Barbara A. Barnett
@babarnett.bsky.social
Fantasy & horror writer. Musician. Occasional orchestra librarian. Odyssey Writing Workshop grad, critiquer & blog editor. Taos Toolbox 2024. SFWA/HWA/Codex member. Repped by Emily Keyes. She/her. https://babarnett.com
Odyssey's 2026 online classes have been announced & I'm excited to be teaching one of them: All the World’s a Page: Adapting Acting Techniques to Strengthen Your Fiction. Because I am a theater geek & will gladly talk your ear off about how useful acting techniques can be when applied to writing.
Build new skills & strengthen your writing with an Odyssey Online Class!
*highly praised instructors
*live, intensive, interactive classes
*deep practice with demanding assignments
*thorough feedback from instructor & classmates
odysseyworkshop.org/odyssey-onli...
#amwriting #writetip
*highly praised instructors
*live, intensive, interactive classes
*deep practice with demanding assignments
*thorough feedback from instructor & classmates
odysseyworkshop.org/odyssey-onli...
#amwriting #writetip
November 17, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Odyssey's 2026 online classes have been announced & I'm excited to be teaching one of them: All the World’s a Page: Adapting Acting Techniques to Strengthen Your Fiction. Because I am a theater geek & will gladly talk your ear off about how useful acting techniques can be when applied to writing.
New on the @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social blog: Part 2 of "Selling Your Shorts: Submission Considerations Amid a Changing Market" by graduate & author akatherineblack.bsky.social odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/2025/11/17/g...
Graduate Essay: “Selling Your Shorts: Submission Considerations Amid a Changing Market” by A. Katherine Black (Part 2 of 2)
A. Katherine Black is a 2018 graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop and a 2024 graduate of the Your Personal Odyssey Writing Workshop. She’s served as Resident Supervisor for previous Odyssey Wri…
odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:28 PM
New on the @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social blog: Part 2 of "Selling Your Shorts: Submission Considerations Amid a Changing Market" by graduate & author akatherineblack.bsky.social odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/2025/11/17/g...
I PETTED ALL THE HORSIES
November 15, 2025 at 6:27 PM
I PETTED ALL THE HORSIES
Reposted by Barbara A. Barnett
It’s publication day! I would appreciate it if you would have a read.
Alarms echoed across the port: the spacecraft was unauthorized and it was heading their way. This could mean extreme danger. But never in a million years could they have realized the true cost of what would happen when it landed.
#scifi by @rebeccarolandpdx.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...
#scifi by @rebeccarolandpdx.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...
November 14, 2025 at 3:55 PM
It’s publication day! I would appreciate it if you would have a read.
New on the @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social blog: Part 1 of "Selling Your Shorts: Submission Considerations Amid a Changing Market" by graduate & author @akatherineblack.bsky.social! Part 2 to follow next week. odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/g...
Graduate Essay: “Selling Your Shorts: Submission Considerations Amid a Changing Market” by A. Katherine Black (Part 1 of 2)
A. Katherine Black is a 2018 graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop and a 2024 graduate of the Your Personal Odyssey Writing Workshop. She’s served as Resident Supervisor for previous Odyssey Wri…
odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:58 PM
New on the @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social blog: Part 1 of "Selling Your Shorts: Submission Considerations Amid a Changing Market" by graduate & author @akatherineblack.bsky.social! Part 2 to follow next week. odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/g...
Been experimenting with ways to use my dry erase board for tracking projects. I’m not sure how useful this current iteration is, but it does perfectly capture the vibes of my current to-do list.
November 5, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Been experimenting with ways to use my dry erase board for tracking projects. I’m not sure how useful this current iteration is, but it does perfectly capture the vibes of my current to-do list.
A vampire and paranormal museum only a little over an hour from my house yet it's amazingly taken me this long to get there.
October 30, 2025 at 8:30 PM
A vampire and paranormal museum only a little over an hour from my house yet it's amazingly taken me this long to get there.
This week’s awesome thing: it’s almost Halloween, so how about cool things about bats? m.youtube.com/watch?v=46sv...
Bat Island: The New Era of Science
YouTube video by Weizmann Institute of Science
m.youtube.com
October 24, 2025 at 3:55 PM
This week’s awesome thing: it’s almost Halloween, so how about cool things about bats? m.youtube.com/watch?v=46sv...
Today in I Am A Serious Writer: just Googled to see if dickbag should be written as one word or two.
October 21, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Today in I Am A Serious Writer: just Googled to see if dickbag should be written as one word or two.
Marching behind a frog, as one does.
October 18, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Marching behind a frog, as one does.
Weekly writing accountability: finish the proofread/fine tuning read through of the novel(la)!
October 13, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Weekly writing accountability: finish the proofread/fine tuning read through of the novel(la)!
New on the @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social blog: Odyssey Online graduate @jadecannon.bsky.social talks about finding the heart of her novel through Barbara Ashford's Getting the Big Picture class odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/g...
Graduate Essay: “Getting the Big Picture” by Jade Cannon
Jade Cannon is a graduate of the 2025 Odyssey Online class “Getting the Big Picture: The Key to Revising Your Novel.” Writing has been Jade’s creative outlet since she was old enough to strin…
odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com
October 13, 2025 at 2:16 PM
New on the @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social blog: Odyssey Online graduate @jadecannon.bsky.social talks about finding the heart of her novel through Barbara Ashford's Getting the Big Picture class odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/g...
This week’s much-needed awesome thing: Mars the baby pygmy hippo at Tanganyika Wildlife Parka
1M views · 39K reactions | The one that started it all 💚🦛 #mars #babyhippo #pygmyhippo #kansas #vacation #animalencounters | Tanganyika Wildlife Park
The one that started it all 💚🦛 #mars #babyhippo #pygmyhippo #kansas #vacation #animalencounters.
www.facebook.com
October 10, 2025 at 2:30 PM
This week’s much-needed awesome thing: Mars the baby pygmy hippo at Tanganyika Wildlife Parka
Weekly writing accountability: read through and fine tuned first 12 chapters of the novel(la). 15 more to go! And eventually I’ll stop changing my mind about the prologue. (Cut! Nope, putting it back! Cut again!)
October 6, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Weekly writing accountability: read through and fine tuned first 12 chapters of the novel(la). 15 more to go! And eventually I’ll stop changing my mind about the prologue. (Cut! Nope, putting it back! Cut again!)
This Week’s Awesome Thing: Reading Rainbow is back! bookriot.com/new-host-of-...
Meet the New Host of Reading Rainbow: Mychal the Librarian
After 20 years, Reading Rainbow is back! The new host is Mychal the Librarian, who has been spreading library joy online for years.
bookriot.com
October 3, 2025 at 3:31 PM
This Week’s Awesome Thing: Reading Rainbow is back! bookriot.com/new-host-of-...
Weekly writing accountability post: finished major revision overhaul of the horror novel(la) climax! This week: go back to tackle some smaller issues that need tweaking before printing this sucker out for an old-school read through on paper.
September 29, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Weekly writing accountability post: finished major revision overhaul of the horror novel(la) climax! This week: go back to tackle some smaller issues that need tweaking before printing this sucker out for an old-school read through on paper.
This Week’s Awesome Thing Doomscrolling Break: CHONKY BEARS! If you are not already familiar with Fat Bear Week, I am sad for you. Go remedy that. explore.org/fat-bear-week
a bear is standing on its hind legs in a field .
Alt: A bear on its hind legs waving
media.tenor.com
September 26, 2025 at 3:10 PM
This Week’s Awesome Thing Doomscrolling Break: CHONKY BEARS! If you are not already familiar with Fat Bear Week, I am sad for you. Go remedy that. explore.org/fat-bear-week
How the hell did Fall get here? Anyway, weekly writing accountability: got a good chunk of my novella-maybe-novel’s third act revised last week. This week: at the very least, finish the new scene I started as part of that revision, then hopefully get to reworking what follows.
September 22, 2025 at 3:16 PM
How the hell did Fall get here? Anyway, weekly writing accountability: got a good chunk of my novella-maybe-novel’s third act revised last week. This week: at the very least, finish the new scene I started as part of that revision, then hopefully get to reworking what follows.
Doomscrolling break aka This Week's Awesome Thing: book nook! I was given a DIY miniature book nook kit as a thank you gift at Odyssey's TNEO workshop this summer. Behold the cuteness I have wrought! It even has lighting!
September 19, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Doomscrolling break aka This Week's Awesome Thing: book nook! I was given a DIY miniature book nook kit as a thank you gift at Odyssey's TNEO workshop this summer. Behold the cuteness I have wrought! It even has lighting!
If you see this, quote with the energy you bring to BlueSky
September 16, 2025 at 3:09 PM
If you see this, quote with the energy you bring to BlueSky
For accountability purposes, this week’s writing goal: now that I’ve gotten the villain situation sorted, revise the climax of my The Red Violin meets contemporary gothic horror novella-borderline-novel
September 15, 2025 at 3:26 PM
For accountability purposes, this week’s writing goal: now that I’ve gotten the villain situation sorted, revise the climax of my The Red Violin meets contemporary gothic horror novella-borderline-novel
My feed could sure as hell could use something to break up the doom right now, so for This Week’s Awesome Thing, I give you goats running. Because I will never not feel better watching goats run around like the adorable little chaos goblins they are: youtu.be/0KoXoDjTdZg?...
Epic Running of the goats 2025!!
YouTube video by Sunflower Farm Creamery
youtu.be
September 12, 2025 at 3:23 PM
My feed could sure as hell could use something to break up the doom right now, so for This Week’s Awesome Thing, I give you goats running. Because I will never not feel better watching goats run around like the adorable little chaos goblins they are: youtu.be/0KoXoDjTdZg?...
New on the @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social blog: “What Counts as Writing” by Your Personal Odyssey graduate Chloe Smith: odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/2025/09/08/g...
Graduate Essay: “What Counts as Writing” by Chloe Smith
Chloe Smith’s short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Haven Speculative Fiction, Bourbon Penn, and Three-Lobed Burning Eye, among other places. Her debut novella, Virgin Land, came ou…
odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com
September 8, 2025 at 3:26 PM
New on the @odysseyworkshop.bsky.social blog: “What Counts as Writing” by Your Personal Odyssey graduate Chloe Smith: odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/2025/09/08/g...
Monday Monkey: That time Super Great dressed up for a wedding yet still refused to wear pants.
September 8, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Monday Monkey: That time Super Great dressed up for a wedding yet still refused to wear pants.
Taking an evening walk, it’s dark, and from the opposite direction comes a group of kids with flashlights. And as we passed them, I noticed one kid had a scythe. Not unsettling at all.
Children Of The Corn John Franklin GIF
Alt: Children Of The Corn John Franklin GIF
media.tenor.com
September 6, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Taking an evening walk, it’s dark, and from the opposite direction comes a group of kids with flashlights. And as we passed them, I noticed one kid had a scythe. Not unsettling at all.