Ah. I do similar stuff in writing classes, where we usually do a bit of in-class writing to start off.
13.10.2025 19:35 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0@mikeingram.bsky.social
Writer, editor, cat dad. Editor at Barrelhouse. Co-host of the Book Fight podcast. Author of Notes from the Road (Awst Press). https://mikeingram.substack.com/
Ah. I do similar stuff in writing classes, where we usually do a bit of in-class writing to start off.
13.10.2025 19:35 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Yeah, I'm always there a bit early to do that stuff, too, to do the setup.
13.10.2025 18:59 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Oh, that's interesting! I go back and forth (and sometimes it depends on the class) between wanting to chat with them casually beforehand and when I start to feel like I'm butting into "their" time
13.10.2025 18:58 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0What kind of "do now" thing? Like an assignment? Some writing?
13.10.2025 18:56 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0That's a good point! And seems like a healthy middle ground, to start on time but kinda ease into things.
13.10.2025 18:56 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Question for my fellow teachers/professors (I swear this is not a troll!): Do you tend to start class right on time?
13.10.2025 17:03 β π 3 π 0 π¬ 6 π 0All the β90s remembrances focus on grunge and hip hop, but no one talks about the wide swath of music that was like βwhat if a 60βs psych-rock band mellowed out and opened a little store that sells candles and incense and hand-sewn ponchosβ
13.10.2025 14:58 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0One way you can tell I was a teenager in the β90s is my totally irrational nostalgia for songs featuring bongos and gentle wind chimes
13.10.2025 13:41 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Whenever people on here post screenshots of some New Terrible Guy, all I can think about is how excited my cat gets when he kills a cockroach in the basement and then runs upstairs to drop it at my feet like a gift
12.10.2025 22:15 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0RIP Diane Keaton
My favourite picture of her where everyone else is giving it their best Blue Steel & she looks like sheβs just wandered in off the street looking super cool.
She was allowed to wear her own clothes & her wonderful personality shines out.
What a unique talent & human being.
Car decal featuring guns of several sizes. Caption reads MEET MY FAMILY
Thereβs a guy in my neighborhood who has this sticker on his truck. In the past year my reaction has gone from βwhat an assholeβ to βactually thatβs maybe the saddest thing Iβve ever seenβ to βat least men are starting to talk about their crippling loneliness?β
11.10.2025 20:53 β π 21 π 2 π¬ 3 π 0owner of bologna heart
07.10.2025 15:13 β π 47 π 19 π¬ 0 π 0πΆ Itβs a
nice day
for a
light sweater πΆ
Oh shit! I think we may have to bring the show back for that one.
10.10.2025 16:32 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0By "bad" I mean basic stuff: copying + pasting text w/o changing the fonts to match up; using a mail-merge program that thinks 'Book Fight' is a person ("Dear Book:"); pitching us kids' picture books (in fairness, we are dumb adults); thinking we want to interview Piers Morgan about cancel culture
10.10.2025 16:27 β π 4 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Doing a books podcast was really fun and I learned all sorts of stuff, including that a lot of book publicists--including some high-profile ones--send really bad emails! If you're a writer and you have a good publicist, count yourself lucky!
10.10.2025 16:15 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 1There's a publicist for a major press who sends an email at least once a week to the Book Fight account, even after she got at least 10 "we ended the show" auto-responses PLUS three personal emails from me telling her the podcast no longer exists. Wild stuff!
10.10.2025 16:09 β π 3 π 0 π¬ 0 π 1πΆ Itβs a
nice day
for a
light sweater πΆ
Sports! (derogatory)
10.10.2025 01:40 β π 4 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Itβs easy to make fun of, but watching the president of the United States ask Andy Ngo and Jack Posibiec who the bad guys are so that they can be prosecuted for domestic terrorism is truly fucking terrifying. We have fallen a long way already.
09.10.2025 21:29 β π 305 π 50 π¬ 2 π 1Oh look, the New York Times wrote an article about you
09.10.2025 20:37 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0I have a new story out today @maudlinhouse.bsky.social! Writing it was heavily inspired by the increasing cost of groceries and general anxieties around money and trying to live a stupid little life!
09.10.2025 13:27 β π 51 π 20 π¬ 5 π 3Ok, I take it back, Sum 41 is good now
09.10.2025 03:47 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Virginia State Senate Dems just brought down fire and fury regarding the βCompact,β notifying the President and Rector that UVA would lose ALL STATE APPROPRIATIONS if it signs and cedes the University to βfederal political control.β Notably, their letter directly restates points made here by @siva.
08.10.2025 16:56 β π 2127 π 544 π¬ 17 π 33Lots of things to be irritated about with this Phillies series, but Taco Bell lodging Sum 41 into my brain is quickly climbing the list!
09.10.2025 01:41 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0I do feel like the underlying lesson of the class is "you can just do things, there aren't any rules."
08.10.2025 15:36 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0They settled on 2,500 words b/c we read @kevinrmaloney.bsky.social's story "Ghost" and they decided that was a length they liked--"kinda long, but without feeling long," so someone copy/pasted the text into Word to get an exact count, then rounded up. Editing!
08.10.2025 15:27 β π 10 π 3 π¬ 1 π 0My editing & publishing class at Temple will be opening soon for submissions for a special online issue of Barrelhouse, with the theme "The Dirty Issue." Fiction & nonfiction up to 2,500 words, and up to 5 poems. Usual @barrelhouse.bsky.social contract & payment.
08.10.2025 15:20 β π 11 π 8 π¬ 1 π 0It is!
08.10.2025 11:42 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Finally saw Uncut Gems, which was great, except for the part where I had, like, three full-story-arc stress dreams and woke up exhausted
08.10.2025 11:40 β π 3 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0