Heartbreaking. Thank you for sharing @scottedelman.bsky.social. www.scottedelman.com/wordpress/20...

something my life has taught me, both through my own struggles & through observation of most people around me, is that disruptive or controlling emotional reactions in response to criticism/inability to “hear” criticism accurately does NOT come from too high self esteem or lack of adversity (1/?)

This is a well-done essay, rather in the spirit of E.B. White’s own brilliant essays in the years around 1940. Shame on those ignorant fools who chose to steal White’s title for their newest attacks.

Want to walk into and through an actual Iron Age house…and UP THE STAIRS? Of course you bloody do. Come with me. Carn Liath broch, just sitting quietly beside the A9 as thousands whizz by without stopping. Their mistake. Far too excited to wait for #HillfortsWednesday

Hast thou seen the White Whale?

Spent the afternoon writing at the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick (perfect place to spend a rainy afternoon). I swear to god they were playing the soundtrack to the tv show Scrubs. Don’t ask me how I know this.

"The toy is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me, and I am in no humor at present to give consequence to small catnip mice who are slighted by other felines." - Fitzwilliam

okay, so, with Dems successfully keeping anyone up in 2026 for voting for this turd let's take a look at who's up in 2026 anyway: 1. Cory Booker - apparently involved behind the scenes, constantly looking for bipartisanship. I don't dislike him personally but he doesn't have what we need. Primary.

One of the best pieces of flash fiction I've ever read - and just left lying in the road. #flashfiction #writingcommunity

I don't use generative AI because as a writer of fiction, it offers me nothing useful creatively and nothing trustworthy when I do research. It's not worth the environmental impact. That it's been created by stealing my work and using it in breach of copyright law is a further but separate issue.

Just watched a man pick a cigarette off the pavement and smoke it. Didn’t appear to be his and it’s just rained, so I’m not sure how he lit it.

This is an exceptional ≡PhD thesis≡. It is printed on sheets of paper. Written on the item is a novel titled "An Act of Translation", authored by Alex Penland. It concerns languages. The writing is surprisingly humorous. Overall, the prose is acceptable. It menaces with spikes of paper. #academicsky

"Gemini performed worst with significant issues in 76% of responses, more than double the other assistants, largely due to its poor sourcing performance." And yet: "We want these tools to succeed and are open to working with AI companies to deliver for audiences and wider society.’" Dude, what???

Just under 20 days to get your micros (-250 words) in! Fiction, CNF, hybrid, published, unpublished, translations. We're so easy. What about that killer micro you published 20 years ago? It's eligible. We're searching for the best. Deadline Nov 15th. www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...

Oh hey, a reason to be hopeful: groves of American chestnut trees have once again become self-reproducing in the wild. Turned off comments so 12 people don't show up to tell me why this is actually very sad. Be happy, you assholes.

Enormous news for US literature. A new, Mellon-led, $50 million fund for nonprofit literary orgs and publishers. Closest thing we've ever had to it was Mellon and Wallace in 1991, which, in today's dollars, was still less than half this. Open call begins Nov 10. literaryartsfund.org/about/

#Glutenfree baking adventures. I am DETERMINED to bake a good GF bread—one that looks like bread itself. Getting a proper dough feels like a good first step? (It’s sitting on my hot water bottle so the yeast doesn’t get cold.)

#careergoals if I’m honest.

This is what they've done.

This is what they've done.

This is what they've done.

This is what they've done.

I limit my news intake of what's going on back home (AKA American news) because it's SO much, but every time I get an update it hits me in the chest. What do you mean he's destroying the White House. How are there soldiers parading through my city, rounding people up? It feels like a bad movie.

my one and only major demand for phones is "ridiculous battery life because I am a degenerate who is always looking at bluesky on my phone" and my upgrade timelines are based on when my previous battery starts to degrade you cannot sell me on less battery life

Received my author copy of a rather beautiful collection today - Creative Futures from Flametree Press edited by Allen Stroud. This is the result of

Sometimes when you're constructing a language you work out a couple pet peeves. (Screenshot is from my PhD dissertation, which includes language learning lessons on the #conlang Tybewana after each chapter of the associated novel.) #conlanging #academicsky #tybewana

For anybody seeking context on this one: this policy on its face would result in the deportation of my wife, who has been living in Scotland for 17 years, is married to a Scot, shares the mortgage on a house, and works in a university. Lots of perfectly comfortable people earn < £38k.

Thou saw’st the locked lovers when leaping from their flaming ship; heart to heart they sank beneath the exulting wave

I am just a girl standing in front of you asking all my fellow critical legal scholars to perform a concrete analysis of a concrete situation rather than keep writing things whose citations are 90% from the 1990s and early 2000s.

Announcement: PodCastle Is Trialling a Six Month Submissions Window!! We will open in November and close in April. See our announcement on the website for details. All our usual Submissions Guidelines still apply. podcastle.org/2025/10/17/a...

Reminds me of the suburbs I grew up in, where they bulldozed a first and left tiny pockets of wood with signs that read “tree preservation area”. I always wanted to vandalize them with a Lorax.

It stole our work and we were not adequately informed or compensated. It’s an environmental disaster. It’s being forced on people who don’t want to use it. It’s decimating critical thinking skills. Pick one.

Reminds me of this picture I took in Oxford.

Windows 10 goes out of support today. My fave useless fact about w10 is that the iconic blue desktop background is a *photograph* - not CGI. Tiny 'making of' vid here - youtu.be/_2RacX9DgWM...

You gently run your hand through the rack. You can feel it—pure cotton, rich wool, Irish linen. The plump buttonholes are handsewn; the buttons attached with a firm shank. You flip the price tag over. It's affordable You buy the jacket and go home, which is only 15 mins away. Your apt is $600/month

I am once again begging uni students to student at home when they’re sick Everyone hates the person who’s chugging cold medicine in the library study space

Did you know that the audiobook for my sapphic pirate horror QUEEN O'NINE TAILS' just dropped? 🏴‍☠️🏳️‍🌈 If you like snarky, good-with-their-hands spies who are Definitely, For Sure, Not At All attracted to the hot but unhinged pirate queens who capture them, then this is going to (ahem) float your boat.

So ready for the Hallozine fair in Edinburgh next week. I’ve got three zines for sale (two poetry, one autobiographical) and I’ll be leading an afternoon workshop on making poetry zines. Plus lots of lino prints. Not sure I’ll be able to get my etchings together in time yet.

AMAZING, Zebib! Congratulations!

So ready for the Hallozine fair in Edinburgh next week. I’ve got three zines for sale (two poetry, one autobiographical) and I’ll be leading an afternoon workshop on making poetry zines. Plus lots of lino prints. Not sure I’ll be able to get my etchings together in time yet.

Just watched a group of spectacular stupid teenagers shoplift from the Superdrug across the street. They were hanging out to the side of the building with merchandise falling out of their pockets like pre-Good-Place Jason Mendoza’s dance crew. Yes, in full view of a camera. Hashtag Edinburgh.

Daith an’ dule will stab ye surely, Be ye man or wife, Mony trauchles an’ mischances In ilk weird are rife; Bide the storm ye canna hinder, Mindin’ through the strife, Hoo the luntin’ lowe o’ beauty Lichts the grey o’ life. —Helen Cruickshank, “Sea Buckthorn” #Scotstober asls.org.uk/publications...

"single-use plastic of the mind" had me GAGGED

Just want to center a quote from later in the thread: "This is a hit list."

Sharing this comprehensive Writer Beware post, for anyone needing clarification, links etc on the Anthropic court case and its many issues. Includes link to search US copyright site for registrations. writerbeware.blog/2025/09/26/b...

📢 POETS WANTED! Nominations now open for the Scottish Poetry Library's ONLINE GUIDE TO SCOTTISH POETS. Any poet can be nominated born in Scotland, lives/works in Scotland, or is Scottish by inclination. Closing date is 2/11/25. #NationalPoetryDay www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/2025/09/nomi...

Content warning, of course. Just reminding everyone who likes to think they’d have been a hero in the 1930s that you’ve got the chance to be a hero now. Also, if you want out of the US and you’re considering a student visa, ask me anything. I’m here to help.

“Most writers are not really sold—they’re told, implicitly or explicitly, to sell themselves.” (@ilanaslightly.bsky.social)

Mainstream media? No, I get my news from my nutritionist, who greets me with more and more sympathy these days before outlining the nonsense Discount Hitler’s been up to lately. (He’s a delight. I love this man.)

Just a weekend for the books, honestly. Four days with two of my favorite people, exploring, eating good food, and marveling at the odd things one finds on castle grounds…