For #kidlit writers. Yes, it's great to have tweens/teens at home for your MG/YA-- But they read your work while you sweat, then your only feedback is "It's good." And if you ask clarifying questions like, "What part was creepiest?" They'll give a long, thoughtful pause and say, "The whole thing."

What an amazing show! Such a good time.

Rejections are a part of writing. Here’s something I do to make it them easier. I keep a doc where I save compliments I’ve gotten on my writing. It was awkward at first, but I highly recommend it, especially if you have brain gremlins that attack sometimes. Feel free to share your strategies ⬇️

Super fun Halloween week kick off when reading “Say My Name” and then “A Good Head on His Shoulders.” Scary stories for children are difficult, but some of the most fun for “former” creepy kids. I love Portland’s insanely supportive writing community, and all the enthusiastic readers.

Finished revision #2 of Under! Unfortunately I now need to cut like 8,000 words before I query 😭 how did I make it harrrrrderrr

Happiness is working with authors and librarians that want to help kids write their stories... and here it was with marionettes. @adambolivar.bsky.social Thank you for your help yesterday !

Just a post from a Portlander (OR, although we still think Maine is cool). I met up with my super supportive writers group at a local cafe, had an oat milk latte brewed to perfection and my biggest complaint is my library thrift store didn’t have the purple yarn I needed. We are doing ok.

Another agent to consider for my #dvpit friends

Love you, Mychal!

If you want to support #FreeSpeech, scan the barcode below to donate a banned book. #BornBehindBars is on #BannedWagon this year! #BannedWagonBooks #BannedBooksWeek #BannedBooksWeek2025 @penguinschoollib.bsky.social @nancyrosep.bsky.social @amandagorman.bsky.social @jacquelinewoods.bsky.social

Another agent worth a look for my #dvpit friends

Dear Chicago, we are with you, 💜 from Portland.

I am grateful to have had a 💜 today and am looking forward to entering the querying stage! This is my first time pitching officially and I learned so much just by the experience and everyone’s #dvpit pitches. It’s so inspiring to see so many cool stories being written. So write on, friends!

To my #DVPit friends... remember you wrote a book. I love all the pitches and I'm HERE FOR YOUR STORIES!

Would love to see this book on the shelf!

Another agent to consider :-) for #DVPit friends

#DVPIT #MV #MG #F If Tim Burton could stop writing Nawal's life, that'd be great. Dead mom? Twice. Starving Shadows? Check. Why not send her where needs an alias, to beg the help of eccentric witches as she dodges the Shadow Queen? And while you're at it, add blight. And worst of all? The Dad jokes.

Can someone publish this story so I don’t have to beg to read this for free?

13 y.o.Nawal is tired of being told to take a Deep Breath In. It’s hard enough with all the losses she’s had, but with old Shadows returning to feed off the bad memories? It’s easier to just bury it all. Deep. Under. But sometimes, seeds buried deep take root, and sprout dark stories #MG #MV #DVPIT

Another agent to check out

Also after you query this agent please let me beta read 😂

Really excited to see agents in #DVpit looking for new stories !

SPINDLE OF FATE X SHADOW WEAVER in Under, a fractured fairy tale of stories that won’t stay buried. Nawal falls Under, where the Shadow Queen controls story and Shadow. Can eccentric witches and storyweaving be enough to guide her home, or will she have to remain in the darkness? #MG #MV #F #DVPIT

For my #DVpit friends

For my #DVPIT friends

Nawal doesn’t need help with the Shadows. Not from the Tea Witch when she falls Under. Nor from the Sea Witch, when the blight creeps in. Not from the Ink Witch when facing the Shadow Queen on her own territory. The only thing that might help Nawal is her own, long-buried Shadows. #DVPIT #MG #F #MV

When an old bully in Nawal’s new school makes her go viral in the worst way, old Shadows return to feed off her stories. She escapes by falling Under, where Shadows are locked away. With help from eccentric witches, Nawal might escape the Shadows. The Shadow Queen is another story. #MG #MV #DVPIT

Nawal is living a fairy tale (if Tim Burton wrote it). She can’t balance weaving the Shadows with feeding them (#spoiler, that’s way worse). When she falls Under, she’ll have to navigate avoiding capture by the Shadow Queen and learn to accept help from tea, sea, & ink witches. #DVPIT #MG #F #MV

Under is the heart and woe stories of Padma Venkatramen (if written by Tim Burton). There's the dreaminess of Shadow Weaver by MarcyKate Connolly with the feistiness of Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly. Nawal is my main character. She has lots of spunk, and a little bit too independent. #DVParty

What do you see?

Hey there, broken girl, you say, Have you heard of kintsugi? (Of course you know what it is, and just how it is pronounced) The art of highlighting the shattered pieces with gold! But not for you, you splintered soul. For the cost of gold is just too high, And alas, we are fresh out of glue.

Finishing up my last few hours at the Oregon Writer's Colony. I feel recharged and also amazed at how much writing I could get done at a cabin, surrounded by the sounds of the ocean, and a warm drink always close by. So grateful. Now to go sell some stories so I can come again, inshAllah.

Submitted a scary story!

I was forced to shave our cats (long story) - and now I'm not sure who is entering their villain era... me, or them. Subplot: I was not a natural born pet groomer...

RFK Jr. says there are no autistic poets, so we interviewed one. Hear from Elizabeth McClellan, @popelizbet.bsky.social, an award-winning poet, attorney, and legal educator based in Memphis, Tennessee.

That feeling when a critique partner said your chapter was so spooky she needed to stop and read it in the morning.

Today I'm writing about an experience with close family that was pretty shocking - as a nurse practitioner I keep a folder open called "Days in American Medicine" - I write as nurse, and as an NP. And today I write about how little people know about their rights as patients.... 1/?

www.oregonlive.com/politics/202... Behind a paywall... apologies in advance It's not just about my job. This affects you. If you're having sex, sexual health is important. Counselors in schools are important. Immunizations are important. Calling your commissioner may help save lives.

Saw this and... Yep 😅 #writing

I haven't been writing in a long, long time. Today, paused. I cleaned, made some candles, organized. Things that didn't take a lot of critical thinking. Then - the words hit me. 200 of them later and I think I'm declaring this writer's slump on pause.

I'm feeling super grateful for my friends and creative communities that keep the world on its axis... at least from where I'm sitting. <3