We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

Is “track” a publishing term in American publishing? I have done a little poll and can’t find anyone who calls this anything other than “sales history.” thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...

How are we saving articles to read on the plane now that Pocket is dead?

Okay I know those OTHER Instagram gummy vitamins were a scam, but surely these NEW Instagram gummy vitamins would fix me

Back from shilling books at Printers Row and Chicago remains the #1 book fair in the world! One guy asked me “do you work for Belt?” I nodded. “Good for you. Belt does the best books.” ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Looking back at photos of my cat at my old apartment and I am struck by how much I needed to vacuum.

I just learned from a childhood friend’s baby announcement on Instagram that Switchfoot re-recorded Beautiful Letdown and called it “Our Version.”

Wait, do Catholics and Protestants number the Ten Commandments differently? I am editing something and was deep into correcting something that is apparently correct for the denomination.

Rough day for the Taylor/Joe secret-married truthers

We got to see sketches and Laurel read this to us at a residency a while back and I’ve been waiting for it ever since. It *is* extraordinary, words and pictures. Can’t wait!

Genuinely sad about the Ukrainian Village Bacci. I have fond college memories grabbing a giant $4 slice when the dining room was closed.

Bernadette’s tail was not allowed to see the storm

A new way that the Anchor Soundcore earbuds are my worst purchase ever is that now, when I open the app, there may be an ad that I can’t skip for three seconds before I change the settings on the earbuds I paid for.

People are reading AI-generated synopses of books and then claiming they read 100 books in a week. This is how the abolition of books began in Fahrenheit 451: classics were condensed into five-minute summaries for those too busy to do the reading. Later came the burnings.

Did a screen write this

“It’s just a tool! People used to hate on photoshop too.” Take away my photoshop, take away my tablets, I can still draw. Take away your plagiarism machine and what are you gonna do? Shout prompts at me?

This has been my day, BTW. Hangin out in the Pheonix airport. www.firstalert4.com/2025/07/31/i...

Query rejection while literally in Disneyland feels like crossing off a Bingo square more than anything

Allan Ahlberg, author of The Jolly Postman and Each Peach Pear Plum, among many others, died today. I will never forget the wonder and joy of peeking into the fairy tale world he and his wife Janet created in The Jolly Postman. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

Before they were HarperCollins they were J & J Harper and they (as did all American publishers) pirated books they got off the boats from London

I don’t really think that, at 39, I’m *old* old, but I did just see that Rufus Sewell was cast in Pride & Prejudice and started to remark that he’d make a good Darcy only to see he’d been cast as Mr. Bennet

If I had a nickel for every time I was on my way to a Disney park and sat next to an exotic cat breeder, I’d only have two nickels, but they’re awfully specific nickels.

Stuck in an airport correcting the Disney Parks wiki which wrongly lists Mickey and Minnie as canonically married since 1933

We have reached the point where, in preparation to travel, I empty out my own pill case to fill it with my cat’s medications.

We have too much information now. I have lived here my whole life and never needed to know about “corn sweat.” Stop naming stuff. I’m okay with “July is hot outside” levels of information.

So, someone suggested using ChatGPT to help track down the artist of an ex libris bookplate... a cautionary tale...!

Well.

Talk about The Wire, Sopranos, Game of Thrones all you want, but the greatest US television program ever made is Sesame Street. It's not even close. 50+ years of treating kids across class, ethnicity, religion not as mini-consumers...but as citizens with a stake in this world.

It’s the last book release Tuesday of my time running my MFA program’s social media. Most of all, I’m gonna miss commenting “we’re so proud of you” on everybody’s posts

A commercial (I think) airplane leaving O'Hare just flew over making weird keening noises and I'm going to record it here for posterity. I simply do not think airplanes should be making weird noises and especially not right now.

Just going to consult this reference book, “The Consequences of Pursuing Godlike Power,” by The Entire Canon of World Literature

I did not know this!!!

Okay now four people in my wider internet circle are reading or have just read Lonesome Dove. Is there an adaption happening? Is it a booktok thing? Does Fran have this much power?

I wouldn’t touch a James Frey book with a ten-foot pole. Aside from the (many!) ethical issues, anyone who works with him ends up burnt. Why risk it?

Love to see a robin tuggin at a worm in the grass, just like they do in the pictures

(overheard at bookstore) Teen: “Taylor Swift got her masters!” Mom: “Oh wow. In what?”

calling the police re: the painted paneling in this 1930s storybook cottage www.redfin.com/IL/Winnetka/...

The Most Dangerous Game (eating chips and dip while also preparing canned cat food)

Taylor swift dot com accessibility redesign when

Listen, I know “this movie but muppets” is old hat, but I would absolutely watch a Monsterpiece Theater Sesame Street Conclave situation.

Anyone in the #kidlit space doing #1000wordsofsummer? I’m hoping these 14000 or so words get me close to the end of my middle grade manuscript!

Left handed people are more creative not because of a brain thing but because nothing is made for us

Five years of the same start word and it finally happened????? Wordle 1,438 1/6 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

The fear of the blank page, of messing up an idea that I've wanted to do justice to so long, has never been stronger or heavier on me as right now. But I'd rather savor that very deep, human emotion and find ways back in than let a glorified plagiarism machine try to take a stab at it.

Guess who's birthday it is today?! It's Captain Janeway's birthday!!

I spoke to the person who AI-generated the Chicago Sun-Times reading list. Says he's very embarrassed. This was part of a generic package inserted into newspapers and other publications, so likely to run elsewhere. He didn't know it'd be in Chicago Sun-Times www.404media.co/chicago-sun-...

Okay so the Chicago Sun-Times list wasn’t generated by someone in the CST office. It’s in several papers as, as @janerosenzweig.bsky.social says, a syndicated summer supplement.

Everything about this is a tragedy, every level, from cheated freelancers to authors obscured to readers who don’t get served either.

Lots of authors coming over here and just a reminder that the best way to build engagement here is to ... engage! That doesn't mean you have to follow a billion people, but certainly repost and reply and share your space with others!!

I think it's nice that I open up my copy of Microsoft Word that is required to be a subscription so that it's always up-to-date, then I click "new" to open a new document, and then if I want to save it, I have to upgrade that document to some kind of new format. Every time!