If you're obsessed with reality TV and want to know why--or if you want to know why everyone else is obsessed with it--read @stephenfishbach.bsky.social's debut novel #Escape! I had a blast reading & reviewing for the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social

As someone who has read a lot of bad manuscripts in her career, I feel seen, heard, and loved

New post about the #publishing process, & how you can help your agent by anticipating what they're going to need from you before they need it. For anyone #amquerying or in the #querytrenches, plus anyone actively on submission! open.substack.com/pub/devonhal...

I'm starting a Substack to talk about the publishing industry, the writing life, craft, rejection, revision, submission, etc. First newsletter goes out Wednesday! open.substack.com/pub/devonhal...

23) Addendum #3: The Big Five do publish great books sometimes. But it's incidental to the machine, not a product of the machine. Independent presses and academic presses are more incentivized to publish quality, because they depend on word of mouth for sales, not large marketing budgets.

22) Addendum #2: The more a publishing house pays to acquire a book, the more they will spend on marketing. This is why that HOT READ that was suddenly everywhere was just okay when you actually read it. They paid a lot for the book so they had to recoup their expense by getting you to buy it.

19) Lastly, about rejection: Every! Rejection! Is! A Gift!

Submitted my magnum opus to TBQ this morning! That feeling of pride but also fear, like what if I've peaked

Crawling up out of the depths... stay tuned...

Now for my next trick, total collapse

Ariane Koch's debut novel Overstaying is full of those little unnerving pinches of realism that you only get in speculative fiction. Review up @barrelhouse.bsky.social! www.barrelhousemag.com/blog/koch-ov...

Translators Bruna Dantas Lobato, Mike Fu, and Julia Kornberg reflect on how their translation work shaped their writing https://electricliterature.com/three-literary-translators-discuss-their-paths-to-writing-their-debut-novels/

PSA for the winter holidays: avoid small towns and handsome men, and DO NOT quit your job. New piece up @mcsweeneys.net www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/qua...

"Far be it from me to keep them from their dreams. But do all their dreams have to involve marrying some rough-hewn yet soft-hearted guy from their hometowns and taking over management of a financially dubious small business, farm, or townwide festival?"

-----yes BUT, reading avalanches of praise for a mediocre book makes me feel like the lit world is gaslighting me. Negative reviews (if fair, & undertaken in good faith) hold writers to a higher standard, which an overwhelmed and overworked publishing industry is not always able to do

"You had 0 breakthroughs" there is a satisfying pain to this graphic, like drawing blood with floss @mcsweeneys.net

Stock photo clearly just a screenshot from #Succession

The writing equivalent to this is declaring your plot holes "intentional" and "subversive"

Writing is a lot easier if you don't believe in a continuous self. I get to make the messes and Future Me gets to clean them up, whoever she is, poor bastard

I'm thinking of scheduling a weekly "Avoidance Day", where I knock out all the emails and texts and calls and tasks I've been avoiding. Traditions of this holiday will include deep breaths and snack-based rewards #avoidanceday #selfcare #selfcarebutnotthefunkind

Okay, I'm working on a Starter Pack (and accompanying Feed) of lit mags and presses. Who's here? Who can I add? go.bsky.app/QktiLWR

Hello to the book people! I'm a writer and freelance editor, & I'll be on here posting about books & stories I like, publications I'm proud of, literary journals open for subs, & maybe some scattered thoughts/advice/hot takes on the publishing process. Scroll in peace ✌️

Because tedious tasks are my therapy right now: are you a short fiction writer (flash or short stories only, please) publishing in litmags or aspiring to? I'd like to make a starter pack of short story and flash people! Comment here and please share for visibility #writingcommunity