Here’s what’s making us happy this week. It was a dark one out there, friends. But we at Lit Hub made it through this week on tides of nostalgia, inspirational icons, and seasonal fruit. I, Brittany Allen, report from St. Louis this Frida…

“IT’S APPLE SEASON, BABYYYYY!!!” These are the things that made the Lit Hub staff happy this week.

"she asked eggs / for an answer / they could not give." - excerpt from Monday Morning, poetry by Mark J. Mitchell @MJMitchellwriter #TheMetaworker

themetaworker.com/2025/09/01/m...

A book titled opacities on writing and the writing light by Sofia Samatar sits on a windowsill.

Absolutely loving Opacities by Sofia Samatar!

[𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖] Zalman S. Davis reviews Yiyun Li’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022): "It offers a portrait of a relationship founded not on affection or mutual interest, but on control & complicity."

⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: chajournal.blog/2025/08/14/g...
。。。。。

Not Fate but Patience - Gooseberry Pie Lit Magazine Photo by John Krach on Unsplash by Jo Gatford When we find each other, in our sixties, after you leave yours and mine dies, there will be no need to explain anything at all. We will both be new at it,...

I have a new 6-sentence flash in @gooseberrypielit.bsky.social today!

Not Fate but Patience: gooseberry-pie.com/not-fate-but...

(In fact, read the whole of Issue 34, while you're at it: gooseberry-pie.com/issue-34/)

Originally drafted in the brilliant @smokelong.bsky.social March Micro Marathon ❤️

I'm so glad you liked it! Definitely unexpected, but so entertaining.

A coffee drink dusted with cinnamon in a flowered mug next to a red notebook.

A longtime favorite: orange cinnamon cappuccino at Carnelian Coffee, Colorado Springs ❤️

In a way, you are poetry material; You are full of cloudy subtleties I am willing to spend a lifetime figuring out. Words burst in your essence and you carry their dust in the pores of your ethereal individuality.
Franz Kafka.

HEY. Remember to create something just for you today. A doodle, a drink, a meal, a song. Not for sale, not for hustle, just for you.

This is also a reminder for me.

*So* many pens, a few pencils and a pencil sharpener, and a neat crayon shaped eraser. And even small notebooks! I thought the whole collection was great.

I'll have to bring it into work so you can try it!

A silver and black fountain pen with its cap off next to a bottle of dark blue ink.

The final two Cult Pens Advent gifts were stunning: midnight blue ink and a fountain pen that I'm definitely not fancy enough for! I'm going to have so much fun with all these pens in the coming year. ❤️❤️❤️ @drsandyho.bsky.social @skillzilla81.bsky.social

I KNOW 😍

Amazing 😂

Eeeeee! Such a cute little guy!! 🦄🐽🐭🐰🌈

A gold paint marker

A brown pen with a bear head and tiny ears!

Two colored pencils, one res and one blue, sit atop a red notebook.

A wide pink highlighter

The Cult Pens surprises have continued! @drsandyho.bsky.social, you've brought such joy to December 🥰

I have the same advent calendar and I *loved* this one!

Congrats to the #UCCS2024 Summer and Fall graduates! What a joy to celebrate our amazing students and connect with my brilliant colleagues!

A pink pencil with gripping dots on its outside.

A pink pencil with a space to write a name on the pencil.

A gold pencil.

A rectangle box with the number 18 on it.

Latest suprises...with the big box of Day 18 up next!! I haven't decided if the spot for a name on one of these pencils is for my name or the pencil's name.

I have full confidence that you can read 6 books in 13 days

Let's make "Ma'am this is a map store" into the positive counterpart to "Sir this is a Wendy's"

Thank you 😂

Pens, pencils, and a pencil sharpener.

I got a fountain pen the next day! I'm new to the world of fountain pens, so I got a lesson from @skillzilla81.bsky.social. And look at all these amazing pens and pencils that have followed! You've absolutely spoiled me, @drsandyho.bsky.social!

Thread! Writers who dislike revisions: please read. The reason you hate revisions is not because revision is actually hell. It's because of the way you're probably approaching the revision. This thread tackles the revision journey and why it's necessary.

Thank you for sharing! This is so good!

"Trust-building starts with your own self. It includes trusting your own eyes and gut, as well as building protection from the ways the crazy-making can become internalized."

Thank you so much for this, @devriesious.bsky.social

Hot take: there is no such thing as ethical AI use.

Hotter take: supporting and engaging AI tools with the full awareness that doing so gives men like this the power to control and suppress knowledge economies is not an inevitability, but an active choice.

The best part of my day so far was making this poster 🤣