What the world needs now is fewer people telling us how to fix things and more people reaching out to say, “the struggle is real, but we’re in this together.”

You have so many stories to tell. Your life is rich. Please put them into the world.

In the material and virtual worlds, I see so many pockets of creativity popping up. I see communities forming around art. I see people declaring “I don’t want a job.” Not because they are “lazy”, but because we want a healthy life that does not extract our souls, but rather nourishes them.

Small blessings. I was off this morning. The well-founded anxieties were really getting me down. I dreaded the day. Without intending to, or even being aware of it, or really knowing the lyrics, I started singing “a few of my favorite things” from the sound of music..

Thrilled to see my short story, “Bill Gates Wants to Take You to America” published in the recent issue of The Rappahanock Review along with an author interview. rappahannockreview.com/issue-13-1/c...

The latest Open Access volume of Migration and Society has been published!: bit.ly/4mbOY7L Featuring research by: @malayfiroz.bsky.social @jenri.bsky.social @ernabodstrom.bsky.social @jesperbjarnesen.bsky.social @djamilak.bsky.social @suzan-ilcan.bsky.social and more!

It’s important to have normal times where you watch tv, hang with friends and family, make dinner, walk the dog, take out the trash, talk about the weather and watch the big game. It is also important not to lose sight of the fact that nothing is normal and we’re in the middle of a coup. 1/3

A reminder that it is not your responsible as a citizen to obsess over the news or emotionally collapse from imagining the suffering. It IS your responsibility make yourself as strong as you can (whatever that looks like for you) and to DO whatever you are capable of to resist and protect.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave reps of DOGE full access to the federal payment system late on Friday, handing Elon Musk and the team he is leading a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02...

There’s a lot of great advice going around about pacing ourselves, and focusing on a few issues rather than taking it all in, and working locally in your own communities. This is good advice now as it was in 2016. BUT this is also different than the last time. (1/3)

I wish there was an easy way to make a starter pack of everyone I knew from other social media who has moved over here….

When an authoritarian regime consolidates power, it is deeply unsettling. The fabric of reality is shaken. It makes it hard to remain standing. That’s what you may be experiencing right now.

Pay. Attention. To. This AND CALL YOUR REPS.

For all of you starting a new semester today, may you approach it with ease, curiosity, and compassion for yourself and everyone involved. Sidle up to it, like you would a wild animal you don’t want to startle.

I’d love advice about how to make Bluesky more conversational.

Preparing for the next four years. Here is a practical guide for coping with and getting through Trump 2.0.

I have three reading goals this year: 1) more work by African authors. 2) more work that isn’t on any list. 3) read as many of the books on my shelf that I haven’t read as I can. I also have plans for some re-reads. What are your 2025 reading plans?

Stop scrolling right now. Go pick up a book. Read a random sentence from a random page. How did it change your life just now? Please share.

I had a dream that I was trying to find my room at some sort of outdoor conference. People kept trying get me off course, and I had to hide many times. When I finally arrived, my “room” was a cocoon shaped closet with no space to move. What is this telling me? What are your dreams telling you?

After a winter break during which I did very little and barely left the house, I’m feeling,oddly, both well rested and tired.

Borders are scars in the otherwise breathtakingly beautiful landscape.

I’m going to start viewing myself through the lens of my residual self image rather than the lens I imagine the world views me through. I imagine myself still in my early 40s: energetic, fit, youthful, at the height of my intellectual powers. Where does your residual self image take you?

If there was ever a time for radical authenticity, it’s now.

I’m setting intentions, not resolutions, for 2025. Intention 4: Explore the oneness of being strategic, pragmatic, AND creative.

I’m setting intentions, not resolutions, for 2025. Intention 3: More moments. Fewer minutes.

I’m setting intentions, not resolutions, for 2025. Intention 2: instead of worrying about “what if?” imagine what could be.

I’m setting intentions, not resolutions for 2025. Intention 1: Same passion. Same empathy. More imperturbability.

I started the new year writing a short story. It seemed to fall from the sky into my notebook. It’s a horror/ comedy about social conformity. This is not a genre I’ve ever written. I think 2025 is going to be weird.

When I was younger I tried many of the “classics” and found them alienating, sometimes pedantic, too focused on a single (often male) protagonist, and always culminating in a war or battle. Just not tropes I vibe with. But the genre is currently exploding with new ways to imagine!!!

Here at the African Studies meeting we stopped by the Indiana University Press booth. Always so great to see your book for sale and hear people say good things about it!

Anyone on here going to the African Studies Association meeting in Chicago this week? #ASA2024 #AfricanStudies

Have started my end of year stats processing for my January Clarkesworld editorial. Couldn't sit on these two items: Just over half the stories we published in 2024 were written by authors we've never worked with before. Nine authors (9.7%) were making their first sale anywhere.

French government collapsed today in a no confidence vote, which will bring renewed instability to the government during a fiscal crisis. Unlikely a majoritarian government, or anything close to one, can be formed given the Assemblée's composition. C'est la 💩

It’s so much better to wake up thinking about the problems of fictional characters than the problems of people in real life.

#decemberwritingchallenge people: how’s it going? After a good writing weekend, and life derailed me for the last 2 days, but I’m back at it today and the rest of the week looks pretty clear!

I am SO close to finishing a round of revisions on my novel, but all I want to do is write poetry. 🤦🏼‍♀️ #writingcommunity what’s your advice—not for writer’s block—but writers misdirection?

Please , if you are able , support Independent publishers who are doing most of the heavy lifting in finding great new writers! @littletollerbooks.bsky.social @saraband-books.bsky.social @influxpress.bsky.social @galleybeggars.bsky.social @peepaltreepress.bsky.social And many more

Solidarity with my colleagues at the Observer and the Guardian who are striking today and tomorrow. There is a virtual picket line, too. If you value the paper, its history, its staff, and freelancers like me, please support them by avoiding reading and sharing any articles for the next 48 hours.

Great account of protests in South Korea!

Wow. South Korea. We are watching.

Who else is up for a December writing challenge?

Here’s a good New Year’s resolution: find a new favorite author who is not a “known name,” someone who speaks to your soul, read everything they’ve ever written, tell everyone about them.

For the cost of a coffee and a muffin you could buy a book from a small press or indie author. Or go out and buy a Knick knacks from a local business. On this Black Friday weekend, just do it!