Zena Ryder

A banner image that reads: Historical Novel Society, 2026 First Chapters Competition, Congratulations to COMMITTED by Zena Ryder, 17th to 19th Century Short List.

📚 Thrilled that my novel, COMMITTED, has shortlisted in this contest (17th-19th century category) 🎉

My main character, Anna, is a fighter and I'm fighting to get her story in front of readers' eyeballs!

#historicalfiction #histfic #hns2026 #hnsfirstchapterscompetition #historicalnovelsociety

Why yes, you SHOULD buy yourself a Valentine.

Yes it’s Valentine’s Day. But it’s also the chosen birthday of Frederick Douglass who was born in 1818 on a plantation in Talbot County, Maryland. He escaped from slavery & rose to become the most eloquent and forceful voice for the abolition of slavery & for Black voting rights in the U.S.

A poster with an illustration of a hand holding a pen, writing words like "women," "university," "sexuality," "abortion," and "science." A red box with "BAN THIS" is below. Text reads, "Writers Create Art From Banned Words." It mentions PEN America and directs to pen.org. Logos for Fall of Freedom and PEN America are at the bottom.

As part of the recent “Fall of Freedom” action, we invited our members to write a poem using some of the 350+ words banned or restricted by the federal government, or a piece of fiction or nonfiction responding to current threats to free expression and culture.

Read more: pen.org/writers-crea...

A screenshot from CBC News showing some people curling and a headline reading “2026 Olympic Games: World Curling issues verbal warning to Canada over F-bombs”

📚Canada getting feisty

It’s so ridiculous it almost seems like a bad joke 😂

The Big Mistake That Keeps Writers From Finishing a Novel | Jane Friedman One writer explains why you shouldn’t necessarily get feedback on your first draft—and what you should do instead.

Writers hear the advice to join a critique group and perhaps hope it will serve every need—motivation, accountability, encouragement, feedback, companionship. But it’s hard for one group to provide all those things to all members at the same time.

@zenaryder.bsky.social suggests what to do instead.

A book called Lincoln’s Spies by Douglas Waller. The sepia coloured background has a half portrait of Lincoln in profile and four small images of spies featured in the book: Allan Pinkerton, Elizabeth Van Lew, George Sharpe, and Lafayette Baker.

📚 Current read: research for the novel I’m writing.

#histfic #historicalfiction

It's in the article: sugar, processed carbs, and dairy.

I don’t eat meat or drink alcohol. But the other three? I consume those big time 😬

Text says "My October Reads" surrounded by 6 book covers on a background image of pumpkins. The book covers are: Days of Light by Megan Hunter, 11/22/63 by Stephen King, Sorted by Jackson Bird, Real Artists Don't Starve by Jeff Goins, Write Through It by Kate McKean, Creativity by John Cleese.

📚 A good reading month! Have you read any of these, or plan to?

#books #booksky #histfic #historicalfiction #booksandcats

black cat with yellow-green eyes lying inside a cardboard box

📚 Dove wishes you a Happy Halloween! She also hopes to get lots of treats! 🎃

#blackcat #halloween #cats #booksandcats

Novel Draft in a Year — Community Survey I'm thinking of opening an online paid community for people who want to write the first draft of their first novel in one year. My experiences drafting my own novels and running writing groups inspire...

📚 Want to write a novel, but can't finish the first draft?

I'm creating an online community especially for you! If you fit the description, it would be great if you'd complete the survey to help me find out what people want/need.

Please share!

Thanks 🩷

#writer #writers #author #authors #write

Thanks!

Brown logo that says: 2025 History Through Fiction, Shortlisted, Short Story Contest

📚 I was happy to get an email this morning saying my short story, Lucky, was shortlisted in the History Through Fiction contest 🎉

Along with 9 other shortlisted stories, it'll be published in an anthology in March 2026.

#historicalfiction #histfic #fiction #writer #shortstory

Novel Draft in a Year — Community Survey I'm thinking of opening an online paid community for people who want to write the first draft of their first novel in one year. My experiences drafting my own novels and running writing groups inspire...

📚 Want to write a novel, but can't finish the first draft?

I'm creating an online community especially for you! If you fit the description, it would be great if you'd complete the survey to help me find out what people want/need.

Please share!

Thanks 🩷

#writer #writers #author #authors #write

Novel Draft in a Year — Community Survey I'm thinking of opening an online paid community for people who want to write the first draft of their first novel in one year. My experiences drafting my own novels and running writing groups inspire...

📚 Want to write a novel, but finding it hard to finish the 1st draft?

I'm creating an online community for people just like you! If you fit the description, it would be great if you'd complete the survey to help me find out what people want/need. Thanks!

#writer #writers #author #authors

a little girl is making a funny face while wearing a blue shirt with a leopard print . Alt: A little girl is making a funny excited face while wearing a bright blue patterned shirt.

📚 I'm in the process of creating an online community to provide peer support and accountability for people writing the first draft of their first novel. Still lots more research to do, but I'm excited!

#writers #writing #novels #histfic #historicalfiction #fiction

😂

A brown, round badge with the text: 2025 History Through Fiction: Longlisted Short Story Context, with a stylized quill pen at the bottom.

📚 After many, MANY rejections (and silence), I have two stories longlisted in the History Through Fiction contest 🎉🎉

Rejections are part and parcel of the writerly life. Perseverance is essential!

#histfic #historicalfiction

📚 When Squid was a kitten, he liked to leap onto our jade plant, climb on the branches & knock leaves off. I put two 8lb weights in the pot, so he doesn't knock the whole thing over.

Now, he still enjoys hanging out in the jade, but it looks a bit different now he's bigger 😂

#catsandbooks #cats

#BookBans

"Read the books they don't want you to. That's where the good stuff is." LeVar Burton

🎯 #BookBans

Danielle SMith at a desk, surrounded by flames. She is pouring more gasoline on the fire from a red can. Papers on the desk and floor are also on fire, with some labeled "Healthcare Chaos," "Book Bans," "Education," and "AISH." A speech bubble above the Danielle SMith reads, "This is fine

Alberta is fine. #AlbertaNext #AxeTheVaxTax #ABED #Public Education #AISH #StopCDBclawback #BookBans #DanielleSMith #ABleg #ABpoli

Danielle Smith and her ministers burrow deeper into their self-dug book-ban and bargaining holes - Alberta Politics Premier Danielle Smith and her education and finance ministers spent much of the day yesterday digging themselves deeper into the holes they started with their it’s-not-a-book-ban ban on books and the...

Danielle Smith and her ministers burrow deeper into their self-dug book-ban and bargaining holes. albertapolitics.ca/2025/08/dani... #ableg #abpoli #BookBans

📚My husband and I met in graduate school, where we both got PhDs in philosophy. We argued “professionally” which is perhaps why we pretty much never argued “personally” 🤔

A black kitten with yellow eyes looking out of a purple and green bag.

📚 I finished unpacking from a trip, and Dove decided I'd emptied this bag just for her to hop into.

What you reading this weekend?

I'm LOVING Charles Dickens' Great Expectations! I've read other Dickens and enjoyed them, but, so far, I'm loving GE even more.

#caturday #booksandcats #booksky

Thanks for reading. My books, my friends’ books, genre books, romance books, queer books, BIPOC books, all the books.

We get through this reading.

The cat's out of the bag. The book banners who told you they were just banning "pornography" are now targeting books about cats and other domestic animals. And even after a visit to the Brooklyn Cat Cafe with Raj Haldar we can't find a good reason why. More at: pen.org/why-ban-book...