Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
eliza-writing.bsky.social
Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
@eliza-writing.bsky.social
Writer, reader, actor, general nut

SFF/horror as Jo Niederhoff, romance as Eliza Something-or-Other (if I ever finish a whole book)
I've got to work on remembering my dreams again, because lately some of them have seemed like really good story seeds.
November 24, 2025 at 2:06 PM
My silly parody song idea won't leave my head (and grows less silly by the day) so maybe I should spend my week off working on that instead of any actual projects.
November 21, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
Since everyone has Frankenstein on the brain: more people should read Ahmed Sadaawi's Frankenstein in Baghdad.
November 9, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
New story day!

"Phantom View" is about a son caretaking for his father, and discovering a blurry person in all their family photos that he has no memory of. The same figure is in all his dad's paintings--and the figure may be in the house with them right now.
Phantom View - Reactor
A disabled son care-taking for a disabled father try to understand the mysterious blur haunting them.
reactormag.com
October 22, 2025 at 3:57 PM
I'll have a proper ghost story for Christmas this year; I'm playing Belle in a production of A Christmas Carol! (And hopefully doing some writing backstage, if I can pick a project to focus on.)
October 25, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Even if we disregard every other living thing on Earth, humans also need darkness. We need it to prompt our bodies to rest, and we need it for the wonder and joy of looking at the night sky.

And, the smallest problem of all, naming this Earendil is a slap in the face. The elves knew to value stars.
October 11, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
whoa october is around the corner!

reminder that we'll be open again for novellas soon.

more info here: www.neonhemlock.com/submissions
September 24, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
Evergreen post for every writer ever
Anyway, I shouldn't be posting. I should be WRITING MY BOOK
September 20, 2025 at 2:41 PM
It turns out, being in a show where I'm onstage for almost an hour and a half makes keeping up a writing schedule hard. I'm hoping I can get back to my short story (and maybe even do some editing) after closing night!
September 8, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
Parable of the Sower really messed with me, but one of the ways it MOST messed with me (in a good way) was its insistence on the inevitability and persistence of change.

We're never going back, but also we never WERE going back.

This rollercoaster never had a reverse button. Time never does
One of the hardest things I’ve grappled with over the past nine months or so is the death of “normal”. There’s no normal to go back to. There’s just *this* and whatever we make of what comes next
August 2, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
"We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read" is one of the best stories I've ever read. It's one of only a very few stories that I would give a 10/10. (Yes, I'm very stingy with 10/10s.) At the very least, please make sure to read it! www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/we-w...
July 20, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Does anyone have any domestic horror recs? Not cozy -- something along the lines of We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

#horror #amreading #amwantingtoread
July 22, 2025 at 8:43 PM
This is something I talk about a lot when I talk about my job. For five years I've worked with preschoolers who have high needs. For the first four, I made about 20k a year, because I was "just" a paraeducator. Now that I'm an SLPA? Over double that. I can maybe afford rent. I'm saving for a house.
A lot of people without housing are working. The person you see in that tent may also be making your morning latte or cashing you out at the grocery store.

The things that are most likely to prevent them from getting back into housing?
July 19, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
It's a wild world—which is why writers rely on community to figure out what's important and what's unusual in our industries. For this first piece in "Writer Beware® Presents: Creators and Their Contracts", we dive into moral rights.

What do writers need to know?

www.sfwa.org/2025/07/03/m...
July 3, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
Hey folks, this is a super simple one: ALWAYS READ YOUR FUCKING CONTRACTS.

(I have an agent and lawyer reading my contracts before they are sent along to me, looking out for my specific interests, and you know what? I STILL read the final before I sign, because it's me bound by the contract.)
I just received a contract on Docusign for review and signing, and it offered to give me an AI-generated summary that I could read instead to save time.

That's AN AI-GENERATED SUMMARY ***OF A CONTRACT***, in case you need to let that sink in.
June 30, 2025 at 2:01 PM
As another forgetful person (and someone who takes pictures rarely enough not to have a habit of alt-text yet) this is super helpful!
If you're forgetful like I am, you can set Bluesky to remind you to use alt-text.

Settings -> Accessibility and it's right there. Tick a box and help out disabled users.
Honestly do not understand why so many of the biggest "progressive" accounts on here do not use alt text.
June 28, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
Happy Pride to Jim Obergefell. bsky.app/profile/eram...
June 26, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
I've never won an award. But! I've been a finalist 21 times, including SIX times for “We Will Teach You How to Read...” which is a finalist for the Hugo, Ignyte, Nebula, Sturgeon, Locus, & Eugie Awards.

I'm proud of this story and deeply honored. I'd love for you to read it: tinyurl.com/mry6kpx6
We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read - Lightspeed Magazine
This is our story, simplified: Life. Loss. Transformation. Love. Death. Iteration. The first time you get our message, you only / find one thread. It mimics your language in / its simplest form, a sin...
www.lightspeedmagazine.com
June 26, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
"Do our stories exist to pacify an audience that’s on the verge of taking action by telling them they’ve already done enough? Or are we inspiring people to use their hammers to break and fix and build?" - @sarahgailey.bsky.social.

Go break and fix and build.

stone-soup.ghost.io/hammer-speech/
Hammer Speech
Last night, I got to stand up in front of the audience at the Locus Awards ceremony. I wound up presenting the Locus Award for Best Short Story (congratulations, Isabel J. Kim!) – but first, I deliver...
stone-soup.ghost.io
June 25, 2025 at 6:17 AM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
📌 "Inertia is a choice. There so many other choice you can make instead." 👇🏽
June 23, 2025 at 5:31 AM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
I still think this is one of the most gutting notes I’ve ever read.
June 5, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
“…We teach children pro-social behaviors… But then, when they grow up…they are often rewarded for many anti-social behaviors.”
June 1, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Me in the morning: okay, I'm going to be productive today and do grownup things, like sorting my mail and getting my summer online trainings ready

Me during the morning: actually let's just do some rp posting and check AO3
May 31, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
"let copilot help you draft"
"can gemini write that for you"

I have now taken the only reasonable course of action in the circumstances
May 31, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Reposted by Eliza Rose (aka Jo)
"Because everyone deserves an education to have a fighting chance against those who would take advantage of them. Because every person deserves the critical thinking skills that naturally follow reading and writing.

Every person deserves an education."

jesspiper.substack.com/p/the-real-a...
The "Real" Americans
Plumbers and Harvard
jesspiper.substack.com
May 29, 2025 at 1:26 PM