Come out to @thewriterscenter.bsky.social Thursday next week in Bethesda to chat with @tomnavratil.bsky.social, Dine Watson, Elizabeth Bruce, and me to talk about unique paths to books and nurturing a writing life that works for you. writer.org/event/carvin...

Made a real mistake listening to 6 hours of Willie Nelson while road tripping through TX, it’s taking a few days to get that man’s voice out of my brain now. Gotta counter it with something v different.

Really missing this old place. Feels good to be back, if only for a visit.

Visiting family, staying in my old childhood bedroom in Texas. Pitch black morning, the familiar and comforting morning sound of a train honking in the distance. Making coffee, missing the dear sounds of childhood.

Looking forward to this Dallas event with @misternagel.bsky.social! Then off to Austin. Hope to see & meet other readers & writers while I’m in town!

New bookstore cafe outside my office in crystal city area 😍

Sometimes kids are complicated, prickly little beings, and as a low-conflict person who dreads kid complications bleeding into adult interactions with friends and teachers, I am emotionally exhausted. I can’t smooth everything over, it’s messy & hard being responsible for others you don’t control.

Okay, now @nytimes.com and @washingtonpost.com both have op-eds defending the ballroom? What in the soul crushingly alternate universe is going on here? When I saw the East Wing destruction, I felt the way I did when I saw the Notre Dame burning

Reporting from the front lines of an 8-yo boys birthday party to report that 6 7 is very much still the thing. If I don’t make it out of here alive…

Thank you to everyone who came out to Kramers! I have another event with the wonderful Steph Liberatore tomorrow at 1. Watch out for Marine Corps Marathon road closures or consider taking the metro to Potomac Yard!

Just donated to the @theinnerlooplit.bsky.social fundraising campaign. Rachel and Courtney & team do such important work for this community, and have introduced me to wonderful books and writers. Every bit helps.

Woohoo @litbox.bsky.social had a 4 book sales day! Anything more than 1-2 a day is great for these tough economic times! I sold 2 @joeyhedger.bsky.social books and 2 Zak Salih. 🎉

We have reached the stage for broken heart emoji becoming one of my most frequent. It used to be the laugh cry.

Thank you @autumnhousepress.bsky.social!

Terrorized by the to do list. A memoir in list form.

Wow, thank you @emhall47.bsky.social @necessaryfiction.com for the deep and careful reading and review! Also rare that a reviewer’s favorite story is also mine.

Trying to do a great job at work, plan an 8 year old’s birthday party and launch a book all this week while @andrewbertaina.bsky.social juggles his own crazy schedule. Excited & grateful but also 😬😬

So happy to see @ladiwoods.bsky.social and her Lit Box platformed on @npr.org today! DC Lit is mighty indeed. www.npr.org/2025/10/16/g...

OUT NOW! Washington DC author Lauren D. Woods' debut collection THE GREAT GROWN-UP GAME OF MAKE-BELIEVE was the winner of the 2024 Autumn House Fiction Prize. “Beautifully strange and incredibly satisfying." - Kristen Arnett, author of NY Times bestseller MOSTLY DEAD THINGS. www.shortstorytoday.com

THIS WEEK! Washington DC author Lauren D. Woods speaks with husband and SST alum Andrew Bertaina (Ep 10) about her debut collection THE GREAT GROWN-UP GAME OF MAKE-BELIEVE, winner of the 2024 Autumn House Fiction Prize. "(A) tender and resonant debut." - Kirkus Reviews www.shortstorytoday.com

Seamus Heaney at play with language

You have to be careful that submitting to lit journals doesn’t distort your writing. Honing stories to the most accessible & easily accepted doesn’t always serve your best, most creative self.

Just returned from the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and I must say it was fine for 7 and 11. They learned so much history, good kids section, & glad we went.

THIS WEEK! We celebrate Washington DC author Lauren D. Woods, whose debut collection THE GREAT GROWN-UP GAME OF MAKE-BELIEVE will be released next week. It was the winner of the 2024 Autumn House Fiction Prize. She's interviewed by husband & fellow writer Andrew Bertaina (SST guest author, Ep. 10).

Thrilled to be included on this list of finalists!

Thinking a lot about my 7-year-old’s upcoming surgery and so incredibly grateful for insurance, without which it would be unaffordable, and also thinking about some of my fellow Americans who have been bankrupted in similar circumstances and how it doesn’t have to be like this.

Think we’re ready for Halloween around here!

Forecast today is very very grumpy. No way around it. May as well embrace it and listen to some sad music. (Cue feeling of being spread too thin and doing a bad job working/parenting + some gratuitous self-pity in there too.)

Excited to have a story out with Cutleaf Journal from my collection cutleafjournal.com/content/nine...

DC metro creepily empty at what’s supposed to be rush hour.

Please for the love bring back emails. The WhatsApp school parents groups are out of control and cannot police themselves.

We continue Season 5 in October with three more extraordinary writers! David Haynes, Lauren D. Woods and Michael Hopkins bring their unique voices to the the short story form with their debut collections. www.shortstorytoday.com

Came home today to find @andrewbertaina.bsky.social triple screening 3 different football games on 3 screens. Am going to slowly back my way out of here.

A painting that reminded me of this poem by Annie Nazzaro in @stonecirclereview.bsky.social, "After The Poet's Garden by Vincent van Gogh, 1888"

William Faulkner (1897-1962) From his Nobel acceptance speech: "It is the poet's privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart...The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail." #booksky #writingcommunity #authors

You're a writer? What do you write? Emails, mostly.

lithub.com/federal-troo... I know I’m just a teeny drop in the bucket, but my sales also dropped dramatically in this timeframe. I think it has more to do with the job losses, as at least where I am, crowds are still there, but spending is way down. Anyway, support your independent stories!

Okay but what if we released a billion nuance bots instead… “I understand your perspective, and also…”

Weird that the FCC Chair had no issue with Kilmeade wanting to euthanize homeless people.

7 tonight: Life is so good! Me: Aww Benny, I agree. 7: Also Chex!

Staring at the two spaghetti tupperwares in our fridge, looking for the gluten free one, and if this isn’t a game of Russian roulette

For a second I thought there was a pitch your thriller manuscript thing happening but…

"The collection offers a unique vision into the ways we learn to live with our past, present, and future selves." Congrats to @ladiwoods.bsky.social on a lovely review in KIRKUS! AHP is pleased to be publishing Lauren's debut THE GREAT GROWN-UP GAME OF MAKE-BELIEVE next month!

Honored to have Kirkus review my book! "An inventive and heartfelt short story collection." I'll be at Kramers in DC with @laurascalzo.bsky.social on Oct 22 at 7 pm and Barnes & Noble Potomac Yard on Oct 26 from 1-3 with @stephliberatore.bsky.social. @autumnhousepress.bsky.social

We have another edition of the 804 lit salon in DC this weekend. We will be featuring: Claire Hopple, Aaron Hamburger, Varun Gauri, Danielle Ariano, Jane Palmer, and Jenna Crowder. Details here: eventbrite.com/e/162350632411…

Couldn’t figure out why the bill for Andrew’s annual physical was so high when it’s usually free and oh my god it’s the Tdap and flu vaccines!! 😵