If the US could stop fixating on the border and on renaming things, we might learn something about our North American neighbors to the south. Massachusetts Review gives us one place to start. (Also great: Nicolás Medina Mora's novel.)

Unsolicited #writingtips #38) With apologies to Edie Brickell. Querying agents can feel like shooting rubber bands at the stars. The good part: Each time you hit send you've succeeded, the rest is up to the universe. Just make sure you're shooting *awesome* rubber bands.

I've been enjoying Henry Lien's craft notes on Poets & Writers. Concepts like "hero's journey" can feel sacrosanct to writers, unless we let ourselves play with vital alternatives. pw.org/content/not_al…

Okay, so even though I'm super squeamish I'm putting Samuel Ashworth's new SFWP novel on my read list, because I also love deliciously weird books. Plus this interview covers dynamic stuff. electricliterature.com/uncovering-the…

File this question under "Laugh to Keep from Screaming": Do we tell POTUS the little canned wieners are actually manufactured overseas? (Doh!) theonion.com/trump-informs-…

Good seeing springtime glimmers of hope re US opposition politics. Like Ross Barkan here. nymag.com/intelligencer/…

I'm grateful stories like this from Massachusetts Review have been popping up in my inbox. We need as much media as possible right now that rehumanizes conceptions of migrants, esp undocumented & asylum seekers. massreview.org/2025/03/25/tha…

Okay folks, heading out of town, offline for a while. But first in honor of #NationalPoetryMonth, happy to see this new edition from McSweeney's. store.mcsweeneys.net/products/leave…

Happy coincidence! Today found a great Q&A with Cass Sunstein; Tomorrow taking my son to see Bangor Symphony Orchestra's A New Hope in Concert. His first time seeing any of the movies, and his violin teacher's in the pit. Plus a book for my to-read pile. harvardmagazine.com/2025/05/harvar…

Beautiful article by Prof. Shayoni Mitra on n+1. Calls out "an administration that appears to be increasingly comfortable with extrajudicial proceedings." (With thanks to Maine Initiatives for the link.) nplusonemag.com/online-only/on…

Terrific PEN America Q&A. Caro De Robertis's much-needed work also speaks to the USA's awful ageism, e.g. Biden bashing, C19 invisibility... And the last answer shows a kind of optimism I've started seeing a lot lately. #TransLivesMatter pen.org/caro-de-robert…

Loved Debbie Urbanski's novel, so I'm greedily adding her new collection to my read list. As a bonus, this interview with DEBUTIFUL/Adam Vitcavage is full of great recommendations: Carroll, Gaddis, Fundacja Olgi Tokarczuk, to name a few. debutiful.net/2025/05/15/my-…

Both the most sensible and scariest piece I've read on DJT, by Michael Kruse @Politico. E.g., Marie Griffith: "'Perhaps opportunism and genuine belief in his own chosenness aren't mutually exclusive.'" Yikes. politico.com/news/magazine/…

The labor-movement surge feels like a real legacy of the Biden era. I've been especially glad to see unions flourish in bookselling/publishing. Daily Hampshire Gazette via PublishersLunch. gazettenet.com/Hadley-Barnes-…

Eve Bridburg's essay captures the recent Nat'l Endow f/t Arts fiasco with clarity and heart. And not one mention of that impending NEH/NEA sculpture garden ... :>0 wbur.org/cognoscenti/20…

Not much nonfiction on my to-read list lately but this review of John Seabrook's new book swayed me. theamericanscholar.org/the-unjolly-gr…

Unsolicited #writingtips #39) When stuck for ideas later in a novel or story, try exploring early parts of the same piece. What was driving you then? Revisiting that now may both inspire you and help the work cohere.

A rare start-of-the-week tweet from me, to let you know I've got a newly published short story, courtesy of the fine folks at WSU/Mikrokosmos & mojo Literary Journals / SUBS OPEN. Read the whole issue for free, here: mikrokosmosjournal.com/mojo-21/ Thanks!

Been on the hunt for powerful reasons to love the country today, and Beto O'Rourke wins. #fourthofjuly2025 youtube.com/watch?v=WoRemC…

Agree! These days I've been happily laboring in the trenches of experimental fiction, so I also appreciated Tom Comitta's great list here: electricliterature.com/the-10-most-ex…. (Renee Gladman, Hurrah!)