A little tinkering planned for today. Go get em #5amwritersclub

What is your most solid, unscrewupable cookie recipe? My new colleagues apparently have a cookie contest at our annual holiday party. No nuts, and bonus if there's chocolate.

If you only look at one year-end "best of" books list, make it this thoughtful one of underrecognized gems from @literaryhub.bsky.social lithub.com/100-notable-...

If you only look at one year-end "best of" books list, make it this thoughtful one of underrecognized gems from @literaryhub.bsky.social lithub.com/100-notable-...

Sent husband into Wawa for peanut butter M&Ms and he came out with peanut, is this grounds for a divorce

"Maternal deaths rose 56 percent in Texas in the year after the state enacted its abortion ban in 2022." www.thecut.com/article/why-....

I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.

1. A few months ago, I had the great honor of reading an advance copy of Googoosh’s memoir. Googoosh is the most famous Iranian singer — a combo, with respect to fame/talent, of Barbra Streisand, Cher, Diana Ross, and Madonna. After the revolution, banned from singing, she went silent for 25 years

"We need all the names of the Jews! In order to....fight anti-semitism!" Would almost be funny if not so fucking worrisome www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/u...

what was it that you did here exactly?

> @samsteindc.bsky.social

The EPA has approved a new pesticide that contains PFAS, or 'forever chemicals', to be used on vegetables like lettuce, broccoli and potatoes.

Books We Love is back with a brand new batch of hand-picked titles. Mix and match tags like “Book Club Ideas” and “Eye-Opening Reads.” Find 380+ new 2025 reads, and stick around to browse more than 4,000 books from the last 13 years.

And don't forget cost thousands of hardworking people their jobs!

This, right here. The publishing industry has become deranged, and nearly every author is anxious about whether they'll ever get another book deal again. Sales are the only metric of success that publishers recognize. Pirating books poses a direct existential threat to authors' careers as authors.

There has been an absolute deluge of upsetting and unacceptable news in the last 48 hours--and yet this might be the single worst piece: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/o...

What will I do when my smushy little baby becomes a long-legged world explorer and does not want to snuggle me anymore? Will I perish from baby snuggle deprivation? I can't imagine any other outcome 😭

writing is so funny. I’m crying that my characters are sad & can’t find love even though I made them up & I’m the one who did this

One day you’re a vibrant twenty something juggling first dates and nights out with your friends, and the next, you’ve memorized “Little Blue Truck” without trying.

Bought and devoured this because I saw @maris.bsky.social mention it as an example of “smart but funny, literary but still a good time” it really feels like books are a miracle 🙏 a miracle I want to share too bookshop.org/p/books/marg...

Etiquette question: Is it okay to just text people whenever I am up? Everyone these days has do not disturb on while they're asleep, right? My texts are not meant to wake anyone up...I just don't want to forget to respond.

This is news to me, a Jew who doesn't feel like I have lost anything because of Zohran's victory. My goodness. Imagine showing everyone how much your brain is just absolutely pickled in fear and bigotry.

Calling all video essay and cinepoetry creators! TriQuarterly was one of the first literary magazines to feature this growing genre, and we’re always looking for video essays that challenge perception and storytelling. Submit here -> triquarterly.submittable.com/submit

"I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain." This James Baldwin quote is hitting harder than ever.

Ran three loads of laundry BUT folded none of them!! 1300 words, y'all!!!

Me: Yay, husband is watching the baby this morning so I can write! I don't need to go to a cafe and spend $6 on coffee to get things done. I can duck away to a quiet corner and work at home! Also me: <Starts two loads of laundry, cleans the toilet, etc.>

Few things scare me more than someone telling me they’ll just “buy the book on Amazon” 🫠

"We’re following our hearts and minds...finding a balance so we don’t inadvertently publish titles that are too similar.” Out now: @rachellayown.bsky.social's interview with @allisonwoodnutt.bsky.social of Smith & Taylor Classics at @unnamedpress.bsky.social. chireviewofbooks.com/2025/10/31/i...

Happy Halloween! 🎃🦇 Bats are more than just Halloween icons — HHMI scientists are studying them to explore fundamental questions about the brain & behavior. Their discoveries could have important implications for other species, including humans. Read more: bit.ly/434gm18

Made it all the way to 9:45 am before breaking into the Halloween candy. That's got to be some kind of record, right?

rounded up 15 audiobooks that made me secretly wish for traffic so i could keep listening 🎧🎧🎧

If your job is anything *besides* trying to make a corporation more money, it has become monumentally harder in 2025. It is crazy how true that is across fields: law (immigration, civil rights, environmental, etc); the arts; scientific research; education; nonprofit; medicine; public policy, etc.

Mirengoff, it is okay that this first draft is full of clunky sentences. First drafts are for figuring out *what* you want to say. Later drafts are for figuring out *how* best to say it. Keep writing.

Fiercely proud of the brilliant @ladiwoods.bsky.social on the eve of her debut book launch! Cannot wait to dig into her collection, “The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe,” out now from @autumnhousepress.bsky.social.

Shout out to the #natbookfest panel that was praising the audiobook version of Middlemarch. I read it a decade ago, and of course it was good, but they were so right—the narrator really brings out the humor. It’s absolutely delicious.

Wow, there really is nothing like napping while the baby naps. 😴

Brain: here, solution to three plotholes, plus 5 connections that you can make to tell a smoother story. Me: nice, now please remind me of all of this tomorrow morning because it's late and I'm very tired. Brain: hah. Tomorrow this conversation will never have happened. Me:... What? Brain: What?

Finally have baby-free time to write. It is taking every ounce of willpower not to just go to bed. No new words on the page yet. 😶

This just in - you can feel envy AND ALSO not be a dick about it!

YOU AREN'T EVEN READY FOR THIS. I'm so glad you'll finally be able to read this taut, thrilling, highly resonant plunge into the past.

Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S. Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world. www.nobelprize.org

yes I am an expert on Ophelia. no I will not be commenting on Taylor Swift’s song. here’s me on Ophelia, bodily autonomy, & abortion for @electricliterature.com: electricliterature.com/shakespeare-...

YOU AREN'T EVEN READY FOR THIS. I'm so glad you'll finally be able to read this taut, thrilling, highly resonant plunge into the past.

Every few months now I re-read this "Who Goes Nazi?" piece from 1941 and am blown away by how it captures the people we are dealing with 80 years later. harpers.org/archive/1941...

Good good, totally normal government website, nothing to see here.

My brain at 3 in the morning: Hey hey, where can you find conspiring chickens? Me: where? My brain: … a chicken coup :3

I wrote a paragraph of my new novel today. Just one. It's more than I've written all week. I guess that's just the kind of season it is.

What book have you bought the most copies of in your life? I buy The Phantom Tollbooth by the case to give to children. I’ve done this for over 20 years.

This is lovely and also contains very actionable advice!