Julie C. Day (Essential Dreams Press) is sleepy's Avatar

Julie C. Day (Essential Dreams Press) is sleepy

@thisjulieday.bsky.social

Prone to a ❤️ of ginger & greyhounds. Writer. Novella | Collection | Lambda finalist | 40+ stories. Publisher & Editor Essential Dreams Press. Newsletter, books, & other things me at linktr.ee/thisjulieday. (she/her)

953 Followers  |  684 Following  |  713 Posts  |  Joined: 04.08.2023  |  2.5594

Latest posts by thisjulieday.bsky.social on Bluesky

ICYMI, we're open to submissions by authors of historically marginalized backgrounds for this entire month!

We want to read more works by Black writers, Indigenous writers, disabled writers, gay and lesbian and trans writers, and other folks whose voices must be heard!

www.havenspec.com/submit/

08.10.2025 13:06 — 👍 18    🔁 18    💬 0    📌 1

Remember our mantra:

Don't Engage, Just Block.

17.10.2025 22:28 — 👍 4009    🔁 942    💬 56    📌 26

This looks seriously cool! Check it out

17.10.2025 23:27 — 👍 5    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0

This weekend I tackle the final chapter, and then it's targeted edit time, which right now sounds like a lot less fun. In other words, I'm having a grand time with this redraft. I really believe it's something special

17.10.2025 21:16 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Hopefully my mad science won't stretch readers too far!

17.10.2025 21:08 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

I'm fleshing out this ending, which means I may be breaking the pacing and lovely prose. But so many new ideas are dropping onto the page! It's a thrill. (Quick reminder to self: tinkering with a rewrite is all part of the process and not something I have to worry about this afternoon!)

17.10.2025 20:30 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

I haven't felt this "loose" while writing since Covid hit.

16.10.2025 15:57 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I've been playing with it for years. It was a short story in 2013 and a novelette in 2018. (Both of which were compelling but broken.) I guess I turned it into a novella in 2023, and then put it down when my dad's health spun into nightmare territory.

16.10.2025 15:57 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Meissen Eyes is now 33k. I'm on page 128 of 134 w/ a list 9 targeted edits I need to make once I reach the end. But it's tight, really tight, and I'm incredibly excited. It works! The arc, the characters, the science in the fiction.

16.10.2025 15:57 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

I see the updates waiting to install & discover what I'm about to be hit with in real time? Is there a way I can turn it off or will I have to install Linux? I have a Mac I use for specific tasks, but my dayjob means I have yrs of Windows experience & haven't made the switch in my personal life

16.10.2025 15:49 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

2) it needs to end at the penultimate chapter, which feels way too loose. The element of historical resistance would be lost.
I'm mostly just talking myself through "a moment." It's likely a targeted setup is all that's required, but 1st I have to talk myself off the ledge of major revision fears.

15.10.2025 18:43 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I'm on page 125 of 132 in the novella redraft (Meissen Eyes) and I've hit the bump that likely made me run. The ending needs either 1) an entirely new setup introduced from the beginning (and even then I'd have to adjust the ending for it to feel complete) or

15.10.2025 18:43 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Award-winning pain researcher here. This is not something that can be done. Hope this helps.

15.10.2025 14:02 — 👍 2299    🔁 629    💬 61    📌 11
tanithleestoryteller.com
“Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology is a lovely tribute, indeed. From the first tale to the last, a deep love and admiration for Lee’s life and work shines through in each authors’ interpretation of her distinctive style and voice. These sixteen stories capture the spirit of Tanith Lee’s fiction with their elaborate world-building, complicated consequences, and wild magic everywhere. 

It is a wonder to see how unique and yet how familiar this anthology feels.”--Nerdgoblin.com

tanithleestoryteller.com “Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology is a lovely tribute, indeed. From the first tale to the last, a deep love and admiration for Lee’s life and work shines through in each authors’ interpretation of her distinctive style and voice. These sixteen stories capture the spirit of Tanith Lee’s fiction with their elaborate world-building, complicated consequences, and wild magic everywhere. It is a wonder to see how unique and yet how familiar this anthology feels.”--Nerdgoblin.com

“Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology is a lovely tribute, indeed. From the first tale to the last, a deep love and admiration for Lee’s life and work shines through in each authors’ interpretation of her distinctive style and voice. These sixteen stories capture the spirit of Tanith Lee’s fiction with their elaborate world-building, complicated consequences, and wild magic everywhere. 

It is a wonder to see how unique and yet how familiar this anthology feels.”--Nerdgoblin.com

“Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology is a lovely tribute, indeed. From the first tale to the last, a deep love and admiration for Lee’s life and work shines through in each authors’ interpretation of her distinctive style and voice. These sixteen stories capture the spirit of Tanith Lee’s fiction with their elaborate world-building, complicated consequences, and wild magic everywhere. It is a wonder to see how unique and yet how familiar this anthology feels.”--Nerdgoblin.com

Two lovely reviews for Storyteller just showed up! I'll be on the Tanith Lee panel at the World Fantasy Convention later this month. If you haven't picked up a copy yet, you can find it at all the usual places, including tanithleestoryteller.com

13.10.2025 20:03 — 👍 9    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0

Note: I'm pretty sure I mustn't have stuck the ending. I've only got 12 pages left to redraft. But I'm excited enough by the work that that doesn't feel insurmountable. I didn't stick the ending of The Rampant (I flinched for sure) but what needed fixing became obvious after a chat w/ a beta reader.

12.10.2025 20:16 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
paper maché Waggis Carnival Mask ca. 1970s

paper maché Waggis Carnival Mask ca. 1970s

The Museum of Cultural Masks? Yes, please! "Second Face is the only fully online ethnographic mask museum of worldwide scope."
www.maskmuseum.org/gallery/
#writingrabbithole

12.10.2025 19:59 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Fuck, I really like this story. I'm 90% done with the Meissen Eyes novella redraft. I have a few notes I've jotted down, but I'm racing toward the end before I deal with them. I hope my beta reader gets the same feelings from reading it as I do.

12.10.2025 19:43 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 3    📌 0

I might have discovered a missing scene. I'm going to continue forward with the redraft and just note it for now.

11.10.2025 19:23 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Release the Steinbeck werewolf novel!

11.10.2025 00:18 — 👍 372    🔁 99    💬 2    📌 0
Post image

Feeling confident enough to share first lines. Always a unreliable feeling, I know, when actively working on a draft!😂

10.10.2025 20:50 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I'm beginning to wonder if I just got overwhelmed by life (which was tricky the last time I worked on this story) and therefore saw bumps as mountains. (Fingers crossed that's true.)

10.10.2025 20:50 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

I'm on page 99 of my redraft of my Meissen Eyes novella (79%), and it still feels really strong. All I can think is that I didn't stick the ending or it's missing some key setup I haven't hit yet. Not sure why else I'd think it wasn't close to ready. It's now at 32k.

10.10.2025 20:50 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Consumer-facing "A.i." makes up lies, reproduces the bigotry of its inputs, degrades the cognitive abilities of its users, and can be manipulated by its billionaire owners to reflect their biases. It's also based on theft and destroys the environment. It should have NO role in the classroom.

25.07.2025 20:53 — 👍 132    🔁 28    💬 1    📌 2
A tiny brownish mushroom of incredible delicateness grows tall from between hairy moss fronds. Teeny hair covers its stem in fuzz, and dew glistens on its cap. All photos by me

A tiny brownish mushroom of incredible delicateness grows tall from between hairy moss fronds. Teeny hair covers its stem in fuzz, and dew glistens on its cap. All photos by me

Here is a nice mushroom

08.10.2025 17:58 — 👍 719    🔁 66    💬 18    📌 4
A woman in a long white nightgown, standing on a narrow ledge with her eyes closed.

A woman in a long white nightgown, standing on a narrow ledge with her eyes closed.

Just over 70% through the rewrite of my Meissen Eyes novella! I'm trying not to get all up in my own head. I still haven't hit any insurmountable problems. It's science fiction horror (or something along those lines). Here's The Sleepwalker by Maxmilián Pirner which was the initial inspiration.

08.10.2025 21:33 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
Preview
Novel in a Year: First Draft with Juan Martinez - StoryStudio Chicago This is the year to write your novel Novel in a Year: First Draft is a unique opportunity to join a writing cohort, study novel craft, workshop key scenes, measure your progress, meet deadlines, and g...

Hi, everyone! I‘ll be teaching Novel-in-a-Year with @storystudiochicago.bsky.social in 2026. This will be my third iteration of the class, with first drafts as the focus this time around. Registration is now open and will close November 7:

www.storystudiochicago.org/advanced-wri...

08.10.2025 19:47 — 👍 12    🔁 4    💬 1    📌 1

@marthawells.com @csecooney.bsky.social @ethereallad.bsky.social @rinrocio.bsky.social @mythicdelirium.bsky.social @mayadeane.bsky.social @clhellisen.bsky.social @marisca.bsky.social @andyduncansf.bsky.social @nisishawl.bsky.social @theodoragoss.bsky.social @ktwagner.bsky.social

06.10.2025 16:48 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I hope ya’ll enjoyed reading it as much as I loved working on it and reading the amazing stories that showed up!

06.10.2025 14:49 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0
Preview
Short Story Standouts Check out these gripping, funny, and exciting short story collections & anthologies!

Just over 3 months ago Storyteller was published and interest is still going strong.
It’s has been featured on a curated list of indie publishers on Bookshop dot org!
You can check out the list here: bookshop.org/lists/short-...

06.10.2025 14:49 — 👍 15    🔁 9    💬 1    📌 1

the hardest part of living in Portland is having your house burn down every single night and then having to rebuild it during the day. the amount of money i spend just in drywall is insane.

06.10.2025 01:12 — 👍 6070    🔁 819    💬 154    📌 26

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