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sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Award-winning storyteller, writer, and workshop wizard. Moth GrandSLAM champ. NPR/CBC/PBS contributor. Taught 150+ workshops for Second City, Clarion West, and Afghan Women’s Assoc. Work in Apex Mag, The Offing. Helps writers dig up stories that stick.
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Remember turning a cardboard box into a spaceship as a kid? That’s constrained creativity. This workshop is your grown-up box. Fewer tools, WILDER possibilities. What will you build when ‘less’ becomes your most powerful tool? Join me for this #WritingWorkshop: reachyourapex.com/product/writ...

I was 14 in the 80s, so mine was a truly awful story of a vampire (yeah, Anne Rice) named MIDNIGHT (jesus) who was in love with a vampire named Basil. It was in italics, because Word Perfect in DOS could do italics (very exciting) and when I sent it to my writer grandfather his only comment (1/2)

So exited to be back in @bendinggenres.bsky.social! This flash fiction piece begins, "After the last episode of The Sweet Family, after the SNL guest spot, after the dystopian young adult movie lead. After the snowboarding knee injury..." bendinggenres.com/jacob-barrer... #FlashLit #FlashFiction

Sushi Rejection Project Update! Since my last update, I've gotten two acceptances and am back up to 5/100. I'm weirdly crushed by the 5, partly because these were all litmags I thought I'd at least get a personal rejection from, but (1/4) #WritingCommunity #WritersSupportingWriters #Litmags

It's time for the #GoodNewsRoundup. Here's to Los Angelenos. Stay safe. Stay neighborly. Here's to all the neighbors standing up for each other against masked kidnappers across the country in small towns and big cities. You are the leadership we need right now. You are the heroes. 1/n

Sushi Rejection Project Update! Since my last update, I've gotten two acceptances and am back up to 5/100. I'm weirdly crushed by the 5, partly because these were all litmags I thought I'd at least get a personal rejection from, but (1/4) #WritingCommunity #WritersSupportingWriters #Litmags

Marisca's writing has been nominated for the Bram Stoker, Pushcart, Best of the Net, Rhysling, Utopia, and Dwarf Stars awards. Everyone, EVERYONE, struggles with rejections. (And how cool that writers are willing to keep talking about it, even after they find success.) #WritersSupportingWriters

Staring at a blank page? Your creativity isn't lazy, it's just a sleepy cat waiting for the right toy. Constraints are the jingle ball that gets it pouncing. Wake up your words with playful limits in this #WritingWorkshop - use code caged10 for $10 off. reachyourapex.com/product/writ...

If you're in Eastern Time and love writing first thing in the morning, this happens at 5 AM! Hooray!

I really recommend submitting to Fictive Dream - it’s a great place to be published, and Laura is so supportive and works so hard to publicise stories on social media and find beautiful images for them

Staring at a blank page? Your creativity isn't lazy, it's just a sleepy cat waiting for the right toy. Constraints are the jingle ball that gets it pouncing. Wake up your words with playful limits in this #WritingWorkshop - use code caged10 for $10 off. reachyourapex.com/product/writ...

Have you seen this reposted again and again? There's a good reason. This piece should be read by EVERYONE. (It is harrowing, there are content warnings.)

Here's today's writing prompt: (Also the answer is NO. NO NO NO NO NO. NOT FOR LOVE. NOT FOR MONEY. (For a new U.S. administration, yes. Obviously.))

I don't want to 'utilize' AI. I don't want to become 'more efficient'. I don't want to outsource the process of actual thought to a machine. I want to struggle with my words and chip away at my own soul until something shining and glorious and mundane and fucking human emerges. That's being alive.

Absolutely LOVE this stunning photo by photographer Yang Sui, it's a thrill when I know what people see is exactly what I was hoping they would. This is me, performing at True Stories Told Live Toronto. I'll be performing this story again in August, so please keep an eye out. #StorytellingShow

This long CNF piece is SO immersive. I was on the subway reading it, but I was also in Beiruit, and in Brooklyn, and on the sidewalk in the dark. Read, read, read!

*happy dancing all over the apartment* (Also, follow @lindzmcleod.bsky.social who is an amazing writer and also an absolute FORCE in the writing community who is always, always looking for opportunities to support other writers in any way she can.)

CHECK OUT these awesome writers you can learn from! #WritingWorkshops

Here are some of the amazing writers we've published since 2020, including those from Issue 37 which launched today! Proud to have you all in the #NFFR family. If you're missing from the pack let us know 😍 Lots of writers have joined Bluesky since we set it up. go.bsky.app/ADoXRJ1H

Making pumpkin pie and thinking of my much, much missed mom and this short #flash piece: www.thimblelitmag.com/2024/05/01/w... #Writing #CNF #Writer #AmWriting #FlashLit #FlashFiction

A little bird just told me that the paperback of SUNBATHERS, my eco-horror sun-vampire book, is on sale RIGHT NOW for less than $7. It would be a CRIME not to buy it, and certainly it would be a worse crime than any of the ones my queer protagonist commits. Probably. *cough*

Friends! I am SO HAPPY to be part of @giganotosaurus.bsky.social with "The Starter Family" - if you like #SpeculativeFiction, this story's for you:

We're open! Send in your quiet beauties to @lit-namjooning.bsky.social!

Struggling with plot? Take notes from musical improv. They build tension like a rising ballad, drop twists like a jazz solo, and stick landings that satisfy. Your story’s next standing ovation starts here. Check out June's #Writing craft essay here: tyrtle.com/2025/06/02/u...