Summer internship applications are open at LDLA. Yes, paid. Yes, remote. Visit the link in the post below for more info. (i.e. your questions will probably be answered there...also reading is part of the job!)

News you can (maybe) use: I'm going to be reopening to queries the first 10 days of every month. (Trying out this new-fangled strategy to keep the volume manageable). And checking the calendar...that means I'm reopening tomorrow, March 1. querytracker.net/query/querye...

We are so excited to welcome @tajmccoy.bsky.social to the LDLA team! Follow the 🧵for more info about what she's looking to find for her list!

Here is the pre-RFK vaccination schedule for your kids. Please download it before he is confirmed and changes/deletes it. Give it to your pediatrician and say this is the schedule you want your kids on. Making this my pinned post.

The DS9 episode where Frankie Eyes takes over Vic Fontaine’s casino is basically how I picture Trump taking over the Kennedy Center.

I haven't done an #MSWL day in a hot minute. I'm not open to queries just yet. Probably March? But my general categories don't tend to change that much... I updated my page here anyway: www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/el...

Join @joshuaslevy.bsky.social, author of FINN AND EZRA'S BAR MITZVAH TIME LOOP, Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Middle Grade Category, on the next blog tour stop. Hosted at bookoflifepodcast.substack.com/p/podcast-fi... View the full blog tour schedule at jewishlibraries.org/2025-blog-to... #STBA

Look, I’m still salty the Lions aren’t in this game, but Philly is making this worthwhile.

Philly is a brick wall tonight.

It's Holocaust Remembrance Day. Auschwitz was liberated 80 years ago. Both my bubbie and zayde survived Auschwitz, but neither was liberated there. My grandmother had been transferred to a labor camp, making Nazi uniforms, and freed by the Russian army there. 🧵

Auschwitz was at the end of a long process. It did not start from gas chambers. This hatred was gradually developed by humans. From ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder. Auschwitz took time.

For one whole hour, my feed here was filled with children's books winning awards and not panic and it was glorious. Alas, back to the pit of despair we go....

Congrats again @joshuaslevy.bsky.social! A Sydney Taylor Honor for FINN & EZRA! So so so happy for you!

6yo: Mom, what’s 9 times 5? Me: 45 6yo: So if 9 bears each ate 5 pizzas, that’s how many pizzas you’d need to order? You’re welcome. Happy Friday.

Also congrats to client Alexa Donne! This is her second nomination. It’s a good day over here.

Popping back into this site to say BIG congrats to @joshuaslevy.bsky.social on winning the National Jewish Book Award for Middle Grade Literature today for FINN & EZRA'S BAR MITZVAH TIME LOOP. Kvelling, schepping naches, and all those things. Thanks @jewishbookcouncil.bsky.social!

Guess who picked up a new hobby over the break. Guess who also still has her floss carrying case, complete with lots of floss and old friendship bracelets vintage 1994. This should be an easy guess.

Sitting down to watch the series finale of LOWER DECKS and realizing how angry I am this is the series finale of LOWER DECKS.

🚨Important🚨: Scammers continue to impersonate literary agents and agencies, and are now doing so using fake @aalitagents.com emails. AALA members DO NOT have personal email addresses associated with the AALA . Stay informed: aalitagents.org/literary-age... Authors, please share this information!

An important reminder: we don't have time to lie about wanting to see your next work. If an agent asks to see future projects, they mean it!

I was right to be on Yellow Alert. The warbird did de-cloak in the form of my 6yo having an ear ache in the middle of the night and a new fever on the heels of pneumonia two weeks ago, followed by a wheezing cough and a fever last week. This kid can’t catch a break and neither can I.

Not that anyone's asking, but if I had to describe my current mental state it's Yellow Alert on the edge of the Neutral Zone waiting for a Romulan warbird to decloak at any second.

Has LOWER DECKS done an “Eyes in the dark, one moon circling” joke yet? I feel like it must have.

I have to amend this to include: - Sins of the Father - Night Terrors - Schisms - Unification 1 & 2

Good morning.

I finally solved it, but I'm still mad about it.

Oh screw you, Connections.

One day I’ll get a handle on my evening anxiety drain-circling, but not today.

Hey everyone! If you can, run your school book fair with a local independent store. We just set ours up this morning and opened for shopping and...it is AMAZING. (This is especially great if you want to hand-pick the titles offered...which I do.)

I loved Purple Data Head and I know I’m going to love this too.

I've made 125 quilts over the last 5 years. (Most of those during the first 2 or 3.) But somehow today I needed to watch 4 video tutorials about how to make napkins with mitered corners.

I answered LOTS of queries today. If I had to pick 2 things that went wrong the most, these are them: - The query is too long. I'm scrolling and scrolling. Challenge yourself to get your query 400 words or under. - I can't understand what the book is about. If you're not clear, I won't be either.

Get out of my head, Caroline.

This morning I'm clearing queries and reviewing applications for our freelance reader position. There are always some all-stars in both queues, and most of the stack is "serviceable but not a stand out." But the "people sure are...interesting" moments really stick out.

I volunteer for a local used book sale that benefits literary programs. Throughout the year, I go sort book donations for the annual sale. Today I unearthed a pile of books I worked on in my very first job and went down a a crazy memory rabbit hole. Anyone remember these?

Bookish people, we're hiring a freelance reader at @ldlainc.bsky.social! It's part-time and remote. We want someone sharp, with a good critical eye, who enjoys commercial fiction (both adult and kids). And a good written communicator, because, well...reader reports. Info at: ldlainc.com/jobs

I am so woefully behind on queries and requested material. I've hit the point of shame spiraling about it too... I'm sure things aren't as old as they could be, but every time I think about going back in there, I find a reason to avoid it. My work concentration has just been shot lately.

Sunday update: the furnace is still hanging on, I hit my (for fun) reading goal for 2024, and I just finished this quilt top. I’m way more productive when it’s cold outside.

My furnace went out overnight. Of course it’s gotten very cold in Michigan. The tech said we need a new gas valve that won’t be in until Monday, but showed me the “percussive repair” technique to hopefully keep it unclogged. I just managed to get the thing relit and I am quite proud of myself.

Stay classy, Ohio State.

Wherever the overlap of Small Business Saturday and crafty people is…if you’re looking for some patterns to make cute holiday gifts, mine are all on sale right now. Mini charm packs don’t make much, but they can make a cute little bag! lowercasequilts.com/patterns

Today I will put a lot of things into shopping carts and then...not buy them.

What a world to live in when the Detroit Lions are actually winning their Thanksgiving day game.

Oh good. It’s the 21st annual “feel like a failure when I read all the best-of-the-year lists and only see the same 10 books over and over again and nothing by my authors” month.

Thanksgiving break and I am finally starting this newest season of Bake Off.

Apropos of nothing, TNG episodes that always work for me when I'm indecisive: - Sarek - The Best of Both Worlds - The Wounded - The Mind's Eye - The Chase - Timescape - Phantasms

Buy books for your holiday presents this year. - Super best option: a local indie. - If you don't live near one, Bookshop.org is super. - Also fine: Barnes & Noble. They're big but we need them. - If your people prefer audiobooks, grab them credits at Libro.fm. You know who to avoid.

I vote Bloody Mary because it'll stick around for awhile.

So in addition to my book life, I’m also a quilter and bag maker. And I wrote some patterns for cute pouches that use precut fabric packs. My patterns are on sale through the holidays in case you have gifts to make or precuts lying around. No code needed. Enjoy 😊 www.lowercasequilts.com/patterns

I didn't think Republicans could be pressured by public condemnation anymore. I don't mind being wrong this time.