Elizabeth McCracken
@elizmccrack.bsky.social
📤 5425
📥 377
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Complete fiction
open.substack.com/pub/elizabet...
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November Song
Early morning Barton Springs Swim Report 11/11/2025
https://open.substack.com/pub/elizabethmccracken/p/november-song?r=bk77n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
1 day ago
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Elizabeth McCracken
Benjamin Dreyer
3 days ago
More on this—quite a lot more on this—soon, but in the meantime: If you're a writer of fiction (and/or maybe simply a writer or a person), you really need to preorder
@elizmccrack.bsky.social
's A Long Game, which is both enthralling and inspiring. (And sharp as a stiletto.)
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A Long Game
From bestselling and award-winning author and professor Elizabeth McCracken comes an irresistible look at the art of writing. Writing can feel like an endle...
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/a-long-game-elizabeth-mccracken?variant=43711700205602
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Elizabeth McCracken
Jenny Staff Johnson
7 days ago
I just think it’s cool when someone who isn’t an elderly racist wins
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The matchup we've been waiting for.
16 days ago
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Elizabeth McCracken
Susan (George) Schorn
17 days ago
Two local stories, four days apart: Greg Abbott sends his goons out to "clean" homeless encampments in Austin; homeless people get pushed into creeks, creeks flood, homeless people drown. The governor of Texas literally is literally, intentionally, flushing the unhoused down the sewers.
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I am chuffed to the point of unpleasantness to have a story in this year's Best American Short Stories, chosen by the wonderful
@pronounced-ing.bsky.social
!
21 days ago
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elizabethmccracken.substack.com/p/every-day-...
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Every Day, A New Fata Morgana
Barton Springs Early Morning Swim Report, 10/18/2025 & 10/19/2025
https://elizabethmccracken.substack.com/p/every-day-a-new-fata-morgana
24 days ago
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This morning the American Express representative thanked me for several decades of membership, & my "love and trust." You misunderstand our relationship, thought I.
26 days ago
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www.statesman.com/opinion/colu...
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After 35 years at UT Austin, I hardly recognize my university | Opinion
What was once a beacon of access and discovery is now fighting for its soul and mission as political attacks upend norms, rules and rights, Lisa L. Moore writes.
https://www.statesman.com/opinion/columns/your-voice/article/opinion-35-years-ut-austin-hardly-recognize-21089836.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3RhdGVzbWFuLmNvbS9vcGluaW9uL2NvbHVtbnMveW91ci12b2ljZS9hcnRpY2xlL29waW5pb24tMzUteWVhcnMtdXQtYXVzdGluLWhhcmRseS1yZWNvZ25pemUtMjEwODk4MzYucGhw&time=MTc2MDExMzQ3NjIxNg%3D%3D&rid=ZmM4ZTg0ZTgtMGU4Yi00ZjgyLWJkNmMtNzVjMzdhNDA1MGNm&sharecount=MQ%3D%3D&fbclid=IwY2xjawNdWa5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHmIiUd9Yv5TwqSHHGM3ddzfME2yTAuTKiQiE_sfbLJbH95gE6qadWTAFjDrS_aem_bYLT32wYZE-i02MzhVAofg
27 days ago
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I like a president who doesn't have the time *or* inclination to weigh in on the choice of Super Bowl halftime performer.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
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Elizabeth McCracken
Bookshop.org
about 1 month ago
Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day? Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚
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Elizabeth McCracken
Hello! I am teaching a course for the splendid American Short Fiction MFA for All, on physicality in fiction. I have a lot of thoughts on the subject. Kevin Wlson & Tommy Orange are also teaching! Deadline to sign up for my class is 10/5.
americanshortfiction.org/mfa-for-all/
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MFA for All - American Short Fiction
MFA for ALL MFA for All was born from our desire to create a space where MFA-quality instruction is widely accessible to writers no matter their age, background, location, or financial situation. MFA ...
https://americanshortfiction.org/mfa-for-all/
about 1 month ago
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Elizabeth McCracken
Nick Arvin
about 1 month ago
An amazing graph, what happens when you destigmatize a behavior.
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Elizabeth McCracken
AAUP chapter @UT Austin
about 1 month ago
A thread on the illegality of the Texas Tech president’s letter banning reference to more than two genders. We saw a similar confusion of EO’s with law and a similar overriding of free speech and academic freedom in the Texas A@M case.
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Hello! I am teaching a course for the splendid American Short Fiction MFA for All, on physicality in fiction. I have a lot of thoughts on the subject. Kevin Wlson & Tommy Orange are also teaching! Deadline to sign up for my class is 10/5.
americanshortfiction.org/mfa-for-all/
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MFA for All - American Short Fiction
MFA for ALL MFA for All was born from our desire to create a space where MFA-quality instruction is widely accessible to writers no matter their age, background, location, or financial situation. MFA ...
https://americanshortfiction.org/mfa-for-all/
about 1 month ago
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I have to Zoom into a class & be a head on a screen on a wall, which always reminds me of this excellent ad for prunes starring Ray Bradbury (written & narrated by Stan Freberg).
www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...
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Ray Bradbury Sunsweet Prunes commercial (1969) written & narrated by Stan Freberg
YouTube video by vson8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=wjQZh2gEpNQ
about 2 months ago
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Elizabeth McCracken
Harry McCracken
about 2 months ago
Also, a public service message rightly reminding us that escalators are terrifying and may gobble up your child.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zirp...
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1970's Escalator Safety Public Information Film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zirp59zm1qE
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reposted by
Elizabeth McCracken
Laura Sell
about 2 months ago
"More professors in the United States have been fired for controversial views in the past week than any other week in all of American history."
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
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Censorship Is the Authoritarian’s Dream
The right to free expression must include the right to say horrible and evil things.
https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/columns/debatable-ideas/2025/09/19/censorship-authoritarians-dream
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Elizabeth McCracken
Harry McCracken
about 2 months ago
The cartoons published upon Walt Disney’s death in 1966 double nicely as cartoons about the present Jimmy Kimmel situation.
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Elizabeth McCracken
Max Phillips
about 2 months ago
It's over. No way Mandami comes back from this one.
add a skeleton here at some point
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Elizabeth McCracken
Julia Is Moisturized, Unbothered, Not Asking for Money
3 months ago
can a Magic 8-Ball suffer? we interviewed a few, and the answers may surprise you! REPLY HAZY, TRY AGAIN OUTLOOK NOT SO GOOD IT IS CERTAIN SIGNS POINT TO YES BETTER NOT TELL YOU NOW
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elizabethmccracken.substack.com/p/at-sea-but...
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At Sea But Not at Swim
Bath Update After Way Too Long
https://elizabethmccracken.substack.com/p/at-sea-but-not-at-swim
3 months ago
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Elizabeth McCracken
Renée Graham 🏳️🌈
3 months ago
Texas Republicans are holding a Black woman, a Democratic state rep, hostage in the legislative chamber. They have locked the doors and have banned her from leaving.
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Instagram suggested that I might like to purchase this Prada straw visor, the most expensive, depressing piece of headgear of all time. To be worn, apparently, with sequins and a yellow raincoat.
3 months ago
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Hello! This fall I am working with the excellent folks at American Short Fiction as part of their MFA for all online program (alongside the wonderful Tommy Orange and Kevin Wilson). You can study with one or all of us or even 2/3rds.
americanshortfiction.org/mfa-for-all/
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MFA for All - American Short Fiction
MFA for ALL MFA for All was born from our desire to create a space where MFA-quality instruction is widely accessible to writers no matter their age, background, location, or financial situation. MFA ...
https://americanshortfiction.org/mfa-for-all/
3 months ago
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"The humanities tell us who we are. Without them, we're automata." Edward Carey, Celsius 232 Festival, Avilés, Spain.
4 months ago
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Left Texas. Currently in Madrid.
4 months ago
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As promised: when I picked up my copy of Loving Day from BookPeople, they had stuck a sticker with my last name on the spine, over
@matjohnson.bsky.social
's. I have left it there ever since. It makes me laugh, as though I am lazily insisting I wrote this brilliant book.
4 months ago
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Elizabeth McCracken
Texas Public Radio
5 months ago
Yvette Benavides reflects on the power of short fiction to convey what we might not have the words for. "Birdsong from the Radio" is from the collection The Souvenir Museum by Elizabeth McCracken. Read More👉
www.tpr.org/podcast/book-pu...
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Elizabeth McCracken
Missing The Point
4 months ago
Never vote for a bill that causes you to look like this afterwards:
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Elizabeth McCracken
Mara Wilson
4 months ago
How could people even believe that there IS such a thing as a child crisis actor? I WAS a child actor. We are not that good. Ever seen a school play?
add a skeleton here at some point
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Gonna take this to the airport to see where it will take me. (Haven't lived at that address for 25 years.)
5 months ago
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It's the 50th anniversary of Jaws, yes, but it's also the 50th anniversary of Mr. Jaws.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDNl...
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Dickie Goodman "Mr. Jaws"
YouTube video by Spin That 45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDNlSpKLEEo
5 months ago
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There is good news in this world: at one of my favorite places in Austin, the recycling depot, I went to the scrap metal station and asked where to put my metal hangers, and the guy said, "No! More! Metal! Hangers!"
5 months ago
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Elizabeth McCracken
Frog and Toad Are Dead
5 months ago
i have nothing but contempt for a Democratic Party that supports Cuomo
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Elizabeth McCracken
Kate Heartfield
5 months ago
Literally "war is peace."
add a skeleton here at some point
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Elizabeth McCracken
Crystal Frasier
5 months ago
I cannot emphasize this enough that for YEARS: -trans women played various women’s sports. -trans kids got medical assistance as they and their parents needed. -trans folk could get accurate documents. -trans folk used the bathrooms that felt appropriate. AND NOTHING BAD HAPPENED.
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Hand to God, somebody told me that while at Yale, the VP of these United States was known as Vivian Vance. I can think of no better time than now to exclusively refer to him this way.
5 months ago
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Elizabeth McCracken
D. A. Powell
5 months ago
This book is so brilliant and encouraging, even if you are not a fiction writer or even, for that matter, a writer, but love thinking about words and books. "Did I say that real life occurs in the present tense? I don't believe that. We live in a great simultaneity."
[email protected]
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open.substack.com/pub/elizabet...
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Question Authoritoadians
Midday Barton Springs Swum Report
https://open.substack.com/pub/elizabethmccracken/p/question-authoritoadians?r=bk77n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
5 months ago
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Just to be clear: I have no intention of eating it myself. It's for someone else.
add a skeleton here at some point
5 months ago
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Disrespected my mother's memory this morning by buying a French-toast flavored bagel.
5 months ago
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I stand with salamanders, & against authoritoads.
5 months ago
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Elizabeth McCracken
The Museum of English Rural Life
5 months ago
ChatGPT is down but The Museum of English Rural Life still stands, proving once again that Silicon Valley cannot compete with the history of rural England and its people.
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Elizabeth McCracken
Michael Taeckens
5 months ago
A new book from
@elizmccrack.bsky.social
is cause for celebration! 🎉 Get an up-close look at her brilliant, delightfully idiosyncratic, & uber-funny notes on writing fiction in A LONG GAME, coming Dec. 2 from
@eccobooks.bsky.social
. Pre-order:
www.harpercollins.com/products/a-l...
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I am going through old boxes, because I'm moving both soon & eventually (have to teach in the fall) and have found many oddities which I will share here, but first I wish to report something I'd forgotten: My old pal Jeff Conant had a band called Nebuchadnezzer Pez Dispenser.
5 months ago
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Went with my kid to see Dr. Strangelove which has somehow become a documentary.
5 months ago
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My coolest colleague.
add a skeleton here at some point
6 months ago
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Elizabeth McCracken
Steve Vladeck
6 months ago
It’s hard to put into words just how comprehensively this bill is going to hurt public colleges and universities in Texas—especially UT.
add a skeleton here at some point
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Elizabeth McCracken
Micah Bateman
6 months ago
Here's my ten-minute presentation on supporting creative writers in libraries, which is part of the American Library Association's "If We Could Have Just Ten Minutes of Your Time" series. There are some other awesome presentations in this webinar too, check them out!
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If We Could Have Just Ten Minutes of Your Time . . . Public Library Workers!
YouTube video by American Library Association
https://youtu.be/L_NOJBho0FE?si=B98MGSzfbfw4F2gB&t=2090
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