Michelle Witte
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michellewitte.bsky.social
Michelle Witte
@michellewitte.bsky.social
Children’s literary agent with Mansion Street Literary (open to queries first 10 days each month, starting in June) and mental health advocate. I also write craptastic books. She/her.

www.michellewitteliterary.com
Pinned
My Bluesky philosophy: I’m here to build community, esp with book lovers, particularly kidlit. I block liberally anyone who is being a jerk, whether to myself or others. I want an uplifting space filled with books, cute animals, and random nerdery. Anyone who doesn’t like that, feel free to block.
SEND HELP. A monster is holding me hostage for cuddles.
December 2, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Reposted by Michelle Witte
Psst! Registration ends in a few days!
December 2, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Because U.S. copyright laws are so convoluted, especially with different changes over the years, it’s tricky to know when certain works enter public domain, but here’s a list of some well-known titles that will lose copyright protection as of Jan 1.
Entering the US public domain in 2026: William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.

More info behind window 1 of our advent-style countdown calendar for works entering the #publicdomain on Jan 1st: https://publicdomainreview.org/features/entering-the-public-domain/2026/ #PDin2026
December 1, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Whenever I’m lying on the floor doing exercises for my back, my cat thinks, “That human must be lonely and in want of a cat to lay on her. I shall help her out, like the selfless creature I am. And I will be sure to use my claws while doing so. I am a good cat.”
November 29, 2025 at 3:28 AM
Remember when people on the board of OpenAI staged a coup to oust Altman because they said he couldn’t be trusted with this technology? Maybe, just maybe, everyone should have listened to them.
November 28, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Well, Thanksgiving dinner this year went swimmingly. The turkey looked perfectly cooked and read 180F on the meat thermometer (a bit overdone but not bad). But then as we started carving we realized the rest of the bird was still bloody. So back in the oven it went for a few more rounds.
November 28, 2025 at 12:06 AM
People keep posting this graphic and commenting on the textual aberrations, but I’m more concerned about the mother whose legs were amputated so she could sit with her child. The AI did place the feet below the random floating board, but it won’t help much as they’re no longer attached to her body.
Hey @nature.com, have you got an explanation for how the hell THIS happened? & especially why you accepted a paper with such a bizarre piece of genAI slop in it?!
& more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 27, 2025 at 10:34 PM
If you want a fairly easy recipe to really wow guests for your family celebration, this Stuffed Mushroom recipe is a winner: www.delish.com/cooking/reci...
These Stuffed Mushrooms Are The Poppable-App Your Holiday Guests Will Love
Save room for these shrooms.
www.delish.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:56 PM
The fun thing about publishing is that you can have several very exciting things happening and not be able to publicly talk about any of them.
November 26, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Oh goodness. I thought to check a very old gmail account I haven't used for queries in more than 10 years and wow it's full. Thankfully the auto-responder still works, so people weren't sitting waiting for a response, but this is why you should always check an agent's current submission guidelines.
November 26, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Me looking out the window at the dreary winter sky:
“I walked in the meadow. Soon I came to another corner. I went around the corner to see if spring was there. “
November 26, 2025 at 5:50 PM
All of the authors I’ve worked with, past and present, make the work I do worthwhile. They’re all amazing in vastly different ways. #kidlitchat
TOPIC: Join us for our annual ThankFest: your opportunity to share the people, institutions, incidents that you are most grateful for in your professional or personal life--now or in the past. #kidlitchat
November 26, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Reposted by Michelle Witte
95% of authors are not making a living through book publishing. The public needs to understand this.
November 25, 2025 at 2:24 AM
To anyone who has experience working with fonts and typefaces, I sincerely apologize for the monstrosity I’m about to show you.
I’m very sorry to announce this to the rest of the country & the world, but a transitional logo has been chosen for the 2034 Salt Lake City Olympics & this is it. Why does it say Utah? We don’t know. Why is the font illegible? Yet another mystery. Did they go ugly on purpose? Again, no idea.
November 24, 2025 at 10:41 PM
I feel like the current time period we’re in is developing the personality of a troll, so maybe?
can a period of time become sentient
November 22, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Children 🤝 Pets

Commitment to never letting anyone use the bathroom alone.
November 21, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Reposted by Michelle Witte
They're also responsible for one of the best emails I've ever received, when the college office sent out a plea for sightings of Professor Biscuit while conveniently forgetting to mention that he was a cat...(I won't comment on how often a similar email might have gone out about human Professors...)
November 21, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Sometimes an Onion headline shows up in my email inbox and makes me audibly gasp at the audacity but also truthiness of it all. Holy crap.
Gifted Khashoggi Head Mounted In Oval Office
November 20, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Reposted by Michelle Witte
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."

There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
November 20, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Michelle Witte
I'm editing an anthology about unlikable characters and seeking work from younger writers, 15-21. If you know of one such writer who might want to submit their work for consideration, please share this call for submissions: audacity.substack.com/p/acquired-t...
Acquired Tastes: A Call for Submissions
For younger writers, ages 15-21
audacity.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 8:23 PM
You need this in your life. I know you do.
two characters one actor has played: thread
November 19, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Now commences the time of year when I try desperately to figure out when to email people so they're actually in the office and not just add to my collection of auto-responses.
Next week: bad for Americans
1st week of Dec: maybe okay?
2nd week of Dec: getting iffy
Rest of Dec: don't even bother
November 18, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Last night I posted this very random, extremely bizarre story I wrote during the pandemic while—I swear this is true—reporting my hours worked for payroll. I needed a creative outlet, and this is what my weird brain produced.
Several years ago during the pandemic I took a sabbatical to focus on my health. At the company where I worked, if I missed punching in or out (which was frequent, let's be honest) I had to write a reason for it. Well, I quickly got bored of that and started writing a rather bizarre story. 1/?
November 18, 2025 at 6:39 PM
I love that they're bringing back The Far Side desk calendar. We used to get one every year when I was a teenager. So many lols to be had. www.barnesandnoble.com/w/2026-far-s...
2026 Far Side Off-the-Wall Day-to-Day Calendar
For those who may have missed out the first time (or even those who didn’t), we’re breaking open the time capsule and revisiting the calendar that started it all!In 1986, the first The Far...
www.barnesandnoble.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:17 AM
Several years ago during the pandemic I took a sabbatical to focus on my health. At the company where I worked, if I missed punching in or out (which was frequent, let's be honest) I had to write a reason for it. Well, I quickly got bored of that and started writing a rather bizarre story. 1/?
November 18, 2025 at 12:19 AM