Would-You-Rathers, a Magical Mansion, and a Fiction Submission Opportunity

June links roundup

Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash

Welcome to the June links roundup, where I share links of interest.

I recently realized that some of you who signed up for the newsletter may have not gotten the funny books list I had promised, if that is the case, you can find it here. I also think it probably needs some updating so I pulled it down as a sign-up bonus for now. Signing up will just have to be its own reward.

I’m not teaching this summer and thus trying to do a little planning for upcoming newsletters. On that note, if you are interested in weighing in on and/or contributing to future topics you can do that in this quick survey.

Hope your summer is off to a good start!

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Funny stuff and other distractions:

This cartoon up at 251 made me laugh. Hopefully, someone actually makes similarly ironic calligraphy signs. If not, feel free to take that free business opportunity idea!

This collection of words and phrases that prove challenging for children’s librarians to read out loud is pretty funny: (Medium story that is behind the paywall but you can read if you aren’t out of free views for the month).

TV: I’ve been watching the final season of Never Have I Ever on Netflix and am still enjoying the series if you are looking for a lighter watch. Balancing that out with also watching Silo on Apple TV, and fun fact: I read the first book in the series it is based on around the time it came out but can’t remember a lot of the details of what happened, so no spoilers for me! If you are looking for an engaging dystopian drama, I would check it out.

Books: I recently finished Audrey Burges’s debut novel The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone.* I picked it up without knowing much about the plot because I know Audrey from the internet and appreciate her humor pieces. I really enjoyed the witchy magical mansion mystery plot. Things it also taught me: I spell “minuscule” wrong on the first try 99% of the time.

I also listened to Funny You Should Ask on audio because it was the first to arrive in my queue in my ongoing game of the library holds request lottery. I recommend it if you are looking for a lighter romance read. I think it is inspired in part by the famous/infamous Edith Zimmerman interview with Chris Evans and made me wonder about how carefully you need to tread in fiction when writing about something inspired by real events.

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Writing-related links:

• Writer friend Janine Annett has a new Substack with daily writing prompts. Check it out here.

• If you are a fiction writer, I saw on McSweeney’s Instagram that they are opening up for fiction submissions by previously unpublished writers. Check it out here.

• I appreciated the Substack-building info in this episode of the #AmWriting podcast with Virginia Sole-Smith. Virginia’s book Fat Talk is also high on my TBR list.

• At the virtual ASJA conference I attended, one speaker recommended the website The Measure of Things to help when writing descriptive measurements. I could see it being useful for all sorts of different writing situations.

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News from me:

• I’ll be teaching a Humor Writing 101 one-session virtual class for Lounge Writers in September. If the timing doesn’t work for you, you can also get a recording of the class. Get more details and register here.

• I had a co-written piece with Sarah Garfinkel go up at New Yorker Daily Shouts this week: Would-You-Rathers for Your Summer Vacation. May your summer vacation be free of crypto sales.

• I wrote about my new appreciation for libraries after having a book come out in this piece for Brevity blog.

• I was also happy to see my piece in this book shoutout post on Evil Witches.

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Closing joke

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*This newsletter contains affiliate links for which I will receive a small commission when you make a purchase through links at no additional cost to you.