re: the new world map China is so much bigger than I thought it was.

one of the best things i ever did for my mental health when working with submissions was change my "rejections" (in red) to "pass" (in neutral grey). it makes things easier. i recommend it for querying, or anything you're doing that involves this kind of work.

Agree/Disagree: There's a difference in these sentences that we can't explain. “It's not dissimilar.” “It's similar.” “It's kind of the same.”

Marrying a man with a crazy high IQ is tougher than you'd think. Not because he's not a feminist (he is) or because he's condescending (he isn't). It's cause he always gets a better score in wordle and connections than me and can't possibly understand how I was confused.

For any #maryland authors interested in meeting four incredible #disabled authors speaking for disability pride month, SFWA is sponsoring a spotlight panel in Gaithersburg, moderated by me on July 18.

Hanging out at #sgdq

It's the 4th of July on the 250th anniversary of America, and I'm disappointed in the plutocracy we've become. I'm an American. I was born here. You will bury me in American soil. I'll fight for my country to be what I know it can be, and that's better than what it is.

Things I didn't expect I would ever message someone at age 41: "Sorry it took so long to reply. I was dancing around a dumpster for a video."

My favorite interaction of the day: At the @BurgerKing drive thru Me: Thank you! Cashier: What for? Me: I used to work fast food and I know it's a thankless job! Cashier: uh ok... Me: I'm just trying to be nice... Cashier: Next window, please. What the fuck, can't I be polite?

I'm no influencer, but I occasionally get locals on my viral posts telling me where they know me from. Worst one yet: "Hey! I think I know you from the Maryland Surgery Center! Hit me up!"

Me, listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl with my husband: I was told the cat would talk. My husband, who has read the books and is still stewing over the fact that Carl doesn't sound like he imagined: Just give it like five pages.

Still not over the fact that my friend bought nice plates for me and my ex and when we broke up he made me leave half. It was my friend, they were for me.

so this arrived in my mailbox this morning. 😭

I'll be at #BaltiCon today. Check me out at the Anachronistic Attitudes in Fiction panel at 4:00 pm!

After not using doordash since the whole 'doordash lady' thing a month ago, we decided to have something delivered today. Half the order was missing and the drinks were spilled all over what was there. At least it reminded us that we hate everything about the app.

The sheer number of ads on social media make it totally unusable. Two or three in a row? Insane.

So they're polluting the city, literally raising the town's temperature, and using more energy than the entire state, and we're supposed to be on their side *how*? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

‘Irresponsible’: backlash as Utah approves datacenter twice the size of Manhattan

Facility would require more power than entire state uses and suck up vast amount of water in drought-stricken area

theguardian.com

The fact that now there's an AI Chatbot that can mimic your ex so you can talk to them is weird as hell. I don't want my ex or ex friends to pretend they're still talking to me. Move on, freaks.

LGBTQ: Lets Give Back Trans Quandorums

So I read a chapter of Ducks, Newburyport yesterday and although it's dense, I was pretty sucked in. Maybe (the fact that?) I'm a millennial and the references all hit spot on for me worked? I don't know? Has anyone else read this?

new substack up. open.substack.com/pub/mjhuntsg...

Talkin' Sh*t

Or, What Happens To Those Close Friends Who Lose Their Closeness?

open.substack.com

Mother's day is a weird holiday. I used to be able to text my exes with "happy father's day" to confused, terrified replies. You can't do that with mother's day and ex girlfriends. It doesn't hit the same.

Jesus.

me, flicking an ash off my phone to look at a picture from a vinyl convention i dropped in on for funsies before a poetry reading tonight and realizing me in my most manic pixie phase of my life would be really proud.

I love watching the Met Gala posts while I'm four weeks away from my unemployment running out and my phone is running slow from an update I didn't want and there's an ad every other post for things according to an algorithm designed by AI I can't turn off it just puts everything into perspective

I learned today that when songbirds are alone they sing at a decibel low enough that other birds can't really hear them. They're practicing! So why shouldn't we?

My story, "Can't Chicken Out" is available in Coop Zine! coopzine.com/zine-14/

It's hard to admire celebrities for being sober because if they inevitably fall off the wagon it's a pretty, well, sobering experience for the rest of us.

Being on social media is like "gee, which platform should I go and watch commercials on today?"

Does anyone else remember when we wrote "not for profit" on our fanfiction, used it to learn how to hone our craft, and wrote it for the pure, unadulterated joy of writing? Just me?