Beth Gilstrap (she/her)
@bettysueblue.bsky.social
Author. Editor. Copywriter. Pastry school student. Anti-fascist. EIC & Publisher of Black Lily Zine. Living w C-PTSD & vocal about ending the stigma surrounding mental illness.
Pinned
Orders for @blacklilyzine.bsky.social issue 3 are now open! See details below.
The novel I’m about to start revising once break starts is about a cult, yes, but the cult is about the overlap of the wellness community with *gestures at the U.S. rn.
November 22, 2025 at 12:58 AM
The novel I’m about to start revising once break starts is about a cult, yes, but the cult is about the overlap of the wellness community with *gestures at the U.S. rn.
Me trying to access math skills I never really had while costing out key lime pie.
a black cat with a loading icon on its face
Alt: a black cat with a loading icon on its face
media.tenor.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Me trying to access math skills I never really had while costing out key lime pie.
Charlotte is my hometown. From what I’m hearing from all my friends & family still there is that ICE is set up big time on South Blvd., beating on ppl and taking them regardless of citizenship. If you’re there and can, film everything you can.
November 16, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Charlotte is my hometown. From what I’m hearing from all my friends & family still there is that ICE is set up big time on South Blvd., beating on ppl and taking them regardless of citizenship. If you’re there and can, film everything you can.
I enjoy spending my days w other food nerds. The way most of us are constantly helping each other is heartening. It’s strange switching b/t writer me & culinary me. I look forward to merging the two soon. Not that they weren’t always interconnected. Anyhow, I learned a 9-plait challah today.
November 12, 2025 at 11:44 PM
I enjoy spending my days w other food nerds. The way most of us are constantly helping each other is heartening. It’s strange switching b/t writer me & culinary me. I look forward to merging the two soon. Not that they weren’t always interconnected. Anyhow, I learned a 9-plait challah today.
Y’all here’s what I made in two days in pastry class. Not pictured: 20 ponds of pie dough & 4 lbs of glaze.
November 11, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Y’all here’s what I made in two days in pastry class. Not pictured: 20 ponds of pie dough & 4 lbs of glaze.
There’s a freeze warning tonight. Here’s the last of my garden. Yes, I cried.
November 9, 2025 at 9:48 PM
There’s a freeze warning tonight. Here’s the last of my garden. Yes, I cried.
Introducing, my child
November 6, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Introducing, my child
And now’s about the time every evening when I start noticing how many times I’ve burned myself today.
November 3, 2025 at 10:41 PM
And now’s about the time every evening when I start noticing how many times I’ve burned myself today.
The other day in baking class an Eagles song came on and I stupidly blurted out, “I wrote an essay about that song once.” Lady I was halfway speaking to responds, “why?” And if that isn’t the way most of the non-writer world views writers idk what is. bendinggenres.com/dont-let-the...
Don’t Let The Sound Of Your Own Wheels Drive You Crazy
bendinggenres.com
November 2, 2025 at 8:21 PM
The other day in baking class an Eagles song came on and I stupidly blurted out, “I wrote an essay about that song once.” Lady I was halfway speaking to responds, “why?” And if that isn’t the way most of the non-writer world views writers idk what is. bendinggenres.com/dont-let-the...
There is someone with my same name in the Pacific Northwest who has made a significant and expensive order at a fancy pie shop. Am I also living there? Are the timelines crossed? Is it the name that makes us this way?
November 1, 2025 at 8:32 PM
There is someone with my same name in the Pacific Northwest who has made a significant and expensive order at a fancy pie shop. Am I also living there? Are the timelines crossed? Is it the name that makes us this way?
I wrote over 10,000 words for work this month and baked my arse off at school. Going to rest and try to get caught up on zine orders this weekend.
October 31, 2025 at 9:05 PM
I wrote over 10,000 words for work this month and baked my arse off at school. Going to rest and try to get caught up on zine orders this weekend.
I haven’t shared a ton about pastry school here. It feels a little like speaking into the void tbh but I learned how to make bagels today. It was the best bagel I’ve ever had tbh.
October 29, 2025 at 9:32 PM
I haven’t shared a ton about pastry school here. It feels a little like speaking into the void tbh but I learned how to make bagels today. It was the best bagel I’ve ever had tbh.
I just saw Batman and The Lorax drive by in a Chrysler convertible. I hope they’re bout to get in some good trouble together.
October 29, 2025 at 3:49 PM
I just saw Batman and The Lorax drive by in a Chrysler convertible. I hope they’re bout to get in some good trouble together.
Sometimes I get to write about fine art for my day job. It’s my fave.
October 29, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Sometimes I get to write about fine art for my day job. It’s my fave.
I wish I knew the combined total # of cookies we’ve baked in my pastry class the past two weeks. Holy shirtballs!
a dog with curly hair is rolling out dough in a kitchen
Alt: a dog with curly hair is rolling out dough in a kitchen
media.tenor.com
October 29, 2025 at 12:20 AM
I wish I knew the combined total # of cookies we’ve baked in my pastry class the past two weeks. Holy shirtballs!
Going to school FT (2 classes = 20 hours/week) & copywriting my ass off might burn me out completely but I got enough fuel from the shock on my mostly Gen Z classmates’ faces after I told them I’m 48 will keep me going for at least a little while.
a woman with red and purple hair is sitting on a couch
Alt: Nadja, a female vampire from what We Do In The Shadows with red and purple hair is sitting on a couch making the shhhh gesture.
media.tenor.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Going to school FT (2 classes = 20 hours/week) & copywriting my ass off might burn me out completely but I got enough fuel from the shock on my mostly Gen Z classmates’ faces after I told them I’m 48 will keep me going for at least a little while.
Road buddies waiting on a piece of my 🥐
October 26, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Road buddies waiting on a piece of my 🥐
In better news, the blurbs coming in for There Is News Along the Ohio River, (forthcoming from @riverriverbooks.bsky.social February ‘26) are making me cry in a good way. Unlike sobbing in my car after pastry school yesterday when a teenager corrected how I was holding my knife to cut brownies FFS.
October 22, 2025 at 4:06 PM
In better news, the blurbs coming in for There Is News Along the Ohio River, (forthcoming from @riverriverbooks.bsky.social February ‘26) are making me cry in a good way. Unlike sobbing in my car after pastry school yesterday when a teenager corrected how I was holding my knife to cut brownies FFS.
Reposted by Beth Gilstrap (she/her)
Stone Circle Replay Wednesday poem: "That Christmas I Ate Moonshine Cherries and Became a Fortune Teller" by Beth Gilstrap (@bettysueblue.bsky.social)
stonecirclereview.com/that-christm...
stonecirclereview.com/that-christm...
That Christmas I Ate Moonshine Cherries and Became a Fortune Teller
by Beth Gilstrap
CW: death, addiction, alcoholism
You had beaten the cancer once, taken up the pink bunting of survivors, made it your whole personality—folks with borderline move through them l...
stonecirclereview.com
October 22, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Stone Circle Replay Wednesday poem: "That Christmas I Ate Moonshine Cherries and Became a Fortune Teller" by Beth Gilstrap (@bettysueblue.bsky.social)
stonecirclereview.com/that-christm...
stonecirclereview.com/that-christm...
I’m having a hard time dealing with the grief over never being good enough for academia & letting go of that dream. I’ve worked so hard for so long and it’s just…hard not to see all of it as pointless.
October 22, 2025 at 11:20 AM
I’m having a hard time dealing with the grief over never being good enough for academia & letting go of that dream. I’ve worked so hard for so long and it’s just…hard not to see all of it as pointless.
Reposted by Beth Gilstrap (she/her)
Want more poetry? Contributor @bettysueblue.bsky.social published a prose poem from her new book THERE IS NEWS ALONG THE OHIO RIVER (launching Feb 2026 from @riverriverbooks.bsky.social) in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social: buff.ly/DbCZShE
October 21, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Want more poetry? Contributor @bettysueblue.bsky.social published a prose poem from her new book THERE IS NEWS ALONG THE OHIO RIVER (launching Feb 2026 from @riverriverbooks.bsky.social) in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social: buff.ly/DbCZShE
Reposted by Beth Gilstrap (she/her)
I’m looking to collaborate on some in-person and virtual events to promote my new book, a hybrid flash CNF coll. about my time in Louisville 2020-2022, “There Is News Along the Ohio River” coming Feb ‘26 from @riverriverbooks.bsky.social. If you or your bookshop are near the river, let’s talk.
October 15, 2025 at 2:55 PM
I’m looking to collaborate on some in-person and virtual events to promote my new book, a hybrid flash CNF coll. about my time in Louisville 2020-2022, “There Is News Along the Ohio River” coming Feb ‘26 from @riverriverbooks.bsky.social. If you or your bookshop are near the river, let’s talk.
Reposted by Beth Gilstrap (she/her)
Check it out…we should be ready to print starting this weekend.
Orders for @blacklilyzine.bsky.social issue 3 are now open! See details below.
October 16, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Check it out…we should be ready to print starting this weekend.
Quarter 2, Week 1, Baking 101. Pastry class starts Monday. Always silly. Love baking w my friend from culinary 105, Mailani. Exhausted & overwhelmed but still having fun. We made: blueberry muffins, sweet corn muffins, & zucchini nut bread. Next week it’s biscuits & scones.
October 16, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Quarter 2, Week 1, Baking 101. Pastry class starts Monday. Always silly. Love baking w my friend from culinary 105, Mailani. Exhausted & overwhelmed but still having fun. We made: blueberry muffins, sweet corn muffins, & zucchini nut bread. Next week it’s biscuits & scones.
Check it out…we should be ready to print starting this weekend.
Orders for @blacklilyzine.bsky.social issue 3 are now open! See details below.
October 16, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Check it out…we should be ready to print starting this weekend.