Me and my best friend saw the Smashing Pumpkins when they toured for Mellon Collie back in 1996. Now the two of us are going to see Billy Corgan perform that album at the Lyric Opera. And I found the shirt I bought back in 1996 in a box of old clothes! Victory! I know what I'm gonna wear!

I had knee surgery last week. My surgeon initialed my leg before surgery, verifying it was the correct one. I have been puzzling over his initials because it didn'tlook like initials, it looked like he wrote "five cents" in symbols. Finally it hit me. That IS what he wrote. His name is Dr. Nickel.

I got a spam email today from someone who raved about MIGHTY MILLIE NOVAK and said she wanted to help it reach more readers. Very AI-speak vibe. I know I could have ignored it, but I decided to set a trap instead. Neither of these scenes exist.

Just FYI to all phlebotomists: if I get woozy and close to passing out when you draw blood, and I warn you about this, it's a damn phobia I wish I didn't have, not "being dramatic" as two different people said at the lab today.

I'm currently in Bled, Slovenia. I think a great name for a B&B would be Bled and Breakfast.

I can never think of titles for my own work, but if anyone is writing a book in which a journalism major seeks revenge and ultimately murders the cocky lead actor in the school play, please feel free to use the title that just popped in my head: BURYING THE LEAD.

I am no longer looking for an agent to rep this! 🎉 I'm so excited to work with Katie Shea Boutillier and Rachel Saylor at Donald Maass Literary Agency! Yay!

Telling a college student she'll have an easier time with the in-class work if she is able to show up on time, instead of always 10 to 15 minutes late, because I go over a lot of useful stuff at the beginning of class. It was said college student who told me saying that to her was unprofessional.

I just re-read the first query I ever wrote, wayyy back in 2007. Friends, it is not great. 💀 It's good to know I've gotten better at this in the last 18 years. I still like the ferret, though. #authorsky #booksky #writersky

Why are so many male love interests in books grumpy? With a crabby, standoffish exterior but a kind heart? Is it all Mr. Darcy's fault? Or is it not actually the trend it feels like to me? I'm genuinely just curious, not actually bothered by this, to be clear. #booksky #writersky #authorsky

Hey everyone! I am indeed looking for an agent for my adult suspense, CHERRY LAKE, so I thought it'd be fun to make and share an agent guide. Let me know what you think! #agentguide #agentsguide #suspense #amquerying

How you can tell my newest manuscript takes place in the Midwest.

There's something... I don’t know what the correct adjective is, but there is definitely SOMETHING about deciding to re-read Please Kill Me, the classic oral history of punk, and needing to wear my reading glasses.

❤️❤️❤️🌈🌈🌈🛼🛼🛼

I am absolutely desperate to read this book. A queer vampire couple opening a B&B? I mean, does it get any better?

What's the largest number of words you've ever written in a day?

I was friends with this Brazilian guy in grad school. He once got kicked out of a college football game cuz he snuck in a flask, got drunk, took his shirt off and started proudly yelling "I AM FROM FUCKING BRAZIL!" If the US can learn from Brazil here, I'll get a flask and celebrate similarly...

I thought I'd share the pitch deck I made for TIMELESS, my bonkers "girls in STEM/time travel/vintage clothes/bi love triangle" YA. Let me if you like it! 🙂 👗 ⏱️ 💙💜🩷

It's MSWL Day!

A moment of levity: my dad had a dream that he listened to the audiobook of MIGHTY MILLIE NOVAK (remember: a YA novel about a teenage girl) and the narrator sounded exactly like George Costanza's mother on Seinfeld.

So proud of my debut! And the audiobook came out yesterday, too!

What's up, jerks? The best possible television news has been confirmed: Jason Mantzoukas is on the next season of Taskmaster.

I thought I'd re-share this post of Dahlia's because there are so many fantastic book recommendations in it! I'm literally opening my library app and adding stuff as I scroll.

I feel like jumping on the train - 1 Like = 1 random book rec I rec good books. Honest.

Dogsitting for this beautiful boy today. I couldn't be happier.

Pro tip: Listen to dance music during MRIs so that the loud, rhythmic clicks and whirrs just blend in.

What do writing and lifting weights have in common? I love the results. I feel great when I'm done. I feel good while I'm doing it. Yet it seems insurmountably difficult to get started, no matter how often I do it. (I've also done both activities while wearing the head of a dinosaur costume.)

Told my nephews about my new WIP, an adult thriller. Here's a pic of the pitch. 10-yo nephew: thinks the title should be MYSTERY AT THE BEACH. 7-yo nephew: thinks he knows what happens. They dug a hole and were hiding in the sand. Or they took a secret elevator into the 1920s.

The white rhinoceros is living my dream life.

Just realized I used the word "hand" ten times in one short chapter, and that chapter isn't about, say, someone getting their hand chopped off or something. That's an unusual number of times to say "hand," isn't it?

The Gävlebocken is on Bluesky! Hooray!

THE IT GIRL + THE PARIS APARTMENT = 🔪a thriller 👩🏻about a 40-yo woman 🤐hiding a shameful secret 👭🏻searching for her missing college frenemy ❤️while falling in love 🚲in Amsterdam #AG #OS #A #T #CHEERPIT Holiday drink choice: Meg would love savoring smoky black tea while watching the snow fall.

@jchenwriter.bsky.social I thought you'd appreciate the problem I'm putting on the physics test I'm writing. :-)

I need a dress that looks like it would fit in in 1830 in Britain, for work. I don't want to spend a fortune, but I don't want to buy junk, either. Advice? (I do a physics lab where I pretend my students and I have gone back in time and work in Michael Faraday's lab, and I like to dress the part.)

As a (very) small business owner, I'd like to shout this into the sky: If a business's email isn't something you want, unsubscribe. Don't mark it spam if you, yourself, signed up for this email list! Having emails marked spam can mess with a business's ability to use their email provider.

OK, I am very new to using Bluesky. How is interacting going? Are people seeing your posts? For example—what do you think of my outfit I'm wearing today, for my birthday? (Are fun-colored blazers the way to get interactions?)

My birthday started with an email from my vet checking on my dog after his recent dental cleaning. My dog passed away two weeks ago (and hadn't had his teeth cleaned since last year), so that was not a fabulous start. On the other hand, a friend gave me some delicious chocolate whoopie pies.

I've inadvertently trained my brain that it's time to go lift weights when I hear the song "Teenage Dirtbag." I automatically switch into gym mode. I'm now attempting the same thing for sitting down to work at my computer, using the song "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer." We'll see if it works.

Anybody want to hang out (and write) in Slovenia with me next summer?

Yesterday, we saw a car with the license plate "OHM X AMP." The car was a Chevy Volt. This pleased my physicist heart immensely.

Any advice on how to get those starter packs? I want to find more writing/publishing friends! Alternately, feel free to comment here, and/or follow me! About me: I write YA contemporary, and adult thrillers. I'm repped by Alli Hellegers, and my debut, MIGHTY MILLIE NOVAK, came out in August.

📌 🛼🌈 ❤️ Everyone! Buy MIGHTY MILLIE NOVAK, my queer roller derby YA, which came out in August from Flux Books! 🔪👭🏻🚲Editors! Want an adult thriller abt a 40-yo woman searching Amsterdam for a former art-school frenemy who disappeared mysteriously? THE LIES I LEFT BEHIND is on sub!

In July, when a drunk guy at a pub (where I was picking up food) asked me why I was wearing a mask, I explained that I was sick, he got hostile, ranting at me. I wish I'd simply said "I'm a mutant bird-human and I'm hiding my hideous beak." He never would have continued talking to me. Hindsight...

Texted my husband to ask him to make me tea. He replied as shown. My phone then suggested some responses. There's a long way to go before the robot takeover.

Too sick to play in my derby bout, so I'm watching Eddie Izzard's Dress to Kill for the first time in ages. God, it's so good. "It's got a thing at the back that looks like a monster, but no... it's Alcatraz."

How did it take me till TODAY to realize how weird it is that we vote for prom king and queen? Voting is not how kings and queens work.

He looks so adorably dopey when he doesn't realize his tongue is sticking out of his snout.

What a jarring feeling it is to go back to real life after a roller derby tournament weekend! Like, why aren't any of these people wearing denim vests covered with pins and patches? Why is this university building not blasting "Pony" by Ginuwine over the loudspeakers?

I'm moving in here, looking around, trying to get used to the new space. How's it going in here? I'm trying to follow all the people I followed on Twitter but haven't worked my way thru my whole list yet.

Isn't this gorgeous???