In today's "researching that detail you thought you'd never need to know": Miracle Whip. For a poem. Last week it was primate penises (and, no, not for the same project). This is what incognito/in-private mode in your browser was made for.

Another reason to disable (or at least ignore) AI-generated content, even in autocomplete. It changes how you think. www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-a...

There are a lot of reasons I recommend @scrivenerapp.bsky.social to new writers, but my favorite is how fully featured its Compile tool is. With a few clicks you can output to a near-publish-ready ePub or a crisp standard format manuscript for submission to requesting agents. It. Kicks. Ass.

Asymtotic extinction. Just relabel the axis.

Someone posted one of their publised poems here. I read it three times trying to understand the meaning behind the imagery, turning my brain inside out but not quite wrapping one in the other. Now, I read every post like it's a prose poem trying to reveal an inscrutable secret I'm falling to grasp.

‘Advice’ by Don Paterson (after Antonio Machado)

430 days of Duo Lingo did not prepare me to understand much of Bad Bunny's halftime show, but the energy was off the charts.🐇⚡️

Thread—see the question that spurred this response, too. Stuff I did not know.

Want more info on my #QuestPit project? Follow below for the skinny on SEVEN DAYS ON SAMARKAND! #A #SF #U #Q michaeltkuester.com/2026/01/31/q...

THE VISCOUNT WHO LOVED ME x THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA MY SWEET UNBECOMING, an adult gothic romance with: 🕯️Forbidden Romance 🕯️High Society matchmaking 🕯️Black Swan-esque awakening 🕯️Obsessive yearning 🕯️European setting 🕯️Secret lake meetings #W #A #R #questpit

THE EXORCIST X DONNIE DARKO Chris is haunted by Shadows since almost dying. They are increasing in power. A Red Eyed God talks of change. A Shadow with a hat seeks to use him for his dark purposes. 🍂 New England 💽 2000's nostalgia 🧹 Witchcraft 🌕️ Cosmic Horror #Questpit #H #Agentsguide

What would it be like if you woke up autistic? It would be a lot like what happens to Sophia in JUST AS REAL. She discovers she is accidentally trapped in an alternate reality full of horrible noises & strange people she has a hard time understanding. How can she adapt? #MG #SF #ND #OV #Q #QuestPit

Posting again for the later crew. #QuestPit #Q #A #T #SP #SF #HF 🦋

THE BODIES WE SHARE Pratchett X Tolkien X Atwood but queer&steamy 👨‍🎤sassy nonbinary spies 🧝pro-choice elves with special powers 🚫absolutely no kings 💖exes+enemies-to-lovers throuples 👩‍🎤badass femme leaders who know they’ll lose that election so they plan accordingly #QuestPit #SFF #Q #LGBT #NA

Continuum: Disunion by JJ Robinson II A novel, about 88,000 words Fugitives from a massacre are pursued to an unexplored planet, where they must find a way to stop their conflict or face the extinction of the human species. #QuestPit #Q #A #SF #writingcommunity #sciencefiction #writesky

If you like your #YA #SF a little more grounded and contemporary, maybe a little dystopian, my #QuestPit #Q post for Taylor-Made bsky.app/profile/sage...

#Editors THE THINGS WE RUN FOR ( #OnSubmission 2026!) Emma Bridge ran to find a safe home, but the town she picked is anything but. When she gets wrapped up in a cold case that threatens her siblings, who can she turn to while keeping her secrets safe? #QuestPit #YA #MY #R #AG #OS #OWN #LGBT

Thread of my #questpit pitches bsky.app/profile/magg...

WHERE ECHOES WAIT #W #A #H #LF A woman restoring a remote Cornish manor slowly loses her sense of where her mind ends and the house begins. The village knows the pattern. They just won't say it out loud. Epistolary gothic horror. #QUESTPIT

Thread of my #questpit posts 🤍

A DEVOTION SO RUINOUS is a 90K adult fantasy following Soraya, a young woman tormented by a jinn, a dictator, and her first love, as she fights for freedom 🏳️‍🌈 LGBT characters 🧠 Mental Health Rep 🌍 Middle Eastern Setting ✨ Gods Based Magic System ❤️ Lovers To Enemies #️⃣ Own Voices #QuestPit #Q #F #A

Generational dysfunction and a broken justice system forced me to choose between accepting a guilty charge and protecting my son from the man who said he was going to ruin my life. Luckily I learned some things in jail. #Questpit #q #NF #M #OWN

THE OFFICE X GOOD OMENS A satire of both business and the supernatural, Virgil Mora, Hell's Consultant, must restore Heaven's faith in Hell by saving a vampire-run Ohio gas station in just three months to save his job and Lucifer, the angel he's fallen for. #QuestPit #W #A #F #LGBT

An agent’s guide to THE SLOW BURN 🚒🎄 She’s an event planner with her promotion on the line. He’s a firefighter, and her dad is his chief. Together, they have to pull off the fire department’s holiday gala 👀 #questpit #a #r #q #amquerying

Hopeful rebel and charismatic sailor race to save the cosmos from climate disaster. Optimistic politics, ancient swords, easy romances, and unlikely friendships form a thoughtful romp through the “Veins of the Ether”. What’s more important: a revolution, or what comes after? #questpit #sff #f #sf

In LOVE HITS BIG, a free-spirited roller derby skater crashes unexpectedly into love with a man who is on a collision course to demolish the animal shelter she runs. This novel is for people who love steamy sports romance and romantic comedies with sharp banter. #questpit #W #A #R

Posting again for the later crew. #QuestPit #Q #A #T #SP #SF #HF 🦋

When a surprise attack forces an emergency launch of the Ares VI Mars rocket, a promising young female engineer must survive the six-month journey to Mars—alone. “The Martian” for middle grade. #QuestPit #MG #SF #STEM #Q

Just As Real Sophia doesn't understand her world. Sophia doesn't want to understand her world. Trapped in an alternate reality full of strange people and horrible noises, a fifth-grader has to learn to cope as she carves out her own niche. #MG #SF #ND #OV #Q #QuestPit

Do synthetic animals have souls? Do they feel pain? And what does it cost to cheat your way into a perfect city built on pretending they don’t? 🛰️ Futuristic solarpunk Ukraine 🛰️ Conspiracy and scientific drama 🛰️ Queer enemies-to-lovers (with real enemies) #SF #R #LGBTQ #W #QuestPit

CLINGING TO THE STONES explores: 💫Humans vs. Structures. 💫The weight of history & legacy. 💫Can we reshape our dying world without compromising our morality? 💫When faith is a weapon, who is truly saved? #QuestPit #Q #A #F #agentsguide #SFF #amquerying #booktwt

PLURIBUS X UNDER THE SKIN. Reed transforms into an octopus to sever people from a collective consciousness, consuming their memories to feel real. When a victim calls him by his TRUE name, Reed will raise oceans to learn who he was. #Q #questpit #A #SF #amquerying

When a gang of wild west outlaws finds a device that lets them travel to parallel worlds they’ll use it for the obvious – to rob a bank in a different world and disappear without a trace. Unless they encounter steam-powered obstacles, that is. #QuestPit #A #SF #steampunk

SPELL BOUND x THE SUNBEARER TRIALS Mother Nature's dying. Cheerful summer prince Ray (16yo) battles brooding Jack Frost (17yo) to inherit her powers. W/ Jack's frozen 🩵 melting in a world of climate change, Ray may have to lose the contest to save the boy he loves #QuestPit #Q #YA #F #LGBT #CliFi

EVENT HORIZON X STARGATE When tasked with testing new wormhole tech, Ama, an amnesiac, finds that she can speak with her new mycelium starship psychically. Can she find herself in deep space? Or will she lose her head, literally, to the Synacran Empire hunting her? #QuestPit #A #W #SF

Dear Citizen of Calasca, We're happy to inform you that you've been selected to join us on Last Chance Match. Congratulations! A CivilBot will pick you up shortly. We look forward to seeing you soon. 𝘼𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤'𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧? #questpit #w #revising #A #S #SF #R #H #D

EARTHLINGS! BODY SNATCHERS x THE RUNAWAYS When a 2nd generation alien sleeper cell is ordered to abduct her human friend, she saves her and goes rogue instead. Now her fellow operatives must track her down, but will the help her to sabotage the coming invasion instead? 📖 #questpit #W #YA #SF

SAILOR MOON x HANNAH MONTANA x TRON By day, Mia & her friends are a hot pop group. By night they're vigilantes who fight virus monsters in a metaverse. ⚡️Mixed race & Chinese rep 🐶TALKING CORGI 🔥Magical Cyber Girls 🗺️Diaspora themes 💞Rivals to lovers #questpit #ya #f #sf #poc #q

F/NB WAYFARERS x MURDERBOT Ship's cook Tai is horrified to discover their new crewmate is a terrifying alien: an ordinary human woman. Now Tai's stuck with bickering crewmates, sinister criminals, explosions, and worse, a human who wants to be friends. #QuestPit #Q #SF #A #R #LGBT

AMARI x LOKI Kori, 12, finds herself stuck in a cryfest & painful menty b's after her mom dies When a meteor opens a portal, doppelgängers chase her. Kori learns their fates are bound & her grief transcends the multiverse Now, Kori must save herself — from herself! #QuestPit #MG #S #SF #Q #POC

When marauders menace her village, an empath-scholar leads an odyssey across the climate-ravaged former US to retrieve a rumored key to peace, before her people are obliterated. Clan of the Cave Bear x A Psalm for the Wild-Built 🔮 #EarthMagic #tarot 🌪️ #CliFi 🌷 #Hopepunk #S #Q #Questpit #booksky

Coming soon to agent inboxes! • • • ANNIHILATION x BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN 💫two exiled men (and their secrets) 💫one lunar prison (and its horrors) 💫a cosmic entity that wants them dead 💫the love they’ll lose if they don’t survive #SF #H #R #LGBT #amquerying #QuestPit

CABIN IN THE WOODS × JOHN DIES AT THE END When their detective friend is murdered at their annual gaming retreat, 5 dads must rely on years of #TTRPG experience—and puns—to solve the crime before they're all killed off like NPCs in a badly written supernatural campaign. #QuestPit #A #H #MY #Q

HOW HIGH WE GO IN THE DARK  x THE END OF MEN After a women’s plague, a farmer contemplates the end, when a woman who shouldn’t exist kills a thief on his farm. They flee reprisals across a frozen prairie & battle into the wilds where survivors plan to save humanity. At all costs. #QuestPit #A #SF #Q

Dogsitting Orion, my kid's poodle service dog. He has separation anxiety. Found a "calming music for dogs" playlist. Semi-successful at its labeled use. Who knew there was so much ambient music still being produced? Reminds me of O'Hare's slidewalk tunnel, though that's called "Music for Airports."

Remembering Solana Beach, 2022.

As authors, so much of our success is beyond our ability to influence. Here are the things we can and can’t control.