#Giveaway Time to prepare for #DVpit! Enter from July 13-18, 2026 to win query and/or first pages critiques from agents! TO ENTER: • repost this post • AND reply with your category & genre! (e.g. YA Fantasy) • Entries must be for completed, unpublished work. Full rules: dvpit.carrd.co#giveaway

July 12 #WIPSnips: “extra” The Beech Tree’s not exactly the Connaught Bar, but people don’t go there for atmosphere. It does, however, offer drinks strong enough to take the edge off confessing to certain crimes of the heart, as Jenny’s doing here in a snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

How it started (2011) ➡️ How it's going (2026) Happy one month wedding anniversary to my beloved @kimjongillectro.bsky.social !

In which we sing praises for some platforms, deliver ample boos and hisses for others, and go deep on more AO3 drama. Can I say it again for the cheap seats? When people make dumb AI choices, by all means call them out but BULLYING IS NOT THE ANSWER. Sheesh! #writingcommunity #writesky #podcast

July 10 #WIPSnips: “substitute” Jenny thought she’d be a dead cert for Shipp’s Wordsworth seminar after her grade in his Romantic Poetry class. Excluded, she tracks him down at home to plead her case. Very normal behavior for a student who can’t stand losing in a snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension”

July 8 #WIPSnips: “humid” Ugh, summer in Manhattan really does a number on your hair and demands way too much from your antiperspirant. Kayla’s right: Jenny’s gonna need some luck to extricate herself from this mishigas. Oh shit indeed. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

July 7 #WIPSnips: “quarter” A fashion emergency requires Jenny’s attendance in men’s accessories. For a man like Gregory, indecision can be a parlous condition, especially when he’s suffering from a case of strategic incompetence requiring a woman’s assistance. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension”

I'm so sorry to report that I'm supporting the other Great Satan this evening. 🥺 I'm sure my ancestors are disappointed but come on, I'm not undoing 30 years cheering for a terminally losing side in one night.

July 5 #WIPSnips: “bench” If you’re lucky, you’ve had a Rachel Perez in your life. I’ve had a couple, women who were generous enough to hold me to account while giving me enough space to fail and learn from it. Jenny should have learned more from hers. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

Y'ALL I HAVE STARTED DRAFTING THE LAST CHAPTER IN BOOK 2 Forgive me while I fan myself a little. #writingcommunity #writesky

July 4 #WIPSnips: “round” Impressive that the mention of Dorothy Wordsworth doesn’t push the horny-off button on either of these two, but the English department can really do a number on amorous brains. Mild smuttishness for these two weirdos in this snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

Apologies: this entire episode needs a content warning. There are monsters out there, and some of them write quite well. While scribbling out pretty words cannot purge the harms those monsters cause, is it ever okay to consume their work? No? Sometimes? Blech! #writingcommunity #writesky #podcast

July 1 #WIPSnips: "scarf” Rivers in Egypt, yadda yadda yadda. Jenny didn’t ask for real talk as an add-on to her mani-pedi, but her NYC summer sublet roommates are providing some anyway on the house. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

Did you miss us? No? I'M NOT SULKING! (Maybe a little.) In this week's ep we pretend we know stuff as we discuss the devilish art of writing dialogue. Do I sound authoritative? A little! Am I underqualified to talk about this topic? Probably! Listen anyway! #writingcommunity #writesky #podcast

DRAMATIC SIGHING

June 26 #WIPSnips: "fox” There should not be a “what happens next” for these two, but some attractions can be as sticky as a cocklebur or a foxtail, and just as difficult to dislodge. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

Hmmmmmm Querying: This Ends Now = That Started at Some Point in the Past I Can't Quite Recall Because I'm Perimenopausal (spookily accurate for this book!) WIP: Surface Tension = Complete Shambles on the Inside (also accurate!)

June 23 #WIPSnips: "penalty” Confession time: like Jenny, I also wasn’t a Wordsworth fan in college. In my defense, I tried to like his poetry! Sometimes! Unlike Jenny, I didn’t have a smarmy postdoc pouring me glass upon glass of champagne to change my mind. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

June 19 #WIPSnips: "group” Posted in solidarity with my comrades who have flicked through stacks of GRE quant flashcards and chosen violence instead. If I give any former grad students flashbacks with this snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension,” please accept my sincere(ish) apologies.

June 18 #WIPSnips: "resume” In which Jenny learns Gregory has been telling big, fat whoppers about his job description all summer long, and that enough of her classmates put cheese sandwiches in the recycling bin to warrant mention in the department bulletin. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

As you may know, I decided "why the fuck not?" and got married to the awesome @kimjongillectro.bsky.social a week ago today. (Tax below.) And after a bunch (okay, a modicum) of thought, I have decided that while I am decidedly NOT changing my legal name, it's about damn time I take a pen name. (1/3)

June 15 #WIPSnips: "era” Jenny adores Rachel Perez, whose class on the economics of the 19th century marriage plot she’s taking in the fall. Gregory has opinions on this course selection: Rachel's his ex and her feminist convictions are, shall we say, robust. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

We're on hiatus this week because love is real and so is Covid. Listen next week when we'll both be asking the universe: did I really need to go through this again? #writesky #writingcommunity #podcast

Reader, I married him. #writingcommunity #writesky #justmarried #blackdress #wedding

"Now we have sloptimism, which holds that if there’s a lot of a particular type of art out there and people are engaging with it, and not complaining too much, then how bad can it be? The counterpoint, of course, is that readers deserve better and always have." #writingcommunity #writesky

June 8 #WIPSnips: "smell” Which stinks the most: the moth ball perfume or the Slim Jim? Perhaps it's Kit after an evening performing naked charades with the Sacerdotal Sinners secret society. Or maybe the big ol’ secret Jenny’s keeping from everyone? A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

Forsooth it is Sunday -- WEDDING WEEK HATH COMMENCED!

June 6 #WIPSnips: "happen” Some merry widows are born before they are made; Gigi just happens to be one of them. <<insert billionaire here>> A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

BOOKISH WEIRDOS (and assorted other folk)—in this ep I introduce the world to my lifelong productivity system OPPRESSED SOCIALIST WORKER which will 💯help you get that WIP done. Probably. The revolution may not be televised, but it will be written.✊SOLIDARITY NOW! #podcast #writingcommunity #writesky

Some weeks, when I'm going to be billing 10 hrs+ on at least three days, I remind myself: I went to law school of my own free will. Twice, in two different countries' jurisdictions, because I couldn't get enough mental anguish doing it once. I DID IT ALL TO MYSELF. There is no buck-passing. 😭

June 3 #WIPSnips: "nectar” No nectar, but some honey alongside the lemon and fancy gin in Jenny’s Bee’s Knees cocktail. Surely nothing bad can come of a lovely cocktail that reminds her too much of Alice’s tipple? Absolutely not. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

June 1 #WIPSnips: "loss” Perhaps we aren’t all like Carlos, afflicted by the twin curses of family money and a Harvard education, but even we of modest means will know the sting of an ex like Numero Uno, who’s skilled at wriggling money out of our wallets. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

Today is the one year anniversary of being called a bad ally for posting on the day before Pride kicks off that I think ranch dressing on pizza is a war crime. God, I love this place. #bluesky

May 31 #WIPSnips: "room” Jenny’s late for a reception honoring visiting prof Dr. Sandra Tang so she could get her teeth cleaned. No harm no foul, right? With Gregory's arrival imminent, there’s bound to be something a little foul on the horizon. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

To a soundtrack of the Persian techno version of The Final Countdown because of course that's what one does in Beverly Hills.

At a friend's wedding at the Beverly Hills Hilton and Uhhhhh Oh wow I guess I am about to marry @shaneessary.bsky.social for real

I should have won the Pulitzer for my multi-part expose on the literary agency that wasn't as discussed in this week's Hot Goss but OH WELL. The world has never been ready for my staggering✨brilliance.✨ No, I'm not sulking. There's very little sulking on BLF. Listen! #writesky #writingcommunity

May 29 #WIPSnips: "silent” Reader, he lied. He lied and lied and lied. (Shocker.) A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

May 28 #WIPSnips: "insect” Jenny’s asking who the woman on Gregory’s desktop wallpaper is; he’s gone for the nuclear option rather than explain. How does it feel when a somebody becomes a nobody? Is it agony or merely a pinprick? One insect, two stages, in a snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

May 26 #WIPSnips: "meet” After a modicum of resistance, Jenny says yes to a dress that costs as much as a down payment on a house when she reckons she can sell it on eBay later. A woman has to be practical, after all, no? (Reader: this was highly impractical.) A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

A highly productive long weekend! * Picked up MY DRESS and she's 𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴 (pic from recent fitting below) * 3000 words done in the WIP, 1.5 chapters left before THE END * Helped Shane choose his shirt for the wedding * Finalized hair and makeup * Made 3 bouquets and 2 boutonnieres (👇) (1/3)

May 25 #WIPSnips: "rain” Summer loving happened so fast. Too bad Kayla’s right and Jenny’s fling with Gregory doesn’t get shoved in the junk drawer along with the SPF50 and leftover mustard packets from NYC street carts at the end of August. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

I can't believe they did my podcast without me!😭The GALL of excluding me from this banger of an ep about emotionally destroying your readers just because I was busy confronting the horrors of middle age in a prep school dining hall. RUDE! (srsly it's awesome, so listen) #writingcommunity #writesky

💯Jenny would be listening to "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" on repeat on her secondhand green iPod Mini. There is no debate; I will hear no dissent. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gns...

May 22 #WIPSnips: "opportunity” Jenny’s mentor Babe warned that the internship was more than a summer job for a young woman scrambling her way off an Iowa farm. But Babe didn’t mention that some opportunities are tall, dark blond, and very dangerous to know. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

*click*

Current mood, reflected in a Slack message.

May 20 #WIPSnips: "disappoint” Is Jenny as special as she hopes, talent-spotted by an academic rising star? Or only a convenient distraction while he’s in NYC? She decides it’s the former and is grateful the only part of Gregory she’s stroked so far is his ego. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension”

OOF also YUCK also Whenever someone suggests I'm writing lit fic and I wonder to myself, "self, am I a slinger of words most literary fiction-y?" I am reminded that while my style may slither around the edges of the genre, it ain't whatever this beep-boop is pretending to be. #writingcommunity

A visit to a used bookstore and an instruction to take anything we want, for free, before it shuts forever. A reminder that bookstores only remain open if you visit and buy from them. #booksky #writingcommunity