New Review of Tree Fall with Birdsong

I usually try to avoid checking places like Amazon and Goodreads for reviews of my books, but recently I was told A Writer’s Craft has 100 reviews on Amazon, which made me curious to go take a look. That number was correct, though most are star ratings and not reviews with text. The ones I saw with written reviews were mostly familiar to me, which is still a happy thing. I just try not to check on that too often because you never know what you’ll find.

That led me down the rabbit hole of looking to see what other reviews are out there: nothing new on Amazon for my poetry collections, though that’s hardly a surprise. That led me to some other book sites with similar results and finally back to GoodReads, where I had a very nice surprise.

Back in January, Tiffanee Mask Jackson took the time to write a long review that starts out with the tag “Gorgeous– a scrapbook of a place I learned to call home” and has a couple more substantive paragraphs. Naturally, I read them, and it made my day, though I’m writing about it not to brag (too much) but also to point out how helpful it is when someone takes the time to write a thoughtful response.

She reads a lot and posts quite a few reviews: some with stars and some with written comments. I’m grateful and honored she took the time to write what she did about my collection of poems.

If you have a book you’ve finished and can take a moment to write even a short paragraph in response, rest assured, the author will be grateful, especially if you liked the book, and so will other readers who will have a much better sense of what they’re about to buy (or check out from their library)!

Now you can go read her review and like it or comment to thank her for me.

MFA Advice for Writers 2026, Pt 4 AI—Just Don’t

As I said at the outset of this series, I want to talk about some things that ought not even need to be said, but then again, maybe they do. AI is one of those topics.

Every MFA program I know of either expressly states that you may not use AI in your writing sample or doesn’t state it outright yet, but also doesn’t want to see AI. Why would anyone who wants a graduate degree in writing even think it might be appropriate to let AI do the writing for you?

Well, there is a lot of hype out there, and that hype does create a fair amount of confusion, so I can see how it could seem like there are some gray areas, but I’m going to say that there really isn’t. Just don’t use AI. Period. That’s your safest strategy.

You might think it’s okay to use AI for spellcheck or grammar check, but it can be a slippery slope from that to allowing an AI tool to suggest ways to revise your writing, which ends up looking like AI wrote your work for you. Just don’t. There are still very good spellcheckers and even grammar checkers that don’t intrude on your writing. It’s fine to let Word underline what it thinks are grammatical or spelling issues, just don’t let it suggest how you should improve that passage — we want to see how you would write it, not how Word or Claude or ChatGPT or Grok would.

You might think it’s okay to use AI to help you come up with topics for your statement of purpose. Just don’t. It will give you topics it has gleaned from the internet, which is full of bad advice. It might even pull a smidgen of that advice from my blog, but it will still be bad advice because it’s filtered through the AI’s algorithms and not through your experience. I want to know about you. I don’t want to know what AI tells you it thinks I want to know. Just don’t. Don’t trust it. Trust yourself. I would much rather read that even if, or maybe especially if, what you want to say goes against all of my expectations.

Besides, AI has already stolen from me by using a pirated copy of one of my books for its training without my permission. Why would I want to see what it thinks you ought to write? Just don’t let it lead you astray.

Most agents and publishers have implemented anti-AI language in their contracts for creative books. Aren’t all books creative? Even a cookbook or a city guide will be suspect if written by AI, and because AI-generated content can’t be copyrighted, even AI-assisted text (beyond basic spellchecking and grammar checking) is essentially worthless to a publisher because they have no copyright protections.

Literary magazines are mostly implementing similar policies. Why should MFA programs treat AI-generated stories, poems, creative nonfiction (I shudder at the thought), or drama any differently? You might think that if you wrote the prompts that caused the output, then you have a claim to the intellectual property. But that’s not how copyright law works, at least not now, so just don’t even think about it.

Now, when I am reading writing samples, I’m actually happy when I see a few typos or grammatical inconsistencies, signs that a fallible human has had a hand in the creation of the text. I haven’t gotten to the point where I distrust every em-dash, but AI’s overreliance on them (which I’m sure will soon be programmed out of the algorithm) is probably a good reason to be extra careful not to overindulge in that habit. I like a good em-dash now and then. Just don’t overdo it—never a good idea.

The more you can do to authentically be yourself, the better. Just don’t be surprised if more MFA programs want to interview applicants before they make their decisions. We haven’t gone that route in my program yet, but it might come to that. I’m always happy to get on a Zoom call with applicants to discuss our program, I just haven’t started to require it or call it an interview.

I know AI companies want you to believe everyone is using it and it is the wave of the future, but that simply isn’t true, not to the extent they want you to believe. It is true that more and more people use it, but it’s also true that we as a society need to figure out what is legitimate use and what isn’t. Creative writers ought to be the ones to figure it out for creative writing, so just don’t let AI companies sell you on the hype. Real writers don’t use it, and you shouldn’t either, especially not when applying for an MFA in Creative Writing.

OK, I’ll get off my soapbox now.

MFA Advice for Writers 2026, Pt 3 Magazines

Last time, I suggested that one way to show what kind of writer you’d like to be is to include a discussion of literary magazines in your statement of purpose or cover letter. Yet it occurs to me that literary magazines have another value for the MFA applicant.

Most programs publish a magazine, so if you are researching programs and trying to get a good idea of the kind of writing they like, you shoudl read their magazine. Most of these magazines are edited by students in the program, so the selections they make about the writers to accept for their magazine will tell a lot about the kind of writers in the program. I often suggest that prospecitve students read back issues of Ponder Review or Poetry South, which are available for free online in our archives. You can tell a lot from the selections we have made.

But you can dig deeper than just the work published. Consider the submission guidelines and the different tiers of rejection notices by looking them up at rejectionwiki.org. We prefer to use the term “decline” or “return” when we don ‘t accept a writer’s work. How a magazine handles this can give you insights into the program’s culture.

Or read a recent masthead to see who the graduate students working on the magazine have been. Then search to see where they’ve published or what they are doing today, especially if you’re looking at an issue from a few years back. In addition to looking up what and where faculty have published, it can be instructive to see where current and former students are active. This take a fair amount of digging, and you might not find everything, but the magazine editors are a great place to start.

Common advice for applicants is to research the faculty at the programs they want to apply to. That’s important because you’re likely to work with those faculty, but it’s equally important to try to get a sense of the students in a program, and the literary magazine may be the best place to learn about them. And if you end up enrolling in that program, one of the most valuable experiences you have may be working on that magazine. Is it run as part of a class or staffed by graduate assistants or volunteers? And if you’re headed to #AWP26, you can see copies of many magazines and even meet some of their staffs at the Book Fair.

MFA Advice for Writers 2026, Pt 2 What are You Reading?

When you write your statement of purpose (which in our program, we call a letter of intent) it is often a good idea to talk about writers you like. This can give a program a sense of the kind of writer you’d like to be and what you know about the literary world. But it can be hard to decide who to talk about. It’s a lot like choosing comps for the book you haven’t written yet.

On the one hand, you can simply be honest and list some of your favorite authors, but you don’t want to sound like you’re just name dropping. Or if you list the hottest new young adult or fantasy authors, for instance,there’s a good chance the person reading your letter will know those names. On the other hand, if you only list the names of classic writers, you run the risk of sounding out of touch or dated.

When listing comps for a book proposal, the standard advice is you shouldn’t list anything older than 3-5 years. That’s because an agent wants to know where your book might land in the current market. MFA programs aren’t looking for the same thing, but we do want to know that you have some sense of what writers are writing today. Mentioning someone who’s published in the past decade or two is probably a good idea. Just make sure you’ve actually read them and remember them well enough to say something salient, not just drop a name.

And I don’t mind if I don’t recognize every writer on your list. Let’s be honest, there are so many great writers out there doing great books, no one can know them all. I’d be amazed if someone mentioned the two books I bought last week: Sean Hill’s the Negroes Send Their Love and W. Ralph Eubanks’ When It’s Darkness in the Delta. Why should I be surprised that you admire someone I have to look up. Let me know what you love about their work, and it will tell me something about you, which is what I’m really after. Don’t just pull a few names off the latest Top 100 list, either. They won’t impress me as much as a good discussion of someone I’ve never heard of.

As I’m writing this, though, I’m thinking about that temptation to list the names of prominent writers. As underdstandable as it is, it’s also misguided. If what a program wants to know is what kind of writer you might become and whether you have a realistic sense of how to get there, it seems to me that a better strategy might be to talk about the literary magazines you read. After all, most writers get their start in magazines, and some familiarity with that world is a good indicator that you have some idea what it will take to get published.

In my “15 Things to Do Before a Low-Res MFA,” a somewhat tongue-in-cheek advice column, getting rejected by a literary magazine is one thing I list. Publishing isn’t a requirement, but learning about the process and being ready to take that step even if you haven’t had successes yet ought to be. One of our program’s goals is that every graduate will have been published at least once by the time they walk the stage. We don’t always achieve that goal—a few are hesitant and some take a little longer to reach success, often getting that first acceptance a month or two after taking our survey.

Mentioning the magazines you read or where you’ve submitted your work can tell us a lot about your understanding of the literary world and the kind of place you hope to find in it. As with authors, don’t just list the top tier magazines everyone knows about. Dig a little deeper. Pour through the excellent listings at ChillSubs, New Pages, Duotrope, The Grinder or Poets & Writers. Search by vibe a ChillSubs or search by genre or region. Don’t just list the coolest names. Read their issues and tell us what you found.

While you’re at it, you can research us but looking up recent magazine publications by our faculty. See what magazines we’ve published in. Read our work, if it’s available, or at least get a sense of the magazine. You can often learn a lot about a program without ever cracking open a book just by reading what’s available online or in journals.

And don’t forget your university or public library. Often they subscribe to magazines. They may not have the widest selection of print copies (still always my favorite way to read), but they might also have electronic access. Ask at the reference desk, since these are not always the easiest materials to find.

As you prepare to apply to MFA programs, spend some time educating yourself about this often mysterious world. Read Becky Tuch’s Lit Mag News, Erika Dreifus’s Practicing Writer, or other newsletters about publishing. Or follow ChillSubs, NewPages, Duotrope, or Poets & Writers on your favorite social media. No matter what MFA program you end up at, you’ll be glad you did this research before you got there.

And if you name some obscure and quirky lit mat in your cover letter, I might just be glad to find out about them, especially if you tell me who you read in a recent issue and why you loved it. That will tell me a lot about who you are as a writer, and after all, that’s the main thing I want to get to know.

MFA Advice for Writers 2026, Pt 1 #AWP26

For over a decade I’ve been writing advice for creative writers who are applying to MFA programs, but for the last little while I’ve slowed down, thinking that I might have said it all. The last thing I would want to do is just repeat what I’ve said in the past. And yet the older a post gets, the less traction it has, which also means people won’t see that advice as readily. In the lead-up to the Association of Writers and Writing Programs 2026 conference, March 4-7, it seems like a good time to update this series and address some topics that ought to go without saying, perhaps, but often are the kinds of information MFA applicants lack. So let’s start with AWP, a great source of information for anyone considering an MFA.

Naturally, the AWP conference has hundreds of panels on all kinds of issues that writers face, whether those are craft issues, advice on how and where to publish, or pedagogy panels. There are also many, many readings both on and off site. It is literally overwhelming how much there is to do and learn. And with an expected attendance of 14,000 writers or more, you need to be prepared to be awash in writing for three days.

Besides the panels, though, don’t forget the Book Fair, which is a bit of a misnomer. Many MFA programs will have tables there, as will many magazines, bookstores, publishers, writers’ residencies, and other services for writers. If you want to get to know what a program is like, go talk to them at their table, which often will be staffed by current students as well as faculty. This is so much better than researching a program online because you can get an immediate sense of a program’s culture or vibe. So if you find yourself in Baltimore, please stop by our table, T984, and say hi.

That’s not to say you don’t need to also do your research online, but you can learn a lot more by talking to someone, asking a few questions, or picking up brochures or sample copies of their magazines. And don’t forget to leave room in your suitcase for all the swag you’re likely to bring home.

The best advice I’ve heard for AWP is to wear comfortable shoes. Dress like yourself, whether that is the latest fashion, outlandish and quirky, or yoga pants or sweats. Walking the convention center, you will see folks in every style of dress, and no matter what you wear, you will either stand out or fit in, depending on what look you’re going for. Don’t worry that you have to seem pretentious or overly sophisticated—no one expects that. Just be yourself and be open to meeting new people and having new experiences. I’ve had great conversations with people I met at a panel, ran into in the hallways, or whose book fair table I decided to visit. Some were people I know, but many have been complete strangers.

In the evenings, there are the big name readings, like this year’s keynote, John Waters. But there are also many receptions and off-site events hosted by magazines, publishers, or programs. The conference is non-stop and exhausting, and another piece of good advice is to allow yourself some time away from the conference center to decompress.

Attending the conference is a wonderful idea, but I also realize it can be expensive. First there is the cost of travel and lodging, and then there’s the cost of registration, which can run from $260 to $380 depending on whether you’re a member or nonmember, if you register online by March 3. On-site registration is more: $435 to $580. Non-members, don’t miss the discounted rate if you add a membership when you register: $350 before March 3 and $525 on-site. Who would pay the full non-member rate rather than save $50 to get more? Current students can register for $75 or $155 on-site, and anyone who lives near enough and wants to go for Saturday only can get a one-day pass for $25.

Less expensive virtual passes are also available, which allow access to a limited number of recorded panels, but you don’t get the advantage of the book fair, where all the action is. Anyone can follow the hashtag #AWP26 on their social media, though, and see posts related to the conference before, during, and after the event. Our program will be posting regularly with this hashtag, so you can follow along virtually.

Even if you can only follow the hashtag, taking part in #AWP26 is one way you can become more knowledgable about the world of creative writing, and one space where you can get to know programs, their people, and their magazines better. That’s why I’m starting this series with AWP. In the coming two weeks, I’ll be back with more things you can do to prepare your best MFA application in Creative Writing.

Why all the Writer Scams Right Now?

I try not to be a conspiracy theorist, really I do. But these days, when nefarious forces loom large, it’s hard not to be. And when so many horrific things are happening in the world, from the killing of protesters and detaining of people who look like immigrants whether they are in the U.S. legally or not—or are even actually citizens—to the invasion of Venezuela to the attempt to acquire Greenland, and the list goes on and on, things like phishing emails sent to writers seem practically insignificant.

Yet I wonder.

If there is a grand conspiracy, isn’t it possible that shutting up writers might be part of the plan? Why target writers so heavily at this very moment? Is it just because the scammers think we’re all so gullible? Quite possibly that’s all there is to it, but I also wonder whether another motive is to sow distrust and thereby to undermine the value of free speech.

I would love to contact book clubs to market my collection of poems, and I would love to engage in conversation with writers I don’t know. Every scam email purporting to be a book club who will buy tons of copies of my book if I’ll just pay to help advertise it or every fake writer who sends spammy AI-generated compliments about my book or every publishing scheme that wants to buy up the paperback or movie rights if I’ll just invest in the project to help get the ball rolling or every scammer masquerading as an editor at a major publisher—every one of these scams and more make it just a little less likely that I’ll contact a book club, engage with other writers, trust an editor, or try to get my book in more markets.

Recently, I’ve seen several scammy ads on late night TV offering services to authors to help them find an agent, find a publisher, etc. These were on broadcast television, which I access over the airwaves, so I don’t think they could even be targeted at me because I am a writer, though the thought did cross my mind. I know better than to contact one of these snake oil salesmen, but what about the neophyte writer who has no idea how the industry works and can’t tell a fraudster from a legitimate agent?

Of course, vanity presses and so-called hybrid publishers have always been around. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen them advertise on TV, though. You were more likely to find them in the back of comic books. Maybe that speaks more to the devalued state of broadcast ads than to a grand, nepharious plot. And maybe writers are just the latest targets of the internet scammer set, and they will soon move on to another ploy and another group they think they can exploit. These people are making money off writers’ dreams, after all.

But if there were a force behind this craze of phony offers to writers, then it might make sense that the end game is to depress our speech by making us distrustful of each other and of the industry that supports our speech.

To learn more about the scams that are circulating out there, bookmark The Author’s Guild’s Publishing Scam Alerts blog or visit Writer Beware.

What else can you do?

Unfortunately, it is necessary to be skeptical of nearly every unsolicited correspondence you receive. Read carefully, be critical, but don’t just trash every offer you receive. I invite writers to the Eudora Welty Writers’ Symposium all the time, and I live in fear of someone just ignoring my invitation out of distrust. I write detailed invitations, laying out our terms in both the email (in summary) and in a letter and agreement form, etc. I always include a link to our website that is current and has a long history. There are news articles about prior symposia and many of the people who have been invited are well-known writers. I rely on the people I invite to look closely enough to judge that my invitation is legit and worth consideration. Many already know us, but some writers I contact each year are new and won’t have heard of us. I can only hope our reputation preceeds us.

Like me, you can do your best and maybe even redouble your efforts to build relationships, extend networks, and fight against the rising tide of distrust. Whether or not that is fostered by a conspiracy, the distrust is a side-effect of all the scams out there, and it is worth combatting whether or not it is the intended effect. Don’t be too trusting, and don’t be so mistrustful that you hurt yourself and others. Trust your instincts when something looks too good to be true, and do your research even when it does look legit.

You’ll be happier if you trust but verify than if you blindly trust or don’t trust at all.

How I revised, A Writer’s Craft

The big news of the week (besides the fact that I’m back from sabbatical and the Spring 2026 semester started this week) is that I sent of the manuscript for A Writer’s Craft: Multi-Genre Creative Writing, 2nd Edition. I’m using the first edition cover for this post because that’s where I started my revisions and because I won’t have a new cover for awhile yet, but you can bet I’ll post about that as soon as it’s finalized. We haven’t even begun talking about that yet, but I have spent the last several months of the Fall 2025 semester working on the manuscript.

When I sat down with my last good version of A Writer’s Craft, 1st Edition (always save your files!) and contemplated how I could turn it into the second edition I had envisioned in my proposal to Bloomsbury, my first thought was that I needed to follow my own $%#& advice. I knew I would need to cut as well as add, in other words. I knew I would have to be brutal and brave enough to make significant changes, yet hold to the tone and the content of the original. And may I say it felt a little daunting in August when I began on Chapter 1?

In fact, as I recall, I didn’t complete revisions to the first chapter until I had made a good pass through Chapter 2 at least. I set myself a goal of revising a chapter a week, yet in the first weeks I didn’t stick to that entirely. I did reach it by the end of the second or third week, but I moved forward through those first chapters at a somewhat different pace until I settled in and stuck to my plan. And I was okay with that.

Roughly speaking, here is my weekly schedule for revising a chapter a week. On Monday, I would read through the new chapter and make a plan for revision, consulting my book proposal and looking for other writing I had done on the subject, such as blog posts or notes for teaching creative writing. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I would rewrite, adding as much content as I felt I needed, especially coming up with examples from literature that I could use to illustrate my points, since that was one of the main comments of the peer reviews I got back. In this initial revision, I did not worry about length, but by Thursday when I made my next pass through the chapter I would both focus on cutting back to meet my chapter length target and on adding to cover any areas I missed in my first revision. Friday’s revision would usually focus on cutting every word I could, even whole paragraphs, to get back to the target length for the chapter. Then next week, I would start over again, reading and planning revisions for the next chapter, which often meant going back through the previous week’s chapter once again as well.

In other words, each week I followed the advice I give in the book. Write to get your thoughts on paper without worrying too much about the final form initially. Be willing to write words you won’t end up using in order to get to the words you will keep, and be willing to cut , reshape, and rephrase the words you’ve sweated blood getting on the page in order to make a stronger, clearer, and more concise final product. It was always important to get some distance after Friday’s “final” draft and look back the following week to see what I had done and continue to refine.

In the end, after an intense 15 weeks of revising a chapter week, I spent a week revising the entire manuscript again in one week, which helped me to catch a few inconsistencies and a duplicated passage or two. Then I worked on things like tracking down quotes and preparing the manuscript to send to my editor. I did those last tasks off and on over the holidays and as I was getting ready for the spring semester.

So, you are probably asking, what did I revise? A lot, to be honest. And a lot more than I could ever describe in one post, but I can give a few highlights. Let’s start by saying that the total manuscript went from 60,000 words to 109,477 words, so I essentially wrote another book—except I didn’t. Most of the what was in the first edition is still in the second, though I did cut a lot out as well — not content, but words. I was conscientious when revising, especially the second and third times through, to be as brutal with my original prose as I was with what had been added.

It is a leaner volume with much more tofu (sorry, I’m a vegetarian, so i don’t want to call it “meatier”). A chapter often would reach nearly 10,000 words on the first pass-through, and I would then bring it back to at most 8K. The early chapters weigh in at around 6.5-7K, and I did my best to keep the chapters on genre to just over 8K apiece. This was up from 4-6K with one outlier that was 7K in early chapters of the first edition, and 5-7K for the chapters on genre. One result of actually counting the words in each chapter is that the chapters are now much more consistent in length.

Thank you to LibreOffice who easily showed me my word count and to my editor for encouraging me to stay within my limits, even though she agreed to increase the target early in the process when our estimate that the 2nd edition would have 30% new content was clearly not enough. The second edition is has 83% more content by may calculation (based on word count). Considering that I probablly cut close to 20%, it really is like doubling the size of the book. I really did want a second edition to be worth it for those who buy the book.

Some of the things I added: a discussion of AI in the Introduction, Chapter 2, and Chapter 14 where I return to consider whether AI-generated texts are literature (there are different ways to look at it, but for one, I consider the copyright implications of AI); an expanded discussion of “reading like a writer”; a discussion of writing in other languages and bilingual writing; more discussions of cultural bias or appropriation; sections on non-Western forms of narrative structure; more sections on specific forms of poetry, including non-Western forms like the haiku, the ghazal, and the pantoum, as well as nonce forms like the Golden Shovel and the duplex; a revised discussion of narrative time in fiction; an expanded discussion of lyric essay and offshoots like the hermit crab essay and the braided essay; updated formats for playscripts, including those used outside the U.S.; a section on writing screenplays, including a format for writing a spec script; and a thoroughly revised and expanded Chapter 14, now titled “New Genres” that includes a discussion of digital writing form like the hypertext story, social media and maps, and interactive fiction. There are also new Notebook Exercises in every chapter (each chapter after the Introduction has a dozen exercises), and there are now two Group Exercises in every chapter, including some that are labeled Small Group Workshop exercises to give examples of how small group workshops might be conducted.

That’s a fairly long list, and it only scratches the surface, but it should give the idea that the second edition is much more multi-cultural (something the first edition was open to but wasn’t as explicit about) and multi-national (knowing that the book is used in England, Australia, and many other countries made me even more focused on shifting my perspective and making it more global). It is also much more specific, going into detail about forms and strategies that in the first I had left for the instructor to cover the way they wanted to. Much of that detail comes from having taught for another decade since I wrote the first edition, and having taught gradaute students as well as undergrads, and bringing some of the lessons I learned from working with my grad students into my undergraduate classes over the years. Much of that detail also comes from paying attention to what has been going on in the field of creative writing pedagogy over that decade, as well as from my own experience as a writer over that time.

I’m not a fan of textbooks that come out with a new edition every few years, but a decade is long enough, and I knew I had more to say. I just couldn’t predict how much more that would be until I really dug into the work. It was an intense 16+ weeks to revise 14 chapters plus the end-matter (appendix, glossary, and resources), and then revise the whole book again in one week. It was a wild and rewarding ride!

P.S. At no point in the process did I use AI. I chose to write in LibreOffice because a) I lost part of an early revision due to issues I was having in Word, losing a day or two’s worth of work (I have amnesia about that) and b) because LibreOffice so far does not constantly ask if I want its AI assistant to help me write (it doesn’t have one as far as I can tell). I turn AI off of my search engine, and I don’t rely on anything other than the included spelling and grammar checking functions in LibreOffice that underline words. The last thing I want is for AI to start suggestion what word it thinks I might write next. I can second-guess myself, thank you very much. I don’t need AI to do that for me.

Thanks, Fake Elena Ferrante

I got a very nice email out of the blue this morning from “Elena Ferrante, an author,” who said complimentary things about my book Tree Fall with Birdsong. Initially, I was pleased, but it didn’t take long before I got my guard up. I could almost handle someone calling themselves “an author” without much more explanation, but the things she said about my book quickly began to sound like an AI mashup of the blurbs on the back cover. Nothing was that specific, but several phrases echoed things I’d written.

I decided not to reply, but instead did a search. Elena Ferrante appears to have a website and to have written a book or two, maybe more — I didn’t spend too much time on this. Her wikipedia page is unbelievably detailed for someone known to write behind an elusive pseudonym (according to Wikipedia). That did make me wonder whether she really exists, but she may (or someone may legitimately write under that name). But when I searched on “AI email from Elanea Ferrante,” I found other references to a Fake Elena Ferrante, who sends writers messages, has short conversations, and then disappears. She (he or it?) apparently has multiple gmail addresses with her name, a number, and @gmail.com.

It’s a little unclear what the scam is, but maybe Fake Elena Ferrante just wants to see who will reply so they can put that address in their spam email list and send more garbage. Or maybe someone just amuses themselves tormenting writers with fake emails. It’s a little hard to tell what the game is, but maybe some writers really take the bait and get scammed for nonexistent services. Or maybe Elena Ferrante is just really starved for attention or thinks this is a way to get some. I didn’t reply, but I am writing about it.

I’ll never know. Now that I’ve written about it, that message will go in my trash, and I’ll chalk it up as another lesson in all the fake writers, agents, publicists, etc. who seem to be contacting writers in flattering emails, trying to sell you something or just trying to get you to take the bait.

Be careful out there, folks!

And Elena Ferrante, if you really exist, I doubt you’ve ever read my book, but if you ever do, I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for the kind words your duppleganger sent in advance, even if they sounded a lot like me.

Goodbye Oleada, Hello Ola, Subfolio, & Dapple

Over at Lit Mag Labs, they’ve been reporting on the demise of one alternative submission platform and the rise of three new ones this year.

Oleada, a quirky little submission manager that I wrote about awhile ago and even used once or twice, is soon to be no more, at least according to Lit Mag Labs. On the Oleada website, I didn’t see an announcement, but Lit Mag Labs says it will be phased out in February 2026 to be replaced by Ola.

So far, at Ola, I can only see information about the features publishers will have and the pricing publishers pay to host calls for submission there. So far, it’s a little unclear to me how writers will submit work on Ola and how they’ll track their submissions. From their Roadmap page, it looks like it will be six months or more before the site is fully functional, though maybe they’ll have some early adopters up and running before then.

Another new submission platform that is getting some attention is Subfolio, where users can login and where there are several actuve calls for submission, including from magazines like Agni, River Styx, and One Art. A few other publishers have created landing pages but currently don’t have open calls. Lit Mag Labs has a recent interview with the creator, which is especially enlightening for magazine editors. Of course, it is early days, but Subfolio appears to be based on a stable, working prototype and seems to be gaining traction. Publishers can get full details on pricing and features here.

Finally, Lit Mag Labs turned me on to Dapple. Read the Lit Mag Labs interview here. As with Ola, I can see how things are supposed to work for publishers, though I haven’t explored that fully yet, but I can’t see open calls for submission or tell whether those will be hosted at dapple.com or whether magazines will have their calls listed on their website. Will there be a discover feature, as there is on Submittable and Subfolio? Or will writers find calls. Will writers need to set up an account at Dapple to submit? Or will that happen through the publisher’s call. I haven’t had time to explore their site too much yet, so I’m curious how it will work from the writer’s perspective.

Wrangling Walmart Customer Service

Every now and then, I use this blog to post a rant about customer service or tech issues. Since I’ve just spent a good 30 minutes on a chat with Walmart, I thought it might be good to relate my experience here, so apologies in advance for the rant. I hope it might help someone else in a similar situation.

First a little history. Even though I usually try to avoid them, I ordered a $60 item from Walmart because they had a good price. So did one other store, but I would have had to pay shipping and I happened to have Walmart+ so shipping was free. There’s a long story for why I had that, but to keep it short, it involved ordering something else a while ago and accepting a free trial of Walmart+ to get it on time — isn’t that how they get you?

Back to Christmas shopping. I grabbed this Black Friday deal for the free shipping and 1-day delivery (not that I needed it that soon), but the next day instead of delivering it, Walmart cancelled my order, saying it was out of stock at my store and had been scheduled for delivery from the store, even though that wasn’t what I originally chose for a shipping option. Walmart+ should have given me free 2-day shipping

Disappointed, I checked again online and found that the other store no longer had the same deal, but I could order again from Walmart, who seemed to have stock even though they cancelled my order. After searching for anyone else who had the same item at that price and coming up empty, I decided to try ordering again in hopes they would ship from their warehouse if the store didn’t have it in stock. My second order went through, and they showed there were 9 items in stock.

A day later, my order status again changed from shipping to delivery from store, but this time it got stuck on “Assigning a driver” and eventually by evening, the status changed to Delayed, which is where it was stuck this morning. So I decided to try chatting with Customer Support, which was a bust.

To get to Customer Support, I had to view my Purchas History, then View Details on the order that was delayed. On the Details screen there was a link to chat with Customer Support. Initially, I got their AI bot in chat, and it obviously couldn’t handle an issue like mine. After trying it with a few questions and getting nowhere, I decided to try an old trick from automated phone customer service lines. I typed “Representative” in the chat window, and that sent me to an actual person: Isiah.

He or she tried to be helpful, but we didn’t really get anywhere. I did get a little information after half an hour waiting for him to try to find a solution. It does appear that the item exists and is waiting to be delivered. They are trying to find someone to deliver it to my house. I offered to pick it up at my local store or to have it shipped, but they weren’t able to change delivery. That does make me suspect that the item isn’t in my town but is in the next town over, which is about at 20-minute drive for me. Not something I want to do unless it’s the last resort.

Apparently, there is no stock in the warehouse, but there is stock in a local store, so that’s why delivery keeps changing from 1-day shipping to delivery from store. I’d be happy if I got the item within a few days. Standard ground shipping would work for me, but they won’t do that. And they apparently can’t let me pick it up. So I’m stuck in limbo.

Isiah told me that if the item doesn’t arrive by 8pm tonight, I could contact them again and cancel the order. I said I didn’t want to cancel it, but would demand that I get it at the original price. Right now, Walmart lists it for $33 more than I paid. I would consider it bait and switch if I have to pay that much more for an item they canceled twice even though they had it in stock but can’t figure out how to get it to me.

My main takeaway is that I’ve been right to avoid Walmart like the plague all these years, and I’ll try to return to that policy and not be tempted by free shipping offers.

The other takeaway is that you can get to customer service, but often it isn’t easy. Even the chat feature was hard to find, and then I had to deal with a bot before I could type “Representative” to get to an actual person. Next time, if I have to go through all of that again, I’ll ask to speak with a manager, and I might choose the option to have them call me instead of doing it by chat. At least then I’ll be able to express my frustration verbablly and not be held hostage in chat while they put me on hold.

Update: Walmart did come through. My item was delivered this afternoon. Maybe it would have turned out this way even if I hadn’t called customer support, but I have to believe that the squeeky wheel gets the grease and that calling did make this order more or a priority. Of course, none of this would have been a concern if they hadn’t cancelled my initial order and then raised the price after my second order so that I was looking at a steep price increase if it got cancelled again.