A chilling book censorship bill, the industry loses two legends, the perils of writing when you don't read books, and many more of the best writing and books links from the past few weeks!
A.I. editorial feedback (particularly Claude Opus 4.6) has gotten genuinely helpful. But should you use it?
Writers pursuing publication without reading widely in your genre/category, this is how you sound:
Author (basically): "I'm going to pitch an idea for a national burger franchise to investors."
Me: "Have you ever been to McDonalds and Shake Shack?"
Author: "No. Why would I need to do that?"
I spend drastically less time on social media lately, and let me tell you, reading the day's news in one undiluted dose at the end of the day feels like getting electrocuted.
In a spirited and at times meandering rebuttal to his critics, Trump took his case to midterm voters with a barrage of attacks on Democrats he labeled “[direct quotes with no challenge until 8th paragraph]”
Since everyone is (sigh) debating if writers benefit from reading books, I dissected a passage shared as “evidence” that non-readers can write great prose: countercraft.substack.com/p/what-not-r...
"If a reader can understand a novel character’s want and the gravity of that want—what if feels like to be in that specific wanting body and mind—then they will catch some of that feeling themselves from the text, in the way that when you watch someone play sports, a tiny part of your brain is releasing sports endorphins into you too. If there is a material rather than spiritual substrate of empathy, this is it: Seeing pain we echo pain, seeing joy we echo joy. If a book can make you understand a character’s wants, you’ll want them a little bit too, and you’ll follow the winding path of words to see what comes of it. "
"If a book can make you understand a character’s wants, you’ll want them a little bit too, and you’ll follow the winding path of words to see what comes of it." will be thinking about this @jeannethornton.bsky.social interview probably forever www.publicbooks.org/conjuring-an...
Tammy Abraham offside
Just shocking from the linesman. It’s a dead ball, literally one job!!
And everyone wants to get rid of VAR…
Here come the A.I. slop novels. While some readers may well like their books written by author Sloppy McSlopface, I'm more worried about the deluge coming for the gatekeepers and publishing regressing into a walled garden (plus more writing and books links from the past week!)
VAR in the Newcastle/Tottenham soccer game
VAR is a disaster. This was called offside.
Georgio Chiellini lighting the torch and pulling back Bukayo Saka
Very Italian opening ceremony, I loved it!
New #WriterBeware blog post: the return of two "bewares" that I thought had been resolved: a short story contest conducted by Harper's Bazaar magazine with author-unfriendly guidelines, and a notorious scam name risen from the dead (though with different intent) writerbeware.blog/2026/02/06/u...
I appreciate this Stella Donnelly song because it demonstrates how the "o" in the Australian pronunciation of "don't" is composed of like 5,000 different sounds.
After 20 years, I've been laid off at The Washington Post.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Same!!
So exciting that Bookshop.org is going to start offering self-published e-books via Draft2Digital. Ditch the Kindle store ASAP!!
I've never been a conspiracy theory guy, but you're never gonna convince me that there hasn't been a specific cabal of ultra-rich dullards trying to buy, strangle, and bring to heel all of the most important reality-shaping machines since the uptick in power labor had during COVID
Please don't report this as a straightforward business story; it's a story about coercive social transformation being imposed by people so rich they've ceased to see the rest of us as legitimate stakeholders in our own lives
Today’s a great day to cancel your Amazon Prime, if you haven’t already.
Thank you to @nathanbransford.com for sharing his forebear's words and actions of honorable convictions 💙 nathanbransford.com/blog/2026/02...
I've been thinking a lot about what this moment demands of us and, as always, find inspiration in my many-greats grandfather Albert, who fought in the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War and left being stirring letters:
Two new scams to watch out for, ALA awards, the latest on BookTok, and more of the best writing and books links from the past week!
In solidarity with today's general strike against ICE, here are some organizations to support, including a great auction supporting Minnesota full of writing services and books! "This Week in Books" will run tomorrow.
Unbanned Book Network launched by @weneeddiversebooks.bsky.social, TikTok US now controlled by Trump allies, @katemckean.bsky.social on what to do when your category/genre/topic is out of fashion, and more of the best writing and books links from the past week!
January in L.A. is crazy because it's basically Fall and Spring at the same time. Some trees are finally losing their leaves and some trees are already starting to bloom.
