I can achieve just two styles of eyeliner: 1) Undetectable 2) Murder Clown on their 6th bar in a pub crawl

Oh, go to hell, reviewer 2 (also, there should be a law against getting back peer review - which took 5 months to produce, mind - while I'm in Paris trying to have a nice time)

omg the novel I translated just got its first “AI scam book club” email, does this mean it’s finally a real book

The Map of Love 100 Years of Solitude Season of Migration to the North (Let me add a 4th and I’m putting Laura Kinsale on there)

I know - I KNOW - it is a waste of my precious and limited time here on earth to get mad at lists like this, but my partner and I love inventing little games with them (who can guess their own read count before seeing the list? can we deduce the top 10 after seeing 100-11?)

I've somehow become a person who... actually puts stickers on things? Like chooses a sticker, chooses a place to put it, and then does so, without major anxiety or regrets. Does this mean the Lexapro is working??

Anybody else notice the guys who say it's "inevitable" Goodwife Putnam hang as a witch "so get used to it" are the same bros who only a few months ago were saying Sarah Browne the scullery maid hath spake bedeviling words in a tomcat's ear to make him walk on two legs in mockery of Christian man?

Still thinking about a book I saw in a French bookstore last week: a romance, with certain chapters having two versions, one “spicy” one not, so readers could pick the one they prefer and then meet back up in the “same” place in the following chapter

It rained all day in Paris today, so I made soup

spare a thought for those of us who are going to have to listen to helicopters circling ALL NIGHT about this

Just a reminder that 700,000 of us are still living on occupied streets

After three solid months of work on the first movement of this beast, I got my gold star and I am SO PROUD of myself. This was a massive mental struggle over my own performance anxiety and perfectionist tendencies lol

Nearly 42 years for my brain to learn the difference in necessary physical response between “going to hang out with a new group of people” and “running through the woods being hunted for spot” and yet

In the immortal words of Hudson Williams: Fuck AI. Fuck it so hard. Just fuck it to death.

I am a known lover of book acknowledgments, and I must say one of the most baller moves I have seen is Vanessa Len thanking each of her translators BY NAME in the acknowledgements of books 2 and 3 of her trilogy

"No matter how you feel about ketamine, its use is growing more widespread and it's important that educators understand how they could integrate it as a tool in their classrooms"

The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn is out today, and it is SO GOOD. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/768412... (Disclaimer: I got to beta-read this for my 2 areas of expertise, "being American in Paris" and "how do earnest French learners sound," but I would love it and be promoting it regardless)

FYI: The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn is out tomorrow and is without a doubt, one of the best books I read this year. It was phenomenal and no one does character development quite like Kate.

I need a good, angsty, slump-busting romance. I’m starting to get that desperate feeling like I’m never going to read anything good again 😭

Never have, never will, and I will absolutely quit my teaching job (which I love) before anyone makes me

It pisses me off so much when I see those ChatGPT ads where someone gets advice for sticking to a running routine or opening a restaurant — all that information is stolen from folks who have done actual research studies, run trials, written blogs, published essays & books. Fucking thievery.

Of all the reasons to love historical romance, “heroine gets a whole new wardrobe” is simply one we are not talking about enough! Top-tier stuff right here!!

Taurus: Actually, Frankenstein is the doctor. The monster is you.

Congratulations to Michael B Jordan on his win for Sinners, and congrats to this Letterboxd reviewer of the movie for coming up with possibly my favorite dad joke on the internet

Last year I got to attend this incredible event where literary translators did readings and talked about their work to a huge receptive audience, and I was so in awe and jealous Today I got an email inviting me to be a speaker at this year’s same event

Just finished a fanfic* where a character states what I think is, metatexually, the basic requirement of all the best romance: that "impossible" doesn't stand a chance against "inevitable" And, like, this is it! Make me believe the love is impossible! And how it simply MUST thrive anyway!

“On research leave” (making Heated Rivalry-themed playlists to work out to)

my hot writing take is that playing with POV is neat and you can do what you want. present tense first! close third! first-person-direct-address with bits of omniscient third! anything is legal if you look good doing it!!

Sunday plans: 🖼️ Arnold Lobel

Yes, asking for consent is sexy: in fiction, asking for consent is also *character work*, anyone with questions may refer to Ch 13 of the below text

Two chapters in and I’m already obsessed. Simon is the gay spiritual successor to Richard from Act Like It, and I cannot tell you how much I needed that in my life 😂😂

I'm not interested in pragmatism for 2-7 hours after a Schadenfreude Event. It's like swimming after eating.

Why are we using the internet for ANYTHING but this

More Peter Darling news: The Spanish edition comes out on April 10 and is fully illustrated! ✨

Just tried matcha for the first time and… am I missing something? Is it supposed to taste like recently-cut grass and bitter regrets?

I don't want to say that finding out Trader Joe's has crumpets is the best thing that's happened lately but... have you seen what's been happening lately?

If they want me back they have to go fully Woke 2, sorry. Whole hog. I gotta be able to get an abortion there

It's usually pretty easy to keep my Romance Bsky and my Professional Bsky apart, until someone says "Fanon" and I have to decide if it's famous anticolonial thinker and psychologist Frantz Fanon, or a portmanteau of Fan Canon

If I had an enchanted sword, I would be really smug about people with regular swords

“Why Does Everything Make Me Nervous: a Memoir in 700,582 Parts”

Curious to hear what people are currently recommending as a “read this next” to people who are new to Heated Rivalry?

I go to a therapist to hear therapy-speak. I read romance to watch two believably confused humans mess each other up a bit. Let’s not mix up the two.

istg I’m about one “new ways we’re adopting generative AI” email from my employer away from quitting my job

Just hangin’ out at the US/Canada border with my Amtrak wine, my box of cheese cubes, and a fantasy novel. As one does.

Oh my god TWO DOLLARS for (imho) the best romance novel of the last 5 years? An absolute steal, is what that is

ngl, feeling a little smug about the number of people to whom I spoke aloud my prediction that Alysa Liu would win gold bc she was the only contender who truly didn’t care how well she scored