Okay, I just added this note to my website about AI use: Special Note about AI I do not use AI, and I promise that I will never enter a query or submitted materials through an AI for any reason, whether to check for supposed AI use (they aren't accurate, anyway) or to summarize a manuscript. 1/2

I'm closed to queries and don't plan to reopen until probably the fall as I catch up on a bunch of things, but I'm realizing I probably will need to add a disclaimer to my website and Query Manager assuring writers that I will never, and I mean NEVER, run their writing through an AI for any reason.

There is a monster under my desk. Does this work the same as monsters under the bed? Granted, he does like to hide under the bed too, so maybe . . .

I’m feeling better than I have in 6 weeks, mostly because I finally realized that the thrush a new asthma med gave me was not going to resolve with home remedies (even though it often does for other people) because my body hates me. So yay for not feeling horrible and exhausted all the time!

I swear he can sense me coming. It’s almost impossible to sneak up on him.

Omgosh guys! The first wildflower has already bloomed in the wildflower garden! It’s a yellow creeping buttercup and it looks so cute amongst all the scraggly green growth around it.

Happy (belated) #kidlitartpostcard day. I'm tardy to the party because it's also my Mom's birthday, but good habits must be maintained. #picturebook #nonfiction #kidlit #illustration

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work 🏆 A day late for #KidLitArtPostcard Day but always ready to do the work! I’m a Queer author illustrator teamed up with Jean Sagendorph at Mansion Street Literary and ready to take the children’s book world by storm 🤗 ✏️🌈💗 #KidLit #KidLitArt

before wading into any discussion about publishing, ask yourself: How Would Ursula K. Le Guin Shred This?

Folks who are truly rich do not hoard wealth, but the knowledge and experience that comes from reading books and disappearing into mysterious forests for a day or a lifetime.

The niblings are over today, so we’re roasting a pork loin and fingerling potatoes for dinner. Even before it cooks it’s already looking fantastic.

Look at this beauty I found at the grocery store. Sadly I just realized it’s not culinary lavender, but still gorgeous.

I’ve been on an unintentional social media cleanse the past month, and honestly I think the break has been good for me. I’ll eventually be back, but I’ve had some health things to manage and a crapton of work stuff to catch up on, so I’m taking it slow for now.

Someone has come to join me in my quest to clean out my inbox. (He’s offering moral support from his bed under my desk.)

Tonight's goal: get below inbox 50. I hate having too many messages sitting in my inbox staring at me, so I'm going to get through as many as I can tonight so tomorrow will feel like a fresh start.

Well this was unexpected. We’ve had more snow in April than we have all winter.

Someone is demanding to know why it is not currently nap time for both of us. CAUSE I’M TRYING TO GET SOME WORK DONE, KITTY.

I swear my inbox is trying to swallow me whole. If you're missing a response from me . . . I'm working on it. And embarrassed I didn't realize some things had slipped passed me without a response. I've been busy for a good reason *vague publishing news jazz hands* but the inbox waits for no one.

It’s pretty scary (and indicative of the current situation in Utah) that this is what they have to put at the entrance of medical clinics now.

Excellent article on the current recalibration of the children’s book market. For writers trying to understand why word counts are shrinking in mg and ya, this explains it incredibly well.

Also NEWS! I am teaching an updated and improved, also I would say cyclopean and batrachian, perhaps cthonic, version of my MODERN COSMIC HORROR WRITING class for @carlbrandon.bsky.social ! May 16-17! This is a deep dive with text analysis, examples, a reading/resource list, and exercises!

Absolutely endorse the book, but maybe not the murderous deer hiding in the darkness.

Driving home in the dark the other night I was listening to @premeemohamed.com‘s Butcher of the Forest. As the narrator is describing in detail the undead deer, I turn a corner and the headlights of my car land on several deer that were hiding in the darkness and the scream I scrumpt—

Gorgeous sky tonight after a thunderstorm earlier this evening.

It’s definitely spring in Utah, with fruit blossoms and brilliant blue skies. Let’s just hope the cold front coming in next week doesn’t kill off the fruit harvest for the year.

Stop worrying about what YA books to let your kids read and let them sort it out with V C Andrews and cocaine era Stephen King as God intended

First flowers of spring showing up in my yard. These are volunteers and I never remember what they’re called. I just know spring is on the way whenever I see them.

“I am political,” Ms. Rachel told me of her new effort to free kids from ICE detention. “It’s political to believe that children are worthy of love … and that our care shouldn’t stop at what we look like, our family, at our religion, at a border. Mr. Rogers was very political.”

You're looking in the wrong direction. What's going on in the states politically? Book banning, curriculums controlled by legislatures, money spent on tech not books. School districts and library systems cutting back. It's not the kids. It's the adults.

Awful but not entirely surprising news after the layoffs at smaller pubs last year. The school and library market is hurting--which we don't see in Bookscan numbers.

It's a volatile time in publishing right now. Don't be surprised if you see progressively bad news the next few months. But as I'm telling all of my authors, we've weathered bad times before and books won't go away completely. Don't lose hope, but definitely gird your loins. It's gonna be bumpy.

VERY COOL MEDIA JOB ALERT: @theglobeandmail.com is hiring a Politics Editor to lead our Ottawa bureau. This isn't the kind of job that comes around every day... jobs.dayforcehcm.com/en-US/theglo...

Literary analysis of the day, from the summary judgment dismissing a YA lit plagiarism case, as reported in @publisherslunch.bsky.social : "Hot, sexy, dangerous boys—central to virtually all young adult romance novels—cannot be copyrighted," the court notes.

I don’t know what it is about trying to set up meetings with people in different time zones that breaks my brain every single time. I will miscalculate it at least once each meeting, guaranteed.

After I developed a wheat allergy (like an actual histamine reaction to wheat, not celiac or gluten intolerance) I’ve heard that some people can tolerate wheat from Europe but not the U.S. Well, a friend from France flew in to visit me and brought some croissants, and I only had a mild reaction.

This is my current favorite watch, and the show really is a master class in storytelling. Lots of gorgeous cinematography and people too. For those who don’t watch many Chinese dramas or don’t know where to find them, Pursuit of Jade is on Netflix so you likely already have a subscription.

Last week I shared that I’m hiring a junior designer, but, also, our trade art department as a whole has a total of 5 open roles right now. All new seats, not from turnover. 💙❤️ scholastic.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/External

Looks like it’s time to rewatch Princess Agents. The sequel is finally dropping almost a decade later. It’s seriously good, with Hunger Games vibes, and the opening scenes are incredible. TW for anyone sensitive to violence against women. It’s a bit intense. But the women fight back spectacularly.

Whelp, I finally filed for the Anthropic settlement for my books that appeared in the database. We'll see how that goes. But a reminder to other procrastinators that the deadline to file (if you're eligible and want money from the settlement) is March 30, so like 3 weeks away. Next up, taxes. UGH.

don’t forget to destroy your clocks tonight, walk away from your mortgage, just start driving, you’re free

I'll be teaching a webinar on Sat., April 11 at 11 a.m. CT on The Mechanics of Writing, where I'll go over the basics of punctuation, dialogue mechanics, and self-editing that every writer should know, as well as examples of common mistakes I see in submissions. Register at www.thewritingbarn.com.

Happy #kidlitartpostcard day. I live in animal-centric #nonfiction, but every once and a while I go back to my #fantasy muses. Especially when it's any combination of incendiary equines. Happy #yearofthefirehorse. #kidlitart #illustration

Usually I'm like "Hoarding is too sad of a subject for me, please give me three books about bereavement instead" but this story pulled me in!

It’s not that there are zero use cases for AI. It’s that there are very, very few that justify the enormous expenditure of resources and rapacious exploitation of labor.

I finally feel like I'm starting to catch up on things after being gone for several conferences this month and then getting a cold after (because of course). Not totally there yet, but I made a good dent in some of it today. Send good productivity vibes, if you have any to share!

ICYMI yesterday, I posted a new deal for one of my incredible author. We’re so excited to be working with the brilliant @amyarielfitz.bsky.social at @lernerbooks.bsky.social. When I tell you the author has a way of making even serious subjects hilarious in an introspective way, I’m not kidding.

Honestly, it feels weird trying to celebrate little wins in publishing with everything terrible going on, but we must find joy however we can so we have the strength to keep pushing through the terrors. We all do what we can to make the world somewhat better than it was before.

New deal! New deal! Announcement just dropped in Publishers Weekly children's rights report this afternoon. I've never read a more insightful yet bitingly funny YA than this.

Hello, book people! I am the book content editor for Reactor Mag and I'm looking for 2026 sci-fi, fantasy, horror, romantasy, and speculative books coming out in the second half of the year! If you have an adult or YA SFF/H book out July-Dec (or publicist), share the link/info here!