It’s closing time, folks. If you’re a non-celebrity working writer whose newsletter is a load-bearing income stream, Substack has become irreparably bad for business. After seven years on this platform — as one of the early adopters! — I’m leaving. jeannakadlec.substack.com/p/after-seve...

mars in scorpio babyyy

Thanks for tagging me folks. Just to let everyone know that this isn't an *increase* in the library project. This just brings the proposed budget back to FY26's level. It reverses the Mayor's preliminary budget cuts. HOWEVER, it does not meet the 0.5% benchmark AND it does not keep up with inflation

For my newsletter I wrote about excellent new books by @isaacfitzgerald.bsky.social and @veronicarothbooks.com, and I also wrote about how and why newsletters are not the answer to diminishing book coverage. www.themarisreview.com/the-maris-re...

Mayor Mamdani restores library funding after public outcry gothamist.com/news/mayor-m...

a friend in my dnd campaign recently described my character as "hopeful and brave and maybe a little neurotic" and hi hello it is me, the venn diagram of me and my character is a circle

Icelandic authorities just rerouted a planned hot water pipeline so as not to disturb an elf hill.

This, and the work of Tressie McMillan Cottom, and the work of thousands of Southern organizers and millions of vulnerable Southerners fighting for their rights, is why I continue to say with my whole chest that the narrative from blue state libs that encourages us to abandon the South is racist.

I use voice recognition a lot b/c my hands stop working if I type too much. Sometimes I use eye-tracking or voice pointer control b/c my hands won’t even do the mouse that day. These computer tools help ME write; the work still comes from my own mind. GenAI would be the computer’s mindless work.

This is going in my treasured screenshots album and I‘ll post a link to my AI reference guide page for my CW students, on Canvas.

These scams are even impersonating authors, too! Remember: - agents & publishers should not ask for $ to read your ms - agents should not ask for $ to represent you (they get a cut IF they sell your book) - you NEVER pay the publisher to publish your book!! - authors are unlikely to solicit you

how do i explain to neurotypical people that i can only do one thing a day

always read @sasharavitch.bsky.social brooklynrail.org/2026/05/musi...

wrote an essay about evangelicalism and THE BACHELOR franchise for this amazing anthology, out today!!! a fun, smart, critical read about your problematic reality tv fave! bookshop.org/a/84844/9781...

our landlady came in person to discuss a rent raise today (first one in the three years we've lived here) and honestly i appreciate her looking us in the eye about it.

more coming soon! jeannakadlec.substack.com/p/moving-to-...

god I love having writer friends I'm in a mentorship cohort with @jeannakadlec.bsky.social right now and she said something in yesterday's Zoom that like . . . completely broke my brain open and made me rethink how I have framed my entire writing career, in like such a good and useful way

in embarrassing millennial news, i am today years old finding out that "i'm your venus, i'm your fire, your desire" is not just a commercial jingle but is in fact a real song

You know who else famously used paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups? The Justice Department.

tl;dr: MAGIC jeannakadlec.substack.com/p/i-didnt-ge...

if you want a great example of why even America’s most right-wing bishops oppose deportations: the English language Mass community had like 10 kids for First Communion today. the Spanish language community had 60 and had to do a whole separate Mass. a lot of parishes would fold without immigrants

This week brings the Grand Finale of Uranus’s 8 year transit through Taurus. Along the way, we have Taurus season, a Venus ingress, and a major moment between Mars and Saturn that means starting the week slow. What it means for your creative practice here: jeannakadlec.substack.com/p/big-change...

writers: if your new moon is off to a rough start, read this jeannakadlec.substack.com/p/on-the-new...

"The try-fail cycle, also known as trial-and-error, or as research and development, is an ESSENTIAL part of the creative process." On the New Moon in Aries and how to get momentum for your writing! jeannakadlec.substack.com/p/on-the-new...

someone can just be a piece of shit, you don't have to find "reasons" in their birth chart, hope that helps

hello in case you didn't know it's INCREDIBLY unethical for an astrologer to assert that someone is abusive BECAUSE of natal placements 1/

folks who are writing books: how many books have you read this year? of those, how many did you buy? asking for no reason.

AI is profoundly unpopular. A recent NBC News poll found that among 18-34 year-olds, AI's net favorability rating is -44. *Negative 44*. Those are basically serial killer numbers. It's not much better among women 18-49. (Men over 50 and upper class are the only ones who like AI, and just barely.)

I am passionate about supporting other writers, especially debut writers!, but have had to decline the last few blurb requests because they asked way too late in the process and my deck was already full. My schedule is full three months out. And I’m one of the LESS busy working authors I know.

I am genuinely begging authors to reach out for blurbs more than 8 weeks before your drop dead deadline.

Around 20% of hospital beds in the US are in Christianist facilities, most Catholic, that have happily been denying reproductive health care and gender-affirming care for decades AND enjoying a nonprofit status. Most people don't realize the stranglehold the church has until it's too late.

I am genuinely begging authors to reach out for blurbs more than 8 weeks before your drop dead deadline.

all of the “how can you not believe women” assumes good faith, empathy, and reason. but all the evidence and testimony in the world will not sway men who believe that women are inferior, that we were created to serve them, that they are godlike and we are base.

The NYT is just lying to you here. GW Bush passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which, among other things, required USPS to prefund future retiree benefits. That year, before PAEA went into effect, it posted almost a billion in profits.

It's not punishment to say that someone with power who has abused that power doesn't get to get more power. That's a consequence. Some of you are truly ridiculous.

High-key Mrs. Frazzled is a hero.

Periodic reminder: D.C. remains patrolled all over the city by armed members of the National Guard deployed to do so by President Trump.

My hottest “I have no data to back this up” take is that phones aren’t making young people less happy. What’s making them less happy is living in a world where everyone is having their reality defined by recommendation algorithms that can only care about whether something keeps you watching.

calling all witches and woo girlies who love to write! @beescolnick.bsky.social and i jammed about the intersection of witchcraft and writing fiction over at CALL YOUR COVEN. listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us on YT. www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3mH...

The government loses yet another case against protesters/bystanders accused of assaulting federal officers during ICE raids and protests in California last summer

There is no McTry.

in case you wonder if big 5 publicists really do pitch books as "our big book of the year" i just got ~exactly~ ~verbatim~ a pitch with that language

yet another instance of publishers abandoning art and cultural legacy in favor of leaving into *checks notes* merch distribution

Security line was less than a minute for pre-check at LGA Terminal B this morning. ICE doing all ID checks.

Art is dangerous. Art — the creativity and self-expression of those at the bottom — is a direct challenge to the oppressor. jeannakadlec.substack.com/p/the-opposi...

absolutely begging folks to do a simple google for that new brand name or business you're thinking of

steepling my fingers while looking at this

I am so fucking sick of (mostly) white people saying it’s not respectable or mindful or considerate or whatever the fuck to MAKE art and TALK about art and SHARE our art when the world is burning. jeannakadlec.substack.com/p/the-opposi...

He still needs to be removed from office. A war powers resolution will not suffice. He circumvented Congress to start the war. He circumvented them on tariffs and appropriations. Why anyone thinks he'd adhere to a Congressional war powers resolution is beyond me.