Today my 7yo skipped his video game window entirely, to go outside and play with his new skateboard. Santa knocked it out of the park this year, y'all.

Working on craft while querying is keeping me sane. I saw some advice recently about looking at character descriptions holistically, so I pulled all of my character introduction visuals into a single document to see how they worked together. It was a really useful exercise! #booksky #amquerying

It's unsettling to read a book and find multiple similarities to my unpublished work. I know that Cryptomnesia is a thing (Jung even caught Nietzsche doing it) but when it's a book I've never read before... 😕 More proof that nothing is original except in the telling, but it still bugs me. #booksky

Does anyone have some psychological horror recommendations (Shirley Jackon-esque), preferably with supernatural elements? If it's something published in the last 5 years that'd be amazing. Caveat: Please no stories that include harming children. Thanks #booksky 💙📚 !!!

We talk a lot about jealousy in the querying trenches. But does anyone talk about fear of success? Imagining the next step, like getting The Call, lights up my entire sympathetic nervous system. Anyone else? How do you cope? #booksky #authorsofbluesky #amquerying

Writer brain is so weird. I was reading about publishing contracts, trying NOT to think about the book I'm querying, and suddenly I got a flash of knowledge that will help my fmc beat the Big Bad if I'm able to make it a trilogy. Plus it's foreshadowed in book 1 without needing any edits. #booksky

Unpopular opinion: I am overjoyed that my gray hairs are popping in curly. My mom had curly hair and loved that mine was straight. Now mine gets to be a little more like hers was, if not quite the same. Mostly brown, now decorated with silver spiral tinsel. #unapologeticaging

I don't know what it is, but imposter syndrome hits me SO HARD when I try to outline. This is why I'm a plantser. I need structure, or else my characters just hang out. But I can only come up with any halfway decent ideas while I'm doing the actual drafting and I'm deep in the characters' heads.

Does anyone else get weirdly productive when sick? It's like my brain is too tired to fight me on things. I make more typos. If I talk out loud, I'll probably ramble about coffee, my inability to code-switch, or cough like I'm dying. But stressful emails? Gotcha covered. I knocked out 45 by lunch.

my obsessive kid now wants to play an instrument he woke up and chose violins

The feminine urge to go on a wild tangent about how my YA novel is secretly a Jungian alchemy thesis about self-acceptance, shadow work, and processing trauma and neurodivergence. There’s also a cult, magic vines, monsters, and a ball pit. I will not be elaborating. #booksky #amwriting

Welp, I was supposed to be resting, but I accidentally started my book 2 outline because "resting" means "indulging in BookTube mini documentaries with my cat" and the idea mill started turning again. #booksky #amwriting #ya #woops

Absolutely vile. #booksky Court documents show not only did Meta torrent terabytes of pirated books to train AI models, employees wouldn't stop emailing each other about it: 'Torrenting from a corporate laptop doesn't feel right' www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...

#Indieauthor #writingcommunity #amwriting #authorsky #writersky

There's something wildly comforting in the fact that no story, not the one you're writing and not the one you read in school, is perfect. Sure there are rules, grammar and syntax and methods to engage your reader and keep your prose tight. (1/2) #booksky 💙📚 #amwriting

At Xitter and Facebook, scammers claiming to offer “marketing services” to writers are rampant – and like vermin sneaking aboard a ship they're following us here. Let’s stop ‘em with this handy moderation list! #authorsky bsky.app/profile/inventingrea...

My son, after someone said "67" on a youtube video: "67 is all around us! You can't avoid it!" Me: "I thought love was all around us. It's nearly Christmas, after all." #momlife

Quiet week on here, but we finally got the lights on the tree last night! 😄 I'm head-down for December and taking a short querying break. Parenting, work, and holiday prep in full swing. Also planning ahead for spring book events in Texas. They'll be my first ever, so I'm excited! #booksky 💙📚

Me: "Your butt does not control people's minds!" 7yo: "It can actually K.O. people!" Me: "What are you, Wario?" 7yo: *laughter and fart noises* #momlife

Honestly, these days, I'd rather read a book on the shorter side. Mostly it's because my time is so limited. Between full-time work, parenting, spending time with my spouse, working on my own novel, health, chores, it took me ~6 months just to read Howl's Moving Castle. #booksky 💙📚 #BookishQOTD 📖🦋

One of my dream agents just opened for queries! Aaaand she doesn't rep my genre. Gonna go pout in a corner for a bit, then dust myself off and get back to work. My Disney princess cult horror self-acceptance fever dream isn't gonna query itself. #amquerying #justnotthatagent #BookSky 💙📚

Darn it! I’ve been really productive today. Yesterday I took a full day off. I set one appointment for an errand after I found out I couldn’t go same-day, and spent the rest of the time relaxing. So why on earth do I have PROOF that rest makes me more productive and energized? Not fair. 😅

Your last saved meme is your moral philosophy Oh no.

Sharing an excerpt of a scene that was brutal to write. I had to be alone, in the dark, Akira Yamaoka in my ears, secrets hidden in the mist, dread and discomfort growing step by step. In The Refinement, silence is weaponized. This moment captures it best. #YAFantasy #amquerying #BookSky 💙📚

Introduce yourself with five books you’ve said more than once that you “really should read one day” but still haven’t: Catch-22 The Screwtape Letters Man and His Symbols Slaughterhouse-Five I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings 📚💙 #BookSky

OH MY GOSH rejection 8 was PERSONALIZED! I'm so happy I'm vibrating. She says my pitch is fun, and the academia setting is a fan favorite right now so I should keep querying. Eee! I know you're not supposed to respond when an agent passes, but I am SO happy and grateful. #booksky #hope #amquerying

Ah, man. I think I just vastly improved my query letter after a YouTube video I watched during lunch about character motivations gave me an "aha" moment, and of course it's after 32 queries were sent out. Live and learn, right? #woops #amquerying #booksky

You guys have any good querying music? I feel like it should be different from my writing music. #booksky #amquerying #querytrenches #soundtrack

Just posted my pitch for #writerpit @writerpit.bsky.social on Instagram! Here are the images if you want a peek. It's a YA dark fantasy for fans of A Study in Drowning who binge-watch cult documentaries, with a climax that's pure Jacob's-Ladder-but-make-it-Disney-Princess chaos. #booksky #YAbooks

Took my kid to the park today, put on eyeliner, and made myself take a selfie. Selfies are still an anxiety trigger, but I’m trying to get comfortable being seen. One step at a time. #writerlife #realnotperfect #anxiety

Why do I keep seeing youtube ads for Coach purses? The ads for Reedsy, coffee, and therapy make sense. But why does the algorithm think I'd ever consider a brand-name purse? It took me a literal year of thinking before I bought a sweatshirt off Etsy. #whytho #budgetauthor #confusedmillennial

Happy Thanksgiving! Grateful for the changes this year: resuming to my dream of publishing a book and learning about my brain's differences and how I can manage them. Also exceptionally grateful for my family of ND boys and cats, and our pajamas & video game style holidays. #thanksgiving #cozyvibes

To be honest, I partly want to get an agent who likes my book just so I can geek out about all the ~*secret foreshadowing*~ I set up in book 1 for books 2&3. #guninthefirstact #butmorelikestars #amquerying #writersofbluesky

Hey, so I clearly don't know how to Bluesky yet. Looking for friends who are: - neurodivergent - book-obsessed - cats - Danny Kaye fans - psychology nerds - introverts - fiber artists (knit/crochet) - coffee and pastries (if you are a pastry, hi!) #halp #imniceipromise #iam50percentcoffeemyself

My son asked for pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream, so I made a QUART of whipped cream. Because if it's not overkill, I'm not doing it right. Oh, and I'm up to 7 rejections! Happy Thanksgiving Eve! #bskywriters #thanksgiving #baking

Being an adult is basically exactly like Ratatouille except you're both the clueless human AND the rat who's trying so so hard to make him do things and also it's way less funny and you don't live in Paris

Ad: Are you in X demographic? (millennial, parent, neurodivergent, burned-out gifted kid, Suzuki kid, querying author, etc.) Me: Why yes I am! Ad: Do you love adventure?! Me: No. *scrolls* Ooh, pictures of cats!

with that, they absolutely deserve to shine. I just ask that you allow the wips to shine in #wippit and refrain from posting query ready or published books. We have lots of events for those projects, you can check @thewriterscalendar.bsky.social for dates, I'll do my best to keep them up to date.

Calendar Directional: (links to each one)

LOOK I found a future reader in the wild! SQUEE!!! This seriously made my whole week. (Quote posted with permission.) #YAauthor #AmQuerying #QueryTrenches #AuthorJourney #writersofbluesky

Just queried an agent who lists ONE as one of her favorite creators. (Pun impossible to avoid.) Genuinely thrilled she’s an agent who doesn’t send rejections. If I got a form response I’d cry and cry.

20 queries sent, 6 rejections collected, and the last 3 didn’t even make me cry!! Good job, me. #YAauthor #AmQuerying #QueryTrenches #AuthorJourney #writersofbluesky

What animals do you want to befriend before you die? My list: Elephant Fuzzy cow Armadillo Donkey Corvid (crow or raven, NOT bluejay) Seal #AnimalsOfBluesky #AnimalLovers #WildlifeWednesday #CozyWeb #SoftQuestions

You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! Never spend an hour researching an agency when every agent is closed to queries! #selfown #amquerying #querytrenches

Queried one of my top choice agents, eek! I'm just excited to be in the pile honestly. Knowing she'll read my ideas is neat even if chances are low regardless. Plus I keep refining (ha, title pun) my query materials as I go. #YAauthor #AmQuerying #QueryTrenches #AuthorJourney #writersofbluesky

Spent way too much time in Canva last night, but it was a good distraction from the query trenches. New cover art for The Refinement: Mercury, plus mock-ups and trope notes for my other 3 WIPs. Which one's your favorite? Which WIP should I focus on first? #YABooks #amquerying

Hey friends, found out about this fake Captcha recently. If you happen to stumble on a website where you see this, do NOT follow the steps. Get out of there and run a malware scan instead. #scamalert #fakecaptcha

By the way, I crochet sometimes. I've been doing it since I was 6 and my Grandma taught me how to chain, so I sat there and chained half a skein. Here's a dump of my favorite makes! Ones that I got decent pictures of anyway. #crochet #CrochetAddict #CrochetCommunity #writerslife

I got my first form rejection! I know it's taboo to respond so I won't, but I wish I could reach out to thank her. It probably sounds silly, but this is a huge milestone for me (and it means that initial wait for the first one is over). #querytrenches #amquerying #1down99togo

Something just clicked. Trying to get a book published is a lot like being a parent, isn't it? You start with one problem that seems insurmountable, you get past it by just staying in the game. Your reward is getting to deal with a whole new problem that seems insurmountable! 🧵