Amanda Castleman

Journalism Pitch Master Class (new!) - Write Like A Honey Badger The six-week Journalism Pitch Master Class (online) prepares intermediate to expert writers to accelerate with queries and negotiations.

And here's more info on our new Journalism Pitch Master Class!
www.writelikeahoneybadger.com/classes/pitc...

Freelance Writers: Learn to Pitch Like A Honey Badger! Writers and journalists, learn to query like the world’s most ferocious animal with our classic four-week workshop online! No excuses. No mercy. No apologies. Pitch to get the work you want.

Thanks for the shout-out! Here's the intro class link: www.writelikeahoneybadger.com/classes/pitc...

A breaching humpback covered in barnacles. They're leaping from an azure ocean. In the background: a thin strip of sandy beach and blue sky. Copyright amandacastleman.com

Leap into freelance writing! Let pitch classes at Write Like A Honey Badger help with strategies and hands-on edits. Join me for Pitch Like a Honey Badger, four weeks from 1/9, or the new Journalism Pitch Master Class, six weeks from 1/14. www.writelikeahoneybadger.com

5 Calls Spend 5 minutes. Make 5 calls. Make your voice heard.

Quick reminder to my American friends that 5calls.org is still here, ready to help channel your grief and rage into three(!) short calls to your elected representatives. It just takes 5 minutes, and it really is healthier (and more effective) than doomscrolling. Plus you'll feel better afterwards.

Note: the deadline just got pushed from 7/1 to 7/15, according to the organizer. She'll get the site updated shortly!

Edward smiles shyly at the camera. He's a middle-aged man with a black-and-white fleece cap, glasses, a calico beard, moss-green waterproof jacket and a paddling life jacket. It's a clear sunny day in SE Alaska and snow-gilded mountains are visible in the background.

SCHOLARSHIP OPP: Hands down, Travel Classics Media is the best networking conference for travel writing. Apply for this emerging-author aid—honoring my late brother-by-choice—by 7/1 and win a trip to the Quebec session October 13-16, 2025. Get in there, friends!!! travelclassics.com/scholarship

(Explanation of dad joke: while taking a photo of one bombus-species bee, another barged into the frame)

A bumble bee harvests from a purple bigleaf lupine, while another cruises over. In the background are large verdant lupine leaves (kind of like big green daisy petals in shape).

Photo bombus!!! 😹

#pollinators #bumblebees #bombus #lupine #blossomscrolling #nativeplants

A black cartoon cat with a crown sits on a pillow above flames. The text reads: "No kings! However we do accept tiny in-house monarchs with ticklety tum tums."

Text says '"we interrupted our drag show to shoot at at Nazis' is a truly powerful energy I want to bring back." The image shows men in pale flouncy dresses pushing a gun into position on a foggy day. Its captions reads: British Soldiers (interrupted during drag show rehearsals by a German raid) manning a BL 6-inch Mk VII naval gun at Shornemead Fort, England in 1940. Epic!

Getting fired up for No Kings day!

(And, yes, Snopes confirmed this story: bit.ly/3ZXOYA8)

Seattleite here. I'm in! Although I'd also be down with Cascadia as its own country...

Trump and many GOP lawmakers want to end all funding for NPR and PBS − unraveling a US public media system that took a century to build The precursors of today’s public media programs consisted of professors giving lectures about history and finance.

Wrote a historical piece that defends funding for NPR and PBS. Whatever their problems, we cannot let Fox News become our default "public sphere." There needs to be alternatives, including imperfect yet aspirational ones.

Solidarity! I managed to chip my lower front teeth slightly during the first T administration. Still stuck in a night guard to prevent more damage...

A shiny black cat with moss-green eyes (Manson lamps!) hangs off a dark wood cat tree. Behind him, you can see a vaulted cedar ceiling with dark wood beams, plus art and many plants, including a pony tail palm. Image copyright amandacastleman.com

✨NIPPED!✨

#Void #Blackcat #Blueskycats #Catsofbluesky

Disgusting!

Before I go into today's dystopian nightmare, let's take a minute to bring down your blood pressure. Here is one of my favorite creatures, the #RedPanda. Enjoy. #nature #animals

Douglas the Douglas! 😹 Love that name!

I sure wish I could...

This shocked me! I dug around and it looks like only CO and KY restrict out-of-pocket services? I'm so sorry you're dealing with stupid restrictions. It's not fair.

What an adorable name for an adorable critter!

What a good-looking little scooter! And I like the moxie!!!

Lucky you with the Douglas squirrels! I wish we had some as neighbors too. (It sounds like Seattle has a few tiny populations, but I've never seen any in Highland Park, unfortunately.)

I've heard they're quite cheeky and territorial. Has that been your experience, Greg?

An alert grey squirrel with a peachy face and other red markings on her back. She's standing on the arched branch of a weeping atlas cedar with a weeping redwood behind her, as well as a glimpse of eco-lawn and the street. It's a grey winter day in the Pacific Northwest.

A chonky grey squirrel stands atop a mason bee chalet with mossy maple bark in the background. His tail curls behind him and is very plumey. He has red markings, especially on his face and elbows. Little dude has kind of a benevolent major domo vibe going here...

Cinnamon Squirrel and her mate Big Red have become my coffee klatch. They take turns visiting each morning, sometimes companionably devouring nuts as I caffeinate. Eastern grays are an invasive species in Seattle, I know, but they've also invaded my heart, dangnabbit!

Guilty! And I remember a study claiming women were more likely to do this, so we're in good company. I don't love the time suck, but yay for beating writer's block!

Wild Washington mason bees clamber on a euphorbia blossom. They have blue booties and sort of resemble flies. The two bees are harvesting pollen from a yellow-lime green plant and more plants are visible in the background, including some sedum succulents

The blue-booty bees are back! Today I spotted the season's first wild mason bees in action (my cocoons are still slumbering in the fridge). Adorable!

The error was minor: the Vatican kicked up a fuss about a Garibaldi statue looking down on the Holy See. So the city of Rome repositioned it in 1929, aiming the horse's buttocks at the Vatican instead. I caught the mistake in 2007, so it was a 78-year-old slip that had been in print for 22 years!

I edited a Michelin Rome guide years ago and found the entire print book online, scanned and translated into Italian! Joke's on them, as I fixed many errors, including one about 70 years old! 😹

I'm happy to report I'm all insuranced-up again and Doug's almost there! But, oof, not what anyone needed in a week full of medical appointments. (One would have been $908 out-of-pocket, instead of a $60 copay, if the clinic hadn't accepted my new coverage. Phew!

Thanks, @prisblossom.bsky.social. I *hate* that any of us are stressing about this. But... yeah... Cobra feels like a special type of insult, especially with no warning! Thanks for the good wishes and the same for your fam!

Monty Python characters overreact to the scariness of a bunny, shouting "run away" while dressed a medieval adventurers.

Trumpsissimus, yep! Shudder...

(Also, thanks! I'm trying not to panic out of freelancing, which suits me so well and gives me flexibility to support my fella. But the "run away" urge is... vivid now, haha! Big Monty Python energy...)