Brandiwyn🎶, also known as Michelle Tuesday, is a musician, educator and writer hailing from Columbus, Ohio.
La Bene Vita
You Are Welcome Here Life is good. Let's share it.
New Year, New Strategy For 2026, I launched a weekly topic rotation designed to help me stay d i s c i p l i n e d while ensuring that you, the reader, always know what to expect. Unfortunately, I have yet to acquire a million followers and gain official WDC "influencer" status, and I often find myself seduced by whimsy. Thus, my blogging strategy continues to evolve.
So, What Can I Expect?
I'm glad you asked. For now, until whimsy strikes again, here's what you can expect (updated March 2026):
Weekly Topical Posts - Apply Generously to Affected Areas Music & music education The art and business of writing Owning & managing a small business Science & technology Parkinson's disease, type 1 diabetes, and other medical topics
Personal News & Updates - May Be Boring! You've Been Warned Health news Family, work and leisure Weekly goals & progress
The Occasional Rant
Although I try to post rants at "What the Fork?" (and you should, too!)
Robert Waltz - Awesome article, thanks for sharing. They did way more research than I was prepared for today. You also managed to find an article that threw a bit of etymology in the mix. Well done.
I can see both sides. Especially when you add that they're learning it and want to use what they learned.
However, creating extra deadlines without notice or even communication is really tough.
I definitely see your point. When one hires someone to do a job, the employee should do the job as directed by the employer. Failing to do so satisfactorily for whatever reason, the employee should simply make any corrections the employer requests, and request (without drama or debate) a clarification to avoid similar issues in the future.
Many years ago, I hired a young man to neatly stack a jumbled pile of old lumber that had been dumped. I showed him exactly where and how to stack it. When I returned a little later to check his progress, I found that he had stacked about half of what should have been stacked in the elapsed time, and he had stacked it about ten feet from the place I'd shown him. He got agitated when I told him he would have to restack what he had stacked because it would be in the way where he had it. He asked if he couldn't just stack the rest on top of the mislocated stack he had started. He never seemed to understand that he had not done what I'd hired him to do. Even his proposed solutions would not accomplish the work as it needed to be done.
Ah, DBS. I am well aware of it thanks to my employer. Even though I work in the IT world of med tech, there are still lots of opportunities to learn the basics if things like DBS. We'll see if I can get back to that kind of extracurricular activity anytime soon.
PD research is very well funded, so I'm sure opportunities are there. I have a piano student, Lily. She's 16, but she was 5 when her mom enrolled her, so I've been her teacher more than a decade. Her mom is a doctor, and Lily has decided she wants to study neurology. She knows about my diagnosis - all my kiddos do, so they understand why my voice doesn't work sometimes, why I can't play the instruments I used to, why I drop everything to take meds, etc. So she was super excited to tell me that when she went to Neurology Summer Camp (!!!!!!!!!!), she got to watch a DBS procedure on a Parkinson's patient, live. (!!!!!!!!) This was probably two years ago, so she was 14 or 15 at the time.
For those who don't know, DBS = Deep Brain Stimulation. Until very recently, the procedure could only be performed while the patient is awake. They screw your head into a halo that holds your head still, then implant an electrode in your brain. Some patients require two implants (one for each side, two separate surgeries), and either way, you have to have yet another surgery where they implant the battery in your chest. Sounds like fun, amiright?
In case you're wondering, my MDS said today that I'm the PERFECT CANDIDATE for DBS because I respond so well to levodopa. I'm like.......... thank you? The good news is, there's an option where they knock you out now.
Brandiwyn🎶 Cool! Yeah, a PhD in Neurobiology. I'm a research scientist / data scientist, worked in a lab at a research institute. Very niche, I know. I'm actually trying (and failing) to break out of the academic research trap. Unless you're a tenured professor, it's a very poor career choice. And, turns out, not terribly useful in the real world. Who knew?
But yeah, I really did enjoy the subject and the research. I'd like to go in a more clinical direction so I can actually help people with diseases like Parkinson's. Especially when I read first hand accounts like yours and Carol St. Ann 20yrs (06-26).
Ѧͷͷΐ- That's awesome, and I'm very interested in your project. I speak science and data analysis, lol. My degree was chemical engineering. Did you earn a degree in Neurobiology? What do you do professionally?
This is an excellent read: . I'm calling the genre "Contemporary Gothic" because I love a good oxymoron.
On a related note, , you may have met your match in the procrastination department. (You read that correctly: it's definitely a gauntlet.)
I told you all a couple weeks ago that my voice was back. I didn't know it at the time, but I meant it was starting to come back . It's been coming and going in the way that summer and winter in Ohio come and go duri... [Read more]
In , we talk about our character's goal and the conflict that's standing in the way of achieving that goal. In 1996, Debra Dixon invented the {v3-link:"GMC Method of Storytelling"}http://www.debradixon.com/books/gmc.html{/v3-link}, which posed another character element critical to any good story: motivation. Where the goal is what your main character wants, their motivation is why they want it. And at some point, someone added an "S" to the end (for "stakes... [Read more]
Web News
My last business website revision was 2016, so it was way past time. I started building a new one in 2025, finished it summerish, then couldn't easily migrate it. Stymied, I let it sit and cool off for about seven months. I broke it out again sometime in February (it all runs together, see for my opinion on February), but there's always a debugging period, so I'm still tweaking.
One thing on my list is to go through my 2k+ photos in my media library, eliminat... [Read more]
What the Fork?
Earned a Quill Award for Best New Forum (thanks for your votes!! ) and got a shiny new logo and cover art:
Trinket Poll
Grab a freebie trinket and cast your vote:
Entertainment
Sunday has turned into our official binge day, which is bad because that cuts into my writing and WDC activity time! but good because hubby and I hang with the poochies.
Comments about our latest binges/attempts:
The Hunting Party
One of the wors... [Read more]
There's been so much cool news at WDC in the past twenty-four hours that I just don't have much else to say. But I did want to log a quick Goals update for future reference. It's a pretty good goals week.
Goals for 2/16/26 - 2/22/26
Min 10 min/day on current novel -
Review work tasks list 3 days/week -
Two poems for
-
-
One short story for -
One themed blog post (mus... [Read more]
This post was generated by Google Gemini. It was also my first attempt at using "Columns" in the beta editor, and they're currently broken. I'm leaving them that way to file a bug report. I'm happy to report that SM fixed the columns.
PROMPT:
How did people wipe their bottoms before toilet paper was invented?
It turns out that "the good old days" were many things, but "soft and quilted" was definitely not one of them. Before Joseph Gayetty... [Read more]
Today's post is mostly a goals check-in.
If you're not opposed to XGC content, I wouldn't mind one or two more reviews for .
If you're a serial novelist, I'm interested in your thoughts about this conversation: .
Goals are on target. I'm happy with them.
Goals for 2/16/26 - 2/22/26
Min 10 min/day on current novel -
Review work tasks list 3 days/week -
Two poems for -
One short story for - ... [Read more]
I did a thing:
My first-ever attempt at horror, inspired by . Warning! Mind the rating. It's legit.
That fulfills last week's short story requirement, so I'm caught up, at least. Also, as a background story in my project, this story is keeping that project in front of me, even if it doesn't specifically check of any boxes.
It may have turned my Druid Archives world a notch or two darker.
Today is Tuesday. I have no students on Tuesdays and Sundays, making t... [Read more]
Just a quick goals update today. I played in the worship band this morning (rare these days), napped, did my daily games brain exercises, napped, then worked on rereading and editing my current novel project for a few hours. Still no Bradbury story, but I may still crank one out before sleep, after Netflixing with the hubs.
Goals for 2/9/26 - 2/15/26
Min 10 min/day on current novel - I made up for it today. I've been editing.
Review work tasks l... [Read more]
As a contest owner, I've been grappling with this. I've tried to remain neutral and avoid rules around AI use in my activities, but fairness is ingrained in my bones. I fully support (and enthusiastically encourage!) AI for brainstorming and wording suggestions. But, in my opinion, once it rewrites what you wrote - tightens your prose, increases your pacing, and changes the voice of the author - even if it doesn't change the story itself, those paragraphs are no longer your original... [Read more]
I missed Main Character Mondays yesterday. Oops.
At the music school, the hot water heater died. I got a quote from a plumber to replace it. It's up in the loft above the bathrooms, accessible by ladder in the music lab, and I swear the building was built around the stupid thing. It's surrounded by duct work and rafters, or whatever you call the metal framing that holds up the roof in a retail strip mall. The space was a coffee shop before it was a soccer store before it was a musi... [Read more]
One of the lesser frequently-asked question among prospective clients of my music school is, "How long will it take for me/my child to master the instrument?"
Um.
This question never ceases to baffle me. I try to look at it from the perspective of non-musicians who truly have no clue what's involved, but in my imagining, that only makes it worse. Looking from the outside at the task of studying an instrument, with zero music experience, it might seem almost insurmountable. Yet... [Read more]
I technically finished my story for after midnight (00:09? maybe), but I counted it, so here's the status of yesterday's goals:
Goals for 2/2/26 - 2/9/26
Min 10 min/day on current novel
Review work tasks list 3 days/week
Two poems for
One short story for
One themed blog post (music/writing)
One review
Current assignment for
Current assignment for
It's Friday morning. I have a ... [Read more]
Goals for 2/2/26 - 2/9/26
Min 10 min/day on current novel
Review work tasks list 3 days/week
Two poems for - in progress
One short story for
One themed blog post (music/writing/etc.)
One review
Current assignment for - in progress (1 of 3 complete)
Current assignment for
Health Notes
- My voice is coming back! After Botox injections in my vocal cords exactly 3 weeks ago, I've been w... [Read more]
I still haven't pinned down my blog topic rotation, but I may finally be closing in on my weekly goals list template for 2026.
Goals for 2/2/26 - 2/9/26
Min 10 min/day on current novel (thinking counts)
Review work tasks list 3 days/week
Two poems for
One short story for
One themed blog post (music/writing)
One review
Current assignment for
Current assignment for
Explanations
t... [Read more]
Well, I did write a blog post today. It's probably still queued up on my laptop downstairs, unsaved, and I'm snuggled in bed. I'm not devastated. The post was unfinished anyway, because I ran out of time and had to get to work and teach all evening.
But here's the gist.
I wrote goals for the week and tweaked my theme rotation, moving "Self" Sundays to "Main Character" Mondays, because Mondays are too busy for the Music theme and are also ideal for goal ... [Read more]
For today's episode of "Self Sundays," I started with a goals check-in.
Quick Goals Check:
One new novel chapter (or rewrite) per day. Incomplete.*
One short story for " Incomplete.**
Two poems for Submitted.
One review. Canceled this week, but tomorrow it'll be an empty box again.
Complete my Week 3 assignment. Pending.***
Do something with Done. See also:
Organize/prioritize work tasks. ... [Read more]
, also known as Michelle Tuesday, is a musician, educator and writer hailing from Columbus, Ohio.
and gain official WDC "influencer" status, and I often find myself seduced by whimsy. Thus, my blogging strategy continues to evolve.
Music & music education
