#Advanced Substack Newslette

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

What Merging of Fable & Everand Mean to Indie Authors

Early reflection and perspectives from an indie author on how this strategic merger empowers book authors to reach engaged, censorship-free audiences across borders. Publishing Case Study #137 Are you a book author looking to reach a broader audience through a proven system supported by a like-minded community? Are you an aspiring writer who wants to publish your first book within 3 months with…

[roboticchibitan]

Today I'm going to talk about a form of radical resistance that anyone, no matter their situation, can engage in: cultivating hope.

Are you filled with hopelessness and despair at the state of the world? I have some good news and some bad news.

The bad news is you've fallen for a tool of the status quo. Despair freezes us. It keeps us from imagining and working towards a better world. Despair is easy, because it means we have no reason to take action to make things better. Capitalism? Our oppressors? They want you hopeless for a reason. Because you're easier to control that way.

The good news is! There's a lot of very real reasons for hope. However, hope is something you have to cultivate. It takes work. It is a radical act. It is looking at the status quo and going "actually, no. I refuse."

Maybe you can't risk losing your job to unionize your workplace. Or maybe you're an oppressed minority who can't risk going to protests because our criminal justice system is racist. But cultivating hope in yourself is just as radical an act of resistance as those two things. It is another form of imagining and working towards a better world.

It's not as flashy as starting a union or going to a protest, true. Maybe it feels selfish, like you're only helping yourself. But that's not true. It's a lot harder to help others when you, yourself, are frozen by despair. By working on yourself, you are making it easier for you to help others, in whatever form that takes for you.

For me, since I started my hopepunk practice I have been more able to engage in activism, even if I no longer post about it. Before calls to action froze me. I was so overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of our problems that I was unable to address any of them.

Since I've started cultivating hope in myself, I've unfrozen enough that I was able to choose the causes that matter to me and put my energy there. I engage in more charitable donations and political actions now than I did before. I am happier and also helping others more than I did before.

Cultivating hope in yourself is hard at first. You feel defeated before you even start. But you start putting work in and you find a little hope. And then a little more. And a little more. And then, suddenly. It snowballs and you're doing better than you have in years, and hope comes easier to you now.

If you don't know where to start, go follow @hopepunk-humanity @hope-for-the-planet @afeelgoodblog and @reasonsforhope or follow the hopepunk tag

There's also things like the good news network, who have a daily email they send out with a handful of positive news stories. Some of them I find kinda dumb and shallow like "lost dog returned after 3 years" type stories. But there's also a lot about scientific advancments in green energy, medical care, etc that I find helpful for cultivating hope. Did you know about the CRISPR gene editing tool that's being used to cure incurable illnesses? I didn't! And now I do! afeelgoodblog also runs a substack "best news of last week" newsletter every Monday that I find has stories with more substance, tho it is US focused.

Despair isn't helping anyone, especially not you. Engage in a radical act and start cultivating hope in yourself. You deserve to leave that despair behind, and in the process, you are directly going against the powers that have decided we are easier to control if we are miserable.

[dashcon-two]

DASHCON 2 TICKETS ARE NOW SOLD OUT

Edit: Holy shit y'all This is it, the moment you've been waiting for! Tickets are available right NOW through simpli events! The page can be found here (https://simpli.events/e/dashcontwo).

What’s Available For Purchase

General Admission. Standard entry to the convention. Ages 13+. $35 + 13% HST.

Wristband Mailout. We mail you your ticket in advance of the con, $7.

Wristband Mailout + STICKER. The same as wristband mailout, but we include a DashCon 2 merch sticker in the envelope along with the wristbands. $10.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars.

As always, you can learn more on our website or by joining our newsletter on Substack!

[mariacallous]

When I caught up with Elizabeth Warren, the senior Democratic senator from Massachusetts, by telephone on Wednesday evening, it seemed like she didn’t know whether to laugh or scream. Hours earlier, Donald Trump had caved to pressure from the financial markets and announced, via social media, a ninety-day pause on many of his tariffs. On Wall Street, stocks shot up. Later in the afternoon, Warren, who sits on the Senate finance and banking committees, had spoken from the floor of the upper chamber, where she demanded an independent investigation into whether Trump had manipulated the markets to benefit Wall Street donors. (Anybody who had known about the policy pivot in advance could have made a fortune buying stocks or stock futures.) But while, in her floor speech, Warren had bristled with righteous anger at the idea of Trump, or anyone else at the White House, tipping off rich friends, during our conversation she couldn’t stop herself from chortling at the Administration’s claim that the President’s reversal had been the product of an artful negotiation strategy. “No serious person believes that, and I can’t even find an unserious person who believes it,” she joked. “The tariffs are on; the tariffs are off. The tariffs are on; the tariffs are off. Donald Trump is playing the biggest game of Red Light Green Light since ‘Squid Game.’ ”

Since Trump’s return to the White House, his chaotic style of governing has often seemed to catch Democrats off balance, and deprived them of a stationary target. Warren, however, has been on the offensive throughout. Unlike Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who have joined forces for a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, she hasn’t been barnstorming around the country. (Although, as part of the mass “Hands Off!” protests last weekend, she did speak to a large crowd in Nashville.) But Warren has been busy in Washington. In February, when a team from Elon Musk’s DOGE gutted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (C.F.P.B.), which she was the primary figure in founding, she denounced the attack as illegal and joined a street protest by the agency’s staff. More recently, Warren has broadened her critique of Trump’s policies to encompass other areas, including trade, taxes, financial regulation, and the debilitating effect of his over-all blitzkrieg. “Chaos is its own tax on the economy,” she said to me. “No business wants to plunk down the millions of dollars it takes to build something, or assemble a team, if they don’t know what the rules will be next week, much less next year. The only consistent theme is chaos, and no one can plan against chaos.”

Warren, who has long been a leading voice on the progressive left, is part firebrand and part policy wonk. During the run-up to the great financial crisis of 2008, when she was a professor at Harvard Law School, she cautioned, in speeches and blog posts, about the dangers of financial deregulation and Wall Street greed. After becoming a senator, in 2012, she focussed on soaring inequality, and, in 2020, when she ran for President, she proposed an annual wealth tax on the top 0.01 per cent. Even before last week, when Trump announced his blanket tariffs and brought the United States to the brink of another financial crisis, Warren was warning about the dangers that Trumponomics posed, including the likelihood that it would plunge the U.S. economy into a recession. “Look, this is the dumbest financial crisis in U.S. history,” she told me in an interview on Wednesday morning, shortly before Trump did his about-face. “Unlike earlier crises caused by viruses or subprime mortgages, this is one man who woke up with a crazy idea and imposed it on the world. But the tariff crisis is layered onto other ways in which he is weakening the economy.”

On a new Substack newsletter that Warren launched on Friday, in conjunction with other Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee, she highlights some of the Trump policies that she sees as particularly pernicious, including efforts to weaken financial deregulation, Musk’s slash-and-burn tactics at key federal agencies, and the pursuit by Republicans in Congress of a highly regressive tax policy that could well force spending cuts which could rip up the social safety net. “Lights are flashing red, but it is not too late,” Warren writes. “We still have time to prevent economic calamity for American families if we act quickly.”

Since coming to office, Trump has appointed new regulators—or, rather, deregulators—at many of the nation’s oversight agencies: the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the C.F.P.B. To Warren, this is a recipe for disaster. “The lesson we should have learned from 2008 is that if the regulatory players don’t do their jobs in enforcing the laws and overseeing large financial institutions, these institutions will go for profit every time and load risk into the system,” she told me. In February and March, the shell of the C.F.P.B., where Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is now the acting director, dropped more than half a dozen enforcement cases. In one of them, the agency had accused the bank Capital One of cheating customers out of two billion dollars by misleading them about interest rates offered on its savings accounts. In another, it had accused three big banks—JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America—of failing to protect their customers from rampant fraud on Zelle, a payments platform in which they have ownership stakes.

In our conversation, Warren underscored that the Republican desire for tax cuts seems to know no bounds. “Even in the middle of this chaos, they are moving forward on a bill that has trillions of dollars in giveaways to corporations and billionaires, and cuts the underlying investment in working families,” she said. “That’s a terrible idea in the best of economic times, but it will be a complete disaster at a time when more American families are coming under financial stress.”

The struggle over taxes and spending seems set to dominate the legislative agenda on Capitol Hill until the end of the year. But, for the moment, Warren is focussed on Trump’s tariffs. Even though some are now lower than they were at the start of the week, they are all still very much in place. (For most goods from China, the import duty is now a hundred and forty-five per cent. Autos, auto parts, steel, and aluminum face rates of twenty-five per cent, as do many other goods from Canada and Mexico. Items from most other countries are subject to a rate of ten per cent.) The policy debate about how far the federal government should go to protect manufacturing jobs remains heated. Even as elected Democrats have lambasted Trump for panicking investors and tanking the markets, some of them, particularly in industrial states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania, have joined the United Auto Workers union in expressing support for at least some of Trump’s tariffs.

When I asked Warren what stance Democrats should adopt on tariffs, she marked out a middle ground, describing them as “an important tool in the economic toolbox,” but arguing that they should be introduced only in certain situations and industries. “If you get sick, and fill your prescription in America, there’s a ninety-per-cent chance that the drug was manufactured overseas, probably in Asia, and the materials for it probably came from China,” she said. “That’s a dangerous place for our country. If we got into a back-and-forth with a couple of countries, suddenly there’s no antibiotics for heart medication.” Warren argued that the keys to employing tariffs successfully are targeting them on goods that have strategic value, using them in conjunction with other policies designed to encourage production in the United States, such as subsidies, and introducing them gradually so that businesses and investors can plan for them. This was the approach of the Biden Administration, and Warren pointed out that it is very different from what Trump is doing. “Imposing tariffs on virtually every country for virtually every product sent to the United States, at rates that seem to be randomly pulled from a bingo cage, is not a way to strengthen America’s economy,” she said. “And it is certainly not a way to attract long-term investment and good jobs to the United States.”

But with Trump and the Republicans holding power in Washington, what can the Democrats do? Warren insists that, at least when it comes to Trump’s blanket tariffs, they are far from powerless. In introducing these levies, which it falsely described as “reciprocal,” the White House invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, of 1977, which gave the President the authority to introduce broad tariffs during a national emergency. “But we are not in an emergency right now with Belgium or South Korea,” Warren pointed out. “That same law gives Congress the power to pass a resolution and say, ‘Nope. No emergency here,’ and roll back the entire tariff authority that Trump is using.”

On Thursday, as the stock markets fell again, Warren, together with her colleague Ron Wyden, of Oregon, introduced a piece of legislation that would do just that. Four Democrats and one Republican—Rand Paul, of Kentucky—joined them. With only forty-seven seats, Democrats seem unlikely to get the votes that they need for the bill to make it out of the Senate, especially now that Trump has announced his timeout. But Warren insists that bringing the legislation to the floor is still worthwhile because Republicans will be forced to vote on it. She said, “They will have to declare for everyone to see: Are they still simply Donald Trump’s suck-ups? Or are they legislators who will exercise independent judgment to protect the people and the economy of the United States?”

Warren surely knows the answer to her questions, which may explain, in part, her enthusiasm for the bill. When I spoke with her for a second time, after Trump’s reversal, she insisted that it was now more important than ever. “Trump demonstrated again that his whims will determine tariff policy for the entire world,” she said. “That will be true right up until Congress says no. Our resolution is the no.” 

[saywhat-politics]

Republican Bill in Congress Threatens 300 US Factories, 300,000 American Jobs

Last Updated on: 20th May 2025, 01:19 am

It’s been such a big part of the US Republican Party for so long that it’s hard to keep in mind how insane opposition to clean energy is. Solar and wind energy power millions of homes, and they provide hundreds of thousands of US jobs, and they don’t cause cancer, asthma, dementia, and a large variety of other health problems that coal and natural gas power plants cause. There’s real no good reason to oppose solar and wind energy. Yet, at the national level at least, Republicans have to — because fossil fuel companies pay too many of their bills and they’re not allowed to think for themselves.

Ironically, more and more, wind and solar power plants are being installed in “red states” — states where there are more Republican voters than Democratic voters. This makes it especially awkward and illogical to oppose renewable energy, and doing so can clearly hurt their states, and yet they continue to do so.

Now, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) shares the following via email: “Legislation passed last week by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and advanced through the House Budget Committee could jeopardize nearly 300 American solar and storage factories and lead to the loss of 145,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of solar generation by 2030 — more than the annual electricity consumption of Pennsylvania.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

More “obeying in advance” by the Washington Post

I haven’t referred or cited to the Washington Post since Jeff Bezos ordered the editorial board not to endorse Kamala Harris for president. I sometimes wonder whether that was the right decision. Today, it became clear it was.

Editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes just published an article on Substack entitled, Why I'm quitting the Washington Post. Telnaes explains that she prepared an editorial cartoon that showed billionaires bowing in supplication to Trump. The cartoon is in the linked article. As explained by Telnaes,

The group in the cartoon included Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook & Meta founder and CEO, Sam Altman/AI CEO, Patrick Soon-Shiong/LA Times publisher, the Walt Disney Company/ABC News, and Jeff Bezos/Washington Post owner.

Telnaes explains,

For the first time, my editor prevented me from doing that critical job [publishing the cartoon]. So I have decided to leave the Post. I doubt my decision will cause much of a stir and that it will be dismissed because I’m just a cartoonist. But I will not stop holding truth to power through my cartooning, because as they say, “Democracy dies in darkness”.

Ann Telnaes deserves our respect and admiration for her courage. And the ongoing disgrace at WaPo should cause all self-respecting journalists and columnists to follow Ann Telnaes’s example.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[rozaceous]

and now for something completely different

This is a fandom blog, but I need to break character for a sec and talk about the United States. Probably obvious to people who've read my stuff or follow me, but I live there, and we're all the fucking Titanic, have made impact with the iceberg, and are now tipping vertically in the ocean and about to split in two. Shit's fucked; we're headed towards dictatorship and economic collapse at mach speeds.

The worst part is, I've been talking with some of my family members who are moderate but left-leaning, and they have no idea what's going on. Part of this can be attributed to the soft-balling that most mainstream media outlets have been giving current events, and part of it can be attributed to not paying attention. Neither is acceptable. And in a media landscape that's changed and is changing rapidly, I want to share what I use to keep abreast of current events.

I don't have a TV, I don't pay for news subscriptions, and I don't have streaming services, so every resource I share is going to be completely free, though some have paid subscriber tiers. My news goes to my email, and I'm fairly selective about what I subscribe to because I can't handle having too much or else I start doomscrolling. There are also plenty of excellent journalists and writers I'm not linking to, and it's no shade to the info they offer, only a reflection of my individual capacities. All that said, not knowing what's happening, and not being able to talk about it in an informed fashion with the people in my life isn't an option. Our sources of information determine our thinking and actions, and it's critical that no one be taken by surprise in ugly, disastrous fashion.

Another thing you'll notice is that I share mostly independent journalists and individual writers. This is because, increasingly, that's where the news is breaking, and where I believe a lot of the news is shifting. (We also have reliable, non-partisan sources like the Associated Press being barred from the White House press briefings because they don't refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, in keeping with the AP Style Guide.)

So who I'm reading:

What the Fuck Just Happened Today? Gives you a daily summary of events Monday-Thursday, and occasional weekend updates if something especially wtf just happened. I like it because it gives a summary paragraph, and then goes into a deeper dive on each event, with links to other news articles on the topic. Only overwhelming in terms of the amount of shit happening every day; the content itself is pretty bite-sized.

Garbage Day gives summaries and links of various internet happenings, including memes, with the occasional take on media as it relates to politics which I find continually thought-provoking and fresh.

Your Local Epidemiologist is run by Dr Katelyn Jetelina and her team. She an epidemiologist (as the title suggests lol) and I've been following her since omicron. Grounded, science-based public health newsletters that never fearmongers.

If You Can Keep It is run by Protect Democracy, which is a non-partisan organization dedicated to fighting authoritarianism. They have some other, more specific, substacks like Dear Civil Servant, which is geared towards federal workers.

Timothy Snyder is the author of On Tyranny, as well as some other excellent books. If you've been hearing the phrase "don't obey in advance" going around Tumblr, that's this guy. Super insightful about authoritarianism generally, as well as policies that relate to Ukraine and Russia.

Nathan Tankus's Notes on the Crises is what broke the story about Musk (and his patsy iPad babies) busting his way in to the Treasury Department's payment system, even before WIRED's article. Parts of his newsletter are free, others are paid. Everything I've read has been topical and clear.

Marisa Kabas is an independent journalist who broke the news of the pause of all federal grants and loans from the OMB in late January. Something of an irreverent writing style.

I would also say that listening to foreign news sources (The Guardian, to name one) is a great idea as the US is experiencing a breakdown in mainstream media reporting. Most of the people above^ also have social media which you could follow, of course--Bluesky seeming to be the platform du jour--but I personally use sparing socmed outside of Tumblr. I also think that relying on platforms owned by the billionaire tech class, like Meta or Twitter/X, as a way for your news to reach you is a mistake. I've been seeing a lot of talk about how dissenting opinions are getting filtered out and suppressed. (In this case, 'dissenting' referring to opinions contrary to those held by the current administration, or that critique it.)

It's also more important than ever that we check all of our sources before we share, and use good judgment. A lot is happening, but it's not the time for panic. What we need is reason and clarity. Do what you need to do in order to take care of yourself, but please pay attention.

Take a deep breath.

[misfitwashere]

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

MAR 22

I will hold my tenth regular “Saturday Morning Live” livestream on the Substack App on Saturday, March 22, at 9 am Pacific / Noon Eastern. I will post the video immediately after the livestream for those of you who can’t join me live.

I can preview my opening statement on Saturday morning’s livestream—a statement that has been the same for each of the past nine sessions: “Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, it has.”

The unrelenting pace of lawless actions that qualify as “never before in the history of our nation” is difficult to tolerate. Worse, travesties capable of stunning us into disbelief standing alone are exacerbated by the effortless capitulation by bulwarks of democracy: the Senate, the legal profession, corporations, universities, billionaires, and major media outlets.

On Friday, Columbia University joined the ranks of those who will appoint an internal committee in the future to answer the questions, “How is it that we abandoned our values so quickly? How did we fail to appoint leaders of courage and principle? What must we do to rebuild our credibility and integrity? How can we ensure it never happens again?”

See Raw Story, ‘What a travesty’: Outrage as Columbia University 'surrenders' to Trump's $400M threat.

I understand the defensive rationales and gymnastic apologetics that seek to explain (but do not justify) Columbia’s surrender. Ultimately, Columbia’s failure is not singular; it “obeyed in advance” because the rest of America’s universities did not rally to its defense, choosing instead to cower in silence, worried that the slightest hint of a backbone would draw the ire of the Trump revenge machine.

Every university that remained silent earned a new Trumpian nickname: “Next!”

And for all my rage in yesterday’s newsletter over the capitulation of the law firm of Paul Weiss, I learned one fact today that made me feel an iota of sympathy for Paul Weiss: When Trump stripped Paul Weiss of security clearances necessary to serve its clients in the defense contractor industry, Paul Weiss’s competitor law firms tried to solicit its clients on the ground that “Paul Weiss can’t meet your needs if it doesn’t have security clearances.”

Per the WSJ, “Competitors immediately began circling after the March 14 order, calling coveted Paul Weiss clients to note that the firm had been marked as an enemy of the president . . . .”

The surrender by Paul Weiss was disgraceful, exceeded only by its competitors' shameful acts and lack of foresight and integrity. It takes no great genius to understand that if Trump can do it to Paul Weiss, he can do it to the firms that attempted to cherry-pick Paul Weiss’s clients instead of coming to its defense. A truly disgusting display by the legal profession.

It is easy to feel dispirited and bewildered by the cascading collapse of institutions at the core of our democracy. But there are heroes among us that provide hope.

Perkins Coie and Covington & Burling have resisted Trump, fighting back with the help of other courageous firms like Williams & Connolly. Per The ABA Journal, the following major firms are representing plaintiffs in cases opposing Trump's attempt to dismantle the government:

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, representing fired inspectors general. (Law.com)

Hogan Lovells, seeking to block executive orders to end federal funding for gender-affirming medical care. (Law.com)

Jenner & Block, also seeking to block the orders on cuts to medical research funding. (Law.com, Reuters)

Ropes & Gray, also seeking to block cuts to medical research funding. (Law.com)

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, representing the Amica Center for Immigrants Rights and others seeking to block funding cuts for immigrant legal services. (Law.com)

Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer.

No list of heroes would be complete without acknowledging the front-line work of Democracy Docket, Democracy Forward, Public Citizen, Lambda Legal, and CREW.

And, of course, there is Marc Elias, who stands as a singular testament to courage.

In the political arena, Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are demonstrating to other members of Congress what it means to be a leader during perilous times.

There are countless others, and my brief list is intended as a starting point. Identify others in the Comment section and tell us why they provide hope and inspiration during this difficult time.

We can focus too much on those who capitulate; my newsletters over the last two days can be faulted for accentuating the negative at the expense of the positive. 

Instead, let’s lift up those who refuse to back down in the face of pressure. Take heart from their courage. Follow their example and become “a hero among us.”

Personal courage in defense of democracy is the only path forward.

Whenever an individual or institution stands up to Trump, others will be inspired to do the same.

We only need enough of us to be strong enough for all of us.

We can do that. We are doing it.

Stay strong! Talk to you tomorrow!

[therumpus]

Mini Interview with Jami Attenberg

By Denise S. Robbins

Jami Attenberg’s A Reason to See You Again (Ecco Press, 2024) is funny and quick-moving with a strong emotional core that explores what it really means to be family, through thick and thin. The novel revolves around the complicated family dynamics of a mother and her two daughters as they grow up and live through the cultural and technological changes throughout the 20th century, moving deftly between the thoughts of the characters in surprising ways. It’s wide-ranging, delving into various women’s relationships with work—or the absence of it. 

When she’s not writing books, she manages the highly popular Substack newsletter Craft Talk and its yearly challenge, “one thousand words of summer,” where she motivates thousands of subscribers to write a thousand words a day for ten days straight. 

We spoke over Zoom about her writing process and how this latest book fits in with her life’s work.

***

The Rumpus: A Reason to See You Again is your tenth published book. That’s a lot of books! Is there something you're trying to accomplish that you haven't in your earlier works?

Jami Attenberg: I wanted the book to cover more time. My last few novels were much more compact. Then when I wrote my memoir, I enjoyed how it spanned so many years and so many cities. It gave the story the chance to breathe. So, I wanted to apply that to the novel. I was also interested in having family members be separate from each other as opposed to being intimate and involved in each other’s lives. They were more spread out and spaced out. It’s also possible this desire to span more time and space came as a response to that particular claustrophobic feeling I had in the pandemic.

Rumpus: What seeded the idea behind this novel? 

Attenberg: I actually wrote about this in my newsletter [Craft Talk]. During the pandemic, I was looking at a lot of vintage clothes on Etsy and kept seeing these white puffy shirts. I started thinking about a woman wearing it and being somebody's cool aunt. Generally, characters show me the way into a book. And so, the cool aunt, Shelly Cohen, was the first character for me. I pictured her at a kitchen counter in the suburbs talking to her family, with all of them leading different lives, interested in each other but also always a little annoyed with each other.

Rumpus: Does that dynamic have any resemblance to reality? How much of yourself is in this book and these characters and their relationships?

Attenberg: None of these characters are like anybody that I know, really. But they’re adjacent to people I know. They feel like they live in a neighborhood I’ve lived in before. Or maybe they’re a third cousin. Someone you met once and feels familiar, even if you can’t say exactly who they are. 

Rumpus: How do you find the central core of a story with multiple main characters? What are they all hovering around? 

Attenberg: The way time moves forward in this book is the core, and how the characters are impacted by time. Time is both the structure and the thrust. For example, the way they communicate at the beginning of the book has changed by the end of it, often expressed in terms of technological advancements. And those kinds of changes are ones that can only emerge specifically over the passage of years or decades of time.

Rumpus: So, technology changes relationships in this book. But you could say it just provides your main characters with new ways of ignoring each other. 

Attenberg: There’s one scene near the end of the book where two characters are driving in a car and a third one calls them on a cellphone. And they really don’t want to talk to this person, but there’s no way of ultimately avoiding it: we live in an era where you can track people’s locations all the time. It’s vastly different than earlier in the book, when it’s Nancy’s twenty-first birthday and she desperately wants to talk to her family, and she has to leave her house, walk down to the corner payphone, put money in it to make a long-distance call, and hope that somebody's there and picks up at this specific moment in time. In a way that phone call is so much more meaningful. But their communication still has meaning at the end of the book, when they finally do break through to each other. 

Rumpus: A lot of important life events in this story aren’t actually in the book but are referenced offscreen or obliquely. How did you decide what to put in the story versus what to reference offscreen?

Attenberg: These people are not confrontational until it’s too late. They’re trying to figure out how to exist with a problem without actually dealing with it. So, these things feel far away to the reader because they feel far away to the characters. They don’t like dealing with things head on. But there are still feelings that are very much present. 

These things trigger other issues down the line, though. If you don’t deal with something in the moment, eventually it’s still going to show up. One of my characters doesn’t tell another character something very important, and when the other finds out, she is furious with her. It impacts their relationship forever. By choosing to avoid conflict, she created another conflict in the process. And a lie by omission is still a lie, and that’s certainly a plot point. 

Rumpus: I also wanted to highlight one particular line: “He thought it would be easier to explain themselves to the world if they lived in the same place, when actually they only had to explain themselves to themselves and no one else.” It feels like the heart of this story.

Attenberg: I wouldn’t say that line is the heart of the book, but it’s a touchstone line, one I hope people highlight on their Kindles, ha. The characters in this novel grew up during a certain time and place where they felt like there was a path for them with specific milestones they had to achieve to please the world in a certain kind of way. I think most people understand now that we don’t have to stay on that conventional path, that we don’t have to abide by anyone else’s rules. I think the characters in the book are happiest when they figure that out. Even if it takes a long time. 

Rumpus: On top of writing novels, you also run Craft Talk and the yearly “one thousand words of summer” challenge, with daily letters of encouragement from various authors. Does this community enliven your own novel writing? 

Attenberg: It keeps me on track. And every year there’s a letter from one of the contributing writers that hits the right chord and comes at the right time. That’s the beauty of these letters of writing advice. You never know when you’re going to need it. This year, that letter came from Jennine Capó Crucet. It was about writing from a place where you know you can throw it all away. So that’s what I did. I gave myself permission to just write something I could throw away. Then I loved everything I wrote, and now I’ve written thirty thousand words this summer, the new beginning of the book, and it's great. I definitely feel the accountability. Every year. We're doing it together. It's equalizing.

Rumpus: Even somebody who's written ten books needs that accountability sometimes.

Attenberg: People need it, and it works. It really works. But also, you don't need it. We can write all the time on our own. But during one thousand words of summer, it feels like a friend is there with me. 

Rumpus: So, you’re working on another novel now. How many more novels do you have inside you?

Attenberg: I’m not planning to stop writing. Will my next novels get published? Who knows. Does it matter? Probably not. How many books do I have in me? A million. I’m in my fifties now. I’ve slowed down a bit but know more of what I want and can look back at what I’ve done. And I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. 

[secularbakedgoods]

Digital DIY

This is a crosspost of my newsletter! If you’d like to get posts like this direct to your inbox or RSS reader, you can subscribe here.

I love ebooks, but as a format they're a real pain in the ass. If you're not already An eBook Person, getting started is a labyrinth of confusion; you can either sign up for one of the big user-friendly platforms like Kindle, which lock you into using only their bookstore and can delete the books you've bought any time they like, or you can buy from a DRM-free platform and (in most cases) download an EPUB file that most devices can't natively read.

I'm sure this is why webnovels remain a popular storytelling format, and it's one of the big reasons I like to serialize my stories online. As user experience goes, it's hard to beat "click link, begin reading." Up until now I've been using Ko-fi to post and paywall my work, but unfortunately Ko-fi's UX for longform posts kind of ... sucks. For you as the reader, and also me as the writer.

My other options for third-party services are either Patreon (similiarly terrible posting experience, increasingly sex-negative content policies) or Substack (overrun by Nazis). And neither of those offer the kind of granular control I want over content navigation and reader UX.

... Which means, as usual, I'll probably just have to build something myself.

New on Ko-fi: "Moriarty & Moran Contribute to Community Welfare," Chapter 2

Behind them, the door opened. There was just the one exit, and a severe shortage of places to hide. Sebastian only had about half an excuse formulated when Jay grabbed him by the shoulders; Sebastian’s back hit the row of lockers with a metallic rattle and thud. Instinct briefly took over, muscles tensing to fend off the attack—but Jay’s body against his was by now a familiar sensation, and the sense of threat evaporated. Especially once Jay’s mouth sealed over his.

Chapter 2 of "Moriarty & Moran Contribute to Community Welfare" is now up for all supporters on Ko-fi. If you're not a fan of serialized works, you can also get the entire novelette as an ebook.

This Week's Links

Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Green’s Dictionary of Slang is the largest historical dictionary of English slang. ... On this website the dictionary is now available in updated online form for the first time, complete with advanced search tools enabling search by definition and history, and an expanded bibliography of slang sources from the early modern period to the present day.

Get Weird And Disappear

... I've no doubt that everyone reading this can think of at least one system where they've thought "I can't believe I'm at the mercy of a person that isn't even thinking". Frequently their rules are not even rules, they're just phrases that competent people used to say, and eventually they became well-known enough to become fake-able signal.

Book Review: Why They Do It

... Enron wanted to put some wind farms into a special purpose entity (SPE) in such a way that it didn't own the wind farms but still got the tax benefits from owning wind farm. Normally, SPEs were supposed to be completely separate from the company they're linked to. The person who runs the SPE couldn't be an employee or family member of an employee of Enron. ...but it was 1997. Legally, gay relationships weren't marriages. So Enron got the male partner of one of its leaders to run the SPE.

---

Possibly both the best and worst thing that ever happened to me was learning to use the computer.

-K

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

What Makes This Advanced Book for Freelance Writers Exceptional?

Editorial Review of A Powerful Toolkit for Advanced Substack Newsletter Mastery Written by content strategist, leading author, and community builder Dr Mehmet Yildiz, A Powerful Toolkit for Advanced Substack Newsletter Mastery is not just another addition to the sea of freelance writing guides. It’s a symbol of clarity, care, and insights tailored for those ready to elevate their writing craft…

[vampyrluver]

Hi friends

I made a substack newsletter so i can talk about folklore and vampires. here it is if ur interested. I am not a strong writer so sorry in advance.

[0bfvscate]

In advanced of my next book coming out I'm tentatively setting up a substack as a newsletter. Feel free to subscribe if you're interested.

[skygola]

Online Publishing Platforms for Digital Publishers: Empowering the Future of Content Creation

In the age of digital transformation, content creation and distribution have seen a revolutionary shift. Online publishing platforms for digital publishers now serve as the backbone of modern content strategy—offering tools, analytics, design flexibility, and distribution channels that enable creators to publish and monetize their work globally. Whether you're a blogger, magazine editor, author, or corporate content manager, choosing the right platform can significantly impact your reach and success.

What Are Online Publishing Platforms?

Online publishing platforms are web-based tools that allow digital publishers to create, format, and distribute content such as articles, blogs, eBooks, whitepapers, newsletters, and digital magazines. These platforms often come equipped with content management systems (CMS), design templates, monetization options, and audience engagement tools.

Benefits of Online Publishing Platforms for Digital Publishers

Ease of Use

No advanced technical knowledge required—publish content with drag-and-drop editors and customizable templates.

Global Reach

Instantly reach international readers with SEO-optimized content and multi-device accessibility.

Cost-Effective Distribution

Eliminate printing and distribution costs by publishing entirely online.

Monetization Opportunities

Platforms offer revenue-generating tools like subscriptions, ads, affiliate links, and e-commerce integration.

Real-Time Analytics

Track user engagement, content performance, and reader behavior to refine your content strategy.

Popular Online Publishing Platforms for Digital Publishers

WordPress

Most widely used CMS for blogs, news portals, and niche websites.

Offers thousands of plugins and themes for customization.

Medium

Best for writers and thought leaders who want exposure without worrying about site management.

Built-in audience and sleek reading experience.

Issuu

Ideal for digital magazines, catalogs, brochures, and flipbooks.

Visually rich interface and sharing tools.

Substack

Perfect for newsletter-based publishing.

Enables direct monetization through paid subscriptions.

Ghost

A minimalist, open-source platform built for publishers and journalists.

Focuses on performance and independent monetization.

Adobe Digital Publishing Suite

Enterprise-level publishing for brands, magazines, and corporate publications.

Offers interactive elements and mobile app integration.

MagLoft

A mobile-first digital publishing platform for magazines and eBooks.

Provides white-label apps and in-app purchases.

Features to Look for in an Online Publishing Platform

Content Editor: Easy-to-use text and image editors.

Customization Options: Themes, branding, and design freedom.

SEO Tools: Built-in search optimization features.

Responsive Design: Automatically adapts to all screen sizes.

Social Sharing: Integration with platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Audience Engagement Tools: Comments, likes, email lists, and push notifications.

Data Security & Backup: Protection against data loss and cyber threats.

Use Cases for Digital Publishers

Independent Authors: Publish and sell eBooks directly.

Corporate Publishers: Share whitepapers, research, and industry updates.

Media Outlets: Launch and manage full-fledged digital magazines or newspapers.

Educators & Trainers: Deliver course materials and educational resources.

Marketing Teams: Publish branded content and newsletters to drive leads.

Conclusion

As digital consumption continues to rise, the importance of using effective Online publishing platforms for digital publishers cannot be overstated. The right platform allows you to publish faster, reach wider, and monetize smarter. Whether you're starting a new blog, launching a digital magazine, or building a content hub for your business, there's a platform tailored to your needs.

[prajakomal]

Online Publishing Platforms for Digital Publishers: Empowering the Future of Content Creation

In the digital-first world we live in today, online publishing platforms for digital publishers have become essential tools for sharing ideas, stories, and expertise with a global audience. Whether you're a solo content creator, a media company, or an enterprise brand, these platforms offer powerful solutions to publish, manage, and monetize digital content efficiently.

What Are Online Publishing Platforms?

Online publishing platforms are web-based tools or software that enable users to create, format, and distribute content such as articles, e-books, blogs, magazines, reports, or multimedia. They are designed to simplify the publishing process, offering a centralized environment for content creation and delivery.

Why Digital Publishers Need Online Platforms

The publishing landscape has shifted from print to digital due to several advantages:

Faster Distribution Content can be published and accessed globally in seconds.

Cost-Effective Eliminates printing and physical distribution expenses.

Real-Time Updates Instantly correct or update content after it’s published.

Audience Insights Track engagement metrics to refine strategies.

Broader Reach Tap into global audiences via the internet, social media, and email.

Best Online Publishing Platforms for Digital Publishers

Here’s a look at some popular platforms tailored to different publishing needs:

1. WordPress

Best for: Blogs, news sites, and custom content hubs.

Highlights: Open-source, customizable, supports plugins and SEO.

2. Medium

Best for: Writers and bloggers seeking built-in audiences.

Highlights: Clean interface, no setup required, monetization via Partner Program.

3. Issuu

Best for: Digital magazines, brochures, and catalogs.

Highlights: Flipbook format, analytics, embedding options.

4. Ghost

Best for: Publishers focused on paid newsletters and memberships.

Highlights: Lightweight, SEO-optimized, built-in subscription support.

5. Adobe InDesign + Publish Online

Best for: Designers and publishers creating interactive content.

Highlights: Rich design tools, interactive elements, direct publishing.

6. Substack

Best for: Independent writers building email-driven publications.

Highlights: Newsletter-first, built-in subscription payments.

Key Features to Look For in Online Publishing Platforms

Ease of Use: Intuitive interfaces and drag-and-drop editors save time.

SEO Tools: Helps your content rank higher in search engine results.

Analytics: Tracks performance, reader engagement, and conversions.

Customization: Supports branding, themes, and flexible design.

Monetization Options: Subscriptions, ads, sponsorships, or affiliate links.

Mobile Optimization: Ensures content looks great on all devices.

How to Choose the Right Platform

When selecting an online publishing platform, consider:

Your Publishing Goals: Are you blogging, launching a magazine, or building a paid subscriber base?

Audience Type: B2B, general readers, niche enthusiasts?

Technical Skills: Some platforms require more setup and maintenance.

Budget: Ranges from free to enterprise-level solutions.

Scalability: Will the platform support your growth over time?

The Future of Digital Publishing

The rise of AI, voice search, and immersive media (like AR/VR) is influencing the direction of digital publishing. Platforms are now incorporating machine learning, personalization algorithms, and advanced analytics to offer deeper audience engagement and better content delivery strategies.

Conclusion

For digital publishers, choosing the right online publishing platforms for digital publishers is critical to success in today’s content-driven economy. With a wide range of tools available, from blogging sites to full-fledged digital magazine builders, creators can now easily publish, distribute, and monetize their content like never before. By aligning your goals with the right platform, you can establish a strong digital presence and reach audiences across the globe.

[lululawrence]

We have BEEN at detaining the opposition’s politicians for weeks now. Elected officials whose job is oversight of such centers as the ICE detentions were performing their duties and forcibly removed from the site, not allowed to reenter, and when they tried to do so they were put into cuffs and all of this was caught on camera and posted to the various politicians socials. This wasn’t done in secret and yet you don’t learn about it unless you go looking for it yourself.

I am begging everyone who lives in the US and has the spoons to do so to follow your senators and representatives. Follow the democrats from other states if you don’t have democrats representing your district, like me. There are any number of accounts you can follow to keep updated and know how they’re fighting and doing what they can, but also to know just what is happening in this country that is NOT being reported.

This is not an end all list, but here are some great options for you if you want to know where to start:

House Democrats on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/housedemocrats.bsky.social

Democratic Women’s Caucus on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/demwomencaucus.bsky.social

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/judiciarydems.senate.gov

House Oversight Democrats on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/oversightdemocrats.house.gov

The Blue Print (the DNC’s grassroots team weekly newsletter) on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/dnctheblueprint?r=1ihfk4&utm_medium=ios

There are SO many more, but this is such a great place to start. I suggest looking up your local division of Indivisible if you have one and connecting with them, and the ACLU is also a great place to connect with. They both send newsletters (usually weekly in my experience) with great ideas for ways you can get involved and make your voice heard.

If all of this is too much for you, I feel you! I follow all of these accounts and get the newsletters I’ve recommended as well, but I can’t always keep up. Life is hard right now and spoons aren’t always available.

For those times I HIGHLY recommend you follow Ariella Elm. She’s on BlueSky, Instagram, and Substack (which is my personal recommendation) and she does daily posts doing her best to summarize the ways democrats in office are fighting back as well as the day’s three biggest wins.

Don’t get me wrong. We are in a fucking horrible place right now. But there ARE people fighting back and there are ways for YOU to fight back. The only way to begin to know how is to stay informed.

Ah, so we're at "detaining opposition politicians" levels now. Cool.