I am so excited for this! Join us in West Virginia for a week of generative flash writing! (Spots are limited and going fast!) Link to sign up at the QR code, also in the comments below.

“Frog Heart” making its way into the world as a chapbook! Thanks so much @ikeproject.bsky.social!

"... all she would have done to keep her children safe and alive, all she'd tried to do, all she'd given up, yet how blind she'd been, how weak and scared her version of love had been in the face of the world and its whispering voices." Frog Heart by @joybaglio.bsky.social @ikeproject.bsky.social

ENTER "FROG HEART" GIVEAWAY (by 4/24)! Ploughshares is doing a giveaway, free to enter! Winner receives my new "Frog Heart" chapbook (by @ikeproject.bsky.social) & Ploughshares issue where the story first appeared! To enter, go to @pshares.bsky.social's Instagram post, or here: tinyurl.com/mpt5j26r

Excited to share that I’ll be week three faculty at Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing this September! I’ll be leading three seminars, consulting with attendees, & hanging out / exploring the island! If you'll be there, let me know in the comments - and looking forward to meeting you!

We sometimes have to be firm - with self & others - about what we need creatively. I am practicing: • Saying no more (and yes to more writing) • Not being as reachable (via email & phone) • Keeping my word to myself about deadlines • Realizing that these boundaries are in service of my soul

Litmus test for your writing: Are you having fun? Yes, writing is hard. It can be maddening; we can feel stuck, all of that. Yet in my experience, my best work happens when there's some speck of FUN. This doesn't mean there's no struggle - just that I can glimpse fun through it.

Thinking today about my magical week last summer at Prospect Street Writers House in Bennington VT! Here I am (right of couch) at our final sharing-of-work at the end of the residency week. It was a week of writing, delicious communal dinners, & evening walks. Why am I thinking of all this? (1/2)

Recently returned from a 12-day writing retreat at The Porches, in VA, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains! So grateful for the Nancy Zafris Short Story Fellowship, which made this possible - & to magical founder Trudy Hale - who even got me to play my bagpipes before I left! (1/4)

Have been writing and revising nonstop (at a retreat in Virginia!) but what's become VERY apparent is how much I repeat certain words: "Flickering," "bright," "darkness," and "something" - so I've been on a mission to expand vocabulary around these words. Are there certain go-to words you have?

THIS APRIL! Excited to share my short story "Frog Heart" - a fairy tale about parenthood & trying to save the ones we love - originally in Ploughshares - in its new form as a standalone chapbook, thanks to @ikeproject.bsky.social! Pre-order & read about it here: asterismbooks.com/product/frog...

And before you watch our full Nevermore recording (haunted #AWP26 event) here’s a short peak thanks to @cieramcelroy.bsky.social! Reading features Carmen Maria Machado, @sequoian.bsky.social, GennaRose Nethercott, me, Jen Pullen, & Matthew Lansburgh! Full recording here: tinyurl.com/yc73pt7n

More Nevermore photos, the haunted off-site event Jen Pullen and I hosted (through @pvww.bsky.social). Here: the haunted Lord Baltimore hotel theater, the hundreds of people lined up to get in, & some of the authors hanging out post-reading! (Before we sleuthed ghosts on the 19th floor!) #AWP26

Loved co-hosting (& reading in) @pvww.bsky.social’s haunted off-site Nevermore, with superstars Carmen Maria Machado, @sequoian.bsky.social, GennaRose Nethercott, @matthewlansburgh.bsky.social, & @jenniferpull9.bsky.social. 600 RSVPs, y’all! It was special. Full recording here: tinyurl.com/5yvaf3p8

Loved moderating our Speculating the Machine panel at #AWP26 (on writing about AI, in fiction) with these visionary science fiction writers & genre-benders. Amazing discussion. We also did a pre-AWP reading of our own fiction about AI, for those curious - watch here: tinyurl.com/bdd9r2zk

Belated #AWP26 highlights from Baltimore! Meeting my brilliant One Story editor Karen Friedman in person - and hanging out with the whole awesome One Story team! Also got to see friend and Ghost Parachute editor Brett Pribble & Yaddo friends Anne & Vu from a very special residency!

A short (fun) exercise for anyone struggling mid-manuscript:

Brave, beautifully-written essay by my dear friend and incredible writer @sarahjanecody.bsky.social in @electricliterature.com!

I am LOVING my experience using @scrivenerapp.bsky.social to write this novel manuscript! Not only does it help organize every part of the chaos, but the support is A+! Scrolling issue all fixed! Thank you, Scrivener!

Hey @scrivenerapp.bsky.social or anyone using it who might know the answer to this: I'm experiencing a lot of scrolling lag as I work on my manuscript (I'm not in Scrivenings mode, and I've shortened all my separate scene docs to under 2K words). Anyone experienced this & successfully remedied it?

Beginning every #AWP26 day with some brief novel revision work, because I AM IN THE HOME STRETCH and I'll be sending pages (as many as I can) to my agent later this month, and there is still so much to do.

Headed to Baltimore! Find me on Thursday at Nevermore, our haunted Poe-themed reading at the Lord Baltimore Hotel, featuring these all-stars! (Whether you've RSVPed or not, COME EARLY to get a seat - every seat will be taken!) Doors open at 5:45pm. More details / RSVP: tinyurl.com/nszruurr

SFWA friends! Just a few days left to vote for Nebula noms, if you're a @sfwa.org member! So many great stories on the Recommended Reading list! My (oddly hopeful) dystopian short story from the POV of emergent AI after the annihilation of humanity is eligible too! Find it here: tinyurl.com/5n7mwu47

An inspiring writer friend just said this to me in an email, and I felt a boost of whimsical "YES" energy, so sharing it here for others: "Let's you and me just write and make wondrous things in the world, despite the darkness and evil." Yes, let's do that! (Plus, beautiful snow today.)

Friends, acquaintances, writers headed to #AWP26: Anyone last-minute looking for a place to stay & want to share a room? DM me if yes. I have a double at the Lord Baltimore Hotel, & would love to split the cost / share (plus it's haunted, & I'm scared, lol). It's very close to the Convention Center.

Hello folks! Are you going to #AWP26 in Baltimore? If you are, join me for the offsite reading that I am coordinating with @joybaglio.bsky.social. We are also reading, alongside some cool folks including @sequoian.bsky.social & Carmen Maria Machado. 03/05/26 at 6 pm in the Lord Baltimore hotel!

Where to find me at #AWP26! Who will be there?! Would love to see you! Here are links to all my events: Nevermore: A Haunted Literary Reading: tinyurl.com/nszruurr Speculating the Machine (panel): tinyurl.com/mwv3c687 Smiling at the End of the World (panel): tinyurl.com/25khs2ff

Can’t wait to get my hands on this fairy tale anthology from wildly talented @jpullen19.bsky.social!

One thing that's gotten clearer as I get older is the sense of gut-level knowing of what I NEED to do, what's urgent, how my time should be used. It's amazing to me how insistent this voice gets, and how it gnaws if ignored. Well, I'm listening to it - here at my desk every morning, noveling hard!

TOMORROW, Sunday February 8th (4 - 5pm ET)! Live (and free to attend) on Zoom! I'm excited to host this "Pre-AWP" reading featuring the writers of our #AWP26 panel (of the same name): @sequoian.bsky.social, @erikaswyler.bsky.social, Allegra Hyde, & Jane Pek! Learn More / RSVP: tinyurl.com/wc9na74y

Cover reveal for the reprinting / second life of my short story “Frog Heart,” as a stand-alone chapbook, thanks to @ikeproject.bsky.social! This is a handcrafted papercut from UK artist Darin Mount! Preorders are open! Gift idea for your fairy tale-loving friend! More here: tinyurl.com/4jmt4nhj

“The weirder your writing the more specific it will be.” - Molly Aitken, on how to find your authentic voice

I'm super excited to share this interview the amazing Stevie Billows did with me for Straw DogWriters Guild! It was so much fun, and I got to ramble on about why I love fairy tales, fairy tale tropes, also my process, projects, and some publishing advice too! Check-it out here: tinyurl.com/4b2725s8

Had a great time reading last weekend at in Florence MA! It was a full house! Thanks to all who attended! This first photo feels very apropos of the current moment: Reading a post-apocalyptic story in what feels like the nuclear last-gasp of our civilization. Yet does that green plant portend hope?

Joy Deva Baglio talks about how she wrote One Story issue #332, "We Are Sorry for Your Suffering," in an interview with Contributing Editor Karen Friedman. To read more, visit bit.ly/48IYtrO #writing #writingadvice #shortstories

A haunted house but the ghosts are your unfinished writing projects (only able to be freed from their liminal state by you writing, which you are perhaps doing now...)

So excited for this! My story “Frog Heart” - first published in @pshares.bsky.social - will have a second life as a stand-alone chapbook! Follow amazing press @ikeproject.bsky.social for updates!

✨Writing advice for the New Year, from One Story's 2025 Authors: Lauren K. Watel, Randy F. Nelsen, Nini Berndt, Achy Obejas, Dino Enrique Piacentini, Weike Wang, Owen Egerton, Gemma Clarke, Lauren Acampora, Sam Dunnington, Senaa Ahmad & Joy Deva Baglio! Check out their stories at: bit.ly/4aGrC8w

I read this this weekend and it’s tremendous. Thank you for the great read!

I know it's been the holidays, but what's the best way to get a Nebula-eligible story that was published at the end of December (2025) onto the Nebula reading list? I've emailed @sfwa.org and the Nebula Awards Commissioner multiple times over the past weeks and no response...can anyone help?

Happy New Year! New Substack post, with 3 questions for writers to contemplate at the start of the new year + 3 prompts for (strange) new fiction! Also a hopeful message for the new year! Hope you enjoy! Read here: joybaglio.substack.com/p/a-short-bu...

Tomorrow at 6pm ET on Zoom! Join me for a special Community Writing, focused on setting intentions for our creative projects and lives in the new year. RSVP here: www.pioneervalleywriters.org/event-details/community-writing-setting-creative-intentions-1 #writing #writingcommunity

🎉 PVWW's 2026 Manuscript Program is now open to applications on a rolling basis through January, or until all spots in the Program have been filled! Learn more and apply: www.pioneervalleywriters.org/manuscript-p...

Tomorrow at 6pm ET on Zoom! Join me for a special Community Writing, focused on setting intentions for our creative projects and lives in the new year. RSVP here: www.pioneervalleywriters.org/event-details/community-writing-setting-creative-intentions-1 #writing #writingcommunity

The way in, if you're stuck in a writing project, isn't always the most obvious way. For me, it's re-reading a passage I like, sketching out a character description, brainstorming a part of the story I'm excited about. Low bars = a way in.

The way I start to multi-task as the holidays pick up and I'm (all at once) completing work and getting food ready and writing my novel and posting on social media and excitedly announcing things to whoever will listen and cleaning and pacing is just...I feel superhuman (for better or worse)!

Whoa. This amazing story by @joybaglio.bsky.social in @onestorymag.bsky.social whose curation just seems unerring.

I absolutely love this story by @joybaglio.bsky.social in @onestorymag.bsky.social. It arrived this morning and I read it without stopping - it’s so, so good on human emotion, instinct and need for connection. #WritingCommunity #shortstories

One of my faves IN one of my faves! Congruatiations to the extraordinary @joybaglio.bsky.social !!! 😍✨🔥

In One Story's new issue, @joybaglio.bsky.social's "We Are Sorry for Your Suffering," a collectively conscious AI confronts the destruction they caused while raising a child in a post-apocalyptic world. To read an interview with the author and buy the issue, visit: bit.ly/48IYtrO #shortstories