Every installment of this MTG rehabilitation tour feels like “Nice Scorpion Regrets Past Stings, Needs Help With River Crossing!”

One of my favorite books of 2025. Give it a read if you like body horror in the PNW with a side of mushrooms. 💙📚

I've been reading my editor's selections for upcoming episodes of It's Storytime. I expected them to be great (they are) but what I didn't expect was how *different* they would all be. Y'all, if these authors say yes, we're gonna bring you such a wonderful variety of speculative fiction in 2026!

Not doing the resolutions thing? Cool. Doing the resolutions thing? Cool. Do you and forget what people think about it.

Exciting news! The contract is signed, so I get to announce that my phantom hitchhiker story will be a part of A Midnight Kind of Place: Season One. More info to come. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky 💙📚📝

Totally jinxed myself. I did get 1400 words written. I didn't realize how much story I had to write. It's sitting at 2650 words right now with the third act left to write tomorrow. I will probably get it all drafted this year, but not completely finished. 💙📚📝 WritingCommunity

Assuming writers have the disposable income to subscribe/support every market they submit to is very silly imo.

Going to finish drafting my last story of the year today. I hope. If I didn't just jinx myself. 💙📚📝

Winter girl sketch :)

Some potentially good news at the end of a rough year.

Oof, okay. This one's a weird, uncomfortable ask. December was an extremely lean month, with half my shit on going on Flex loans, and I'm staring down the barrel of not being able to pay my rent this month. If you dug my work this year and are feeling generous, I could use a leg up.

I would love to see us lend considerably less oxygen to rage bait in 2026. Like just say no.

If you're wondering whether the "open letter about AI" on file 770 is worth reading and engaging, it is not. The whole thing is rhetorical mush so it was no surprise when I got to the end and she admitted "her" letter was itself written by AI. Useless bait.

I’ve been so excited to share this one. Much gratitude to @nightshadesmag.bsky.social for making the blend of English/Arabic dialogue work on the page (not easy, it turns out). It’s a tale of gaps (between languages, between worlds, and between who we are and who we ought to be). Hope you enjoy.

As we enter the New Year remember fear of making bad art is holding you back. Fear of people not liking your work is holding you back. Rejection is holding you back You'll make bad art, you'll have people not like your work, and you'll be rejected. Moving past it is half the job of being a creative

My mom sent me a bag of my own hair today from a haircut when I was 6. It said so on the bag. So I’m having a very normal Sunday 😬

I like JKR in the same way that I like toilet rats.

Heading into 2026, I'm still looking for fulltime or contract work as a senior writer or narrative designer. If you need someone who can write sharp characters, poetic prose, and emotional stories, I'm available! You can find my portfolio here: www.hazelmonforton.com

In stock and shipping! The debut collection from @charibdys.bsky.social, with cover art by Lucia Retamales, and interior art by Lucia and Rhiannon, and cover design by @grossandcolorful.bsky.social. 168 pages, includes two exclusive stickers, limited to 150 copies and over 2/3 sold out already.

We're open for early subs from Dec 24-31! If you're an equity-deserving writer, send us SFF short fiction (500-3,500 words) & poetry. Not sure what we want? Less fabulism and more entrenched fantasy/scifi. We'd love pieces that deliver on the promise of their title (show us the monster!!)

Okay, 1050 words written and I got to a sticking point that I need to think on. I'll pick it up again tomorrow after a good evening of musing. This story is gonna get writ this year, so help me! 💙📚📝

400 words written. Lots of chores done. Now for lunch and second round of chores while I think about next steps on the draft.

I think it's time to have a Write a Little, Clean a Little Day. Let's see what all I can get done.

What an unsettling tale, @yasmeenfahmy.bsky.social ! Well done.

What was your favorite short story this past year? Your favorite poem?

Welcome to SURREAL WEEK, where calories don't count, drinking is governed by airport rules, no one cares how you're dressed, and marathoning old movies is the norm. You have until January 5th when doing absolutely fucking nothing becomes embarrassing again. Do nothing with it wisely.

I absolutely love taking an old story, tearing it apart, and putting the salvageable bits into a new, better story. I think this will be my project for the last week of the year. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky 💙📚📝

Do I have it in me to write one more story in 2025? Time to find out! 💙📚📝

Little did I know when I gave my dad a bookcase for Christmas, he would spend the afternoon organizing his books with the assistance of the cats. “You have to move. We’re putting the Tom Clancy on that shelf.” 💙📚

The 2026 theme for me is going to be, peace. Inner peace and peace in my surroundings.

No matter what happens tomorrow, remember that happiness doesn’t come from gifts; it comes from drinking from the skull of your enemies.

*waves to new folks fleeing Twitter* Here are a few of my Bluesky tips: 👍 Alt-text your images 👍 Share what you're reading using the tag #BookSky 👍 Block AI-slop on sight

As many of us begin Christmas meal prep, allow me to share the advice that my ER nurse sister puts in the chat every year: A dropped knife has no handle. Jump away. Let it fall. You can pick it up and wash it.

we all just want a safe place in which to exist

Gentle reminder that it's okay to go for a little walk, or a nap, and take a break from your family, even though you love them. It's easy to get overstimulated, or tired out from managing your emotions (and maybe theirs) around differing philosophies that come out when you all get together. 🍵🌱

Merry Christmas friends. Whether quiet or chaotic, solidarity or fair teeming with loved ones, I wish you a lovely day. And if it’s a difficult time of year for you, I hope it passes swiftly and gently.

My true Christmas wish - the thing I hold most hopeful in my heart - is that each and every one of you has a better 2026 than you had in 2025. May the fates be generous and kind and you all receive the blessings you all so richly deserve. Merry Christmas and much love to you all.

Sigh. Once again, if you are warning us about fascism while posting on Substack you’re asking us to do work YOU 👏 ARE 👏 NOT 👏 WILLING 👏 TO 👏 DO.

I want 2026 to be the year where we collectively stop rewarding negativity. Stop bringing others down to bring yourself up. Stop bringing attention to genuinely awful people. Stop ignoring people bringing positive changes to the world. We need more kindness and empathy. I’m dead serious

The act of writing is *thinking*. If you do not allow yourself to think thoughts that feel wrong, you will never get a feel for what feels *right*.

Speaking, you know, *as a market*, writing to what you think my tastes are as an editor is a bad idea. What I want most are the stories I don’t yet know that I want.

My biggest writing lessons this year: 1) Know the difference between a story that's just for me and one that's right for submission. 2) My writing isn't for everyone. Stop chasing acceptances from markets that don't get me and more time finding my community.

BREAKING: I support a Millionaires’ Tax on income over $1 million a year. The fairness of our tax system ranks 50th. Let’s make this historic change this session. This is a separate proposal from the budget I announced today — revenue would not be realized until 2029.

Tomorrow evening it’ll be my annual duty to vaguely shepherd the activity on the #duvetknowitschristmas hashtag and urge people to give small sums to charity. 7.30pm? Something like that?

I put the flannel sheets on the bed because it's two days till Christmas, dammit. I am also now sleeping in my summer pjs.

Friendly reminder that the best gift you can give an indie author is a review of their book!

We'll be reading stories for ✨ What Elegant Stars: Queer Tales of Impossible Style ✨ from January 15th to April 15th. Give us stories of satellites and sewists, terminals and tailors, dandies and dying stars. <6k words. 8¢/word. simsub ☑️. multiple submissions 🚫. www.neonhemlock.com/submissions

Started my day with an editor telling me my horror story ‘knocked their socks off’. Couldn’t ask for a better early Xmas present. 💙📚📝