A benefit auction near to my own heart—SAFTA could use our help! Among the items you can bid on is a signed copy of my novel HEADING NORTH, complete with a matching handwoven silk bookmark. Many other lovely and bookish things here!

Just saw my favorite take on an unlikeable main character: It's a novel, not a date. I so love an unlikeable character.

If you haven't cancelled anything with them yet I have to tell you it feels great. Just remembered I could also cancel Marvel Unlimited, gonna go do that now.

"surrounded by the sting of chlorine and uncertainty that turned our eyes red" My story about living in a motel briefly as a kid

SOURCE REQUEST: Is a love for the WNBA a cornerstone of your relationship with your partner? Did you meet at a game or a watch party or in an online WNBA community? Get engaged at a game? I want to talk to you for a story! Pls DM or email me: frankie at britnidlc dot com

Today, the UN officially designated Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide. As a party to the Genocide Convention, the U.S. has a legal obligation to obey our own laws, stop weapons sales to Israel, and demand a permanent ceasefire. End the genocide. Ceasefire now.

One of my students pointed out yesterday that jstor now has AI summaries of articles turned on by default & I didn't think it was possible to hate this tech more than I already did but here we are.

"We are told that AI is inevitable, that we must adapt or be left behind. But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically." www.ru.nl/en/research/...

“Sometimes I feel like I’ve spent the last twenty years learning reasons not to love a thing, yanking the soul away from what bewitches and bewilders it.”

Preparing notes for a student's independent study in novel-writing & thinking about the joys of using the Merlin bird app for novel research and rounding out of the world. What is the avian soundscape of your setting? Which birds are always present? Which come and go, signaling shifts and seasons?

NEGATIVE GIRL is so good!! Get yourself a copy!

just me going on about birds and poems again

approx 1/3 of the way through september and submissions being open this month for Short Story, Long I pay contributors, pay artists for original art to pair with stories, nominate for awards, and generally rave a bunch on social media about the stories I love (and I LOVE all the stories I accept)

I wrote about being a dumbass for the LRC

Anthropic Copyright Settlement Website. If you think you're book was devoured by Anthropic's LLM, make sure the law firm has your contact info. www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com

My mom just "Welcome to the real world"ed me as though I have not been teaching full time for more than 15 years.

There is no war in Ba Sing Se

𝙃𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝘼𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙞𝙧𝙪 𝘿𝙖𝙮! #LaVuelta25

I have a poem in the September issue of the LRC, an elegy for the late great Richard Sanger, whose final collection, WAY TO GO, I was lucky to work on. It's a book, to me, about dying well, though that's coloured by my ongoing admiration for how Richard met his last August: with wit, ardour, grace.

Join @carolinehagood.bsky.social and @anandalima.bsky.social as they celebrate the release of GOBLIN MODE by Caroline this Friday at 7pm EDT at Books Are Magic with a book discussion and signing! Learn more about the event and how to register here: buff.ly/ibRV28y @susanschulman.bsky.social

Any textebooke publisshere sendinge me emayles about Gen AI tooles ys gettinge blocked

I fooled all of these genuinely brilliant people into saying real nice things about me, imagine what I can do with your writing / publishing project! vanessastauffer.com/testimonials/

I linked to @redford.bsky.social's Defector column about today's neutralized stage. You should read that too if you're less clear on the cycling context or are unable to follow my unrestrained anger

With the new semester's start has come a return to #5amwritersclub, which has been shockingly beneficial to my whole self. Small good things.

We're pleased to announce that we are now open for submissions for our annual poetry broadside contest! Submit up to three poems for free through September 14th for a chance to win $200 and 20 copies of your letterpress-printed broadside! www.sundresspublications.com/news/2025/09...

On one hand, reducing car use reduces urban pollution. But on the other, everyone likes it and cities become more livable

Me: this is great, glad to see authors ripped off by AI getting their due. Me after using the search tool: I am one of these ripped off authors. Academics, it only takes a minute. Seven of my papers are in this and I had no idea.

I will be doing this as soon as I have an address. Fellow expats and folks outside the US, I really encourage you to do this. This could have a real impact on whether they gather the audacity to do this again.

It's been a long time coming, but this morning I have a new edition of Loomings for you! It's always free. Seven Decades of Scraps hmwendt.beehiiv.com/p/seven-deca...

It's been a long time coming, but this morning I have a new edition of Loomings for you! It's always free. Seven Decades of Scraps hmwendt.beehiiv.com/p/seven-deca...

I cannot understand why I should be fine with environmental destruction, chatbot-induced psychosis, tanking literacy, theft of artists’ creative output, everyone around me getting stupider, wrong answers becoming just as prevalent/acceptable as right ones, and job losses, but somehow care about…this

CLOSER by Miriam Gershow (@regalhouse.bsky.social), reviewed by @robertlong4man.bsky.social necessaryfiction.com/reviews/clos...

christ I can't believe the internet is just laying around here for anyone to use: open.substack.com/pub/vanessas...

The Guardian just revealed Israel’s own military data: 83% of those killed in Gaza are civilians. That’s not war, that’s genocide.

For the cynics who think it doesn’t matter, that the compensation for authors whose work was stolen will be so low it’s not worth fighting, I personally think it’s worth making the monetary punitive damage these companies suffer as big as possible to deter similar theft in the future.

Happy publication day to me. Street Cats & Where to Find Them is now available wherever you buy books.

5 year anniversary sub call on Thursday! Five (5!!) hour submission window, 8/21, 7am - noon ET Theme: "5" (What does that mean? Up to you!) Thx. We (heart) (and (skull)) you. -Aaron & Crow

"Be a good steward of your gifts. Protect your time. Feed your inner life. Avoid too much noise. Read good books, have good sentences in your ears. Be by yourself as often as you can. Walk." ~ Jane Kenyon

The new edition of No Failure, Only Practice is out now! August's craft essay is about using chapter titles effectively, with interesting examples from Karen Russell's The Antidote, Brian Evenson's The Open Curtain, Chuck Palahniuk's Survivor, Danya Kukafka's Notes on an Execution, and my Appleseed.

This whale is not dead; he is only dispirited; out of sorts, perhaps

U.S. taxpayers have spent $24 billion on Netanyahu's horrific war in Gaza. Instead of starving children, that money could pay for: 700,000 public housing units 500,000 low-income kids receiving health care 500,000 veterans receiving VA care 600,000 kids in Head Start Combined.

Writers gettin' paid less today than they were 650 damn years ago.

One study concluded 70% of increased electric cost across US due to AI data centers. apnews.com/article/elec...

this is where i'm at mentally these days

"The world is brutal and dazzling and evades explanation. And perhaps this is how I am meant to move through it: with deep feelings, hard questions, thoughtfulness, anxiety, and love."

Weird influx of "book promoters" in my inbox--suspiciously messages with no website/social links/obvious credentials--who are so excited to promote my book that's been out for nearly two years. Anyone else experiencing this? Trying to figure out why I received *several* of them back to back.

If I have to explain to you why it's a bad idea to use a machine that makes shit up 15-80% of the time AND destroys the environment AND contributes to rising fascism and genocide AND puts brilliant skillful creatives out of work by stealing their work, then we're already speaking different languages

Careful improvements to our raised garden beds have resulted in massive tomato plants... and an apparent bunny nursery. We noted five little buns beneath the tomatillos today. Well, they live there now. They're too cute to shoo.

Still taking book pitches for @barrelhouse.bsky.social, through Aug. 9. Looking for short books (25K-30K words) that combine criticism and memoir, exploring some pop-cultural artifact that's played an outsized role in your life, or that connects in some unique/interesting way to your own story.