Cool!

I'm in Switzerland. Neighbour's playing basketball in the driveway, solo, and the sound of it makes all seem right in the world. Especially somehow when his shot misses and he groans & says a thing in French.

Turns out there's a LOT more Taylor Swift music out there than I realized. Every time I go exploring, I really like her stuff, (didn't really know it till she got together with Travis Kelce -- I'm a KC girl) but now I'll really dive in. My answer too: Evermore. 🤎 I'll start there.

Arthur Sze has been named the new U.S. poet laureate. He succeeds Ada Limón, who has held the position since 2022. During his term as poet laureate, Sze plans to have a special focus on translating poetry originally written in other languages. Read more: at.pw.org/ArthurSze

Having personally cut and (in)expertly folded a boatload of these, I can say they're fabulous to create, and I can't wait to try to roll the dice with my writing. And I do NOT claim responsibility for any wonky ones. TY EWS for an outstanding #writerly experience in Brussels! #ewsbrussels2025

Hooray! More Michael Rosen!

I've been #T1D for 33 years. Tom & Crystel's youtube is really valuable! This one on #morning blood sugars is especially good - even when you've been working hard to fine tune 24/7 for 3 decades plus. #hydration #movement #split-long-acting-insulin www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ipm... #diabetes

Every two years… Always an inspiring event for writers at all levels of development, from all over the world. GWG conference is about to happen again.

Excited to meet #author Serghei Sadohin in September at the @saloneurope.bsky.social. Great article here looking at Europe through an Alice in Wonderland lens. uphttps://www.brusselstimes.com/1537663/off-with-their-heads-is-not-europes-way

Richard Russo's 2007 novel 'Bridge of Sighs' is #Oprah's current #bookclub pick. His writing & his teaching are enormously important & gorgeous. This interview's been up for 11 hours & it's already had nearly 30k views. #WONDERFUL. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKYW....

There's some really important stuff here in this thread. When the data is lacking and/or biased, it's so valuable to get info like this, and then follow up everywhere you can. It covers way more than #menopause and #fibroids.

With insulin, it was protected from the start: FREE & available to all. When I'm in Europe or the UK, it's very affordable. But in the US I was shocked by the price & lack of access. No wonder people have to ration & risk their lives. This is WONDERFUL news about this HIV drug & its availability.

“The first HIV drug that offers 100% protection… The makers are also providing affordable access to the drug in the US and beyond, signing royalty-free licensing agreements with six generic manufacturers to produce and supply”

I've just read the program for the inaugural September @saloneurope.bsky.social #writers event in Brussels & WOW. Spoiled for choice! There might be about 7 spots left, so if you're thinking yeah, maybe I'd like to go, get on it! Poems, panels, prompts, publishing, meditation, migration, & more.

"I want your loves to be multiple. I don't want you to be a snob about anything. Anything you love, you do it! It's got to be with a great sense of fun. Writing is not a serious business. It's a joy and a celebration..." - Ray Bradbury, speaking at Point Loma Nazarene on UCTV

I'm not sure what podcast or blogpost led me to this #poem yesterday, but I can't stop thinking about it. If I retrace my steps and find out, I'll give credit due. And a big THANK YOU. "Things Shouldn't Be So Hard" by Kay Ryan. #Truth. wordsfortheyear.com/2020/06/12/t...

This will make 4000+ people thrilled! My 24yo son just discovered the fact that you signed our family's copy of 'Bear Hunt' for him & his older bro in Cambridge a few months ago, & it was straight JOY for all of us. @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social, you're THE BEST.

The annual takahē Monica Taylor Poetry Prize honours the memory of poet Monica Taylor, with the generous assistance of her whānau, and with the kaupapa of encouraging new generations of poets. 💚First Prize: $300 & publication in takahē #115 💚Runner-up: $150 www.takahe.org.nz/competitionn...

"I'm really uncomfortable with the word 'should' in anything to do with writing anything," -- Ali Smith in EWWC speech posted August 19, 2012.

Convinced the biggest human need is for CONNECTION vs belonging. I posted an instagram pic - 4 bales of hay. Wrote "Hay! Hay! Hay! Hay!" 1 great friend I haven't seen in yonks commented w/a dance gif saying simply "don't you forget about me." Sublime. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdqo...

VERY interesting for #T1Ds who rightly worry about the ridiuclously named dead-in-bed syndrome. Just as exciting as when out-of-range blood glucose alarms first becamse available. If not more. news.mit.edu/2025/implant...

It's not easy to gross me out, but @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social you've done it. Impressive.

I split-dose bolus for high carb (even if low-fat) meals, like lunch today - spaghetti & mushrooms. It works pretty well. Even so, I always feel like this meal is probably ill-advised. But it's NOT ill-advised! It's how to live well with #typeonediabetes. Look! www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8bJ...

It's here! Over 160 calls for literary competitions & submissions including poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, art, photography, & more - contests, literary journals, residencies, bursaries etc - open or with deadlines in July 2025. Best of luck & pls share! www.thisiswordbox.com/wordbox-blog...

Count me in for the flaneuring!

Fantastic! Wonderful, welcoming, inspiring community of writers at all stages of development, from all over the place. Can't wait!

Reposting for 2 reasons: 1) The terrible English restaurants were in the 1950s. Now a full 'nother decade better. 2) to say I got this book in Dublin at a fabulous bookstore, Hodges Figgis. Special ordered & got it next day... made me feel at home like I've got my own fave bookstore there now!

I'm reading Natalia Ginzburg's "Little Virtues" and can't wait for the @saloneurope.bsky.social book club discussion of it. Her discussion of (terrible) English restaurants of the 1960s is hilarious. And I'd dare say no longer accurate!

god i hope these things don't write like I do. I really don't want to have to change my ways to prove I'm real. You know? And yes, I'm purposely writing right now exaclty how I'm thinking/talking this out. Is the machine gonna do that? Please say no. (Guess I better click the link & read the thing).

"Remember too that you serve the story. The story is not a vehicle for your self-expression -- you are in its service. You are trying to understand it and do right by it." - Lucy Caldwell

Every great conversation leaves you with something you're still pondering, wish you'd said, asked for more... right? So glad I got to join in for part of this one. And can now watch the rest on YouTube! Thinking especially of Berlin & the next @saloneurope.bsky.social we'll have there.

A Meg Pokrass AND Edna O'Brien moment here on BlueSky this morning. Yes, please.

B. Definitely.

I asked the internet what my hero Lucy Caldwell is known for & got great info. I asked what *I* am known for & got: "She’s often seen as part of a new wave of expat writers reimagining identity outside traditional national or genre borders." Cool! LIke so many in the @saloneurope.bsky.social

Headed to Brighton for our first-ever grassroots salon! @deborahzafer.bsky.social @norami.bsky.social let’s gooooo

"I wanted real adventure to happen to myself, but real adventures, I reflected, do not happen to people who remain at home: they must be sought abroad." - James Joyce, "An Encounter," 'Dubliners.' Beware, though, of staying so long gone and so far away you're not sure where home ever was.

Spokane Is Reading announced author Tananarive Due and her novel, The Reformatory, for this year’s community-wide reading event! Spokane Is Reading will host two appearances with @tananarivedue.bsky.social on Thursday, Oct. 23. @spokanecolibrary.bsky.social www.spokanelibrary.org/spokane-is-r...

Submissions are open for the next issue! 💙 We can't wait to see your work 😍

A theme song for me when my dad died, 4 years ago now. Every time I have a new reason to play it, I'm bereft & delighted. No Diggity. You can't always track people's grief... and yeah, bereft is for missing something non-material like humor. Just the word I wanted. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KL9...

Just got home from an outstanding literary conference in Killarney & learned John Robbins of Food Revolution Network has died of post-polio syndrome. His legacy will live on, #plantbased, forever. "May all be fed, may all be healed, may all be loved." foodrevolution.org/john-robbins/

Intl Conference for the Short Story in Ireland. A truly sparkling divine moment - 4 of us remained in ballroom after today’s plenary session on writer/teacher James McPherson. Music came on. THE song shared by McPherson’s daughter & her father at his deathbed. He was with her - with us - for sure. 💖

Per Natalie Goldberg in 'Writing on Empty': "Reading is the highest activity of the mind... I felt it physically...When I paid attention, words had gravitational weight; they were not flighty and forgotten, but like jewels, rooted, held in the crown of my head." (The 1st phrase was from the NYT).

I don’t get it… Oreo is advertising their “original” cookie with its “new recipe.” Can someone tell me what’s going on here?

Is it possible that I'm not spending enough time on Substack? There are 10-12 substacks I really like, some I even pay to subscribe, but I don't get the rules of engagement. People are following me! Why? I don't "have a substack." I don't write anything there. Should I? As always, too many shoulds.

Saaaaaaaaame! 🙌 🎉

Q. Why be an author? A. Between my brain & my mouth the words sometimes falter & fall & fail… between brain & fingers, less often. - paraphrased #MalorieBlackman

Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize! ALL MY PRECIOUS MADNESS by @markabowles.bsky.social. Go, Mark, go!! You've changed European coffee for me forever.

I've never been to Brighton! Looks like the perfect time to go.

Writing session w/Stinging Fly ed Lisa McInerney, guest tutor for @lucycaldwell.bsky.social. She said if story is a cliff-face, a bit of specificity is a foothold. I liked that! Years ago, Nick Dybek wrote BS in one of my margins & I thought he was calling bullshit on it. No. #BeSpecific, he said.

It took me like 11 starts before I finally read this full open tab. It's wonderful. All my starts and stops prove how much it speaks to me. I don't think I'm ADHD, I told my therapist. Might be worth treating yourself like you are, she said. open.substack.com/pub/divergen...