The author's photo a day challenge I am participating in on Instagram this month is absolutely sustaining me. It only feels fitting to be sharing it with you at the tail end of Valentine's Day, as every new day feels like I'm adding a line to a love letter addressed to readers, to Eiren's world, to the craft of writing. I've always had good intentions when it comes to photo a day challenges but have previously lacked follow through. Not so this February.

The prompt for this one was "killed darlings," and this was one of oh-so-many I had to choose from. I always write more pretty things of little substance than I need.

And "where I write," which I've elaborated on before. But I felt this one showed some love to the stickers so rarely seen on the back of my laptop.

These two were each collages of character inspirations, for Eiren and Gannet, respectively. You can read more on the original posts.

If you aren't already following me on Instagram, please do. It's the rare social media haven I can haunt on the regular right now - I feel rather guilty for my prolonged absence from Twitter and Facebook, longer even than was required for the heady rush of editing that consumed my January, and resulted in one of the strongest drafts I think I've ever written. Come May, I hope you think so, too.

The challenge carries on through the end of February and I think I'll be looking for another one after. Any recommendations?