Getting short fiction published can feel like it's all in your head. You get an emailed acceptance, you get emailed a contract and edits. Getting your copy of the anthology or magazine (or the publication link) is proof that the acceptance was real and your name is in print. It's building a sandcastle, hoping that someone will see it and praise it before the tide comes in.

I check the news every day. Several times a day. Yes, I am perpetually frustrated and outraged. No, it's not great for my mental health. (Or for the actual physical health and safety of so many other people. Worry about them, not me.) At the end of the day, at the end of the week while we're lighting Shabbos candles, I focus inward: …

There's change for the bad, and for the good. And sometimes both. The worst part of losing a pet is having to make the decision. I kept hoping Theo would die peacefully in her sleep, but even as she lost her appetite and her ability to walk, she kept hanging on until we brought her to the vet. The last time I lost a cat, she died in the car on the way to the emergency vet.

Arkansas library media specialist Chelsey Smith has kids combine food truck fun with their favorite books, resulting in projects like a Captain Underpants-themed truck with

Fiction Magazine

We were in the Poconos recently on a family trip. Rain was threatening, and thunder rolled across the lake. My son and I sat on the balcony of our hotel room, casually chatting, while the thunder got louder and the rain poured down and lightning flashed around us. A strange crackling, crashing sound startled us; we guessed lightning had hit a tree somewhere around the lake.

One of the hardest parts about baking—bread, biscuits, cookies, whatever—is trying not to overmix the dough. Knowing when the ingredients have more or less come together and that you haven't whisked, mixed or kneaded them into stiffness, because otherwise the dough won't hold its shape properly and might crack in the oven. Then you're stuck with a final result that doesn't represent your best work.

Many think that for an author, getting their book banned is a badge of honor. That their sales will skyrocket with the free publicity. But this is only true for “celebrity” authors, or authors who are...

I put our Passover Seder together in a hurry last weekend* because we were on a college campus for most of it, attending an accepted students' weekend for our son. Our autistic son. I don't talk about my kids much online, because they're entitled to their privacy. But certain newspapers and public figures recently seem intent on suggesting (again) that ADHD is overdiagnosed and overmedicated and (again) that autism is a horrible thing and autistic people are somehow a burden on the rest of society.

Last year 72% of demands to censor books were initiated by pressure groups and government entities; with just 16% of ban attempts made by parents

SLJ wants to share the stories of how the loss of funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services will impact your library and community.

Sometimes I think it's the pen. My favorite for a while was a white pen that said Walt Disney Resorts on it in gold. The pen always wrote smoothly. I'd never run out of words. (It was probably just a white Bic pen in fancy clothes, but I liked to pretend otherwise.) Sometimes I think it's the notebook. Smaller is better for road trips.

Library patrons in Greenville, South Carolina, have sued the county over library policies restricting and banning LGBTQ+ materials.

It's a pretty "crummy" situation, as Holden Caulfield might say.