Joshua Davis
@joshlwdavis.bsky.social
Fiction writer. Husband to an adored wife, father to paint-spattered children. I will have my Veblens.
There are stories I work at, toiling and flailing. Then there are the stories that seem to bubble up near complete. This is a post about the second kind—how I published my first short story.
open.substack.com/pub/onemored...
open.substack.com/pub/onemored...
A Typewriter and a Voice
How I Published My First Short Story
open.substack.com
February 23, 2025 at 10:05 AM
There are stories I work at, toiling and flailing. Then there are the stories that seem to bubble up near complete. This is a post about the second kind—how I published my first short story.
open.substack.com/pub/onemored...
open.substack.com/pub/onemored...
I wrote about reading scripts for film companies, Little Miss Sunshine, and taking responsibility for my writing
Read it here!
open.substack.com/pub/onemored...
Read it here!
open.substack.com/pub/onemored...
Little Miss Sunshine and the Problem of Taste
How working as a script reader helped me take responsibility as a fiction writer
open.substack.com
February 15, 2025 at 4:50 PM
I wrote about reading scripts for film companies, Little Miss Sunshine, and taking responsibility for my writing
Read it here!
open.substack.com/pub/onemored...
Read it here!
open.substack.com/pub/onemored...
I wrote about the difference between a writer and A Writer, the Shrödinger-experience of being on submission, and the joy of rereading Saul Bellow’s Herzog.
Read it here!
open.substack.com/pub/onemored...
Read it here!
open.substack.com/pub/onemored...
I Fail to Understand!
On Submission and On Bellow
open.substack.com
February 9, 2025 at 3:38 PM
I wrote about the difference between a writer and A Writer, the Shrödinger-experience of being on submission, and the joy of rereading Saul Bellow’s Herzog.
Read it here!
open.substack.com/pub/onemored...
Read it here!
open.substack.com/pub/onemored...
Thoughts on Small Things Like These, The Little Foxes, and Samantha Schweblin in the New Yorker
open.substack.com/pub/joshlwda...
open.substack.com/pub/joshlwda...
Keegan, Schweblin, Hellman
Fiction and Theatre
open.substack.com
February 2, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Thoughts on Small Things Like These, The Little Foxes, and Samantha Schweblin in the New Yorker
open.substack.com/pub/joshlwda...
open.substack.com/pub/joshlwda...
Attentionists, Narcissists, and Monsters: a few thoughts on the things I've been reading
open.substack.com/pub/joshlwda...
open.substack.com/pub/joshlwda...
Attentionists, Narcissists, and Monsters
Five things I looked at this week
open.substack.com
January 27, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Attentionists, Narcissists, and Monsters: a few thoughts on the things I've been reading
open.substack.com/pub/joshlwda...
open.substack.com/pub/joshlwda...
I don’t care where we eat. You don’t care what we eat. This should be easy, right?
December 12, 2024 at 1:36 PM
I don’t care where we eat. You don’t care what we eat. This should be easy, right?
Ebike, motorbike, pedal bike. Why not call them what they are? Wobblecars
December 12, 2024 at 1:34 PM
Ebike, motorbike, pedal bike. Why not call them what they are? Wobblecars
Once you see Mickey Mouse’s nose as a giant breast, can you ever unsee it?
November 29, 2024 at 12:40 PM
Once you see Mickey Mouse’s nose as a giant breast, can you ever unsee it?
Pop quiz, hotshot.
1. Who did Jonathan Franzen describe as a, “memoirist whose preferred scaffolding is the novel”?
2. Who’s the canonical author whose prose David Foster Wallace described (in a letter to Jonathan Franzen) as “occluded”?
3. Who has OD’d on Franzen interviews this week?
1. Who did Jonathan Franzen describe as a, “memoirist whose preferred scaffolding is the novel”?
2. Who’s the canonical author whose prose David Foster Wallace described (in a letter to Jonathan Franzen) as “occluded”?
3. Who has OD’d on Franzen interviews this week?
November 28, 2024 at 1:30 PM
Pop quiz, hotshot.
1. Who did Jonathan Franzen describe as a, “memoirist whose preferred scaffolding is the novel”?
2. Who’s the canonical author whose prose David Foster Wallace described (in a letter to Jonathan Franzen) as “occluded”?
3. Who has OD’d on Franzen interviews this week?
1. Who did Jonathan Franzen describe as a, “memoirist whose preferred scaffolding is the novel”?
2. Who’s the canonical author whose prose David Foster Wallace described (in a letter to Jonathan Franzen) as “occluded”?
3. Who has OD’d on Franzen interviews this week?
Four books I will finish someday, I will. No I will.
1. Lichtenberg's Wastebooks
2. Ulysses
3. Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno down, two to go)
4. This fucking novel
1. Lichtenberg's Wastebooks
2. Ulysses
3. Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno down, two to go)
4. This fucking novel
November 27, 2024 at 4:04 PM
Four books I will finish someday, I will. No I will.
1. Lichtenberg's Wastebooks
2. Ulysses
3. Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno down, two to go)
4. This fucking novel
1. Lichtenberg's Wastebooks
2. Ulysses
3. Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno down, two to go)
4. This fucking novel
> “We’re all linguists in the heart,” said the old man. And his blue eyes glittered like water seen from far off on a good day.
A brilliant craft session last night with my writing group, reading @mjohnharrison.bsky.social’s story ‘The East’.
A brilliant craft session last night with my writing group, reading @mjohnharrison.bsky.social’s story ‘The East’.
November 26, 2024 at 10:22 AM
> “We’re all linguists in the heart,” said the old man. And his blue eyes glittered like water seen from far off on a good day.
A brilliant craft session last night with my writing group, reading @mjohnharrison.bsky.social’s story ‘The East’.
A brilliant craft session last night with my writing group, reading @mjohnharrison.bsky.social’s story ‘The East’.
I’m going round and round with Orbital. “This book is annoying me so much” I wrote in the margin last night. A few pages later: “But I do begrudgingly have to accept I’m enjoying it?” What is this? The detail is beautiful but I’m terrified it’s not building to anything. Is that the point?
November 26, 2024 at 10:07 AM
I’m going round and round with Orbital. “This book is annoying me so much” I wrote in the margin last night. A few pages later: “But I do begrudgingly have to accept I’m enjoying it?” What is this? The detail is beautiful but I’m terrified it’s not building to anything. Is that the point?
Quit whining, sniffles. It’s this or malaria
November 24, 2024 at 9:55 PM
Quit whining, sniffles. It’s this or malaria
I miss feeling warm enough to have thoughts
November 22, 2024 at 1:16 PM
I miss feeling warm enough to have thoughts
What's a book you thought you'd love, and then you read it and loved it more than you imagined you could love a book, it reminded you of being young when the characters were like friends you'd miss when they were gone, and now it's finished and you just want to go back, come back, its not over, it's
November 21, 2024 at 9:14 AM
What's a book you thought you'd love, and then you read it and loved it more than you imagined you could love a book, it reminded you of being young when the characters were like friends you'd miss when they were gone, and now it's finished and you just want to go back, come back, its not over, it's
Fuck, Marry, Don't Confirm: Trump's Cabinet edition
You can refuse to confirm as many as you like
You really can
You can refuse to confirm as many as you like
You really can
November 20, 2024 at 9:37 PM
Fuck, Marry, Don't Confirm: Trump's Cabinet edition
You can refuse to confirm as many as you like
You really can
You can refuse to confirm as many as you like
You really can
Love this restaurant confirmation’s tone shift from thrilled enthusiasm to actually we will kick you the fuck out just try us
November 20, 2024 at 9:17 PM
Love this restaurant confirmation’s tone shift from thrilled enthusiasm to actually we will kick you the fuck out just try us
Getting rejected by the New Yorker is no big deal. You wanna know what's tough? Getting rejected by an LLM masquerading as the New Yorker--and coded to flatter you with radical positivity--728 times in a row.
November 20, 2024 at 9:06 PM
Getting rejected by the New Yorker is no big deal. You wanna know what's tough? Getting rejected by an LLM masquerading as the New Yorker--and coded to flatter you with radical positivity--728 times in a row.
To be good at social media you need a voice
To have a voice you need to know who you are
To know who you are you have to have standing
To have standing as a writer you need to be published
To be published you need a following
To have a following you need to be good at social media
To be good…shit
To have a voice you need to know who you are
To know who you are you have to have standing
To have standing as a writer you need to be published
To be published you need a following
To have a following you need to be good at social media
To be good…shit
November 20, 2024 at 12:57 PM
To be good at social media you need a voice
To have a voice you need to know who you are
To know who you are you have to have standing
To have standing as a writer you need to be published
To be published you need a following
To have a following you need to be good at social media
To be good…shit
To have a voice you need to know who you are
To know who you are you have to have standing
To have standing as a writer you need to be published
To be published you need a following
To have a following you need to be good at social media
To be good…shit
This actually sounds great, where do I sign up?
November 19, 2024 at 10:13 PM
This actually sounds great, where do I sign up?
If you're the kind of guy who likes to kiss your drill and sometimes leaks out your ass, I've got news
November 19, 2024 at 10:11 PM
If you're the kind of guy who likes to kiss your drill and sometimes leaks out your ass, I've got news
I stopped watching tv. So I’ve cut the social interaction where I name a show I love, and the person names two I pretend I'll try, and later they want me to explain why I recommended this awful show. So, that's what I'm up to. I'm enjoying it! And you? Oh? You like it? I might give that a bash
November 19, 2024 at 9:54 PM
I stopped watching tv. So I’ve cut the social interaction where I name a show I love, and the person names two I pretend I'll try, and later they want me to explain why I recommended this awful show. So, that's what I'm up to. I'm enjoying it! And you? Oh? You like it? I might give that a bash
Reposted by Joshua Davis
A big hello to all new book-loving Bluesky-ers!
(If you already follow us, (i) thank you, and (ii) a re-post would be very appreciated, to let people know we're here...)
(In other UK news, there's no snow here. It's very sad.)
(If you already follow us, (i) thank you, and (ii) a re-post would be very appreciated, to let people know we're here...)
(In other UK news, there's no snow here. It's very sad.)
a white door with a hole in it that looks like a hole in a wall
ALT: a white door with a hole in it that looks like a hole in a wall
media.tenor.com
November 19, 2024 at 11:47 AM
A big hello to all new book-loving Bluesky-ers!
(If you already follow us, (i) thank you, and (ii) a re-post would be very appreciated, to let people know we're here...)
(In other UK news, there's no snow here. It's very sad.)
(If you already follow us, (i) thank you, and (ii) a re-post would be very appreciated, to let people know we're here...)
(In other UK news, there's no snow here. It's very sad.)
Last five novels:
- Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto
- Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes*
- Stephen King’s Misery*
- James Salter’s A Sport and a Pastime
- Patricia Highsmith’s A Talented Mr Ripley
* on @samjordison.bsky.social ‘s brilliant critical reading course
Yours?
- Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto
- Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes*
- Stephen King’s Misery*
- James Salter’s A Sport and a Pastime
- Patricia Highsmith’s A Talented Mr Ripley
* on @samjordison.bsky.social ‘s brilliant critical reading course
Yours?
November 19, 2024 at 11:44 AM
Last five novels:
- Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto
- Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes*
- Stephen King’s Misery*
- James Salter’s A Sport and a Pastime
- Patricia Highsmith’s A Talented Mr Ripley
* on @samjordison.bsky.social ‘s brilliant critical reading course
Yours?
- Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto
- Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes*
- Stephen King’s Misery*
- James Salter’s A Sport and a Pastime
- Patricia Highsmith’s A Talented Mr Ripley
* on @samjordison.bsky.social ‘s brilliant critical reading course
Yours?
Here’s the social network I want. You log on, and somebody just posted a link to a short story. You read the first line out of curiosity. Twenty five minutes later you’re weeping. The emotional experience is so scarring you never use social media again. Who makes that?
November 19, 2024 at 11:24 AM
Here’s the social network I want. You log on, and somebody just posted a link to a short story. You read the first line out of curiosity. Twenty five minutes later you’re weeping. The emotional experience is so scarring you never use social media again. Who makes that?