this post is even funnier with the fancy uk schools labeler on

Past Sarah is usually very helpful keeping Present and Future Sarah keep cracking on, but my gosh, I left myself a note to cancel something today and I had NO idea wtf I'm talking about.

It's the first Friday of the month, which means I'm back on @smartbitches.bsky.social talking new queer romances! smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/01/janu...

See why do we have to have like bigots and Nazis and hating other people for stupid ass reasons when I just looked at my planet from the surface of another planet and I don't even have shoes on. I'm in Soft House Clothes and slippers looking at my planet on my phone. What.

And the other was a remembrance of prolific cover artist Robert McGinnis, who died earlier this year, for @smartbitches.bsky.social: smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/robe...

The BBC What in the World? podcast did a neat segment on Rrrrrrrrromantasy and included me in the final production!

Here's another thing about Kickstarter: payout is 2 weeks after the campaign ends. Not 2 months or 6 months or more than a year (or more, as at the start of my career) before royalties arrive. *2 weeks!* I've done many Ks for my indie movies; this was my first book, but not the last.

TIL: Before Hans Asperger or Leo Kanner, a Jewish-Ukrainian psychiatrist named Grunya Sukhareva defined autism in 1925. Both men did not cite her work. She also had documented how it affected women and girls, where the men did not. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunya_...

First titles posted!

Requested a correction from @princetonupress.bsky.social. Let's see what happens.

Happy to let you know that in the northern hemisphere we’ve now done the darkest two weeks in the year. All the other 50 weeks will be lighter than this.

Stumbleupon was so great

Putting the "boo" back in the booty.

Do you want a haunted ass? Because this is how you get a haunted ass.

🎉🎉🎉

Also, Hello Kitty isn't even the best character in the Hello Kitty universe:

@smartbitches.bsky.social thank you to everyone on the Holiday Wishes podcast eps that recommended Cinder House by @freyamarske.bsky.social . I just devoured it and I think it is my favorite read of 2025. ❤️

Today Julia Quinn announced JQ Editions, a historical romance special edition subscription service launching on Kickstarter in January. This announcement set my whole brain on fire: it's an intersection of several trends happening within romance. smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/12/juli...

***Other guests*** have talked about how much they loved this episode. it's really, really good.

When the polite, cultured Dr. Pepper consumes a special draught, he turns into the brutish, monstrous Mr. Pibb.

I realize this makes me sound like a fusspot but I really really dislike when someone's deeply emotionally vulnerable moment is filmed and put on social media like everyone needs to feast on a share of their trauma. I don't understand and I don't like it. Fetishizing emotions is gross.

It’s going to be some bullshit respectability from the center and some bullshit bleating about identity politics from the left and some bullshit religious forgiveness from the right. I’m just going to expire from unrequited rage.

It happened again!

FINALLY, a recap worthy of the show: “Heated Rivalry is a skillfully-written, tightly-made show with some of the best acting talent I’ve ever seen. It’s sincere, it’s about big feelings...It works because it’s a romance, and because it sticks to the romance beats.”

Candy is back with a gift for everyone: a recap of  Heated Rivalry ep. 5 just before the finale drops.  "I don’t know if my heart can keep growing; Jacob Tierney, you’re giving me dilated cardiomyopathy." https://bit.ly/HRep5

We watched Red One and it was genuinely one of the worst movies we've ever seen. Likely truly. We had the greatest time. Even when we took an extended intermission to toast bagels.

Quilting is fun because it doesn’t have to be subtle. My wall quilts literally say “fuck.”

In the past 8 years, I've somehow landed on the phone and text distribution lists for two different churches. One in Tennessee and one in North Carolina. Sunday school is cancelled this week but everyone is invited to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services. Potluck rescheduled for Wednesday.

Just passed the Life in the UK exam. A huge thank you to @gregjenner.bsky.social the hilarious and informative You’re Dead to Me has been instrumental in providing much-needed context for the required history component.

Parisot (the Director) tells a story about how Tim Allen just started crying after a scene one day "I don't like these feelings i'm having." Says Tim. "I'm going back to my trailor" and walks off. There's silence for a second. "Oh my god." Says Rickman. "I think Tim just experienced acting."

Whether she's crossing a picket line in Pittsburgh or destroying CBS News, Bari Weiss is still the Uber Shonda. So embarrassingly inept, the ancestors cringe.

People will speak of this moment in hushed tones, with wide eyes and sounds of reverent awe, for behold: A paperback copy of a Rachel Reid book has been seen.

Tonight’s dumb napkin cartoon…

My latest for @thebookseller.com Thanks to everyone who helped with this one! www.thebookseller.com/news/authors...

Sometimes the scroll is startlingly on point.

I logged into an old save of Stardew Valley. I'm married, I have two kids but they appear to be missing, I'm brewing beer and wine in the middle of the bedroom and I'm terrible at fishing. Past Sarah set up some chaos and then logged out.

Guess what? Candy is back with a recap of episode four of Heated Rivalry! As she put it, "...you know what would be fun? Reliving the trauma of episode 4 together!" It's important that everyone's angst and agony be at proper levels prior to episode 5.  https://bit.ly/HRCandy

Come for the flailing, stay for the Yeats joke!

Guess what? Candy is back with a recap of episode four of Heated Rivalry! As she put it, "...you know what would be fun? Reliving the trauma of episode 4 together!" It's important that everyone's angst and agony be at proper levels prior to episode 5.  https://bit.ly/HRCandy

My sense is that the “male loneliness crisis” is not really about addressing men’s emotional needs but rather the relatively newfound absence of having someone to perform domestic labor for you quietly in the background now that there is a longer gap between your mother and your wife doing it

The U.S. is giving dying mall vibes. I can't explain it, but you know I'm right.

The SF Cacophony Society used to do a yearly "post-Yule pyre" on the beach. The last one I know of was in 2014; I got this photo from above where you can just make out the people gathered around for scale...

in high school my friends and I spent one january driving around our small town, looking for discarded trees. We'd take them out to our friend's farm and pile them in the middle of an empty field, and then on prom night (in MAY) we set them on fire biggest damn fire I have EVER seen

My former boss once told me that back in the 40 in New York City, he and his friends would spot all the dead Xmas trees at the curb and would drop matches on them one after another. "You never saw something burn so big and fast." So yeah, water your festive buddy consistently.

Our final weekly gift guide has arrived, with gift suggestions for folks who love sparkly things, tarot, astrology, the stars, puzzles, and more!  What's on your wishlist?  https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/stuffwelike/holiday-gift-guide-2025-sparkly-witchy-vibes/

One is reminded, as ever, of the aristocratic exiles dragging their prejudices back into power in 1815, having learned nothing & forgotten nothing, with nothing to offer but resentment for the brief time in which someone else tried to insist they were not the natural rulers of society.

Holy cow Arlington Library, thank you for including Lighting the Flames! Look at the company I am in!

It’s the first night of Hanukkah and the world seems like a very dark place. But we can bring light to the darkness. We can fight for each other and make goodness, love, and community shine through. Show me your menorahs and let’s light up the timeline!

This was the first movie I saw in a theater with surround sound. It was an EXPERIENCE. There was a fire alarm in the middle so we all had to plod outside. My heart was racing until we got back to our seats. Tornadoes! I was in one! Also, Phillip Seymour Hoffman was clearly having a great time.