I have a story in this anthology! 👻 🇨🇦

Received what I strongly suspect is an AI-generated document for an OPTIONAL assignment I gave so students could receive feedback on /their/ writing 🥲

In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.

Hmm I might attempt finish your book fall after all 🤔 I'm writing a thesis chapter but I only need to add ~30k to my villains YA sooooo

Gosh there's just something about cover reveals 🥹 obviously I can't speak from experience (yet 🤞) but it always feels like the moment where your beloved manuscript starts to take on its true form as a ~BOOK~

It's kind of poetic that the professor who inspired me to do my PhD will be retiring around the same time I finish

I'm also in a weird spot between projects right now. I waffle between YA and adult, always contemporary but often different genres, and it's hard to know which one to focus on for A) market reasons and B) branding reasons

I admit it is a bit harder to find the time to write fiction these days... but I keep reminding myself the PhD obligations are temporary.

I'm back to writing my dissertation and I'm pleasantly surprised that it has been fairly easy to pick up where I left off (even after a year!)

Work on your dissertation while the baby works on her dissertation 🤪

I've got the pre-back-to-school jitters eek

Happy 9 years of querying to me! ✨🫠 Persist, persist, persist, because it's truly not over until it's over.

Haha my first novel started with "It was a dark and stormy night", which I think is the actual first line of a wrinkle in time? 🤣

I have to believe one of my books will find its way to shelves eventually. I've shed far too many tears and polished far too many words to face any other, bleaker reality

Lol overheard the tour guide saying that LM Montgomery got a whole FIVE rejections "but she never gave up" 🤡

Hugh Panaro in the phantom revival??? 😱😱😱

updating my CV for reasons and the 'phd expected 2025' made me laugh 😆

While You Were Sleeping (1995) Never Been Kissed (1999) Phantom of the Opera (2004)

why non-pub people assume you're not published: you are a bad writer why you actually aren't published: can't sell this, have something just like it/too unique, agent/editor has quit, no space on list, trend has moved on 😔

I'm so tired of the temperamental weather, especially when trying to dress comfortably. 7 degrees and raining one day, then 20 degrees and stuffy the next (in Celsius, btw)

Prof: You've published a book, right? Me: No, no, trying to get a literary agent. Prof: Oh, that's right. You're still trying. Me: 💀 Yep, still.

I might be rambling, and I might be caught in a doom cycle, but here is the important part: If you're in publishing and you feel like you can't catch up and you don't know how to break out, you are not alone. This game is rigged. All we can do is love the work and try to maintain our sanity. 12/

🍃Natural Harmonia 🍃 #pokemon

Honestly though I wish I knew which of these concepts is most likely to hit the market at the right time

My brain isn't working at full capacity these days and I'm stalling on my next manuscript(s). Probably thanks to all the broken sleep 😴

Seeing a lot of ✨ magical unicorn-brand 🦄 success stories lately and---🫠 I'm sure it's survivorship bias but whewwww

Sometimes seeing a new publication/book elicits such a profound yearning 😭 please please please let it happen for me someday 🙏

Lol to be ~relatable~ during social events, I keep bringing up ACOTAR/romantasy as if I'm a big fan (even though I have only read book 1) because it feels easier than saying I'm an unpublished author 😅

a reminder that "death of the author" is not a balm to assuage your guilt for engaging w/ media made by hateful people it's a media theory that ignores author intent, preferring reader interpretation so sure "miku" wrote it, but you still gave a bigot your money and they're using it to harm folks

Life seems to be a never-ending cycle of laundry and dishes 🫠

Discovery writing is fun because the characters often reveal themselves to me as the story progresses

The more books you write, the greater your odds of something eventually landing. Right??? 🙃

If you see this, repost with the first kdrama you watched

wheeee it's the awkward space between Xmas and my birthday where my seasonally anxious brain feels like something is ~wrong~

Welcome to my 9th year of querying 😵‍💫 ✨️

No goals this year, only vibes

The rejections don't even faze me anymore because I guess I've reached a point where I just expect them??? One consequence of this whole ordeal is that I've stopped talking about my writing in passing. It's embarrassing to have been at it this long with no results 🤡

my craft gets better and better over time but it seemingly gets harder and harder to garner any interest 🤷‍♀️

When non-pub people ask (incredulously) "you wrote a book?" and I answer "I've written 5" because that's the number I've sent to the trenches... but technically I also have a terrible sequel to #1 and a 2010-esque angel/demon story that reached 50-60k before I shelved 😅

idk what it says about me that I'm trying to push through drafting MS #6 in anticipation that #5 won't make it 🥲

The robot app has been great for query feedback but why is every post something akin to "I was in the trenches for 4 months with 25 full requests PHEW what a difficult journey"??? Why does it feel like I'm the only one with the decade-long slog these days???

Me: I think I need a palate cleanser, I'm reading/watching too many dark thrillers Also me: *puts five more on hold at the library*

lol the "query rejection jewellery/collage/etc" projects are cute but not after 8+ years

I found some recent comp titles after reading thrillers all year ✨

man there are so many pitch contests i can't even keep up

I admit I did not enjoy Hadestown when we saw it live but I've since been listening to the soundtrack and it's growing on me

I am one scene away from finishing my rewrite 😭

Can confirm that article rejections feel just as bad as novel rejections 😵‍💫 brutal lol

I did not expect anglophones to have as much trouble spelling my baby's name as they do :')

This shouldn't bother me as much as it does but I need to stop telling healthcare providers I'm a phd student. As soon as you say student, they automatically assume you're sitting in a lecture hall, taking notes, and writing exams 💀