Advent is a mere 3 weeks away! Consider this. Who in your life... needs to know more about eels? feels joy in learning? likes the ocean? needs a little treat? You should send them an Eel Facts Advent Calendar! Sales support @skypeascientist.bsky.social and it's just plain fun! EelFacts.net

Both of my collections are in this sale! And a bunch of my favorite books by my favorite authors.

really excited to launch the newest residency at Upstart & Crow, which is specifically for parent-writers and includes a childcare stipend in addition to a residency grant and space to work. the residency I have dreamed of! applications open this weekend: upstartandcrow.com/programs/par...

I think a lot about the story Carl Reiner told: he’d have been a sewing machine repairman if not for a free WPA drama class. That led to other theater work, to Sid Caesar, to Mel Brooks, and all the rest. All because of one free class paid for by a government that felt the arts were worth teaching.

I have been mostly working on novel revisions lately and not submitting much, so it’s been a while since I’ve got a rejection, but here we are — the first one since July, I think! #writingrejection #writing #amwriting

The good news: I got my vaccines. The bad news: now I’m in no condition to go to the book launch at Iron Dog with @annajswan.bsky.social @amberdawnwrites.bsky.social and @estmcphee.bsky.social 😭

Even though I only use about 2% of Scrivener’s features, it absolutely adds to the joy to know I could use fancy functionality like this too if I got around to it. Scrivener is a totally no-bullshit and writer-centred tool and that is a BIG DEAL.

A female sex demon is called a succubus. A male sex demon is called an incubus. A non-binary sex demon is called an omnibus.

"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"

I love using #Scrivener and enjoyed it so much I once created a training course called Scrivener Simplified (with their blessing at the time). Anyway, the domain is long since gone, but I put the videos on YouTube for anyone interested. youtube.com/playlist?lis... @scrivenerapp.bsky.social

Awesome alt text too xo

Online classes I have coming up include Pacing & Story Beats, Theme & Motif, a short story workshop, Writing Your Way into Your Novel, and more! Find the list, along with details about scholarships, here: www.catrambo.com/classes/

East Van, City of Books! We are so lucky to have so many bookstores on the east side of Vancouver.

If I were a much better craftsperson I would write an absolutely heartbreaking roller coaster of a short story about going to the hairdresser for some highlights and How It All Turns Out.

I'm (finally!) reading Colm Tóibín's Brooklyn , set in the early '50s. There are so many observations that are just stunning, that make me stop to ponder them. One example: a woman doesn't want to buy a TV because it's hard to believe they'll keep making TV shows. We never can know, can we?

Beautiful photo of Madeleine Thien! (And it was a very moving discussion, a really great job by the writers and the @writersfest.bc.ca )

One difference I really notice between playing music and writing: I rarely hear an adult dude show up at their first live gig and tell me they're going to learn to play guitar and have a massively successful band by next year.

I don’t know anything about this except that it sounds very doable if you’ve already experienced the 3-Day Novel Contest. (I’m curious to learn if this word count would get you into the trippy runner’s high type territory though.)

Laser clinic offers major discount to get rid of Harry Potter tattoos: “I hate JK Rowling” www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/10/lase... @charliejane.bsky.social @annaleen.bsky.social @transgenderreport.com @cherylmorgan.bsky.social

What? An "AI" browser that totally tracks every single thing you do, almost certainly to train its AI model? Unpossible!

via teddy bear article

Reporting this delightful news a little late: the instant Canada Post switched to rotating job action, these treasures from @thisisannick.bsky.social arrived! Good people are doing good things in this world 💜

“I’m at a loss to think of anybody who did that before him” — I’d need to go back and reread to say this with confidence, but I read E Nesbit first as a child and always felt she got there first.

I saw a tragically AI-generated version of this poster, so I have recreated a 100% human-made version for all your protest sign needs.

Yay! Today I picked up my special-ordered copy of this beautiful book by poet, scholar, publisher, and wonderful person @thisisannick.bsky.social

Being a writer is such a great way to remind yourself that *so much* of how you perceive things depends on your state of mind. One day I'm energised and in love with my WIP -- the next I can't find 10 pages good enough to use for a residency application.

Rejoicing underway!

periodic reminder that if you write stuff that's published on the web for a publication you yourself do not own, PDF that shit as soon as it goes live

I cannot overstate how much the process of novel-writing helps me to (temporarily) escape things happening in the so-called real world. I spent most of today just puzzling which characters should do what and why, to make something hang together and it was absolutely great.

Hang on, I’ve got this!

*taps sign*

The thing everyone can do right now is to find your lane if you don't already have one and work that lane diligently and with commitment.

Everyone else is talking about the Emmys but I'm doing the classic thing of hunching over my keyboard working on some writing. And not even writing new words, trying to cut back on them. (I've got my novel down to under 100K! Well, it's exciting to me.)

I happened to be going through some of Aesop's Fables and perhaps unsurprisingly some of them are hitting the spot for me today. Here's one for now, "The Frogs Who Asked for a King." (Source: Project Gutenberg.) I might post more later.

This review in Reactor is so lovely 😭 reactormag.com/30-more-sff-...

Yes, I’m doing the 3-Day Novel Contest again. The goddess help me!

“Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.” ― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

A swift, good decision to just not

The new edition of No Failure, Only Practice is out now! August's craft essay is about using chapter titles effectively, with interesting examples from Karen Russell's The Antidote, Brian Evenson's The Open Curtain, Chuck Palahniuk's Survivor, Danya Kukafka's Notes on an Execution, and my Appleseed.

Wordle 1,518 3/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Oh, the emotions when you see an account following your posts is actually some kind of AI slop farm. (So many emotions! Including disappointment, nausea, despair, and rage. I cannot block these accounts fast enough.)

I loved Maggie Smith’s generous, intimate new book on writing, Dear Writer. This quote really spoke to me. @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social

So happy to see my friend Doreen Vanderstoop's book here!

(happy screaming) www.3daynovel.com/2025/08/07/2...

New blog post! I love doing readings, really I do, but sometimes I really hate learning. toveblack.ca/on-doing-rea...

If I'm stuck while outlining, I'll start a list called "Stupid things that could happen next" and write a bunch of nonsense ideas down. Pterodactyl attack. Everyone starts singing. Someone transforms into a werewolf. Eventually the ideas become less stupid, and usually I find a solution.

you don't understand. as someone who isn't inherently good at art, stealing paintings from the museum is the *only* way i'm able to express myself creatively. i wouldn't be able to paint beautiful portraits. but by breaking into a museum and stealing the paintings, now i am

Dead Kennedys recording Nazi Punks Fuck Off in 1981.