James Charlesworth

A cropped screenshot from a Canadian government website with the prompt "What's your occupation?" The answer "Writer" has been provided, generating the red text error response "Please enter a valid occupation."

Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.

Essays — March Sadness 90s Edition

"when I, with my supposed iron stomach for sadness, try to think of the saddest song I've ever heard, my mind goes to that CD that Sam gave Jennifer, and the one song I couldn’t believe was on it."

Chris Ritter on Journey's "Separate Ways":

marchxness.com/the-essays#/...

oh yeahhhhh kool aid man break into itttt

It's @marchxness.bsky.social extracurricular season! Big fan of this essay by @shuadc.bsky.social re Concrete Blonde & remembering the days of figuring things out before the internet was around to figure everything out for us.

IT'S THE @marchxness.bsky.social ANTHOLOGY! In print at last!!!

Now available for pre-order: Hit Repeat Until I Hate Music: The March Xness Anthology, edited by Ander Monson and Megan Campbell, coming with Split/Lip Press on March 31. Image shows a yellow book cover with a dubbed cassette tape, upon which the title of the book has been written.

Hey @marchxness.bsky.social fans! It's cover reveal + preorders day for HIT REPEAT UNTIL I HATE MUSIC: THE MARCH XNESS ANTHOLOGY, edited by @angermonsoon.bsky.social and @meganc.bsky.social!

Available for preorders (+ ARC requests) NOW, link in our bio or www.splitlippress.com/march-xness-anthology

Do you like mysteries? Do you like fun? Then you should come join me with my incredible, funny, talented sister-in-law, Karen Dukess reading from her new book, "Welcome to Murder Week."

Saturday, September 13th at Riverstone in Squirrel Hill.

Uh oh...!

Fans and players of @marchxness.bsky.social , check out the March Xness feed — just search for it in your feeds and add it to your list. To post to the feed, include a mention of March Xness OR a marchxness.com link.

✨Cover reveal!✨ Super excited to share the creepy cover of my dreams for my debut novel, HEMLOCK, coming 1/20/26 from @littlebrown.bsky.social & now available for preorder! You can find it at all major retailers and, better yet, your local indie bookstore or @bookshop.org. See you in the woods! 🦌🌲👻

if you're interested in a signed pre-order of THE COVER GIRL (my debut novel about a model reclaiming the sense of self a powerful man took from her when she was a girl) and want to support an indie, my lovely local bookstore Quail Ridge Books has you covered! www.quailridgebooks.com/book/9780778...

With the first overall pick @brianzitzelman.bsky.social selects Third Eye Blind's "Background"

Alright let's DO THE MARCH SADNESS LOTTERY

90s sadness March Sadness 90s Edition Longlist Selection metrics: Must be a sad song however that’s defined Must be commercially released 1990-1999 Previous tournament winners ineligible Songs included in previo...

If you'd like to look at the 2026 March Sadness 90s Edition longlist as we assemble it (and make suggestions) here is the working doc (list at top; unvetted suggestions at bottom): docs.google.com/document/d/1...

The Cover Girl by Amy Rossi | Spoke & Word Books A Novel

it's the last day of the Indie Bookstore Preorder Party! support independent bookstores, save 15%, and get a present for your future self with code PARTY2025! here's an easy link for THE COVER GIRL, my debut novel set in the problematic world of 1970s rock
www.spokeandwordbooks.com/item/b_uk_a4...

So peeps, we're looking for nominations of 90s sad songs for our longlist. Particularly interested in pop/R&B/hip hop/country, but anything's welcome.

* 2025 Summer from A&M: How Many Miles Ago by Ander Monson on Apple Music Playlist · 17 Songs

Hey cool cats, as we are working on the longlist for 2026's March Sadness, here's a link to our 2025 Summer Mixtape if you want some new good jams: music.apple.com/us/playlist/...

3/31: J. Robert Lennon on Weird Al Yankovic — March Second Chanceness

"In order to prove to you that the greatest achievement of the grunge era was a parody of the grunge era, I must first explain that there were no grunge bands, and there was no grunge."

For 3/31, we bring back @jrobertlennon.com on Weird Al Yankovic: marchxness.com/2xness-yanko...

Finally putting my long-standing terror of the ocean to good use.

Exactly

"By the time I got to actually write the Spacehog essay, I fucking hated Spacehog.…I like this essay because it’s about that weariness."

In the Meantime, 3/20, Ryan Grandick on Spacehog: marchxness.com/thegames#/2x...

"This essay is about love. Or, perhaps, it’s about the search for love (or not): about chasing love (or not); finding love (or not); settling for love (don’t settle)"

3/18 flashback to Megan Culhane Galbraith on Katy Perry's "Not N Cold" from March Danceness 00s:

marchxness.com/thegames#/2x...

"I don’t think I speak only for myself when I say that many of us could do with getting some joy back these days."

3/13 we flashback to Chelsea Biondolillo's essay on @bettyelavette.bsky.social: marchxness.com/2xness-lavet...

"We run around looking like something you’d see in a post-apocalyptic aftermath, which is sometimes what it feels like to grow up in the town we’re from."

The people asked for @coriwinrock.bsky.social on Hole's "Gold Dust Woman" again, and that's what you get today: marchxness.com/thegames#/2x...

"Approaching things in new ways is scary: I think it’s worth the risk. "

3/9 it's @katiedarbymullins.bsky.social's ode to Robbie Williams's "Rock DJ" from March Danceness 00s: marchxness.com/thegames#/2x...

Before the song ended I encountered 2 giant wooden hands, on poles like the legs of billboards, thirty feet high. Both hands flipped giant middle fingers.

3/10 flashback to @jdfish9.bsky.social on Ini Kamoze's "Here comes the Hotstepper" in March Fadness 90s (2017): marchxness.com/thegames#/2x...

"Nick Cave is still someone worth writing about."

On 3/7 we bring back @elenavox.bsky.social's essay on Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' "Red Right Hand": marchxness.com/2xness-cave/

FRIDAY UPDATE:
1) They were playing "the Humpty Dance" at the convenience store and nobody wanted to do the dance with me.

2) My MarchXness essay from 2019's Goth tournament gets the Second Chanceness treatment today! I've been loving reading everyone's work so far this March.