Erika Arivett
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erikaarivett.bsky.social
Erika Arivett
@erikaarivett.bsky.social
Writer. Reader. Illustrator. Classical educator. Appalachian. Wife and mother of two. Goldendoodle mom. Anglican.

📖 Tolkien 🎌 Nihon 🥤Coke Zero

Current project:
Japan-based portal fantasy WIP
My first love is and will always be Lord of the Rings, but in an effort to not pick the obvious: The original Dragonlance Chronicles by Weiss and Hickman have a special place in my heart, especially the young reader edition (which is literally the same series divided into 6 books instead of 3).
November 15, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Every time I use the word “Yojimbo,” I think of the annoying summon from Final Fantasy X, and also vaguely think, “I really need to see Akira Kurosawa’s film Yojimbo.” Thanks for hearing my irrelevant thoughts on this matter. 😂

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November 15, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Ryo doesn’t laugh a lot. His inhibitions are lowered by tsuchigumo venom at the moment. He’ll be mortified about this later haha

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November 14, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Rin’s ki/energy is both very powerful and very unstable. If Ryo can’t teach her to control it they’re all in trouble.

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November 13, 2025 at 10:40 AM
They must be experiencing the fake seasonal changes we have here in Appalachia, where there are about three rounds of fake fall followed by summer saying, “Hi, I’m still here.”

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November 12, 2025 at 10:15 AM
There is just nothing burger or burger adjacent lol Literally all mentions of food are pretty explicitly East Asian fare except this one time Koji was eating pizza 😂

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November 11, 2025 at 11:39 AM
This was an interesting scene to write, because it’s one of the only scenes of Ryo operating in the Reikai in an ordinary way.

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November 10, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Rin-chan drawn with my finger in a random whiteboard app lol The sixty seconds could have been much more efficient with a pencil 🙈

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November 9, 2025 at 7:11 PM
I thought I posted this earlier, but I think I fell asleep in the middle of trying 🤣

Rin always thinks Ryo looks a little older than he is because he’s so serious. Surprise makes him look younger.

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November 9, 2025 at 12:12 PM
It’s probably just that I have the Sunday scaries about my maternity leave coming to an end soon (so quickly?!), but I’m feeling existential about time today. There are so many things I want to do—write, read, watch, game, make, go, learn. But there just is never enough time. #amwriting #writesky
November 9, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Probably going to end up cutting at least part of this fight in revisions.

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November 8, 2025 at 10:45 AM
A raiju—a lightning wolf. They’re usually smallish, but this one got into the human world and is glutted on mundane electricity.

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November 7, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Maybe it’s actually a penultimate leap 😅😂

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November 6, 2025 at 11:26 AM
There are major “gates” between the Reikai and the Ningenkai that are guarded by various clans. Those are large and stable. But there are also a few “back doors” like this one lingering around if you know where to look.

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November 5, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Ryo’s second confrontation with the man in black—the man who murdered Rin’s brother.

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November 4, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Ryo is recovering from exposure to tsuchigumo venom. If he weren’t disoriented, he would never allow anyone to “fuss” over him.

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November 3, 2025 at 9:59 AM
I also specifically have a lot of spider monsters. I have occasionally needed to do spider research for this, and every time they hit me with unexpected spider close ups I want to vomit 🙃 #WIPSnips #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #YA #fantasy
November 2, 2025 at 12:33 PM
The Reikai recognizes its own. Many of the events of this story are caused directly or indirectly by the actions of characters’ ancestors.

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November 1, 2025 at 11:10 AM
My child is waking up every hour. So here I am at 5 a.m. 😅

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October 31, 2025 at 9:38 AM
I’m trying not to talk about magic too explicitly in this book, but I did have a few proverbial spells like this one!

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October 30, 2025 at 9:30 AM
A scouring brush is the absolute closest thing I have to a broomstick, and now I’m just picturing the Sanderson sisters riding around on Roombas and Swiffers.

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October 29, 2025 at 9:33 AM
I had uses of “disguise,” but this was too on the nose to pass up lol

Ordinary humans can’t see the Reikai and its properties, including the runes in Ryo’s shinobi shozoku. Jiro’s spiritual senses are starting to wake up.

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October 28, 2025 at 8:39 AM
The nekomata again! We might be heavy on “vibes” this week. 😅 I do have plenty of monsters though!

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October 27, 2025 at 8:21 AM
I am definitely having the kind of sleepy morning where I don’t know what to say about this #WIPSnips 🫠

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October 26, 2025 at 11:42 AM
No lottery or gamble so I went with “risk.”

The morning after Rin’s first trip to the Reikai. She is not even a little bit awake yet.

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October 25, 2025 at 9:01 AM