As always, thanks for signing up and scrolling through. I hope your pitches and/or queries land and the words flow this week.

Without further ado.

An Ohio third-grade teacher loses the fight against book bans. Karen Cahall, a veteran of the New Richmond Exempted Village School District for 30 years, was suspended for several days without pay after school authorities accused her of storing “controversial” material — four YA books “with LGBTQ+ characters.” A district court dismissed her lawsuit, feeling the school’s definition of controversial wasn’t vague at all. (LitHub)

Amazon drops its ‘Best Books’ list for the last 25 years. #1 picks include the 9/11 Commission report, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and The Testaments by Margaret Atwood. (Amazon)

Barnes & Noble unveils 2025 Book of the Year finalists. The list includes Mel Robbins’ Let Them Theory, Katabasis by R.F. Kuang, and Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. (Barnes & Noble)

Turns out AI gets brain rot, too. If you feed something a steady diet of low-quality, high-engagement content, cognitive abilities begin to deteriorate. That “something” also includes AI. (Wired)

Feelings aren’t facts, and other reminders for writers. Just because you’re struggling doesn’t mean you’re alone. People in a different time didn’t have it easier; things were just a different kind of difficult. Anna Sproul-Latimer unspools seven cognitive distortions writers frequently struggle with. (How to Glow in the Dark)

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NaNoWriMo is dead. Long live First Draft November. If you’re a writer or poet looking to get paid for your art, chances are you already know about Chill Subs. This year, they’re pushing their community-building a step further and are inviting writers to join them in First Draft November to write a 50,000-word first draft.

Plus, a refresher on what happened to NaNoWriMo. (Tech Crunch)

Writing women’s fiction is advocating for emotional truth. Literary agent Erin C. Niumata digs into the history of women’s fiction as a book genre and makes the argument for why these stories are more necessary than ever. (Erin’s Third Act)

10 reasons AI can’t replace editors. (Writers in the Storm)

So you published a personal essay or article. Now what? Being a writer today doesn’t mean work ends when you hit submit. There are steps you can take to inspire future articles or keep coverage on your piece going. (Rachel Kramer Bussel)

The AI impact on search optimization. Since AI has been part of Google and Bing ranking for around a decade, there isn’t much of a change. SEO best practices still align with AEO/GEO — for now, anyway. (Search Engine Journal)

Reminder:
I have openings + quick turnarounds on query letter edits.

Roma Panganiban, literary assistant at Janklow & Nesbit, is looking for “espionage drama” with a “spy who uses only meanswear clues to take down evil international cabals.” E-mail submissions to [email protected] with “query” in the subject, plus query, synopsis, and first 10 pages pasted directly into the e-mail.

Natascha Morris, senior literary agent at the Tobias Literary Agency, is looking for “Legally Blonde but in genre fiction” and “malicious compliance in YA or MG.” Please submit queries through QueryTracker.

Madison Scalera, literary associate for Oslawnger Literary, is looking for cozy horror “like cozy fantasy’s evil sibling”, body horror, and “folklore stories like Thistlefoot.” Please submit queries through QueryTracker.

Jamie Vankirk, literary agent at and founder of Rainbow Nerds Literary, is looking for horror (cozy, romance, gothic, Southern, Appalachian, YA, NA, adult), especially from marginalized perspectives. Please submit queries through QueryTracker.

Jared Johnson, literary agent at Oslwanger Literary, is looking for horror — “the weirder the better.” He’s especially interested in “horror that offers a conscious exploration of cultural issues or as a window to identity.” Still, he will pass on something that is a “slasher for the slasher’s sake.” Please submit queries through QueryTracker.

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Reminder: Vet each opportunity before submitting.
Inclusion does not equal endorsement.

Roadtrips: Southwest Contemporary is looking for pitches for its Spring-Summer 2026 print issue, themed ‘The Road.” They’re looking foir pitches of pieces that “desconstruct the romantic notions and zero in on the passage and what it means — movements and traces through time and space” in the southwest. Pieces can be artist profiles, reporting, features, cultural criticism, creative essays, and more. Rate: $100 - $500. Submit pitches through their pitch form.

Travel: Stephanie Pitera, Lifestyle/Entertainment editor at Business Insider, is looking for pitches of first-person essays on a range of lifestyle topics, including “travel mistakes, packing tips for specific destinations, travel essays, tips from locals of popular tourist destinations, national parks,” and “business-class flight upgrades.” Rates start at $230 for 600 words. Please submit pitches through her pitch form.

Travel: Fodor’s Travel is looking for pitches of original, entertaining travel stories. “There are no destinations that are off limits, no topics we will not consider, and no specific way a story must be told. However, we want to be fascinated and inspired, learn something we didn’t already know, and find ourselves riveted by your writing and angle.” Though, they’re particularly interested in anything “serviceable” for their readers, “e.g., teaches them a half, saves them time and money, or gives them an unlikely tip.” Rate: typically around $300. Please submit pitches through their pitch form.

Travel Hot Takes: Nikki Vargas, Senior Digital Editor at Fodor’s Travel, is always looking for pitches of takes “that will stir up conversation and debate” — “the spicier the take, the better” for the recurring Hot Takes series. Rate: around $300. E-mail pitches to [email protected] with “Hate Take” as the subject.

Vinyl: I Have That On Vinyl is looking for pitches of essays about vinyl records tied to Thanksgiving. “If you want to write about Alice’s restaurant, or write about all the albums you’re thankful for, DMs are open. Rate: $20 for 800 - 1,200 words. E-mail pitches to [email protected] with “IHTOV PITCH” in the subject.

PLAY, a queer food and culture magazine, is looking for pitches of stories that “explore queerness and being outside in all forms,” for the second edition. These stories can take the form of essays, reported features, poetry, short fiction, visual art, and recipes that reside at the intersection of queerness, food, and the outdoors. Rate: $300 - $500. Deadline: Oct 31. Please pitch through the submission form.

The Rumpus is accepting submissions of essays, criticism, interviews, and comics. Pay is $100 for prose submissions and $50 for poetry. Please submit through the pitch form.

Kitsch is hiring a full-time, remote Copywriter to join their Creative and Marketing teams. You will be responsible for “crafting compelling brand stories and strategies that deliver results” around new product launches, maintaining the brand positioning and “existing image and identity, and developing position recommendations to further develop” the brand. Ideal candidates have 3+ years of experience in brand management, marketing copywriting, and the beauty and fashion industries. Rate: $90,0000 plus benefits.

NPR is hiring a full-time, remote Overnight Editor to join their Newshub team. You will be responsible for “editing news stories with NPR reporters for the UpFirst Podcast and Morning Edition Broadcast” as well as “commission, write, edit, and sometimes write stories” depending on breaking overnight news. Ideal candidates have 3+ years of professional experience in editing national or international news writing on deadline and broadcast experience. This is a SAG-AFTRA position. Rate: $105,000 - $112,499 plus benefits.

Ski.com is hiring a Content Writer to join the marketing team and “help plan, write, and improve content across three mountain-travel sites.” Responsibilities include planning content, keyword research, refreshing old content, and improving SEO. Ideal candidates have 2 - 3 years of writing experience, ski background, a proven portfolio, conversion copy experience, and “knowledge of Epic/Ikon resorts and global ski destinations (Europe, Japan, Canada). Rate: $48,000 - $60,000 DOE plus benefits.

StitchFix is hiring a full-time, remote Copywriter to “craft engaging and on-brand Growth copy across all channels, while collaborating with designers and marketing partners to create content across a variety of platforms.” This includes participating in brainstorming/concept meetings, working in a “close-knit partnership with the Design and Marketing teams to generate forward-thinking ideas and answer briefs to a high standard.” Ideal candidates have 2-3 years of experience in Growth marketing copywriting, an understanding of SEO, and are self-starters. Rate: $51,400 - $85,000, depending on experience and location.

Vox Media is seeking a Senior Writer/Editor to lead Today, Explained, Vox’s flagship daily newsletter. You will be responsible “for the newsletter as a whole, and for ensuring that it’s consistently engaging with the news and the zeitgeist, and that the reading experience feels creative, fresh, and surprising.” Ideal candidates have “5+ years of combined experience as a writer and/or editor,” management experience, and a “collaborative approach to work.” Rate: $90,000 - $113,000.

Being a Millennial with favorite childhood books is difficult these days. Thankfully, Philip Pullman continues to be at least a publicly good person and, this week, published the latest installemnt of his Book of Dust trilogy, which take place both before and after the His Dark Materials triology.

So, I’ve started a re-read of Lyra’s story: how she ended up needing scholastic sanctuary at Jordan College in La Belle Sauvage through her childhood adventures in The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass — into her life as a twenty-year-old: The Secret Commonwealth and The Rose Field.

One of the best ways I learn is by researching and reading. Before, during, and after my MFA, I’ve read books on book writing, marketing, magazine writing, travel writing, and more. Here are the books that I still re-read after all of these years.

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As always, here are the podcasts I listen — and re-listen — to.