Pacers’ Jay Huff looks not just physically, but also spiritually from Indiana.

"Hellions" is a wonderful story collection!

A chicken went to see a fortune teller, got this prediction and had no idea what it meant: “In the afterlife, you will be transfigured into the shape of a head of a bronco.”

This classic World Series needs to end in a suicide squeeze. Come on Blue Jays, let’s get crazy!

I thought it was a good year to bring back my Little Dumpster Fire pumpkin.

Okay, Kroger. Pomegranates on sale for $3.49. Regular price $3.50. (Read tiny print). Pretty cheeky to boast of a sale for a one cent discount.

Yay! Let's put another ring on it, CB!

IT'S GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the new Tumbleweed, I've got some spooky book recommendations and literary news and events from Teague Bohlen, Hillary Leftwich, @rlmaizes.bsky.social and @erikatwurth.bsky.social! bit.ly/43paHma

I've got four spots left! Come join us to discuss "Just Another Family" by @loriostlund.bsky.social and many other wonderful short stories (in person or Zoom options are available). bit.ly/3WrL9B2

I'll be teaching a new class starting October 20 for Lighthouse Writers Workshop on one of my favorite topics, short stories! We'll draw inspiration from the Best American Short Stories 2024, edited by @legroff.bsky.social. Register for online or in-person attendance in #Denver. bit.ly/3WrL9B2

I can’t control much in this crazy world, but I never wanted to fight with a flimsy 4 dollar 3 hole punch again so I got myself this Cadillac of perforation: the Bostitch EZ Squeeze 40. Now I’m just going to sit back and watch my whole life slide into place.

Something on the menu for everyone here.

Jane Goodall was one of a kind, a messenger for peace and respect for all creatures. I'm so glad my kids and I got to see her when she visited Boulder in 2015. And we brought some monkey stuffies.

Fall colors in Keystone, Colorado and a brilliant story collection, “Hellions” by @juliaelliott.bsky.social, makes for an epic Sunday morning.

In the Tumbleweed, I discuss a mascot's retirement, what it teaches us about how to love, and book news starring @rlmaizes.bsky.social, @ninamcconigley.bsky.social, @khadijahqueen.com, @scottsemegran.com, @unmpress.bsky.social, @caralopezlee.bsky.social & @karenpalmer.bsky.social! bit.ly/42gAIDZ

My kid's school went on lockdown two hours ago. It appears it was a case of misidentification--a student saw a man in a weighted vest and thought it was tactical, thought they saw a gun. I'm trying to work now, but I'm shaky. I can still hear helicopters overhead. Another day as a parent in America.

My best regards to whoever Tom Sawyered Kristi Noem. nmpoliticalreport.com/2025/08/20/h...

In this month's Tumbleweed, I tell of an oil change that took months to resolve and of witnessing an insane clown tractor, and I hype exciting new literary works by Evanthia Bromiley, @suziqsmith.bsky.social, R Alan Brooks, @gessyalvarez.com and @vesselywriter.bsky.social‬. bit.ly/4lvaDri

"I am here to touch your boiling hot springs. I am here to sit on your antique chairs. I am here to obstruct the areas on the bus designated for your seniors."

In June I took the jammed train from Paris to Giverny to visit Monet's house. One guy bickered with another using a seat for a cello, while I stood in the aisle and began this piece. "I Am the Overtourist and I'm Here to Marry Your Town" is up on ‪McSweeney's‬ today! bit.ly/4fzlmzz

My favorite gardening problem, and how I’m solving it.

I love Brooks' conclusion in this essay about how being polite is good for your wellbeing: "I see politeness as today’s punk rock because it so transgresses the spirit of our times...It is the ultimate exercise in freedom: the freedom to be the person I want to be in the face of a cultural tyranny."

Happy birthday James Baldwin! Here are two portraits of the great writer by his friend Beauford Delaney at the “Paris Noir” exhibit at the Centre Pompidou.

Come to the Short Form Fest at Lighthouse Writers Workshop tomorrow! I'll interview the accomplished Samantha Hunt during "Hauntings--An Onstage Reading and Conversation." Sunday, I'll share my best insights for crafting strong endings for short fiction and essays. bit.ly/46tRJ0a #writing

Oh Ozzy Osbourne, you were truly great! I started my son on piano lessons at age 6, and he learned how to play "Iron Man" when he was about 10. It was pretty obvious he needed to transition to guitar, which he plays now. I hope my house is full of the sound of Black Sabbath for as long as I'm in it.

Crater Lake near Pagosa Springs today. A stunner! #colorado

In July's edition of The Tumbleweed, I share insights from the Wes Anderson exhibit at Cinémathèque in Paris, recommend a new book by @loriostlund.bsky.social, and share events including a poetry slam tribute to @andreagibson.bsky.social at Petals and Pages in #Denver. bit.ly/44v2I8g

I thoroughly enjoyed "When the Clock Broke" by John Ganz, a finalist for the @bookcritics.bsky.social John Leonard Prize. It posits that political events in the 1990s presaged and set the stage for what's going on today...and it looks like it's third party o'clock now. (Ganz is great on Ross Perot.)

This morning’s harvest from my garden: raspberries and an Anaheim pepper. #gardening

Sustenance from Paris, for all of you! Everyone seems like they deserve a little treat right now.

Now Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Paul Harding reads from his new novel, apologizing about it being “Protestant,” at Lighthouse Lit Fest. #writers

“My mother is my favorite immigrant. After her, the sonnet.” - Eduardo Corral, reading his gorgeous poetry at Lighthouse Lit Fest. #poetry

Next at Lighthouse Lit Fest it’s @ingridrojasc.bsky.social reading from her memoir about the case of a missing skull. #writing

At Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop’s Lit Fest, Steve Almond is reading a story he promises will be “filthy.” “Remember when we used to do in the kitchen?” “I don’t need another toe infection.” #writing

In this month's Tumbleweed I talk about the fantastic stranger who has my same name that I learned about through Google alerts, recommend a wonderful new story collection, and round up some upcoming classes! #writing jennyshank.substack.com/p/rooting-fo...

Next up at Lit Fest is the magnificent @elizmccrack.bsky.social , who confesses she doesn’t have a go-to karaoke song. “The subtext of all my writing is: love me.”

“It has never felt right for me to undergo a knife just so people won’t think a thing.” - Alex Marzano-Lesnevitch, who shares a new work of “haunted nonfiction.”

At Lighthouse Writers Workshop Lit Fest in Denver, @matjohnson.bsky.social is reading from a writing craft essay that expands on a long-ago tweet about the acts in a story that I have been using a screenshot of to teach from for years! But now I can just point students toward the essay. #writing

This fella tried to climb in my car. I was hanging out in a parking lot, waiting for my son, door cracked for the breeze. I looked down and he was about to hop in the car but then he saw me and his eyes said yikes and he scurried away, into this graffiti hole. @darthbluesky.bsky.social

If you want to start submitting your writing to journals and need some guidance and inspiration, I'm teaching "The Art of Literary Submission" on Tuesday, June 10 at Lighthouse Lit Fest in Denver. Leave with an anti-rejection hide and a list of journals to submit your work to! bit.ly/3ZQS3BZ #denver

Lighthouse Writers Workshop's Lit Fest kicks off soon! There are still spots left in my "Playing with Perspectives" class on June 10. Come learn how writers including Min Jin Lee, Edward P. Jones, Justin Torres, and Miriam Toews have used unique perspectives, and how you can too! bit.ly/44Brd42

Raindrops on peonies this morning.

Penny questions: If they discontinue the penny, can you still be charged odd amounts on electronic transactions? Can the energy company still charge $135.67, or do they round to the nearest nickel? Also, since people buy more things priced $2.99 than those priced $3, will people buy less?

NBCC member @jennyshank.bsky.social‬ wrote about Jared Lemus' debut story collection, "Guatemalan Rhapsody," for America magazine:

The girls in my yard are having a beauty contest.

White House officials wanted to put federal workers ‘in trauma.’ It’s working. #TrumpChaos #YouVotedForThis wapo.st/3GWKK5k

I reviewed "Guatemalan Rhapsody" by Jared Lemus for America, a collection marks the debut of a voice for the in-between, of people caught between one place and another, looking for a place to rest. #books #bookreviews www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture...

Okay Nuggets fans, it looks like the VFW in Lafayette, Colorado is having a rager tomorrow. Who’s pulling up? #nuggets