This winter I’m teaching Creative Writing Essentials at StoryStudio Chicago! Please join me! We’ll talk about all things writing 😊

Fall things 🍂

This winter I’m teaching Creative Writing Essentials at StoryStudio Chicago! Please join me! We’ll talk about all things writing 😊

Sure, it gets dark at 4:30 pm now, and normally that would make us morose, but it also means cozy season has officially arrived. And cozy season is for writing! Today, we're excited to announce the launch of our winter term of classes. buff.ly/hBb12OZ #writingcommunity

Day 93 Pacing. Pacing. We all worry so much about pacing. Fast or slow? How!? Ask yourself — Where is the action? Where is the reflection? Action = movement, faster Reflection = processing, slower 600 words every day started Aug 3 to Dec 31 for a novel draft by end of year. #600x150

Pretty excited about this — @cynthiapelayo.bsky.social is always one to read already and this sounds next level, so. Onto the list it goes!

🖤✨

FYI: Bram Stoker Award-winning author Cynthia Pelayo's upcoming horror novel IT CAME FROM NEVERLAND is described as Stephen King's IT meets PETER PAN - check out an exclusive cover reveal within.

She's absolutely right. As a producer with several films in development with female directors, I can say it is an absolute uphill battle to get execs to fund their projects. Great scripts are sitting on shelves while a generation of our most talented women sit idle. www.avclub.com/kristen-stew...

Have a good day everyone 😊

If you’re worried that you lack creativity, or if you’re struggling with your creativity … always remember you’re probably doing better than the Louvre’s security team. www.pcworld.com/article/2961...

My favorite kind of people are smart, beautiful, and kind people.

Woke up and looked at social media for the first time, after waking up — in a long time — because I knew there’d be really great things that would make me smile. Look at us 💙

💙

Happy publication day to Howl, An Anthology of Werewolves by Women in Horror! Thank you to editors Lindy Ryan and Stephanie Wytovich for including me. It includes my short story “We Women Speak of Wolves.” Support women in horror! 🐺🖤

Day 90 The perfect time to write is now. The perfect place to write is wherever you can place your notebook or computer. The perfect story is whatever you need to read yourself. 600 words every day started Aug 3 to Dec 31 for a novel draft by end of year. #600x150

A few of my students joined the Horror Writers Association. I’m doing God’s work.

I have to teach class tonight. Quick! How do you plot your novels!? How do you pick a theme!? How many? One? Two? A baker’s dozen!?

Miss Mexico was insulted during an activity at the Miss Universe pageant & left the room. "Fátima used the cameras to deliver an empowering message: “I hope that everyone watching-every woman-remembers...if something takes away your dignity, you must walk away..." Walk away from disrespect.

By the end of 2026, I will have work published in - Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, and the USA 😊

"The librarian is a seeker and keeper of truth, and that makes her a dangerous figure in the eyes of those who fear the fullest, most comprehensive, and most uncomfortable truths emerging." lithub.com/in-praise-of...

My mood board for the rest of 2025.

THE PLACE WHERE THEY BURIED YOUR HEART is available today by @christinahenry.bsky.social ! Happy publication day! You can order it here: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/781986...

New poetry from me soon. chicagoliteraryhof.org/blog/entry/c... “Another accomplished Chicago Puerto Rican poet on the scene, Cynthia Pelayo, is also a horror fiction author; her top poetry books are Crime Scene (2022) and Poems of My Night …”

@cynthiapelayo.bsky.social with her contributor copies of THIS WAY LIES MADNESS, featuring her eerie, nuanced tale, “Self-Portrait”. Photo credit: Cynthia Pelayo

Day 90 Sometimes you don’t realize what you have. It’s like a painting with the pointillism technique, numerous dots, and when you step away to look, the full picture emerges. Writing is like that too. 600 words every day started Aug 3 to Dec 31 for a novel draft by end of year. #600x150

Let's GO! Congratulations, @cynthiapelayo.bsky.social, can't wait to read this one.

@cynthiapelayo.bsky.social www.novelsuspects.com/qa/a-convers... Great interview, folks!

Thank you so very much to Crooked Lane Books! And thank you Fangoria for hosting the cover reveal to IT CAME FROM NEVERLAND. Available June 9th. Details below. 🖤✨

I spoke with Novel Suspects recently. Thank you so very much for this lovely conversation. 🖤🏙️ A Conversation with Cynthia Pelayo, A Prolific Voice in the New Wave of Horror www.novelsuspects.com/qa/a-convers...

1914. Wendy Darling works by day as a school teacher, by night, she assists soldiers who have returned home from the Western Front. One night, when a soldier murmurs the words “Peter Pan,” Wendy is thrown back to a darker time, one that she wishes she could forget. www.fangoria.com/exclusive-co...

Thank you so very much to Crooked Lane Books! And thank you Fangoria for hosting the cover reveal to IT CAME FROM NEVERLAND. Available June 9th. Details below. 🖤✨

📣We're thrilled to share that @fangoria.bsky.social revealed the cover for @cynthiapelayo.bsky.social's ✨IT CAME FROM NEVERLAND💀! https://loom.ly/ITxHI3Y Available to preorder now➡️ https://loom.ly/Tq5A37k

I spoke with Novel Suspects recently. Thank you so very much for this lovely conversation. 🖤🏙️ A Conversation with Cynthia Pelayo, A Prolific Voice in the New Wave of Horror www.novelsuspects.com/qa/a-convers...

Sharing again! I’m delighted CHILDREN OF CHICAGO is Chicago Public Library’s November 2025 Book of the Month! Thank you so very much to Chicago Public Library. Thank you librarians, and thank you #Chicago! Also, here’s the latest cover in the world! 🏙️

Yes indeed. Great pick! Thanks to Chicago Public Library and congratulations @cynthiapelayo.bsky.social @hachettelibrary.bsky.social

CHILDREN OF CHICAGO is Chicago Public Library’s November 2025 Book of the Month! Thank you so very much to Chicago Public Library, thank you librarians, and thank you #Chicago!

I spoke with Stories From The 78 about all things horror and #Chicago a few weeks back, and here's that interview. youtu.be/Ww503N4rVd4?...

“Stories are medicine,” says Cynthia Pelayo in her story, “We Women Speak of Wolves” from #Howl, the new werewolf anthology edited by Lindy Ryan & Stephanie M. Wytovich,& reading these stories made me feel the truth in that. #BookSky TY #NetGalley & Black Spot Books for the ARC

Sure, I'm a day or two late with this, but horror stories never expire, do they? Courtesy of Chicago author(and a great follow) @cynthiapelayo.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/cynthiap...

CHILDREN OF CHICAGO is Chicago Public Library’s November 2025 Book of the Month! Thank you so very much to Chicago Public Library, thank you librarians, and thank you #Chicago!

Day 89 Writing is sometimes not the actual writing. It’s being open and receptive to all of life and art. What are you reading? What music are you listening to? Old films? New? Going to museums? More. 600 words every day started Aug 3 to Dec 31 for a novel draft by end of year. #600x150

Mariana Enríquez’ OUR SHARE OF NIGHT is named one of the Best Horror Books of the last 25 years. Mariana has a new short story in an anthology I’ve edited for Atria / Primero Sueño available October 2026. New title and cover to be announced in a few months 🖤 thequietus.com/tq-charts/he...

Ireland Makes a Program Offering Basic Income for Artists Permanent “After a successful three-year pilot, the country will continue to provide 2,000 artists with $1,500 per month.” www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/i...

Why do we keep creating when the outside world looks like *this*!? Some books published during the tumultuous 1940s… The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1939 but still!) For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway …

And the winner is Bury Your Gays by Sofia Ajram, accepted on their behalf by Joanne Harris

YOOOOOOOO

Day 88 It's Nov 1st, a great day for a self check in of where you want to be by Dec 31. Even a short writing session keeps the story alive in your mind. Stay connected to it. That’s how drafts become books. 600 words every day started Aug 3 to Dec 31 for a novel draft by end of year. #600x150

I got to talk to the great Nathan Ballingrud about the great Clive Barker, and you can listen to it next week!

An honor to be on READING GLASSES