I didn't understood how a fungi could take over a host's brain . . . until I experienced Thrush for the first time. The almost overpowering sugar and carb cravings are WILD. So yes, I'm a believer that fungi could take over humans and use them as their little puppets, if they ever chose to do so.

I think it’s one of those “rules” that started with agents defining what “recent comp” meant & then it became ingrained in writers that all comps all the time needed to be 5 years old or newer regardless of what they write.

I wish the myth that only books pubbed within the last 5 years are allowed as comp titles would die. You can choose a comp that's 6 years old and no one will cast you into a furnace for it. Ideally 1 of them should be pretty recent, but I have no idea why people latched onto 5 years as an absolute.

Would you all be interested in reading a rant I just unleashed because of some weird nonsense I keep seeing on book threads? I'm just so tired, y'all.

Uninvited by Alanis Morisette just came on a random playlist. Those first chords dragged me back through time to when I wore out the City of Angels soundtrack CD: falling asleep to it as a teen, in the background while doing homework in college. Terrible movie with an almost perfect soundtrack.

Getting ready to do some Butt in Chair tonight to catch up on paperwork and housekeeping stuff, but the weather might not let me. The power keeps going out briefly because of this thunderstorm. Ah well, maybe Mother Nature doesn't want me to get caught up tonight.

Um, guys, someone take my computer away from me. I'm trying to finish some query/first page critiques and I'm starting to get a little punchy because it's too late. Yes, I did say to an author, "Please send it to me now. Send it to meeee."

Let's help each other find BOOK PEOPLE who are *actively* posting about books & the industry here on Bluesky. Do you have a recommendation of someone whose posts are at least 50% about books, book industry? (not just self-promo or politics) My #BookPeepsToFollow rec: lawrenceschimel.bsky.social.

Lawrence Schimel (@lawrenceschimel.bsky.social)

Reader. Multilingual author & literary translator. Kidlit. Poetry. SF/F/H. Comics. 🌈 He/él I’ve translated: Maggie Nelson, Danez Smith, George Takei, Juan Villoro, Carmen Boullosa, Trifonia Melibea Ob...

lawrenceschimel.bsky.social

I was playing around taking some selfies last night during the golden hour and I kinda really love how this one turned out, because it looks like I'm about to get up to some SHENANIGANS.

Congrats, #kidlitchat! That is incredible. I joined Twitter in 2009 and started getting involved in the kidlit community almost immediately. I honestly hadn't realized it's been that long.

kidlitchat@kidlitchat.bsky.social · last wk.

TOPIC: #kidlitchat is 17 this month! Which is . . . REALLY OLD in social media years! How do you use milestones to shape your characters? How do all the "firsts," the annual celebrations, and the rites of passage provide opportunities to define character?

I finally remembered to be here for #kidlitchat tonight and not, like, an hour after it ends. 🤦‍♀️It's been a rough summer, okay? Like I just got back from the doctor with some more medicine for thrush because my body doesn't like any of the additional asthma meds my doc prescribed.

said it before and i'll say it again: the number one writing hack is just to make friends. you can either spend an hour in an obscure & contentious reddit forum trying to figure out what a 2012 camaro sounds like or you can ask your buddy, the Car Guy

Okay, who's the wise guy who gave my email inbox water after midnight? These messages are constantly multiplying, and every time I answer one, five more pop up to replace it? RUDE.

I'm updating my Query Manager and thought for a minute about increasing the word count limit for some genres to 150k words, and you know what? I just have no interest in reading brick-size manuscripts over 130k words that you could murder someone with due to their massive girth.

Well, I've spent the past few days updating my bio and wishlists on various sites so that I'm ready for Quills next week and can start accepting adult and new adult submissions (in addition to kidlit) when I reopen to queries later in the fall.

I hate how manipulative the algorithms on Meta platforms have caused people to be in their interactions, but that seems to be where a lot of the book publishing folks landed. I just want to destroy all the social media algorithms and billionaires who force them on us, is that too much to ask?

I love that whenever anyone tries to upsell me on using AI in a platform I can just tell them, "I'm against AI because they stole my books to create the AI databases" and it takes all the wind out of their upselling sales immediately. Shuts them down real quick and all they can do is apologize.

The snoot continues to be kissable. Unfortunately, the snoot keeps demanding kisses while I'm trying to work on my laptop. Sigh.

Michelle Witte@michellewitte.bsky.social · 2w ago

I’m sorry, but I need to take a break from scrolling to kiss the nose. It is a very kissable nose, obviously.

I’m sorry, but I need to take a break from scrolling to kiss the nose. It is a very kissable nose, obviously.

Coneflowers!

The event you’ve been waiting for all summer . . . Return of the Bumble Butts.

From what I understand of the UK middle grade market (my first MG project is currently being considered by publishers) this article applies as much to the UK as the US.

Michelle Witte@michellewitte.bsky.social · 3w ago

Earlier I was discussing the current state of middle grade book publishing with an author I represent, and I mentioned this Substack by @vickyweberbooks.bsky.social that offers a lot of insight into what is currently happening with that market: vickyweberbooks.substack.com/p/middle-gra...

An editor is there to sneak into your bedroom at night and whisper the correct way of writing in your ear while you sleep so when you wake up refreshed in the morning you think you had a wonderful dream where you figured out how to properly tackle your assignment, but no, it was the editor.

So I’ve started Pride and Prejudice, and already I feel bad for Mrs Bennet.

I would like to alert you all to possibly the greatest thread to ever be posted on Bluesky, by @trungles.com. I'll repost the post that started it in a second because quote posts are turned off, but this live reading of Pride and Prejudice (with commentary) has been giving me life for weeks now.

Earlier I was discussing the current state of middle grade book publishing with an author I represent, and I mentioned this Substack by @vickyweberbooks.bsky.social that offers a lot of insight into what is currently happening with that market: vickyweberbooks.substack.com/p/middle-gra...

Middle Grade Is "Dead" And I Think That's Good News

I say this at conferences a lot.

vickyweberbooks.substack.com

I regret to inform you that there are a crapton of really good books on the @libro.fm audiobook sale that I've been meaning to read for ages and now I have to winnow down my selections to less than a dozen because my poor wallet.

I’ve got a lovely bunch of black-eyed Susans. And that sounded a lot less creepy in my head.

The PB Party critique train often leads to friendships and the KidLit 411 FB community is a good place to meet folks. #KidLitChat on Tuesdays at 9 is also a friendly group. I’ve found #KidLit people to be kindly supportive in general. A question posted to someone that resonates can be a good start.

Being a writer is challenging in ways that you can’t anticipate before you start the journey. My biggest advice to writers—especially newer ones—is to find other writers you can commiserate with, who can support you and be there for both the good times and bad.