This Is Just To Say
I have turned off
the AI features
that were in
the update
and which
you were probably
hoping
to monetize
Fuck you
they were stupid
so unnecessary
and so annoying
Screenshot from email: This usually suggests that while the original authors (Prosper Mérimée) are well-known, the "French Lit & Poetry" categorization is limiting your reach. Readers looking for "French Short Stories" or "19th Century Women Writers" are likely missing your title because it is buried in broad categories.
Another day, another email from a chatbot masquerading as a “book marketing consultant.” This one has the innovative idea to classify Prosper Mérimée as a woman, which would probably come as a surprise to him.
Attention, humans! Join us this May 16! 🐈⬛
We study. We write. We nerd. 🤓
This is how we pay our writers. Help us put the FUN in fundraiser. 💚🙃
If you missed our Spring Pop-Up call, here's what's coming next 🦝
Our Summer General submissions open 1st-14th June for Flash (100-750) and Shorts (up to 2000).
There's a theme of GREEN BIN STORIES and a mood board to offer inspo:
trashcatlit.com/summer-mood/
It's always an honor to read your stories! Can't wait to see what you send us this year! ❤️❤️❤️
A tuxedo cat sits attentively on a wave-shaped scratching board on a gray and blue rug. Behind him, a couch is draped with a dark blue blanket.
I love when he looks like a little kid posing for his school picture.
We thank PEN America for this important report that focuses our attention once more on the urgent need to improve working terms for literary translators. Translators are co-creators of literature, and it is long past time they were treated as such.
In the country of my ancestry and my heart, my books have been shrink wrapped and considered pornography because they contain gay characters. He controlled books and the media, shuttered universities, and was a foot on the country’s neck. There’s a long road ahead — de most, a pezsgő. 🍾 🇭🇺
Viktor Orbán created the global blueprint for authoritarian populism and became a MAGA hero. Today, Hungarian voters sent him packing after 16 years in power.
There is nothing inevitable about these guys. Organize. Vote. Fight back. It works.
The VILLAGE 🏘 is a place where the world 🌍 feels a tiny bit smaller. Founded by SmokeLong for the global flash community.
Follow 100+ flash publishers.
Read editor interviews.
Enjoy discounts on collections.
Get regional news.
Share the love.
Every book I #translate shows me that there are SO MANY THINGS about which I know nothing. So much history, so many great people, so much tragedy and injustice, so much bravery and triumph. The research I do for my translations only scrapes the surface. There is so much to LEARN, and so little time.
Background: the top of a woman’s face, wincing in pain. Foreground: an amorous tuxedo cat’s head and neck.
David enjoys greeting me when I get home from work. His enthusiasm has never (yet?) resulted in a broken nose, for which I am thankful.
Spent my entire childhood wondering why tea was so delicious at my grandma’s house, and same deal
"I don't want to happen but it probably will" is classic abuser language: "look what you made me do." Except it's not on the scale of a household, but of a nation of 90 million and millennia of civilization.....
Welkin me up! 🤩
A gray cat tree with a basket feature. Peeking over one edge of the basket: a tuxedo cat’s face in profile, one front paw, and one hind paw.
I just love this little goofball so much.
I've seen people trying to defend it today by saying "No, no, I just use it to brainstorm, bounce ideas, I do the actual writing" and with all the kindness in the world I need to tell you: if there is a stage of writing you are not good at, you need to get good, not use the plagiarism machine.
In this month's #FromTheCourseMouth, workshops from @dreenawriting.co.uk @jmgatford.bsky.social @taniahershman.bsky.social @stillsquirrel.bsky.social @sfreligh.bsky.social @sagetyrtle.bsky.social @finnwritesstuff.bsky.social
+ New things from ME!!!
fromthecoursesmouth.substack.com/p/apr-may-26...
It has begun!
The Prompt Generator is now on until 6th April.
Get your prompts and start percolating story ideas.
Subs open on the 21st April.
That's Trash Cat's prompted stories challenge - have a go! 🦝
Get prompted here:
trashcatlit.com/prompted-pop...
#submissioncalls
#litsubmissions
New, new from the @welkinpress.bsky.social - in the lead-up to the Welkin Genre Prize, I'll be teaching 6 one-hour generative workshops which delve into Welkin micros past to inspire some Welkin micros future!
1st one is on Thursday 7th May.
Details / book: www.mattkendrick.co.uk/live-workshops
We are now taking submissions for Aneas until the 30th April. All the information and how to submit your entry are on our website: munsterlit.ie/aneas-glaoch...
#irishwriting #irishwriters
Congratulations to our workshop participants who reported publications to us in March! www.smokelong.com/smokelong-wo...
Tuxedo cat sitting in black blanket on a wooden floor with a blue-grey area rug.
Decorative basket from Aldi, marked down to $5. David is pretty sure it was mislabeled. This is a FUNCTIONAL basket.
My buddy Paul and I sat down and watched an episode in which the winning contestant gave her shopping cart a running start, then jumped into it and rode down an aisle, arms raised in victory, and yelled, “I’m getting everything made in LIMERIIIIICK!!!”
I’ve been giggling all morning. Luimneach abú!
I woke up this morning from a dream in which Paul Mescal was an old family friend (🤷♀️) and we were reminiscing about the early days of his career. Apparently, my subconscious thinks he got his start as the host of an Irish game show similar to Supermarket Sweep.
PSA! A SmokeLong Summer 26 dates!! May 28th-Sep 1st! Onboarding May 28th-June 2nd, Three-task-a-week peer-review workshop June 3rd-Aug 4th, then cool down with one task a week until Sep 1st. More live events than ever this year! Mark your calendars! More info soon! Summer just got longer.
Two cats on a couch looking soulfully into the camera. Foreground: dilute tortoiseshell cat leaning against a green pillow. Behind her: a tuxedo cat who seems happy just to be included.
I’ve always thought this would be their album cover if they tried to make it as a folk duo
Joint selfie of a human woman with short, light brown hair, and a tuxedo cat. The cat is sitting on a desk, on the woman’s arms, flinging his head backward into her face.
“Enough typing, human woman! Stop sneaking peeks at the computer screen! Just give kisses! KISSES!!!”
A tuxedo cat is lying on a blanket in various shades of green with a shamrock pattern. He looks over his shoulder at the photographer, whose hand is visible petting the cat.
David, living his best life as a fuzzy blanket influencer.
That’s right. I’m a writer, people who feed prompts into plagiarism machines and then put their names on the garbage that comes out are… not.