So, since we have Yet More Discourse going on, I wanna toss out a thing because I keep seeing it come up. Writing is not always fun, and that’s actually pretty normal.

C'mere, pookie. We need to talk about how now is a difficult time for lots of people in publishing. Not just bc--*waves arms*--but bc we're seeing Best of the Year lists and Award Eligibility posts, and bc the last book deals of the year are being announced while sub times are longer than ever. 1/

… it's time for another Kickstarter. I'm still hammering out some details, but plan to launch in November. If you have an interest in this area, I'd love it if you signed up to be notified and/or shared the link with someone who would be. Read on for more info… www.kickstarter.com/projects/maj...

Just over two weeks left (!!!) to get your applications in for our first ever Wholehearted Writers Week. Come bring your whole self to write, learn, and build community just in time to kick off the new year. wholeheartedwriters.weebly.com

Things to expect from our conference: 1. A lively, lovingly moderated private Slack server for connecting with fellow writers and your four facilitators. Ask questions, share experiences, set goals, and report on your progress every day. #writersconference #w3 #writers

Not to attempt Discourse, but 3-item lists are not proof of AI writing. Human writers just LOVE 3-item lists, so AI mimics it. Long before LLMs, I was highlighting two or three or more lists per paragraph and begging writers to resist the urge. Same goes for em dashes. It’s us. The problem is us.

We originally published this in 2022, and its official title is 'Birds Are Real' but unofficially it is known as 'This is how you lose the safety war'.

Sunday marks five years since the murder of George Floyd

Tonight I’m sparkling at the IBPA awards dinner with 🌟IBPA Gold🏅 winner Linda Ruggeri (for ‘Networking for Writers’)!

I made a silent puppet film about Godzilla vs. Paul Bunyan. (thank you to @iamchubbybunny.bsky.social for Japanese translations and @okaywolf.ink for clanky piano!!)

Penguin Random House is looking for new queer voices and is currently taking unagented submissions for fiction and nonfiction by LGBTQ+ writers. www.instagram.com/p/DI9PlxCRp38/ #BookSky #QueerBookSky #LGBTQBooks #WritingCommunity 🌈📚

Just an editor wrapping up conference surveys from #ACES2025 while eyeing her inbox with suspicion... If we chatted at the conference, feel free to say hi here or drop me a note!

Vikings in the Mediterranean. Open access conference proceedings. Good reading! bora.uib.no/bora-xmlui/b...

The ACES conference this spring is in Salt Lake City. www.sltrib.com/news/politic...

well that alt text got me crying on a Tuesday morning

But did you know that elk dance in puddles in the woods when we’re not watching? 🤩 🔊 🎥 DanMaxwell

When discussing this strategy I've run into a lot of folks desperate for news. My suggestion is the one I just gave my mom, which is to watch PBS News Hour once per day. They will have had time to collect the day's events into a cogent narrative instead of disjointed headlines. And there's few ads

Me: Oh hey, improving my desk ergonomics is an easy 2025 goal to meet! Five days, one missing monitor arm plate, four screws of incorrect length, and two temporary reassemblies of my previous workspace later… 🤦🏻‍♀️

Being a person with deadly, incurable cancer who is nonetheless still alive for an indefinite timeframe gives me an interesting metaphor that helps me deal with things like large-scale corruption in government or commerce. Bear with me for a second while I try to explain.

I've teased people with this enough, here it is at last... GATEWAYS (Book of A Life) #ArtistBook. Mineral pigments in egg tempera on hand-cut paper, coptic binding with linen thread, cork for the cover. 28 × 20 × 7 cm, 1.9 kg. Completed: 13 January 2025. vimeo.com/1047527713

"The rules governing the exercise of power in a representative democracy should not — must not — be Calvinball." The MNGOP illegally seizes power in the statehouse. It's part of a pattern. From MSNBC. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Combining the 8.4 million individual exposures (2TB of data) into a single keogram covering the 4 years from 2021 upto 2025 shows the repeated change in length of the night, and also highlights the small differences in sunset and sunrise times due to the eccentric orbit of the Earth around the Sun.

For the 4th year in a row, my all-sky camera has been taking an image of the sky above the Netherlands every 15 seconds. Combining these images reveal the length of the night changing throughout the year, the passage of clouds and the motion of the Moon and the Sun through the sky. #astrophotography

Today I’m thrilled to have nabbed the very first copy of @madeleinevasaly.com's ‘The Proofreader’s Guide to Comic Book Style,’ hot off the presses, at a talk by Russell Harper, principal reviser of ‘The Chicago Manual of Style,’ risking some kind of ecstatic style singularity.

PSA: Because Internet is on sale! I think the description of Old Internet People vs successive generations of internet users in chapter 3 is particularly relevant to explaining the dynamics of bluesky 🦋

Admiring some of my favourite examples of brutalist architecture, finding inspiration in the primal power of raw concrete

K-12 education/publishing folks: Layoffs at NASA reportedly include the JPL K-12 education team, so curriculum resources at www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/ may not be available going forward. You may want to archive anything you reference frequently. (Layoff info is under News>JPL Workforce update.)

My phone just auto corrected "trauma dumping" to "trauma dumpling," so I painted this in case anyone would like a visual of my mental state. How's everyone else doing?

Just noting that Hope in the Dark and all of Rebecca Solnit’s essay books, along with a host of radical organizing titles, are on sale today and tomorrow at HaymarketBooks.org: 20% off print and ebooks for $2.

I ordered my copy! I can’t wait to see this guide in the world.

Today I printed my sample ballot from the state Secretary of State website, highlighted the competitive races, and made notes on my decisions. A+ plan, a million times easier than scribbled notes on a sticky note. Self, remember this for next time!

HOUSE OF EDITING HORRORS If I could, I would draw one of those cut-away houses where each room illustrates a different editing horror. The finale might be "I replaced a chapter while proofreading." But one of the big rooms would be "let's _collaborate_ in a _live_ file while you edit." Add rooms!

If ya don’t know, now ya know

Interesting article about what appears to be an uptick in the use of POD by non-small press publishers, and the decline in physical quality of paperbacks one bookseller is seeing lithub.com/have-you-pur...

Anxiety FEELS like action, but it's not. There's no prize for worrying. It just steals your time.

I have been granted my entirely unimpressive number!

Today, the AHA published a major report with findings from the most comprehensive study of secondary US history education undertaken in the 21st century. The AHA did not find indoctrination, politicization, or classroom malpractice. (1/10) www.historians.org/teaching-lea... 🗃️

Of all the side effects of our governor being tapped for VP, I did not expect garbage results when fact-checking titles of old-time dance music because conspiracy theorists put a t in Walz.

#medievalsky #booksky the ebook for The Bright Ages by @lollardfish.bsky.social & @profgabriele.com is on sale for $2.99 across several U.S. ebook sites (Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Google Play & Kobo). I highly recommend it (and if you don't, keep it movin' 👋)!

The Muppets are celebrating their 70th anniversary--and the first character they're spotlighting is Rowlf! That's the right choice. He's not the oldest Muppet--Kermit predates him by about 7 years--but he's one of the most important in helping build Jim Henson's name, company, and legacy. /1

Ok, it’s out now on academia.edu: www.academia.edu/123220223/Ou... And I’m about to tag all of #MedievalSky in the replies…

Xuan Loc Xuan

"To be truly radical is to make hope possible, rather than despair convincing.” Raymond Williams

I wish I’d had @madeleinevasaly.com’s forthcoming reference on proofreading comics for my first graphic novel edits. Coming soon!

Reposting this so I can find it—because I’m going to need it for the next while.

@romancingthevote.bsky.social is up and running, with a great selection of critiques, coaching, and other goodies for authors: www.32auctions.com/organization...

Mostly I do maps on commission. But sometimes I do other things, too. Like this, which I did recently for a book on Renaissance Italy.

Beginning/very new writers worry about a lot of things. How do I start? What if all my ideas are stupid? What can I do to make my work salable? Should I dig a hole in the woods and bury my computer and then dive to the bottom of the sea & be eaten by starfish? These are all valid questions. But!