Felt a little lost & panicky this morning. Procrastinated with some craft books accumulated over the years. In a copy of How Fiction Works by James Woods were a couple of postcards I used as bookmarks that felt like much needed signs, in particular ‘Army of Me’ - a painting by the artist Amy Cutler.

#1000WordsOfSummer Day 8: 1,657 Rock

I'm speaking at this event in Maynooth University next week, if anyone's around: www.maynoothuniversity.ie/arts-and-hum...

It's Pride again, and time for another queer-themed bundle! At a time when the community is once again under threat, we felt it was more important than ever to showcase the work and the writers that celebrate us. storybundle.com/pride

An underrated later Anthony Stewart Head performance I quite like is in Irish horror comedy Let The Wrong One In - back to fighting vampires, in this case a undead hen party.

On Day 7 of #1000WordsOfSummer I wrote 1,164 words. So fried, so pleased 🫠

Anthony Stewart Head will always be a real one for this. RIP www.thepinknews.com/2019/12/20/a...

Truly heartbroken over the passing of Anthony Stewart Head. He was a beloved pop culture icon and, as Rupert Giles, played one of *the* best TV dads. He brought warmth to Giles that made the character easy to love. RIP 💔

Well, this Is heartbreaking. Giles was always my favourite. And he was fun to draw too. (These are from my old Buffy page samples)

I feel silly...but I have nobody I can reach out to & simply say, Giles 💔 and they'll know what I mean. None of my friends were into Buffy, it was my thing for only me when I was a teenager. I liked having a thing that was just for me at that age, but now I feel sad and want to be sad with someone.

This is one of my favorite poems and I’m posting it for Marjane Satrapi www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46464/...

Today in 1972, Angela Davis acquitted of trumped up charges following worldwide protests. Originally a wood-cut, Ricardo made this image when she was in hiding in 1970 charged with assisting a prison break.  Activists around the country put variations of this slogan in their windows.

In honor of today's anniversary of her acquittal, I am re-sharing a piece I wrote in my newsletter a couple of years ago about the effort to bail Angela Davis out of jail: open.substack.com/pub/prisoncu...

Think this might be my favourite.

Explore quiet scenes from beautiful Devon in our latest playlist. 3 full episodes plus 5 short videos from various locations. #DevonDay

#1000WordsOfSummer Day 5 (yesterday), 1,041 and Day 6 (today), 1,017. I have never ever ever written 1000+ words on six consecutive days. Ever. So glad I signed up for this challenge - thank you for the forum, the community and the encouragement @jamiattenberg.bsky.social ✨

Spoiler: It’s me

I liked this bit, since the writing has felt like fighting lately: "It doesn’t matter if your book has become your adversary. Cut it up with punctuation marks. Suffocate it with words. Quit thinking. Set your fingers on fire. ...The book is a war you might lose, but you get to go down like a hero."

It’s my birthday and pride month! Naturally, I have a present for you! Here’s a free pattern for you to stitch. See my Instagram for more context if you need it (@BadassCrossStitch) www.badasscrossstitch.com/makestuff/fr... #craftivism

Today’s #1000wordsofsummer letter comes from the winner of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, @danielkraus.com. He’s talking to us about his obsession with writing. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Day 4 of #1000WordsOfSummer. 1,007 words intermittently over four hours. Slow going. Almost gave up at 750. Made a killer soup and ate a fuck ton of bread. Sat back down and slogged it out. But it doesn't read as sloggy. Think I've hit on a tone and register that feels right, which is encouraging.

Day 3 of #1000WordsOfSummer I wrote 1,041 words. First draft of a short story that's been on my mind for a few months. Feels good.

#BookSky I'm looking to read #ShortStories that reference or talk about movies in some way. Characters discussing a film, or going to see a movie, anything in that vein. Let me know if something comes to mind. Thanks!

IMPORTANT: For any artists/writers/etc etc, using Linktree to point people to their work, from 5 July, they'll be feeding all imagery you use on your landing page into DALL-E by OpenAI. I deleted my account this morning.

Day 2! 1,549. A mix of journalling & a blog post. Easy to generate lots of words when writing about myself & what I already know. Much harder when it's fiction & pure invention. So tomorrow I'll focus on my novel & push through the blocks that inhibit words from flowing when I'm writing fiction.

I am somehow now 3rd in line for Big Swiss. I don’t mind but I also don’t understand lol

First day of #1000WordsOfSummer I wrote 2475 words. Yikes! (I had the whole day to myself, which will not be the case for the rest of the week) (About 250 of those words made their way into what I'd call fair to middling, salvageable sentences) (But, still... Yikes!)

Wrong to the point of malpractice

I asked my publisher to put the 1000 Words book on sale and they said yes! It's 3.99 all during 1000 Words of Summer. You can get it anywhere you buy ebooks but I like @bookshop.org the best. bookshop.org/p/books/1000...

I'm very excited to be in conversation with Blake Morrison & Neil Griffiths, @foylesforbooks.bsky.social about The Future of Memoir: in a time of infinite self-expression available on social media, what role does memoir have & how does it remain relevant? www.foyles.co.uk/events/the-f...

Library Holds Countdown 🥳 Big Swiss, Jen Beagin. Hold placed March 6th. I am now first in line woohoo! (started 87th oof) 🫠 The Edge of Space-Time, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein. I’m 34th in line with 4 copies in use. But (in a baby voice) I want to learn the mysteries of the cosmic universe NOW!

Currently reading - and recommending - ‘Greek Lessons’ by Han Kang (translated by Deborah Smith & Emily Yae Won)

“I write with dismay, grief and sorrow for the permanent closure of MIT Libraries Barker, Dewey and Rotch, and termination of library staff in those libraries. For MIT to be closing three of its four major libraries..." fnl.mit.edu/may-june-202...

Good shortish poems about needles/thread/sewing/cloth/textiles/sewing machines?

"a pivotal moment in Flann O’Brien studies...a landmark in O’Brien scholarship and the broader nonhuman turn" - Thierry Robin's Études irlandaises review of "Flann O'Brien & the Nonhuman", which I'd the pleasure of editing with Katherine Ebury & John Greaney journals.openedition.org/etudesirland...

The Magic of an Irish rainforest 🌍

So you've written a first draft of a poem, but what next? Do join me for an on line poetry workshop where we will explore approaches to redrafting. Pl share 😊 #poets #poetrycommunity #poetry #workshop #redrafting #masterclass rosanna-mcglone.sumupstore.com/product/poet...

Taoiseach admitted today that Ireland is not sovereign. Our foreign policy is made by U.S. multinationals, not Irish citizens.

Boze Herringon: "Some of you have forgotten that only three years ago you were perfectly capable of writing an essay, writing a eulogy, telling a bedtime story to a child, and it should worry you that powerful companies have convinced us that we can't do things we've been doing for 5000 years."

Author of this thinks nobody reads Pratchett any more because most of his readers have blocked her.

Of the 25 books I’ve read this year, 3 of them have been Pratchett’s and I’ve two more on hold with the library right now. Helen Lewis is being weird…but the idea of her anguished and begging for absolutely *no reason whatsoever* is very funny to me…so I’m glad she feels this way.

#Landback is already happening globally. It's new for a lot of folks outside of Indigenous communities, it's newly united under one term and as a movement. But land back has been happening for a LONG time, it's just now more visible and recognized. grist.org/global-indig...

'An Irish Atlantic Rainforest' in excellent company beside Robert Macfarlane's wonderful 'Is a River Alive?' in my local bookshop, Polly's in Castletownbere. I'll be speaking and signing copies of my forthcoming book, 'Setting the Land Free - Visions of a Rewilded Ireland', there in September.

Emily Williams, ICCL’s Policing & Justice Policy Officer, spoke to RTÉ yesterday about the death of Mr Yves Sakila. We are very concerned about the disproportionate and excessive use of force and are calling for swift, thorough and transparent investigations by An Garda Síochána and Fiosrú.

Four people are waiting on Let the Poets Govern by Camonghne Felix and, while I technically finished it this afternoon, I’m hanging onto the library loan for five more days so I can listen to the last two chapters on repeat repeat repeat lithub.com/language-as-... #ReadingRec #BookSky #Poetry

Mr Sakila didn’t just become passively unresponsive at the scene - the video shows multiple men restraining him on the ground with their body weight, including one who knelt and then with his hands pressed down in his neck. Truly disturbing footage www.thejournal.ie/yves-sakila-...

An death just like George Floyd: In Dublin, Ireland, Yves Sakila, a Black Irish Congolese man, appears to have been killed by criminal justice system actors who kneeled on his neck moments before he died. Yves Sakila mattered. Black Lives Matter. Details: www.instagram.com/p/DYfk9HWiPx...

The Butcher Boy, Patrick McCabe That They May Face the Rising Sun, John McGahern The Third Policeman, Flann O’Brien The Heart in Winter, Kevin Barry Spill Simmer Falter Wither, Sara Baume

The most fun & interesting thing about this list is seeing the Top 10s of all the authors whose votes contributed to the final ranking. All the Irish authors I’ve clicked into so far have Ulysses as their #1 🫣except for @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social - good woman! ☺️