Hey it's (my birthday) and my book birthday today! ALIENS ATTACK has landed. Hope you'll check it out!

At @barrelhouse.bsky.social we stay on top of the litmag game through technical innovation and fiscal responsibility and our slackbot has been middle-managing all of us for years.

Picture of the Advance Readwr Copy title page of Family Night by Ani King

Y’all. 🥹🥹🥹 I absolutely cannot wait for the cover reveal, but in the meantime I’ll be over here rubbing the ARCs on my face and having feelings. Out with @masonjarpress.bsky.social in October!!

open laptop and morning writing session

Back from the @barrelhouse.bsky.social
conference where I got to be a featured author and celebrate writing/publishing and my own book. Back to pushing it along one word at a time, trying to get 500 in before I can't ignore the teams messages and my work day is officially started. Writing life.

Crowd at barrelhouse conference

Monica Prince at barrelhouse conference

Melissa scholes young leading workshop at barrelhouse conference

Featured authors at the Barrelhouse conference

Another really great @barrelhouse.bsky.social conference in DC yesterday. I had a wonderful time chatting with @poeticmoni.bsky.social, @bydianarojas.bsky.social, Michele Evans, and @ericarstern.bsky.social, and even sold out of Aliens Attack! Thanks to everyone who came out, see you next year!

Four improbably good-looking authors, one wearing a Strunk & White crown of ill-deserved triumph, and one wearing a PULPED sign of ignominy

A roomful of people holding up signs with the author's face, with stars in his eyes like nipples on instagram

cards used by the audience to vote for the winner of each round, on top of a handmade RAPID FIRE round poster

For about a year now I've been fantasizing about an entirely new kind of literary event: exciting, theatrical, and a little bit combative. Yesterday at the @barrelhouse.bsky.social conference, @writesloud.bsky.social, @poeticmoni.bsky.social, and @zachpowers.bsky.social and I pulled it off.

Blow up alien

Marketing!

Barrelhouse conference welcome writers sign

Writers you are welcome in the back seat of my car! Also tomorrow at the @barrelhouse.bsky.social conference at American University. Still some tickets left. See you tomorrow everyone! www.barrelhousemag.com/conference

The Barrelhouse Conference: Conversations and Connections, Practical Advice on Writing — Barrelhouse Conversations and Connections is a one-day conference organized by Barrelhouse in person at American University in Washington, DC on April 18, 2026.

We're 4 days out from the @barrelhouse.bsky.social DC conference on Saturday and we still have some spots left if you'd like to join us for a fun day talking craft & publishing & literary community. We're all in this together. Hope to see all you good weirdos there! www.barrelhousemag.com/conference

Thanks so much for checking it and coming to the launch, Ryan! 👽💚🛸👾

Congrats to my guy @housleydave.bsky.social on his latest novel, out now on @masonjarpress.bsky.social. It’s really good!

highly recommend! ✔️👍💯

i’ve said it before but sure i’ll say it again—great skeeps, fantastic advice & yeah i got a story pubbed based on feedback from this confab 👇

The Barrelhouse Conference: Conversations and Connections, Practical Advice on Writing — Barrelhouse Conversations and Connections is a one-day conference organized by Barrelhouse in person at American University in Washington, DC on April 18, 2026.

Still the cheapest conference around, and more than half of the registration fee goes directly to the participating small presses and literary magazines. A great way to directly support the folks who are out there doing it in the literary community. www.barrelhousemag.com/conference

The Barrelhouse Conference: Conversations and Connections, Practical Advice on Writing — Barrelhouse Conversations and Connections is a one-day conference organized by Barrelhouse in person at American University in Washington, DC on April 18, 2026.

We're a week away from the @barrelhouse.bsky.social DC conference and we have 19 tickets left. For $95 you get the full day conference talking craft and publishing, 1 book, a 10 min 1-on-1 workshop, more stuff from some of your fave litmags and small presses! www.barrelhousemag.com/conference

I also got to ask @writesloud.bsky.social about her history with the @barrelhouse.bsky.social conference, which I super love, b/c we were her first conference and she talks about how friendly and not gatekeepy it was and that is EXACTLY what we're going for. www.barrelhousemag.com/blog/sowhat-...

Barrelhousing with Hannah Grieco About Writers Wrestling Live, Coming to the Barrelhouse Conference on 4/18/26 — Barrelhouse We emailed with our friend Hannah Grieco about her session Writing Wrestling Live, coming to the Barrelhouse conference at American University in DC on April 18, 2026.

I interviewed @writesloud.bsky.social about her session at the upcoming @barrelhouse.bsky.social conference in DC on April 18 (still spots left!) with @samuelashworth.bsky.social, @poeticmoni.bsky.social, and @zachpowers.bsky.social, WRITERS WRESTLING LIVE! www.barrelhousemag.com/blog/sowhat-...

The @barrelhouse.bsky.social Write-Ins are back, and I for one need it! Join us for "alone together online" writing sessions, gently moderated, no pressure. Alone together 500 or so words at a time we can all get there.

Wildflowers Don’t Care Where They Grow: Barrelhousing with Dustin Brookshire about the Dolly Parton Poetry Workshop, Coming to the Barrelhouse Conference on 4/18/26 — Barrelhouse It was just about the easiest and fastest conference proposal in the history of our long-running Conversations and Connections: Practical Advice on Writing. A Dolly Parton Poetry Workshop? At the conf...

I interviewed @dustinbrookshire.bsky.social about his session at the upcoming @barrelhouse.bsky.social conference ON 4/18 in DC (still spots left!), which was the fastest and easiest conference approval ever, TAKE ME BACK: A DOLLY PARTON POETRY WORKSHOP. www.barrelhousemag.com/blog/wildflo...

Avitus! Thanks so much for checking it out! Ani's zine is the coolest. See you in DC soon!

A copy of ALIENS ATTACK (@masonjarpress.bsky.social) by @housleydave.bsky.social AND a zine by @aniking.bsky.social before the @barrelhouse.bsky.social conference?!?!? YES PLEASE!

I’m the 25th Amendment, and I’ve Been Waiting for This Moment My Entire Life “The word ‘surreal’ has lost all meaning. But I’ve never felt more alive!” 4/7/26

This is from 2021, but it applies now more than ever:

"It’s finally here. That moment we’ve been waiting for. You’ve wanted it for years; I’ve wanted it a hell of a lot longer. Since 1967, when lawmakers were like, 'Damn, we forgot to make a plan if the president goes bonkers.'"

Cat sitting in paper bag with folders and name badges laying around.

New @barrelhouse.bsky.social Asst Editor is really helping me break down the leftover folders from last year! Unfortunately, Edward is doing the keynote at another conference and is unable able to join us on April 18 in DC, but there are still tickets for you! www.barrelhousemag.com/conference

Has anyone asked the astronauts whose shirts they wear yet?

Wow that is extremely complimentary! I'm digging that show more each episode!

The Sky is an Illusion, After All: A Conversation with Elizabeth Hazen In her third poetry collection The Sky Will Hold, poet Elizabeth Hazen reexamines the gap between youthful dreams and middle-aged reality, exploring what it means to belong: to a family, a communit…

I interviewed the incomparable poet Elizabeth Hazen @vol1brooklyn.bsky.social on what’s it like to write through memories you’re stuck with…

How do you write through memories you’re stuck with???

www.vol1brooklyn.com/2026/04/03/t...

One of my favorite writing events of the year! Come for a friendly, energetic experience, a chance to show your work to smart & kind editors, & learn about writing and pitching book reviews with me!

Barrelhouse conference in Washington, DC on April 18!

Hey writers come join @barrelhouse.bsky.social and whole lot of other literary magazines and small presses on April 18 for a great day talking craft and publishing at American University in DC! We have about 25 tickets left, so sign up soon! www.barrelhousemag.com/conference

Screen capture of chatgpt displaying information about me and making up stories that do not exist.

I asked ChatGPT about myself as a writer and it was pretty much on target for a few screens and then it started making up stories that do indeed sound like stories I would write and titles I would use. Maybe I should ask it if actually writing those stories would also be "classic Housley."

You spend your whole life hearing that English majors can't get jobs, and that you should stay away from drugs, only to reach middle age and find out "large language model that occasionally hallucinates" is worth billions of dollars

Did a cool interview with an author or someone from publishing? We love to see them! Just remember to submit through out query form ➡️ buff.ly/CVmuERP