Sean Easley

November's a great time to snuggle up with some new titles! Check out the blog to learn about what's coming out (and even some nonfiction titles, too).

fromthemixedupfiles.com/new-releases...

#mgreads #middlegrade #kidlit

I don’t understand the urge to tell people everything you DON’T like about a topic you love while barely mentioning anything you DO. It’s so confusing to me how often I listen to someone talk about one of their favorite topics and come away thinking that the person actually hates most of it.

Yeah, if someone wants to go ahead and just buy me stuff from the @dropout.tv merch store, I’d greatly appreciate it.

(…Sorry for posting twice. I posted, and then panicked that I had commented on the original video and that’s just not like me, and then… I realized I’d commented on the right video all along.

I have no idea what the F I’m doing

But yes, OMG, this video. And the idea that games made with this tech will have the kind of value and affect the world the way human media does is likely as ridiculous as a subway train doing a power slide to take the form of a stairwell.

The dingdong *might* still have a point, even if what the video shows in actuality today is hot garbage.

Will it be soulless? Sure, most likely.

Will corporations fund it into the stratosphere by brute force all so they don’t have to pay living wages? YEP.

While I agree that this video is ridiculous and deserving of our judgment—and DO NOT want AI making games when talented, real people still exist—I remember people saying the same thing about AI art and posting pics of hands. The hands mostly look good now. I think we have reason to worry some.

Been seeing this term “cobot” being used to reassure people that machines aren’t taking jobs, and I just want to make sure that particular doublespeak wasn’t in the 1984 lexicon too.

Remember, sometimes the best thing we can say is, “I don’t know.” “I don’t know” is our friend. It won’t hurt us.

Sometimes it’s good to return to childhood loves to deal with a burning world. That’s why you’ll find me in Ivalice for the rest of the evening. If you know… #finalfantasytactics

I miss the days of cardboard and blanket forts.

AGREED

Maybe I should just subject the entire world to all my waffling thoughts. Surely someone out there can make sense of them.

I guess there are plenty of people around these days who have no problem just shouting into the void, so I should feel plenty confident in who I am to do the same. But… I don’t want to be like that. Then again, I guess I’m NOT like that, so any posts I made wouldn’t be either…

Seeing many queries for #YA novels with elite-college bound students.

#JMSWishList: I would love to find more YA novels about a kid headed for a state school or community college. I find those kids just as vibrant, complex, interesting and relevant as the top achievers.

#JMSQueryBoxTrends

YouTube video by Rachel Toalson Not All Kids Have Access to Mental Healthcare

The characters in my stories for young people don’t always get professional help for their mental health struggles. The reality is not everyone has access to mental healthcare, so I try to write stories that show kids like me how to find their own kind of healing.
▶️ youtu.be/aBTtdnCOHUE

Writer’s aren’t known for their confidence. We rarely think we’re actually good at what we do. In this video, I offer three suggestions for how to continue moving forward with our writing even when we don’t feel so confident.
▶️ youtu.be/I7fkysLY3ro

Love this quote. Alt-text: "Anyone who has time to clean is not reading nearly enough." 😁 #Uplift

Spooky Middle Grade Still Sells With editors looking for shorter, more plot-driven middle grade projects these days, agents have seen an uptick in the horror genre for younger readers.

No surprise that "Spooky Middle Grade Still Sells" as @publisherswkly.bsky.social writes here. Children's librarians always tell me that kids LOVE spooky #MG because it's a safe way to experience fun scares. This is why I love writing #spookymg www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/... #kidlit

Is the way to jump into Bluesky just to do it? I’ve poked around here a bit, but it’s been tough to find where my people are the way it was on Twitter.

The covers of Binti, Binti Home, and Binti The Night Masquerade—three books by Nnedi Okorafor. The first shows Binti, a young African woman, coating her face in orange clay. The second shows Binti in blue standing in front of a large hovering jelly-fish-like being. The third shows Binti with blue hair, a glowing ball hovers above her cupped hands. She is floating in front of what appears to be Jupiter.

Binti series by Nnedi Okorafor

I read the first a long time ago and am glad that I finally read it all together. The three short novellas combine to almost make one novel (a bit rushed in parts to be a single cohesive volume). I liked parts 2 and 3 a lot. This is great Africanfuturist fiction. 💙📚🪐

Still working on figuring out how I want to engage in social media these days. Took a step back for a while for lots of reasons, and once you lose that momentum it’s hard to get back.

I hope people excited for Silksong are happy, and I hope this means indies participating in future Nintendo indie world showcases don't have to deal with "ugh who cares it's not silksong" bullshit anymore

My 80-year-old aunt told me she "got tired of streaming" and is borrowing DVDs from her library again.

So I checked it out and they have an amazing selection. Blu-rays too, from Criterion, Kino Lorber and other boutique labels.
#PhysicalMedia #FilmSky

Great to finally have a date!

The more I write, the more I think that what we write doesn’t just reflect what’s in us—it shapes us. I can look back at characters I spent ages writing and see that I changed a bit in their direction during the time I spent with them. (Especially Cam.) Do y’all feel the same about your characters?

Goodreads See what your friends are reading

Book giveaway opportunity for the anthology LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN: INTERTRIBAL STORIES edited by the fabulous @cynleitichsmith.bsky.social Ends 7/21 on Goodreads www.goodreads.com/giveaway/ent...

One of the wildly difficult things folks don’t warn you about when it comes to writing deeply personal stories, is how often a rejection of that story feels like rejection of who you are.

I know you have to develop a thick skin in the arts, but I don’t think my heart ever will.

So, who on here thinks I can edit 6 chapters before 4:00 today?