Today’s poem is selected by Maya C. Popa (@mayacpopa.bsky.social) as part of the 20th anniversary of Read A Little Poetry. “Miss you. Would like to take a walk with you.” appeared in The New Economy by Gabrielle Calvocoressi, published by Copper Canyon Press, 2025.

"A Pickle for the Knowing Ones" (1848) is a marvellously bizarre piece of writing. (No punctuation!) Thank you to @PublicDomainRev for sharing it: publicdomainreview.org/collection/d...

New post! Encouraging you to experiment (in writing). open.substack.com/pub/nataliem...

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Richard Scarry: Fury Road

I love Alan Bennett, & I love Patricia Routledge, & I love this monologue specifically, but I also admit to being baffled as to how she ended up in prison for sending too many letters youtu.be/iOqgDmaYdqA?...

Three Cicadas - 1889 https://botfrens.com/collections/46/contents/14687

Had a little frog on my front door (spring peeper) when I went out for a run this evening. He briefly hopped inside but I shoo'd him out again. No frogs in the house, please.

Every time I do this to Gus, this Onion headline rebukes me

I don't think the cabbage gets enough respect.

The concept of this image came up in a conversation awhile ago, so I made it during my flight

Imagining how sticky her desk must have been after she painted this

A student of mine was worried that a potential publisher might not like the fact that they, as a former marketing student, had come up with a marketing plan for their book—"Would they insist on handling that themselves?" & this was one time where I got to go, "Buddy, I have great news for you."

Truly... shall we say... eclectic set of interests here

Events in Ottawa to mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation #Ottawa #TruthandReconciliation #Canada #September30 www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

So lovely to join Liisa Kovala on her podcast! (Ed: I mention in this conversation that my agent has sent a manuscript to my publisher... False alarm! She is holding it off till November.) Listen here: open.substack.com/pub/liisakov...

"... paint the portrait or the porch. Try again after the miscarriage; love the children whose hands you wash and the children whose hands you never got to. Get the puppy. Live. Live. Live." Very beautiful short essay: www.plough.com/en/topics/li...

🙏🙏 www.welcometohellworld.com/life-is-a-pr...

Philosophy friends, can you please help me figure out who are the main thinkers I should be looking at for [maybe mid-]19th-century ideas of what can be known 🙏

Wonderful post on Edward Gorey's turn as set designer for the stage play Dracula: open.substack.com/pub/rebekahk...

You best believe I'm still on that listserv.

Madonna dei Tramonti by Pietro Lorenzetti, 1330. A depiction of Mary that I think most moms can relate to.

Good heavens

A literary scholar I was listening to suggested the appeal of The Newgate Calendar lay in how it let 19th century readers "wallow in moral outrage." Oof. How well I recognize that appeal from my experience with 21st century media, & what a catalyst of spiritual rot it is.

This is super neat (unless you are squid):

Come for the screenplay exerpts, stay for the character- & plot-development rabbithole.

New post! This one pondering & investigating artifacts of revision in Richard Curtis rom-com scripts (Four Weddings & a Funeral, Love Actually). The moral may be to hang on to your deleted scenes. open.substack.com/pub/nataliem...

My spellchecker keeps autocorrecting "herself" to "herschel," as if I had it in Yiddish mode (maybe I have it in Yiddish mode?)

Vera B. Williams totally nails how kids tell stories, really loved this read open.substack.com/pub/children...

Spotted this cool Christopher Knight Home 122" Modern L-Shaped Sectional Sofa with Chaise Lounge on my porch.

Was just listening to a recording of an agent calling a writing sample "a little draft-y"—as in, it reads like an early draft—but it registered nicely on audio as "drafty"—as in, full of accidental gaps that let the cold in—which I like as a metaphor for the first case

Thinking about this moment in the cartoon version of Winnie-the-Pooh. Thinking about integrating a friend's butt into one's seasonal decor

New post! Mainly musing on where readers find fiction that interests them, & how to get it there. open.substack.com/pub/nataliem...

This really nails something.

Westboro Pspschologps

Went to the bookstore to get some books for kids’ school, also found some books by friends. @nataliemorrill.bsky.social

Hi authors! Please remember to file a claim!

My dog's babysitter described him as "short in stature" as if he were a biblical tax collector who needed to climb a tree to see the Lord

It is my parents' 40th anniversary today (August 14). I'm so grateful for their love, support & example. Please keep Mum & Dad in your prayers, if you're the praying sort, & wish them very, very well. 💙

Everyone should have a sign over their front door to remind them before they enter the outside world that living in community means living with inconvenience

Briefly disappointed in myself bc I had zero memory of eating my Timbit treat—"I just munched it mindlessly! Didn't even get to enjoy it"—but then I discovered it was bc I had not yet eaten it :)

This is just an average uncle at the Ukrainian festival

For publishing/writing folks: Really intriguing conversation from Jane Friedman's YouTube about fact checking in publishing, & why things differ between magazines & book publishers. youtu.be/gu0KDw4ZNOI?...

Two sketches by Takashi Nagai—one of Mary assumed into heaven, and one of his wife Midori taken to heaven on the atomic cloud. Takashi Nagai was a Japanese scientist and Catholic convert. His wife was killed, along with many others, by the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945

So very blessed & happy to attend the profession of perpetual vows of dear friend Sr. Beata Victoria (& two of her fellow religious sisters) in NYC this morning. Pray for them! 💙

Discovered today that not everyone considers this nine year old viral tweet a seminal text in the field of social media studies but I do

I have done something to my shoulder/rib such that lying on top of a lacrosse ball is the most comfortable way to sleep

The Canadian & U.S. track & field championships are happening simultaneously, & we are having fun following both. Soon-to-be-brother-in-law Brian got double-gold yesterday in the 400m & 800m wheelchair track races (T53) in the US Nationals! 🥇🥇 www.usparatf.org/news/2025/au...

Dreamed my book turned up in a newspaper bc a much more famous author mentioned having read it on somebody's recommendation, but she found it to be nothing but clichés. My own sleeping brain came up with this. Truly no hater works harder than one's own mind.