out of it because we’d agreed together that we would.
Anyway, she found a place, cashed in some points, and we spent the weekend up in Santa Barbara. It was nothing but long walks, petting dogs, eating incredible food, and prioritizing each other, our relationship, our friendship, and our marriage. Each of us truly is married to our best friend, and even after 26 years (30+ total), we still have all kinds of fun goofing off together. We have consistently done the hard work of being married and being a family, and that investment pays off at like fifty million percent all the time.
It’s just like … it’s such a blessing and so awesome to spend our lives together, and be mom and dad to our kids. We have worked really hard for a good life, and I’m grateful that I’ve worked so hard to heal my PTSD, so I can actually enjoy living it.
And now…
This week’s story dropped earlier today! It is Dissembling Light, by Kel Coleman. It originally appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies issue 385.
This is a magical story (meaning that Magic features prominently in the narrative) about a man who holds tremendous knowledge and skill in his heart, and the hopeful apprentice who comes to learn from him. It also makes me wonder what good is knowledge, if its holder doesn’t freely share it?
You can get It’s Storytime With Wil Wheaton wherever you get your podcasts. Here’s some links to the more popular services:
You can also support the show on Patreon, where you’ll get the show with no ads, as well as some spiffy extras that all the cool kids are into these days.
Today, I recorded two episodes. One of the things we did is the most beautiful, heartbreaking, I-need-a-minute-to-compose-myself story I have read in a long, long time. I’m so excited for you to hear it. It’s also the source of the show’s first official blooper, where you will get to hear me use all my, uh, colorful metaphors in rather creative ways.
I would absolutely love to hear your feedback on the show, if you’re a listener. I feel like we’re doing good work, and putting good art into the world, but I have no idea what the audience thinks if I don’t ask, because we aren’t exactly in a theater together. Although, if I can figure out how to stage one of these stories, I’m into seeing what that would look and sound like. Maybe something cool is there, way off in the mysterious future.
https://wilwheaton.net/2025/11/you-walk-outside-and-everything-just-says-soon/ https://wilwheaton.net/?p=9828 | | |
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⌈ Secret Post #6886 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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( More! ) Notes:Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 12 secrets from Secret Submission Post #983. Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ]. Current Secret Submissions Post: here. Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here. | | |
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⌈ Secret Post #6885 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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⌈ Secret Post #6884 ⌋
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I was thinking about it mostly in the context of NaNoWriMo (because it is November, and yes, NaNoWriMo is dead and dead for good reason, but, nevertheless...) — and I realized how much I have written this year. Specifically. The origfic that ate my brain and which was completely posted to AO3 as of Thursday is 131913 words. The sequel (which is fully written and in the process of being posted) is 230909 words. The enemies-to-lovers AU-of-an-AU is 24,769 words. So, uh, all together, since May 30, I have written — 387,591 words of original fiction. Good lord. So it's been, er, roughly 5.5 months since May 30th. Averages out to about 71k words per month. ... well then. I haven't talked about it on here mostly because it is rated E and how the fuck do I go, "hey you should read my thing, yes it's rated E, no, it's mostly plot and not porn!", and also because multiple people I love dearly have read the tags list and gone, "you know what, I'm good, glad you're having fun though!" (The tags make it sound like it's far more explicit than it is; it's a Regency-adjacent romance first and foremost.) Like. Hey! I wrote it. I'm proud of it. But also: oh my lord. Am mostly just like, "Huh, that's just those three things, that's not everything I've written for Idol or other fic that I'm working on" — like. Well then? I might actually break 500k this year, which is just — really odd to think about, mostly! | | |
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⌈ Secret Post #6883 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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⌈ Secret Post #6882 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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( More! ) Notes:Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 36 secrets from Secret Submission Post #983. Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ]. Current Secret Submissions Post: here. Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here. | | |
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[ SECRET SUBMISSIONS POST #984 ]
The first secret from this batch will be posted on November 15th.
RULES:
1. One secret link per comment.
2. 750x750 px or smaller.
3. Link directly to the image.
More details on how to send a secret in!
Optional: If you would like your secret's fandom to be noted in the main post along with the secret itself, please put it in the comment along with your secret. If your secret makes the fandom obvious, there's no need to do this. If your fandom is obscure, you should probably tell me what it is.
Optional #2: If you would like WARNINGS (such as spoilers or common triggers -- list of some common ones here) to be noted in the main post before the secret itself, please put it in the comment along with your secret.
Optional #3: If you would like a transcript to be posted along with your secret, put it along with the link in the comment!
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⌈ Secret Post #6881 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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( More! ) Notes:Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #982. Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ]. Current Secret Submissions Post: here. Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here. | | |
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Posted by Wil https://wilwheaton.net/2025/11/its-storytime-the-odyssey-problem/ https://wilwheaton.net/?p=9823
Oh shit. I just hit publish, so the email already went out, and I am not going to send another. I can’t believe I forgot to even mention that Lego revealed a whole lot about the Enterprise D set that drops later this month. Can you believe I forgot this? It’s been such a full and exciting day, this got eclipsed like Darth Cheney finally joining Kissinger at the War Criminal’s table on Tuesday.
I woke up to a flood of text messages from friends who all wanted to make sure I knew about it (I love my friends so much) but my favorite one said “new contact image for you just dropped” with this image attached
I am beside myself. I’m a minifig, you guys! And I am so so so so happy that they chose this version of Wesley, specifically. Way to go, buddy!
Okay, I now turn you over to me from about ten minutes ago:
I should have posted this yesterday. My bad! I’m working all week on a narration that I have wanted permission to do for years. YEARS. Every night I go to sleep super excited to get back to work, and every morning I wake up excited that I get to do this.
That said, it’s been hard work, and I’m exhausted. You’d never believe it was possible to get exhausted, I bet, sitting in a chair and reading all day. And you’d probably be right, if that’s all I was doing. In fact, I wouldn’t have believed it, myself, if I didn’t have firsthand experience. But it’s performance, if you’re doing it right, and performance takes energy. Four straight hours of performance is a lot of performance, it turns out.
To be clear: I love that I’m exhausted. It feels earned and it’s satisfying. It’s also, uh, exhausting. I am entirely out of mana at the end of the day, and I didn’t think reaching into hit points for my blog was the best idea.1
I don’t know when I can get into the details of this — I have such a story to tell about today’s work — but I hope it’s soon.
Oh! This is SUCH a good excuse to put in my subscribe thingy. If you don’t want to miss that post, or any other post, you can do that here:
Nice.
If you follow my Instagram, you may recognize that I’m working in the same booth where I record It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton. Allow me to use THAT to now fulfill the promise of the blog title, and tell you that a new episode dropped yesterday.
This week’s story is The Odyssey Problem, by Chris Willrich, originally published in Clarkesworld Magazizne. Ohhhh it is so good. I’d love to hear what you think.
It’s Story Time With Wil Wheaton is available wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe now at
You can also support the show on Patreon, where you’ll get the show with no ads, as well as some spiffy extras that all the cool kids are into these days.
Oh! Oh! Reminder that Corey, Jerry, and I are coming to a city near you2 with a 35mm print of Stand By Me. Tickets are available for three screenings:
December 5 at Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, New Jersey
December 4 at Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, New Hampshire.
December 6 at Lynn Memorial Auditorium in Lynn, Massachusetts.
Everything you need to know, including how to buy tickets and VIP packages is at stand by me live dot com
Hey, hasn’t it great to wake up yesterday and finally have the day you voted for? It feels good, doesn’t it?The beginning of his end is upon us, friends.
https://wilwheaton.net/2025/11/its-storytime-the-odyssey-problem/ https://wilwheaton.net/?p=9823 | | |
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⌈ Secret Post #6880 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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Basically every time the books meme goes around I feel a need to "play" it, mostly because I'm mildly amused at like, what I have vs. haven't read, and this time is no exception. :) The rules are simple — bold what you've read, italicize what you intend to read, and underline what you loved. So! With that said, here we go. (Under a cut because it's pretty long and, well, you know.) You can find the blank version courtesy of ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) meridian_rose over here. ( the books list. ) Honestly I think I'm mostly surprised at how many of these I have read that I didn't read for school but just because I was tired of everyone going, "this is one of the Best Books Ever, You Must." Save for a handful of 'em, I think I'm mostly like, "eh" on the list as a whole. Some are that good! Many simply...are not... :) | | |
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⌈ Secret Post #6879 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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( More! ) Notes:Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 12 secrets from Secret Submission Post #982. Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ]. Current Secret Submissions Post: here. Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here. | | |
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http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4399  | ← previous | November 5th, 2025 | next | November 5th, 2025: MAN I was sick all weekend in a way I hadn't been since I was a kid! Just spending the whole day in bed feeling awful. Bodies, like teeth: BARELY WORTH IT??
Anyway I'm better now but I wanted to note that I lost the weekend to being sick and it sucked. Attention future generations reading this: please cure being sick. Thank you very much in advance. – Ryan |
http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4399 | | |
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⌈ Secret Post #6878 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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( More! ) Notes:Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 18 secrets from Secret Submission Post #982. Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ]. Current Secret Submissions Post: here. Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here. | | |
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⌈ Secret Post #6877 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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( More! ) Notes:Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 27 secrets from Secret Submission Post #982. Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ]. Current Secret Submissions Post: here. Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here. | | |
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