Well well. New work week. Any tips on how to kickstart it??

Today I visited my local library at the same time as a class of grade schoolers. Overheard a kid asking the teacher: Are we going to be reading a lot? Teacher: Yes. Kid: Yay! THIS MADE MY DAY!!

#Anaché, my YA fantasy which was first published in 2012, will be out in paperback in Swedish this fall! The novel is set in the same universe as my Red Abbey Chronicles, but is a standalone. And here’s the new cover by Sanna Mander! I love, love, love it!

Today the IG of the biggest newspaper in Finland published a video with an interviewee who used the curse-word ”horses cunt”. Unbleeped and uncensored (it appears in the article too). I love this country.

I have a wise mentor who just messaged me and suggested we meet up for a session in August, because she had an ”itch” that it might be necessary. She’s a WITCH, I tells ya. I have spent the past month (ok, I’ll admit it, monthS) thinking I can’t write anymore and it’s all pointless.

The actual public service chatgpt provides is in demonstrating the effect of never hearing the word no on the human psyche, it has made billionaire brain pudding a condition accessible to everyone irrespective of net worth

"Hard times are coming, when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now, see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies, to other ways of being. And even imagine some real grounds for hope." ― Ursula K. Le Guin, 2014

Me, after finishing a lunch of creamy chanterelle sauce and Parmesan with spaghetti, and a piece of mud cake for dessert: ”It’s difficult to keep up my healthy lifestyle in summer.” My 14-y-o: You’re keeping up your happy lifestyle. Here’s to more happy lifestyles!

I was a guest at Jurmo literary festival, a small-scale celebration of books in one of the most special places in Finland. Thank you for having me, I hope to visit this incredible island again!

I can’t begin to express how happy this made me!

Kiitos! ❤️

My midsummer: burned home-made pizza, strawberries, Taskmaster and Lonkero. Oh yeah.

The teen was telling his (paternal) grandmother that he’s started reading Stephen King. Gran: I’ve never read a horror novel. But I watch CNN and NBC every day.

Fountain pen Coffee Notebook Rain =writing

Look! Spotted in the wild at Hatchardsby @tulivirta.bsky.social !#TangledRoots

Please read this. I’m not based in the UK, and in Finland we don’t even have birth certificates. But believe me, things happening in the UK and US will happen in Finland, too. The UK ruling was already hailed by the major Finnish newspaper as a ”victory for women’s rights activists.” It isn’t.

Tangled Roots is out in the UK today! It’s a novel spanning 400 years and explores where we come from, the roots we put into the earth and the roots earth forms in us. It’s about love: love between humans and nature, between generations and between people. #Arvejord #TangledRoots

My author copies of Tangled Roots arrived today! Out in the UK on April 10th! @pushkinpress.com

Writing (the act of as well as the paraphernalia of) The Iron Age Female authors

I just came home from a wonderful trip to Germany where I talked about #Moorhöhe (#Arvejord)! One performance in Berlin and three at Leipzig book fair! I can’t believe how many books I, an unknown author from a small country, got to sign! I love countries with ppl who read ❤️

Hey, do you like books? Of course you do! Now you can get a an advanced copy of my upcoming novel, Tangled Roots, over at the Independent Alliance on IG! www.instagram.com/share/BAboKZ...

I looked for something for my 14-y-o in Helsinki’s biggest book store last fall, and everything in the ”teen” section was romantacy. When I asked the staff for recommendations they recommended The Witcher (from the adult section). Where are the actual books for teens?

If you see this, reboot with the top 2 places you absolutely fucking hate with a passion 1. Manchester airport 2. The Autobahn

”I place the urn on the porch table when we unpack the car pour a glass of Talisker For a brief moment I want to open the urn lid and pour some inside You were the one who taught me to drink whisky” Tangled Roots, out in April 2025 from Pushkin Press

There are several stages of writing where I want to ask for help. In the beginning: help, what is this? Is this anything? Should I continue? A bit into the writing: help, what direction should this take? Is this too odd? Is this the wrong thing for me to be writing right now? (Thread)

When I have a lot of other work related stuff like book fairs, author visits, meetings and festivals I long for uninterrupted, peaceful writing time. I now have that. I haven’t left my home in three weeks except to get groceries and take walks. I’m doing good writing. I’m also going stir crazy.

Yet another morning waking to the sound of rain. Sigh.

This is a sewing pattern. It is also a page from a late 14th century manuscript that is one of two primary sources for an important Icelandic saga (Sturlunga saga), but that was probably not important to the 17th century person who really needed a sewing pattern. #upcycling

The most Nordic picture you’ll see :-D (The Prime Ministers of Norway, Denmark and Sweden and the President of Finland having dinner at the Danish PM’s residence). Imagine the leaders of any other countries sitting together this informally? (Photo by the Danish PM Mette Frederiksen)

I do a lot of my ”real” writing by hand and in fountain pen, too, not just my diary. It frees me from my inner demands of perfect first drafts. I have five Lamy pens with five different colors of ink.

I no longer remember seeing the sun or not waking up to the sound of rain. This is not how January in Finland is supposed to be.

I get up early, make my tea, sit down with my diary and fountain pen and start my day. This has become such an important part of my writing routine that if I skip it, I rarely get any work done that day.

Today I made the mistake of asking for help finding something in a FB group (yes, I should really leave FB entirely). My mistake.

One of the great things about my job (writer) is that reading books is part of my job ❤️ And one of the great things about coming from a bilingual country with good language education in schools is that I can read in three languages.

This is the makeup of my literary DNA, in precisely these editions. I think these six books color everything I write today. (Thread)

Ever wonder what snow in the swamp would look like? This is 5 miles into the Louisiana swamps in the Atchafalaya basin... it's unreal... having lived down there for the first 28 years of my life, we never saw anything like this. Smashed records. Curtesy of Garrett Roberts.

Just a reminder that the books we call "children's books" are really books written for an audience that includes children, but excludes absolutely no-one at all. They are BOOKS FOR EVERYONE - and you can never, ever be too old to read them, and to love them!

Well hello 05 o’clock, we meet again. And again and again. Sigh.

I have a writing mentor who uses some sort of witchcraft. After 10 minutes of me explaining the current issues with my writing, she gently presses a finger into the knots that hurt the most and unravels them with one or two apt metaphors. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

This morning’s job: making sure all the foreign editions published of #Arvejord (#TangledRoots) so far are registered in Omasanasto so I can receive lending reimbursements from the libraries!