Lexi Pandell

Aw, schucks! I am honored to be a name drop of any kind.

I'm feeling very lucky—some wonderful riding friends sent me a beautiful Lumos pen and some fun extras as a book contract signing gift.

This Friday! Join us for a free reading event @sausalitolibrary.bsky.social. Full details at baitreading.com.

My husband and I donated to our local food bank today—please do the same if you have the means. Our communities really need us right now. Everyone deserves to eat!

I am imagining him writing dinosaur stories in which every dinosaur has his hair.

Isn't it so great? Such a fun way to commemorate a big career event. I'm really grateful for it :)

Get yourself a friend who will make a mug with your Publishers Marketplace announcement ☕ ❤️

Thank you, @tanyazilinskas.com!

Workshops ✏️
Happy to facilitate generative workshops or to lead writers through constructive feedback on their work. I'm all about getting folks fired up about their writing and excited for the process.

Classes 🍎
I was a TA during my time at UC Berkeley—I love teaching. I’d be happy to make a guest appearance in your class to talk about writing, journalism, whatever!

Panels 🎤
Need someone for an AWP panel or another conference? I’m your girl. Let’s chat debut memoir, fact-checking, magazine journalism, writing both fiction and non-fiction, making it as a freelancer, pitching, getting an agent, writing a book proposal, hosting a writing retreat, and more.

Book launches and events 📚
I love interviewing! If you have a book coming out in the next year, hit me up to moderate/host your book event. I’m into a variety of non-fiction topics—tech, science, crime, spirituality. I’m also happy to lead Q&As for fiction.

Readings 📖
Host or reader, fiction or non-fiction. I have a memoir coming out in 2027 about New Age cults and skepticism, but I also have plenty of short stories I’d love to read. I’ve hosted many readings through my writing retreat, Desert Salon.

Putting this out there: I would love to do more literary events over the next year or so! I’m based in the SF Bay Area, but can Zoom in for remote events. 🧵 for the types of events I’m open to…

Perfume samples in magazines were enemy number one in my house—I can definitely relate to all of this.

And I agree with your other comment, a lot has changed over the years to accommodate people with sensitivities. Hopefully that can continue to improve!

Wheeeee! Thank you!! ❤️

Thank you!! ❤️

I’m thrilled to announce that my debut memoir, HOLY MOTHER!, will be published in fall 2027 by @chelseagreenbooks.bsky.social. If you love books about spiritual rabbit holes or cults, this is for you.

Endless thanks to my incredible agent @lmscovel.bsky.social, who made this dream a reality.

BAIT (Bay Area in) inaugural reading event on November 7 at 6 pm at the Sausalito Library, featuring Sasha Vasilyuk, Lisa Teasley, Susanna Kwan, Armen Davoudian, and Jaime Cortez.

The BAIT reading series launches November 7 at 6 pm, featuring @sashavasilyuk.bsky.social, Jaime Cortez, Susanna Kwan, Lisa Teasley, and Armen Davoudian @sausalitolibrary.bsky.social. More info/RSVP here:

www.baitreading.com

#Authors #WritingCommunity #BookSky #reading #BayAreaWriters

This Tuesday! May the odds be ever in your favor:

The moment I got the job at Esses, Kaleb Horton was the first writer I contacted. He didn’t know a thing about F1 but I found the George Harrison idea, and then I watched him dive in. It was inspiring. He read every biography, chased down friends and experts, watched every clip. But more than that…

George Harrison's Quiet Love Affair With Formula One Just another guy at the track, the Beatle could shed fame and just be himself.

I failed to mention: I won that battle and reached out to Kaleb. He was interested, but busy with another project.

But the other commissioning editor, my good pal @josephbienkahn.com, was the real winner because he eventually got to edit Kaleb on this piece: www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

I also have advice. Everybody loves reading advice on the computer, so I'll share it: the best thing you can do right now is log off as hard as you can. Go outside, talk to people in real life where it's actually kind of rude to talk about the news, try to actually see the friends you usually just text message. Go for a long drive and turn the phone off while you do it. Get back into your hobbies or pick one and learn it for a while. Watch one of those studio movies that reviews called "wildly miscalculated" and you haven't seen since high school. Play an album you like but find embarrassing. Go to free community events even if they sound stupid. If you take the freeway, try the surface streets. Go to a bad diner and just order some bad coffee because even bad coffee is good coffee. You can't help anybody when you're exhausted and keep posting one million college-educated rewordings of "I would love to be dead right now" on the computer. Walk away from the thing and try out some of those normal things you hear about and if you get bored that's wonderful because we're not supposed to get bored anymore. It turns out boredom is the Cadillac of feelings.

RIP Kaleb Horton
kalebhorton.ghost.io/2025-so-far/

We essentially did a roshambo to determine who got to reach out to him. How often do you see folks fighting over who gets to reach out to a writer? That was the power of his storytelling.

My deepest condolences to his family and friends ❤️

Stunned that Kaleb Horton died. He was such a talent.

A few years ago, I had a gig helping a podcast commission narrative writers to tell larger-than-life stories. He was one of the first writers I thought of—and then I learned that my counterpart also wanted to get Kaleb on board…

Please join me at Stories on Stage Davis for a performance of my story "Overview Effect" (originally published in @yourimpossiblevoice.com) on October 12. Full event info here:

storiesonstagedavis.com/authors/10-1...

I got to write about the supermoon! The poop emoji! Podcasts for kids! The Indy 500! This section of the paper was such a blast for reporters and readers alike—I'll miss it a lot.

With the NYT Kids section closing, I went through my old articles to request digital copies. I really had so much fun writing these stories.

I got to interview Olympic and Youth Olympic athletes, a hat maker, a professional cyclist, and a director of a Pixar film (twice!)...

Hi, Lynette! Thank you for reading. I'm so glad the story found its way to you. I'd be happy to share some research that you may find helpful—reach out to me directly via email (lpandell at gmail dot com) and I can forward it along.

I did not know about that particular government study. Thank you for drawing my attention to it! I’ll have to look into that.

Fair point about the term “allergic to the world.” We debated whether we should use that term at all (since folks with CI do often experience allergies, but CI is not an allergy), but we figured that was the best reference point for a general audience…