Was recently given an 'every day carry' pouch as a gag gift. The person knew I wouldn't carry knives or a multi-tool. Joke's on them. I carry pens and a small moleskine and take it to a coffee shop for my #5amwritersclub Bc we all know the truth about the pen vs the sword. #amwriting #writersky

Taking a break from #5amwritersclub today. Yesterday my little debut, Ibis, was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize. Still in my feels & can't get much work done. Tomorrow, I promise! 🥺 Get some words in for me? #centerforfiction #debutnovel #writesky #writingcommunity.

One last book tour trip to Brooklyn last weekend for #BKBF meant a hotel-based #5amwritersclub. Cramped space, fewer words, but I woke &write. Great panel w/ Booker longlisted Claire Adam too! Hey! Ho! Let's go! #5amwritersclub #BKBF #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #debutauthor #booktour

#5amwritersclub today, next Sunday I'm at Brooklyn for @bkbookfest! Pleased to be on a panel w/ Claire Adam and Yang Shuang-zi: 'Disruptive Love.' Brooklyn Law School lounge @4PM. Come hang! (&bring a hard pretzel w/ mustard, pls &thank you!) #BKBF #Caribbeanwriter #ReadCaribbean #5amwritersclub

1.5 hours into today's #5amwriters club it's just me and my tools trying to make sense of September and the rapidly disappearing year. 😥 #5amwritersclub #amwriting #writercommunity #writersky #moleskine #amdrafting

Did I commit cookie-cide while I prepared a lesson plan for class? Yes. Yes I did. #5amwritersclub #amreading #writesky #writingcommunity #writerscommunity #debutauthor

I love me a Muji pen. One of my faves to write with. Give me a .50 mm &some scratch paper, &phew, I'm good for the day. Saw that Muji released these new compact 0.50 mm &thought yay! They're ok? Playtime is over! Back to writing! #5amwritersclub #Mujipens #moleskine #Amwriting #amdrafting

Can't believe my little debut is 6 months old today! Look at it sitting up by itself! 🥳 #Debutnovel #debutnovelist #readingcommunity #gratitudepost #Caribbeanwriter #Blackwriter

I know! I know! Late for #5amwritersclub! But I took out the trash! Went to the store! Changed a light bulb! I'm here now! Let's go! #5amwritersclub #writesky #writingcommunity

And so, as July becomes August, I move from my summer P-Town Moleskine to my...winter Moleskine? Too soon, Snoopy! #amwriting #5amwritersclub #writesky #writingcommunity #Moleskine #Provincetown

Yesterday: honored by the Center for Fiction by being longlisted for their first novel prize. This morning: reading and writing #5amwritersclub style. Hope you're getting your words! #5amwritersclub #debutnovelist #amwriting #Centerforfiction #writersky #writingcommunity

Took #5amwritersclub on the road to NYC. So grateful to read at Franklin Park to a full house despite a rainy night. A dream to read alongside the amazing Edwidge Danticat. Many thanks to @peninaroth.bsky.social for being such a gracious host! #5amwritersclub #debutauthor #booktour #amreading

Can't believe I'm going to be in the same space with these talented writers! Come hang out if you're in town! #writersky #writingcommunity #bookworm

Haven't been getting up for #5amwritersclub recently, but I'm still trying to get the words in. Exhibit A, this neat pack of Pilot pens I picked up when I had only meant to buy a pair of shorts. Hope you're getting those words! #writingcommunity #writersky #amwriting #debutauthor #5amwritersclub

Oh hey, will be taking a break from the #5amwritersclub next month to do a reading at Franklin Park in Brooklyn, NY with some ace writers. Stop on by! 💚 #writingcommunity #amwriting #writersky #debutnovel #5amwritersclub

What is my trade? War. War is your trade. Is it not? And it ain't yours? Mine too. Very much so. ............. Is that why war endures? No. It endures because young men love it and old men love it in them. Those that fought, those that did not. --Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian #writercommunity

You say 'holiday,' &I say they sleep I grind! 😂 Late start, so I missed #5amwritersclub but trying to catch up &make the most of it! Reading a little bit of Blood Meridian and then let's get writing! ✍️ Get those words! #5amwritersclub #amwriting #debutauthor #Juneteenth #Bookworm #BloodMeridian

It's 5am, and it's just me, my laptop, and some random thoughts that I'm trying to put into some semblance of a story. Who's with me? 🫣 #5amwritersclub #amwriting #writingcommunity #writersky

How do you know I mean business for this #5amwritersclub? Well, I have a cup of tea in a mug from my local independent bookstore @acappellabooks.bsksy.social, I have my notes, and I brought out the typewriter. Hope the muses are treating you well! #5amwritersclub #writingcommunity #Amwriting

Phew. Been writing like a mad fool! Onto my 3rd mini-Moleskine this year. You're thinking 'new novel, right?' Hardly. Just a bunch of mad scribbling! Onto the Provincetown notebook era! Hope you're getting all the words! #5amwritersclub #Amwriting #writerscommunity #Moleskine #Provincetown

When you decide not to write on a flight because the back of your seat is throwing shade...😒 #5amwritersclub #amwriting #bookworm #debutnovelist #writingcommunity

When you're trying to think of a lit novel &all you have is it was pubbed in the last year or so by a woman author that >maybe< uses the third person plural &focuses on a group of teenage/mean girls or maybe 1 of the girls was murdered &maybe the cover's red?...lalala #amreading #readingcommunity

More and more I seem to find myself en route, so this has become my de facto writing space as I move from 1 festival to the next. And yes, last week I was writing at 5am while 30, 000 feet in the air. What's your unusual writing space? #5amwritersclub #amwriting #writingcommunity #bookworm

What is your fave writing instrument? Mine may surprise you--the Fullfölja gel pen from IKEA! Fell in love with it years ago when I bought a pack on a whim, so I bought a few more bc I knew they would be discontinued. Sadly, I'm on my last pack. 😢 #5amwritersclub #writingcommunity #IKEA #amwriting

One of my fave Qs from #Debutiful: what's on yr writing syllabus? Great Q bc I build my syllabi squint! What's that mean? No one knows what it means but it's provocative! Check it out! Texts include the Village Voice! Hop in yr DeLoreans &grab a vintage copy! #5amwritersclub #writingcommunity

Wow! Me & my little debut (Ibis) will be on a panel with Lisa Ko (The Leavers) & Rita Bullwinkel (Headshot) 2 faves of @barackobama.bsky.social at the LA Times Festival of Books in 2 weeks (April 26)! Come hang out! events.latimes.com/festivalofbo... #Debutnovel #5amwritersclub #LATimesfob

Great, just great! Went to Publix, got mugged for 50 beans for about 6 items, and now Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" is stuck in my head! That's it! Writing done for the day! Bah! #writingcommunity #5amwritersclub #debutauthor #bookworm #amwriting #writinglife #TomPetty #contemporaryfiction

Been raining in Atlanta for what feels like 24 hours. I'm not a fan. Usually storms/rainy days give me a headache and today's no different. But I've been trying to power through and get down a few words. #5amwritersclub #amwriting #contemporaryfiction #bookworm #literaryfiction #debutnovelist

I'm >so< lost in funhouse of this new short story; though only April 2nd, I've finished 1 notebook & begun another. A little directionless, but words are coming? So there's that. Hope you're also getting words! #amwriting #5amwritersclub #bookworm #writingcommunity #Booksky #writinglife

Had a great time at a book event in St. Louis at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation. Squeezed in some hotel writing time. Love to @Leftbankbooks.bsky.social, St. Louis's oldest indie bookstore, for stocking my book! ☺️💚 #Amwriting #bookworm #writingcommunity #Amwriting #Booksky #writinglife #litfic

Why am I awake in the middle of the night? Because I was drowsing off in an amazing sleep...then roused myself for proper oral hygiene, and now here I am among the other waking dead. 😑 #amwriting #writingcommunity #bookworm

Today's the UK release of my novel Ibis! I am chuffed. I researched slaveholder letters at 2 libraries. Part of the novel includes letters of a Scot slaveholder based in Jamaica that detailed human sales. One of the more difficult sections to write. 😞 #5amwritersclub #bookworm #writingcommunity

Phew. Yesterday’s Connections 'songs from 1982' really blew out my palate. Stupid Centerfold & Mickey stuck in my head all day. (Not Abracadabra though.) Back to writing! #writingcommunity #5amwritersclub #literaryfiction #contemporaryfiction #bookworm #amwriting #writersky #booksky #HappyMonday

Had a blast reading at the Center for Fiction's First Friday event a couple of nights ago with Roger Celestin and Sanam Mahloudji! Full house and Melissa Broder moderated! Now, back to writing! #5amwritersclub #writingcommunity #contemporaryfiction #bookworm #writinglife #fiction #novelwriting

Don't know how your weekend is starting, but I'm participating in an event tonight with 2 other debut novelists--Sanam Mahloudji and Roger Celestin--at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, NY. Phew. What a start to March. ✨🥳 #writingcommunity #debutnovel #5amwritersclub #contemporaryfiction #litfic

Purchasing absolutely nothing today, so I may as well stay in and get some writing done. #5amwritersclub #economicblackout #amwriting #literaryfiction #contemporaryfiction #bookworm

When your ride share is a Tesla and you low key feel like you're supporting a kakistocracy, so you just bury your head in a book. 😑 #5amwritersclub #writingcommunity #contemporaryfiction #bookworm #fictionwriter

Had so much fun responding to these Qs! If you're interested in going into my head Malkovich-style to see my literary influences, check it out! Morrison! Teenage romances! Mad Magazine! The Monster at the End of This Book! #5amwritersclub #writingcommunity #contempraryfiction #amwriting #debutnovel

Happy birthday, Ms. Nina. Thanks for the gorgeous music. #amwriting #writingcommunity #5amwritersclub

My debut novel Ibis is now available in audio format! I'm grateful to have my words exist in a medium for those who prefer to listen, or are visually impaired, can appreciate. Big thanks to @tantoraudio.bsky.social for providing this platform! #debutnovel #audiobook #writingcommunity #5amwritersclub

Was up at 5, but need to take a writing break to get well. On flight back from NYC this kid was coughing non-stop, &I knew I would get sick. (Had misplaced my travel mask.) More upcoming trips for the book, so trying to take it easy. #writingcommunity #bookworm #contemporaryfiction #5amwritersclub

Had such a great time reading at my job @oglethorpeuniv.bsky.social. Touched by the colleagues and students who came out to support me. Plus...more flowers! ☺️ 💚 #writingcommunity #debutnovelist #bookworm #contemporaryfiction #literaryfiction

I don't receive cut flowers often, so I treasure them when I do. These aren't for V-day, but for the publication of my debut novel Ibis earlier this week. These pretties motivated me to write at 5am this morning! ☺️💚 #5amwritersclub #debutnovelist #writingcommunity #bookworm #literaryfiction

Take a moment to read the thoughtful responses from 4 smart writers (and the C+ responses from a smart aleck!) Thanks @literaryhub.bsky.social 🥰💚 #5amwritersclub #bookworm #contemporaryfiction #literaryfiction #amreading #debutnovel #litfic #Lithub #readingcommunity

Today's pub day for my debut novel Ibis. My life feels split into before &after publication. No grand hopes for this book. Just grateful to have the story out there. Sending good thoughts to those drafting/querying. Looking forward to your stories. #5amwritersclub #Debutnovel #literaryfiction

Mailed my book to friends. It took 3 tries. PO 1: Line with 8 folks &no agent at counter. Drove 15 mins to another PO. PO 2: Locked. 10:15AM. No explanation. Drove to a 3rd location, 20 mins away. PO 3: Open. Pleasant agent. Just glad to get books out. #Writingcommunity #Amwriting #bookworm

Is there anything lovelier than finding a love note in a book? And this one was found in Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, which makes it lovelier. Now I'll spend day thinking of Annie and her love. 💚 #5amwritersclub #amwriting #writingcommunity #bookworm #contemporaryfiction #AlisonBechdel

It's one thing when @debutiful.bsky.social notes your book among February's hottest debuts. Another when they write "The writing in this book is simply stunning." So this is what it feels like when your feet leave the ground! Thanks for such kind words! #5amwritersclub #writingcommunity #debutnovel

Phew! Exactly 1 week til my debut novel Ibis flies into the wild! The closest feeling is knowing, as a kid, that Xmas is a week away. But, instead of receiving a gift, you're giving the same gift to everyone...and hoping they like it. #5amwritersclub #writingcommunity #bookworm #Amwriting #litfic

Starbuck's new customer policy means I'm back at Panera editing and drafting. Orange pen for editing! Green pen for drafting! #5amwritersclub #amwriting #literaryfiction #contemporaryfiction #bookworm