Richard Mirabella 🐝
@rpmirabella.bsky.social
Writer, reader, office potato. I'm queer. Author of Brother & Sister Enter the Forest. Lambda Award Finalist. NY Times Editors' Choice. Real human. No, really.
richardmirabellawriter.com
richardmirabellawriter.com
Pinned
Two years, two editions of Brother & Sister Enter the Forest. Thanks to everyone who supported this book over the past two years.
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
So, I won a National Book Award.
November 20, 2025 at 4:33 PM
So, I won a National Book Award.
Me, a Capricorn in his early mid-late 40s:
Calendar item: clean humidifier
Calendar item: clean humidifier
November 20, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Me, a Capricorn in his early mid-late 40s:
Calendar item: clean humidifier
Calendar item: clean humidifier
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
One reason I still talk about personal responsibility is because of stories like this. One person’s decision not to vaccinate became 5,000 cases of measles.
The purpose is not shame. It’s to remind you that you can make a difference.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
The purpose is not shame. It’s to remind you that you can make a difference.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
Opinion: How a single measles case became 5,000 – and the lessons not learned
It’s important not to lay blame, but to understand the virus’s epidemiology
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:29 PM
One reason I still talk about personal responsibility is because of stories like this. One person’s decision not to vaccinate became 5,000 cases of measles.
The purpose is not shame. It’s to remind you that you can make a difference.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
The purpose is not shame. It’s to remind you that you can make a difference.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
When it comes to AI, I always feel like a proud but damaged teen girl in a melodrama. "USE AI TO SUMMARIZE THESE MESSAGES!"
Me, dirty face, ripped jeans, piercings: "I don't need your help! Leave me alone!"
Me, dirty face, ripped jeans, piercings: "I don't need your help! Leave me alone!"
November 20, 2025 at 1:19 PM
When it comes to AI, I always feel like a proud but damaged teen girl in a melodrama. "USE AI TO SUMMARIZE THESE MESSAGES!"
Me, dirty face, ripped jeans, piercings: "I don't need your help! Leave me alone!"
Me, dirty face, ripped jeans, piercings: "I don't need your help! Leave me alone!"
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
anyway. go read a short story or a chunk of a novel today. enjoy a piece of art. maybe even buy a drawing or painting! reach out and tell an artist how much something they made meant to you.
November 19, 2025 at 3:32 PM
anyway. go read a short story or a chunk of a novel today. enjoy a piece of art. maybe even buy a drawing or painting! reach out and tell an artist how much something they made meant to you.
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
I missed this study (anyone have a link?) but I'm not sure why we're supposed to be surprised. Average person prefers a Hallmark card to poetry, bland hotel art to challenging contemporary art, and paint-by-numbers fiction to anyone trying to do something new. I would expect this result.
Discussion on here this morning about 1)whether Gemini is good at "creative writing" and 2)a study showing people preferred AI imitations of writers to the writers themselves. I come back to my trusty all-purpose question: What problem are we solving when we outsource "creative writing"?
November 19, 2025 at 2:39 PM
I missed this study (anyone have a link?) but I'm not sure why we're supposed to be surprised. Average person prefers a Hallmark card to poetry, bland hotel art to challenging contemporary art, and paint-by-numbers fiction to anyone trying to do something new. I would expect this result.
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
"Outperforming" isn't what art does.
November 19, 2025 at 3:00 PM
"Outperforming" isn't what art does.
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
"Franz Kafka once called his writing a form of prayer. He also reprimanded the long-suffering Felice Bauer in a letter: 'I did not say that writing ought to make everything clearer, but instead makes everything worse; what I said was that writing makes everything clearer and worse.'" —Joy Williams
November 19, 2025 at 2:01 PM
"Franz Kafka once called his writing a form of prayer. He also reprimanded the long-suffering Felice Bauer in a letter: 'I did not say that writing ought to make everything clearer, but instead makes everything worse; what I said was that writing makes everything clearer and worse.'" —Joy Williams
One of my favorite things about revising is that someone says to you "what about this, i think this is missing, more of this" and I don't know about you, but I immediately think: "I can't do that!" But then I do.
November 19, 2025 at 1:46 PM
One of my favorite things about revising is that someone says to you "what about this, i think this is missing, more of this" and I don't know about you, but I immediately think: "I can't do that!" But then I do.
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
Sometimes I go on Threads to see what ridiculous shit people are saying about writing.
November 16, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Sometimes I go on Threads to see what ridiculous shit people are saying about writing.
Sometimes I go on Threads to see what ridiculous shit people are saying about writing.
November 16, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Sometimes I go on Threads to see what ridiculous shit people are saying about writing.
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
Our NOVEMBER ISSUE is hot off the press. ✨
WORDS by @srirachachang.bsky.social, Chloe Alberta, @dianezinna.bsky.social, & Stella Wong.
ART by Danielle Shandiin Emerson.
PLUS A.D. Lauren-Abunassar interviews @jessemechanic.bsky.social.
buff.ly/PLKRM5J
WORDS by @srirachachang.bsky.social, Chloe Alberta, @dianezinna.bsky.social, & Stella Wong.
ART by Danielle Shandiin Emerson.
PLUS A.D. Lauren-Abunassar interviews @jessemechanic.bsky.social.
buff.ly/PLKRM5J
November 15, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Our NOVEMBER ISSUE is hot off the press. ✨
WORDS by @srirachachang.bsky.social, Chloe Alberta, @dianezinna.bsky.social, & Stella Wong.
ART by Danielle Shandiin Emerson.
PLUS A.D. Lauren-Abunassar interviews @jessemechanic.bsky.social.
buff.ly/PLKRM5J
WORDS by @srirachachang.bsky.social, Chloe Alberta, @dianezinna.bsky.social, & Stella Wong.
ART by Danielle Shandiin Emerson.
PLUS A.D. Lauren-Abunassar interviews @jessemechanic.bsky.social.
buff.ly/PLKRM5J
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
Im also here to remind yall that JOHN FETTERMAN was hand selected by Bernie Sanders and won his primary over a Black millennial gay man who was already working in congress because leftists couldnt vote for a Black gay Millennial man born in 1990——
November 10, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Im also here to remind yall that JOHN FETTERMAN was hand selected by Bernie Sanders and won his primary over a Black millennial gay man who was already working in congress because leftists couldnt vote for a Black gay Millennial man born in 1990——
Finally picked up this hugely anticipated debut novel from THE @ambersparks.bsky.social!
November 9, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Finally picked up this hugely anticipated debut novel from THE @ambersparks.bsky.social!
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
If you spam text me I WILL answer.
November 3, 2025 at 5:17 PM
If you spam text me I WILL answer.
I always have to give an idea a week or two to see if it curdles.
November 4, 2025 at 5:06 PM
I always have to give an idea a week or two to see if it curdles.
I'm with my Italian family and everyone is talking about different things, even when two people are talking to each other, the subjects are different.
November 1, 2025 at 6:30 PM
I'm with my Italian family and everyone is talking about different things, even when two people are talking to each other, the subjects are different.
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
"You will be haunted," resumed the Ghost, "by three spirits."
October 31, 2025 at 5:22 PM
"You will be haunted," resumed the Ghost, "by three spirits."
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
Happy Halloween!
Tootie from Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) is a perfect seasonal mood this year
Tootie from Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) is a perfect seasonal mood this year
October 31, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Happy Halloween!
Tootie from Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) is a perfect seasonal mood this year
Tootie from Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) is a perfect seasonal mood this year
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
Where to send a v short story that's just one long shriek of despair about everything?
October 30, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Where to send a v short story that's just one long shriek of despair about everything?
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
I'm actually a complete undoomer on this issue. All signs point to the enduring power of human art. AI art's only value is degrading commercial art + advertising and depressing opportunities for artists (which is bad), but it's being rejected or ignored in most cultural spaces
October 29, 2025 at 4:14 PM
I'm actually a complete undoomer on this issue. All signs point to the enduring power of human art. AI art's only value is degrading commercial art + advertising and depressing opportunities for artists (which is bad), but it's being rejected or ignored in most cultural spaces
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
If America collapses, the world does not collapse. If Americans stop celebrating art, the world does not stop celebrating art. If we devolve into apocalypse, the world will carry on. We aren't the world, we're just us
October 29, 2025 at 4:25 PM
If America collapses, the world does not collapse. If Americans stop celebrating art, the world does not stop celebrating art. If we devolve into apocalypse, the world will carry on. We aren't the world, we're just us
Please someone lie to me and tell me that AI won't steal one of the few pleasures and joys of my life? It just feels inevitable that people will embrace non-human writing and stories generated from the hard work of outmoded human beings.
October 29, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Please someone lie to me and tell me that AI won't steal one of the few pleasures and joys of my life? It just feels inevitable that people will embrace non-human writing and stories generated from the hard work of outmoded human beings.
Nothing will ever be as frightening as "Harold" from Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark by Alvin Schwartz.
October 29, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Nothing will ever be as frightening as "Harold" from Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark by Alvin Schwartz.