A LOVE STORY: Three years ago, I met a girl in NYC while visiting. We went out on a date on my last night there (the single best date of my life by a country mile). She said it was a shame I was flying home so soon. I said I was actually going to Denver first to hang out (1/6)
Twitter, please settle an argument—if I said to you "Annie, are you okay, are you okay Annie?" would you recognise these (famous) song lyrics without looking them up?
Oh and if you got this far and you want to know at which point during our first date I was totally starry-eyed, it was when she complimented my tattoo (Robert Frost lines in Jane Austen's handwriting) and casually said she had Whitman on her back.
WE WERE MEANT TO BE.
I am so, so lucky and blessed to get to wake up to my soulmate and the love of my life every single day. She's my first reader, my loudest cheerleader, and the absolute bestest, funniest, coolest, most amazing person I know. Happy anniversary weekend, cutie
@pegasusunder1
(6/6)
When the pandemic hit, we were physically apart for 7 months, which sucked, but we always made time for each other. Three years on, now engaged and having bought a house together, we've gone through personal griefs, happiness, success, and rejections. (5/6)
with my best friend. Imbued with several cocktails worth of confidence, I invited her to Denver. When I arrived, my BF said, confidently, "no girl is going to fly 4.5hrs across the country on the basis of one date."
Reader, she was wrong. (2/6)
We kept in touch, obviously smitten, pretending we weren't; later, she insisted on videoing me at midnight to be the first one to wish me happy birthday. I sent her care packages full of chocolates and poems and books. We emailed every single day, and fell madly in love. (4/6)
Z arrived, having only my email address and a physical address to go on since my phone wasn't working. We spent an awesome weekend together in the mountains and I assumed that would be the end of our affair (and was gutted).
Reader, I was wrong. (bit of a pattern here) (3/6)
Fitz has been acting a little weird in the afternoon for the past couple of days—going for extra long afternoon naps. I just discovered that he's managed to rip open a very potent catnip toy and has evidently been getting absolutely bungalowed by himself around 3pm every day 🤣
Sighing, she retrieves the milkshakes from her yard. Another day, another disappointing haul. A shape appears, ambling without haste. "I hope I'm not too late?" he asks.
She studies his pale, wrinkled face, his long grey coat. Not a boy, but a man. "No," she says. "Come in."
If you like this, please consider following my darling
@pegasusunder1
as she is a wonderful writer and person; I also have a newsletter if anyone cares to follow me/my writing/our adorable lives & cats (there will be photos)
Americans: please settle an argument for me. I've heard you use the phrase "kitty corner" a lot and yet my American fiancée (Maryland born) claims to have NEVER heard of it. Its real, right?!
SHE SAID YES SHE SAID YES SHE SAID YES SHE SAID YES SHE SAID YES SHE SAID YES SHE SAID YES SHE SAID YES SHE SAID YES SHE SAID YES SHE SAID YES SHE SAID YES SHE SAID YES SHE SAID YES
Since this is taking off—I don't want to promote anything today. Buy yourself a treat instead. Give a gift to someone you adore. Pet your children. Enrol your cat in school. Buy the writers on strike a pizza.
Put love back into the world.
I am UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED to announce my first trad pub deal!! I've always wanted to give Charlotte Lucas a second chance at life and love. Flowers and queerness and learning to forge your own path in life, oh my!
Also, I killed Mr Collins off in the first line. Heh.
I think if threads take off you're supposed to promote stuff, right?
Hateful idea. Definitely don't check out my forthcoming short story collection. Don't you dare.
I don't normally get emotional about acceptances but I just had one land in my inbox and it is HUGE.
It's my dream mag, my white whale.
I am genuinely shook.
About a year ago, I wrote a tweet about my wonderful partner that I didn't think anyone would read, which went unexpectedly viral. Our 4 year anniversary is tomorrow ❤️🔥 and I never stop being grateful that Z exists, or that we met in a chance encounter that changed both of our
@JayMoneWrites
Hey if anyone knows who the original querier was, please send them to me for a free query edit and whatever help they need (that I won't steal from, because the bar is that fucking low)
Absolutely overjoyed to announce my debut novel 'Beast', forthcoming with the incredible
@BrigidsGate
in March '23! If you ever wanted to read a speculative Beauty & the Beast meets The Remains of the Day take, set at the time of the French revolution... well, here it is.
Rejections are part and parcel of being a writer; some slide off without even ruffling my feathers, and then there's the occasional one which inexplicably feels like DOOM and ETERNAL FAILURE for absolutely no reason.
You feel me?
Absolutely unreal that I get to announce that my September horror novella SUNBATHERS is available to preorder on paperback now, *and* that this incredible lady and I have finally set a wedding date 🥰
AND THE NEWS IS OUT! I'm absolutely thrilled to have a queer pirate book coming out with
@DarklitPress
—it's been so hard keeping that silent for weeks!
It's my birthday, and this bloody hellscape is crumbling. It's REALLY frigging hard to sell books and even harder when social media doesn't function in even the most basic of ways. So today all I'm asking is that if you see this, you retweet it. I have a short story collection
@vanjchan
I swear to all the gods this sounds like an insufferable guy I used to know, whose work was Actually Super Feminist And Liberal If You Really Understand What Those Things Should Be (spoiler: it wasn't, at all, surprising no one).
Contract signed; I can announce that my story 'The Immortal Game', a chess-and-controlled-chaos murder story, will be published by
@apexmag
!!!
I'm absolutely overjoyed 🥰
Just got an acceptance for my favourite big mag of all time 🥰 and it's a novelette! My heart!
This story means SO much to me as a queer person; the ways in which we remember & treasure those who have gone before us and the ones who have been erased from history.
Lit mags are like, "Carve nonsense into our skulls and force us to believe it. Slither into our ears and speak honeyed poison. Scourge us with the sheer beauty of language until our tortured wails rise to the exact key of the Forbidden Note. Double-space your prose."
I'm finishing off a book that is best described as Bridgerton meets Jurassic Park, so if that's your bag, then please holla so that editors can see that the target audience exists and is also very kind and intelligent with tons of disposable income thank you for your time
I just got a pass from an agent because she's "fallen behind" on her queries. I've been signed with someone else for almost three years.
My dude I sincerely hope you're okay, maybe consider getting an assistant.
Z and I were interviewed recently by CNN, who'd heard about our ridiculous meet-cute movie-worthy love story— here's the article! Complete with photos and a direct quote from me that Magic Mike XXL is in fact the most feminist of the Magic Mike movies.
My grandfather died about 6 weeks ago. Days after his death, my mum accidentally smashed an ornament he'd given her as a wedding present. She was so sad (he rarely gave her anything thoughtful). I managed to find a replacement on ebay—arrived today, *just* in time for Christmas.
Contract signed! My 90s novelette "One by One", in which a queer, grunge-obsessed teen discovers that all the LGBTQIA+ people are disappearing, starting with her best friend Jamie, will appear in the January issue of
@apexmag
!
I am SO excited; this story means SO much to me ❤️🔥
We are thrilled to announce our short-list for the winter Oxford Flash Fiction Prize 2022.
If your story is listed, please do not identify which story belongs to you, as the judges are hard at work making their decisions.
➡️
A troll just told me he'd rather wank with razor blades than read my work, and I think it's great when people are passionate about their hobbies. Have fun, bud!
Cute reminder that the vet had to ask me to stand aside while she checked his heartbeat, because every time Fitzwilliam saw me, he purred so loudly it interfered with the check 🥺😭 my sweet baby!
Coming in April:
BEAST by
@lindzmcleod
The tale of a castle butler trapped between loyalty to his employers, his desire to survive a peasant rebellion, and a creeping, insidious curse.
Preorder coming soon!
Want my advice?
Write what you want. Write what you love. Write because the story inside you begs to be born. Don't be afraid to try new things.
Be kind, because so many people in this industry aren't.
Super super excited to finally announce that come January I'll be a PhD student in Creative Writing with Manchester Met! 🥳
My thesis will be based around forms of intimacy in Jose Saramago's Blindness, and hopefully the accompanying novel I'll write will be a worthy companion.
My mum called me yesterday; they bought a waterproof outdoor house for the stray cat that is Definitely Not Being Adopted By Them because they're worried she doesn't like the rain, oh and the cat now has MY BABY BLANKET to ensure maximum comfort.
This cat knows what she's doing.
🌟BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT🌟
I've teamed up with Stanchion to produce my most ambitious project yet! Over the course of a year, starting in July, I'll be working with one chosen collaborator per month to produce a piece of fiction as well as an companion piece of non-fiction, where
🎊ANNOUNCEMENT! 🎊
My sci-cli-fi novella about a cinnamon roll boy in a broken world, trying to stop cult members from kidnapping his fellow survivalists is forthcoming from the wonderful
@press_android
❤️
Climate optimism! Saviour complexes! A pink fairy armadillo sidekick!
🎊 BIG ANNOUNCEMENT 🎊
What's that, Fitzwilliam? Turducken 🦃 has been reprinted by a fantastic new press??
And it's available to buy in ebook, paperback, AND a fancy hardcover edition?!
Imagine that.
I'm not expecting to win anything at all, but I have been nominated in three categories for the British Fantasy Awards! Here's the list for voting, if anyone would like to (most votes wins)
Can we please give a boost to horror authors, particularly women, who started their horror writing career late in life?
This is me. I had my debut horror novel at 38 and now, a year later, my new sun-vampire novella is doing great (with several more books on the way!)
Can we please boost horror authors, particularly women, who started their horror writing career late in life?
This is me.
I started 4 years ago at 33 with Worst Laid Plans.
(I'd been writing for YEARS, no success in fantasy. Things took off when I followed my heart to horror 🖤)
@markedwithanm
People including my darling fiancée, who then added, in response to my panic, "I don't even know how many of his songs I could name. Uh. Thriller?"
AND THEN SHE STOPPED.
When I run a lit mag, I promise never to include a prissy "this just didn't quite work for us" in my rejection letters. God, I hate it so much. JUST SAY NO THANK YOU.
I'm so close to 10,900 followers: whoever follows me in the next 24 hours and likes this post will be put into a draw for a free query/synopsis tweak (and I will likely choose multiple winners). You can nominate people too! Go go go!