the-line-up.com/creepy-mythi... If you know me, you know I'd totally fall for the Puca--even knowing the folklore warnings. I'd be like, "Yeah, but, Puca won't hurt me, I love magical horse-creatures!" #folklore #MythologyMonday

So far we’ve received subs to our anthology on the theme of BRIDGES from the following: UK, India, Greece, Nigeria, Pakistan, USA, Ireland, The Netherlands, Turkey,Singapore, Australia, Denmark & Canada. Thank you! Subs close on 15/2 so unrepresented countries still have time!

I have made good use of my snow days. Another round of deep edits on the big project. A couple story submissions. Short story edits. I'm tired. A little bit discouraged once in a while. But determined.

I can't listen to anything music with lyrics when writing. What do y'all listen to? I kinda hate Spotify but I follow a couple playlists. Mostly Dark Academia and Victorian Gothic and this one that is house music for people who can't focus.

My take on "write what you know." Experience includes emotional events. Do you know what it's like to feel alien in your family? Have you been overwhelmed with love for your child? Or the thrill of accomplishing a challenge? "What you know" isn't limited to geography and your position in life.

Ranger Rick, the second-best children's magazine ever. Also, the first magazine to prompt me to make an environmental pronouncement at the dinner table.

Best Children's Magazine ever. Nothing else compares. And no, don't mention Highlights in the same breath.

This.

I think I'm in a Billy Joel song. Doesn't he have one that mentions how someone is being slowly extinguished by their day job?

Battling a cold. These are my reading partners. We’re reading scary stories. #readhorror

This isn't something I can apply for at this point in my life. But Meow Wolf is hiring a narrative designer and I know some writers who would do outstanding work for the beautiful weirdness that is the Meow Wolf installation art venues. Saw it on LinkedIn.

Phoenix, son of Chanticleer, ain't playin! #rurallife #rooster

👩‍🎤 I miss David Bowie.

Texas A&M is censoring Plato from a philosophy course. Cowards. #freespeech

Texas A&M is censoring Plato from a philosophy class. You can't make up this level of stupid. #fuckcensorship #nocensorship #freespeech

This is beyond stupid. The censors are never the good guys. And they obviously don't read Plato or any other clear thinker. Cowards. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

I've been occasionally watching a civil rights lawyer who specializes in bad arrests / bad cops. I just saw one where a POS deputy illegally entered a home while allegedly serving a civil paper, shot and killed a family dog. Rage. I'm trembling with rage. I hope this fucker gets what he deserves.

Trigger warning. This is about a POS deputy who illegally entered a family home and killed their dog. And the sheriff covered for him. POS still has a job. youtu.be/1Ti3vKWZNAA?...

Returning to the work-a-day world today and being reminded immediately, as I'm proofing/editing, that a college degree is no guarantee of clear, concise writing ability.

May we all get better than we deserve, and heaps of grace, gratitude, beauty and love! As omens go, it doesn't get much better than Year of the HORSE.

A challenge I have with writing is when I need a big city setting, because I know jack shit about big cities. Virtual tours help. But the flavor/attitudes—that’s a hard one for someone who’s never lived in a big city. It’s not something you can master in a long weekend visit.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

pen.org/press-releas... #readbannedbooks

I finished a second draft of a 5,200 word horror story last night. Having trouble with a title. That probably means I need to re-evaluate and find the story's thesis statement. #WritingCommunity #horror

From today's horror story research, a found poem: The smell of bitter almonds is the classic indicator of cyanide. The actual taste of pure cyanide is described as bitter, acrid, burning, though it's so fast-acting that few survive to describe it reliably.

How am I supposed to finish writing this story? Psst, it’s got a Minotaur. No kittens, though. #minotaur #kittens

A great way to end the year! A wee story in a journal I've admired for years! Thank you Keith Hoerner, Allison Joseph, and Crab Orchard Review! www.flipsnack.com/AB7B77BBDC9/...

I wasn’t joking about buying multiple copies! One is a contributor copy!! The Best Horror of the Year vol 17, edited by Ellen Datlow @datlow.bsky.social

May I present Anne Bonney Queen of Pirates, the newest member of our family. We drove 2 hours to get this polydactyl kitty.

I’m always saying the same shit and I mean it every time. In the age of soulless AI slop, nothing matters more than your voice, so write/create whatever makes you happy. Make it weird. Make it dark. Make it queer. Make it surreal, diverse, sexy. Make it political as fuck. Do YOU.

Hey mofo. Better stay away from Copperhead Road.

The beautiful thing about Bluesky is I'm just screaming into the void here. So let me scream this: I fucking hate this goddamn fake Christmas tree.

Sometimes my writing research really fucks my algorithm. I don't want to BUY a typical hipster car. I just need to picture it.

It's a drinkin' whiskey and writin' about dangerous, secret communities kinda night up in here.

www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty... Syllabi are a species of public document and are FOIA-able. However, this is a bad idea. At the least, these faculty should be paid for sharing their intellectual property.

Fuck the holidays.

I'm OK. Mostly. But the double-whammy of bullshit at work and my usual holiday-related spiral into darkness — combined with deep homesickness for my native state which also comes this time of year... I'm seeking solace in the bottle. And tea.

I deserve a goldurn medal for how well I hold my temper -- and my tongue -- at work.

I'm calling BS on Steve Harvey who claims a woman with no friends or very few is strong and confident. That is overstated! A woman needs 1-2 close friends. No friends = no external support system, no reality check. If she's married, no friends leaves open to domestic abuse. Experience talking.

Is anyone seeing anything I post? I can't even see if people are seeing it and just passing on by (even with pix of a kitten!) or if I'm Major Tom in cyberspace.

The handmade, human qualities of your work are more valuable than they've ever been. Don't doubt that for a second.

What should I name this kitty? She has extra toes. Hemingway’s polydactyl cats are famous. His first was from a sea captain, which, for naming purposes, I’m interpreting as pirate. Hemingway? Anne Bonney 🏴‍☠️? Something else?

Fake tree? Or real?

I hate having an artificial tree. I grew up in Michigan where Christmas tree farms thrive, and bringing a tree into the house was bringing the outdoors in. I’ve caved and we have a fake. I hate it. I resent having to decorate it.

Today's feels brought to you by #adopted It's my birth mother's birthday today. She declined to meet me. She's been gone a few years. I do know and love my maternal siblings.

6-toed kitten (polydactyl) coming home with me tomorrow. Taking Hemmingway-inspired name suggestions for her.

7 years ago today we sat on the tailgate of my pickup truck, drinking beers at 6 a.m. watching our home, Resurrection Mule Farm, burn. The end of an era. It was a place of magic.

I often write my first draft and do the first round or so of edits single space. When I move to double space, that's when shit's getting real.

Knocked out the first, very rough, draft of a story that's been rolling around in my head since spring. It involves a skeleton that might be a Halloween decoration. Or might not. #HorrorWriting