The new play SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA and Ann Patchett’s Commonwealth both feature blood-sucking writers. I might be one, too. Read at open.substack.com/pub/katexmac...

This week's newsletter details my obsession with the people who join me on Zoom every week to write. Read at open.substack.com/pub/katexmac...

I spoke with the antiquarian booksellers behind #RareBooksLA, coming to Pasadena later this month. I learned so much about acquiring ephemera for bibliophiles & library special collections. This interview goes places you’d never predict! Read or listen at open.substack.com/pub/katexmac...

You can subscribe to my newsletter in your favorite podcast app! ▶️ Pocket Casts: paste this into search: api.substack.com/feed/podcast... ▶️ Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/k... ▶️ Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/6kmvuMA... Or listen on Substack itself at katexmachina.substack.com

In this week's newsletter, I wrote about bravery in the face of writing without the publishing industry in mind. Read on Substack at open.substack.com/pub/katexmac...

In this week's newsletter: the year ahead in books on the big (and small) screen. Read—or listen—on Substack: open.substack.com/pub/katexmac...

It's newsletter time! This week I'm taking you on a tour of my "collection of cringe," the embarrassingly large amount of motivational artwork in my home. Read at: open.substack.com/pub/katexmac...

Newslettering! Read, listen, and subscribe at katexmachina.substack.com/subscribe?pa...

Art is imbued in every element of PAINTED FLOWERS NEVER DIE. The love story between a dancer and a musician torn apart by fame. The visuals and the music that tug on our memories and brighten every emotion. These are some of the films and songs that fed into my research. #bluepit 📖 #Q #SP #WF #A

The book-club-ready PAINTED FLOWERS NEVER DIE follows a widow on the other side of tragedy, but it's a hopeful story about art and love. @theblcklst.bsky.social said it has "strong commercial appeal" in the vein of THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY and THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE. #bluepit 📖 #Q #SP #WF #A

"I paint flowers so they will not die." —Frida Kahlo So opens PAINTED FLOWERS NEVER DIE, wherein a widow, sucked into a painting, searches for her late husband's portrait. Traveling through famous paintings, she finds new love—and herself—along the way. #bluepit 📖 #Q #SP #WF #A

In a new feature on my Substack, I interviewed @rachelmanija.bsky.social about owning a bookshop in a small mountain town. Read (or listen to!) our conversation at katexmachina.substack.com/p/interview-...

This week on Substack, I revisited the essay I wrote, but didn't publish, in the midst of last year's fires. You can read it at open.substack.com/pub/katexmac...

Latest newsletter! open.substack.com/pub/katexmac...

Newslettering! Read, listen, and subscribe at katexmachina.substack.com/subscribe?pa...

Disclaimer that the first minute of this episode includes Patti Harrison's Annette Bening impersonation...

This season will have a special segment each episode where I dive into one of my most niche internet interests, and AC just indulges me...

This was an absurdly fun episode to record...

I can't hear any of the music from Phantom without thinking of that little elephant shrew video

I have to say, this may have been the most fun I've had recording an episode of FFR...

Rewatching even a single episode of the most Obama-era cultural artifact is a psychologically challenging exercise.

(This episode was recorded before the Creative Arts Emmys were held, so we didn't yet know that Julianne Nicholson would, in fact, win an Emmy for playing Dance Mom on Hacks.)

I had so much fun talking about ~the self-destruction of masculinity~ for this episode! I can't wait until I get the chance to watch ALL THAT JAZZ on the big screen some day.

Finished another revision on my novel and submitted to SmoochPit. Now, back at work on something I haven't looked at in over three months. Going from editing one day to drafting the next is so strange!

For the first full ep of our new "Musical Mayhem" season, we watched (or rewatched) GUYS AND DOLLS. The gender dynamics in this movie feel like they'd be right at home in today's "trad wife" resurgence... Listen at patreon.com/posts/137177....

ICYMI: #FemFreqRadio is returning for a new season! In addition to the Musical Mayhem main feed episodes, Patreon supporters get weekly bonuses, like our latest chat about #FantasticFour and this year's summer blockbusters. Subscribe and listen at www.patreon.com/posts/ffr-bo...

WAY too many things postponed the recording of this new season of #FemFreqRadio, but I'm so glad to be back podcasting again after all these months!

As part of my library volunteering, I wrote a book for adult literacy learners through the CA State Library. They're not cheap, because they're made to be durable for use by tutors at the branches, but if you want one, you can scroll through and pick up a copy here: www.mixbook.com/photo-books/...

With everything LA has gone through in the last few months (and couple of years), let's celebrate the hatching of: TEN CALIFORNIA CONDORS!!!!!!!!! Congrats to the team at the Los Angeles Zoo!!!

In preparation for next week’s parade/demonstration, tanks are being moved into Washington, DC today. Unprecedented. (Photo from a colleague in DC)

I don't *love* this bit of website traffic...

I was having a great daydream about being rich and having a backyard with a pizza oven and having people over to make pizzas, and then I remembered that my dad won't be there (at the fictional pizza party), and then I started to cry. This was like, fantasy to grief sads in under 60 seconds.

The comment period for this ends in 3 DAYS. Please leave a comment telling them EVERYONE should be able to get covid boosters. www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD...

There is no literary world. There is, however, this interconnected mass of people who made similarly poor choices to pursue their dreams and are now pitching the emotional damage as art

Excited to be Currant Jam & Gelée zine's taste maker for the month of May. Check out the spotlight at www.instagram.com/p/DJcWRTtRH1F

#AmQuerying update... got my first R&R request from an agent today! It doesn't seem like a huge lift, so I'm definitely going to give it a try. It would involve a drastic change to the opening chapters, which of course throws me into a tailspin thinking about all the other queries out there. Nerves!

A #QuestPit peek at one of my WIPs… I've been deep in research on my historical romance, but currently #AmWriting a novelization of this pilot inspired by my own career shift from Hollywood to the zoo! ANIMAL INSTINCTS: this rom-com is much simpler and more grounded than my previous novel! #W #A #R

For #QuestPit I'm sharing part of the Agent's Guide for PAINTED FLOWERS NEVER DIE, plus an excerpt from @theblcklst.bsky.social's professional manuscript evaluation, which described the novel as having "strong commercial appeal." I #AmQuerying this book club-ready spec fic w/ romance. #Q #A #S #R

Trying to watch Taskmaster for the first time, bc Zouks... (idgi)

Her self-titled CD was so important to me when I was growing up. The song "The Jig Is Up" transported me through time when I listened to it. 💔

I just love sequels!

Recommend NORTH OF NORTH on Netflix for a sweet new sitcom!

I'm excited to share that in just a few weeks, I'll be participating in the Yale Writers' Workshop! This will be my first writing intensive, and I can't wait!

I am managing to work on my submission to a literary magazine while wearing ear plugs about ten feet away from where my family is catching up on the latest episode of TLOU; please clap. (I've already watched)

I started the road trip, but after getting just out of city limits, I had to turn around and head home to repack my bags. Started drafting a bit too early, and now digging deeper into research before I start writing again. #CRPBees #CampRevPit

Day 1 of #CampRevPit and I'm a member of the Bumblebee cabin! #CRPBees 🐝 It's been tough to draft my WIP while querying my 1st novel, so lately I've been in research mode instead of writing as I was before. So, to send my opening pages and early-stage query letter for feedback feels productive!

Nobody zoom in too close on my #PosterPit submission tomorrow unless you want to see the CLUNKIEST photo editing

PAINTED FLOWERS NEVER DIE is a transporting story about fame and grief and art and the feeling of being alive! @posterpit.bsky.social #PosterPitQ #AmQuerying #A #PosterPit technically book club speculative fiction with romantic elements but let's say #R #SF #C for hashtag reasons

Nobody zoom in too close on my #PosterPit submission tomorrow unless you want to see the CLUNKIEST photo editing

Since people have been asking: AI use is NOT acceptable in our event. On pitch day, if your poster is made with AI, we will block you and not repost any of your pitches.