My kid just came downstairs and said, “Dad, can we pretend that you used to be cool?” 💀

Headed to my first AWP this year (and have no idea what I’m doing, plz help)! 🤗

As soon as I join the Teams call

Sleepovers by Julián Martinez maudlinhouse.net/sleepovers/

Had to explain cremation to my daughter when we picked up our dog’s ashes today, and I opened with “well, you know the grey stuff leftover when we have a bonfire?” which was 1. the most midwestern way to open a talk on cremation, 2. an unsettling way to intro it for a six year old. 😅

Also new! "We Only Get Drier" by Jason Hardung (CNF)

if you remember this guy, boy have i got a semi-regular internet newsletter for you...LISTLESS (halloween edition) out now…(🔗🔽)

Pumpkin beers and short story collections, hell yeah Halloween.

Man oh man, this is just lovely.

"What's the beginning of a piece of art or the process to get to the piece of art vs. the piece of art itself? Doesn't matter. The day that you've had a good time making something and were a happy person. That's the product." —Matt Berninger ON writing/making art

My doggo Charlie died today. He was a 10/10 buddy. We had seventeen great years together.

Reached some sort of age or phase where I enjoy driving without any music or podcasts or, well, noise, and it is *lovely*

If you haven’t had the pleasure, being on this show is a BLAST

so stoked for this!!

"I work best from a place of zero ego and zero hope. I call this state being “lower than a worm.” A feeling that nothing will ever come of what I’m working on is crucial. [...] I gotta be below the dirt. I am nothing and nobody. That frees me up." countercraft.substack.com/p/processing...

Friday mood 🕺

my god there has never been a more accurate use of this

Inching toward that time of year where the next time I mow the grass might be the last time I mow the grass until spring, which kinda makes me love mowing the grass that much more.

A lot of mighty fine writers are sayin mighty fine things about my gas station story and I'm mighty grateful for it. COUNT THE DUST is out from @leftoverbooks.bsky.social in December, y'all...

The new Yellowcard album slaps, that's all I got today, long live the punk rock violin.

Tried explaining to my kid that the food she’s refusing to eat is comprised of foods she loves to eat, but apparently that doesn’t count for shit and I am “the worst daddy.”

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

Louisville. You gotta pronounce it like you have marbles in your mouth.

it is @emilylauracosta.bsky.social's bday today, and so now you should extra def order Girl on Girl for yourself to celebrate bookshop.org/wishlists/0a...

Really just wanna write the great American beer league hockey novel

Friday mood 🕺

Very stoked to have a new story in Mealarkey! It's about cupcakes and fatherhood and marriage and bonfires and This is 40, and it's inspired by one of my favorite National songs.

Very stoked to have a new story in Mealarkey! It's about cupcakes and fatherhood and marriage and bonfires and This is 40, and it's inspired by one of my favorite National songs.

Keep saying I've been swamped with work and life and house stuff and whatnot, but really my daughter's gotten into Kpop Demon Hunters and I've been holed up in my office listening to "Golden" on repeat

SONGS TO WOODY-CJ anthology call y'all

"AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations" is such a good sentence.

Sat down to write. Cat had other plans.

Kind of obsessed with that feeling you get when you read a story or essay or poem and you're suddenly inspired to return to a random draft you've been stuck on and dive back into it

🥹🥹🥹 love love love this one!

Another new story out today! It's about road trips & Weezer & friends & karaoke & barhopping & storytelling (of course) & nostalgia (of COURSE) and it folds in on itself and gets super meta in a way that you're probably gonna find either fun or really really annoying. Read it and find out which!

Google Photos over here hitting me with wholesome memories of my kid’s major milestones

back-to-back bangers from @thedrevlow.bsky.social this week!

we have a micro by Benjamin Drevlow @thedrevlow.bsky.social ! i'm starting to believe that what most ppl want most out of life is to be rescused from it...this 178 word story embodies that feeling for me. check it out xraylitmag.com/late-to-work...

fall weather and new vans 🖤

❤️🤘

Really banking on joining multiple fantasy football leagues to solve my problems and make me a happier/calmer/more fulfilled human

When the rejections for a piece start getting nicer and nicer ( ¬ᴗ¬)

Suburbia holds more than you care for

Sidewalk chalk. Flowers. Sand castles. Graffiti. Punk rock / folk songs. Poems. Little stories on the internet. Bonfires. Beer with a buddy. Things don’t have to last long to be meaningful.

This city runs on murder, disco, and bad decisions. Disco Murder City — for readers who want their horror loud, campy, and dangerous. Preorder now 🪩 shop.maudlinhouse.net#disco-murder...

rambling Berninger is one of my favorite Berningers, so yeah, I pretty much loved this.

Anxiously awaiting bonfire and pumpkin beer season

Jumped in a lake to save my daughter’s ball, I’m pretty much a hero