Summer Brennan
@summerbrennan.bsky.social
Award-winning writer and Orion Book Award finalist. American in Paris. Books: THE OYSTER WAR; HIGH HEEL. Next: THE PARISIAN SPHINX, A TRUE TALE OF ART & OBSESSION. Leonard Cohen blew me a kiss one time.
Substack: https://www.awritersnotebook.org/
Substack: https://www.awritersnotebook.org/
With a stock photo image of Beatles fans watching the band deplane in 1964 🙃 www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-fans-of-the-beatles-at-airport-waiting-for-their-news-photo/517474856?adppopup=true
December 19, 2025 at 4:08 PM
With a stock photo image of Beatles fans watching the band deplane in 1964 🙃 www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-fans-of-the-beatles-at-airport-waiting-for-their-news-photo/517474856?adppopup=true
Reposted by Summer Brennan
"Profits collapsed. Newsroom morale soared."
Amazing piece from @joannastern.bsky.social
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...
Amazing piece from @joannastern.bsky.social
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...
We Let AI Run Our Office Vending Machine. It Lost Hundreds of Dollars.
An AI agent ran a snack operation in the WSJ newsroom. It gave away a free PlayStation, ordered a live fish—and taught us lessons about the future of AI.
www.wsj.com
December 18, 2025 at 5:01 PM
"Profits collapsed. Newsroom morale soared."
Amazing piece from @joannastern.bsky.social
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...
Amazing piece from @joannastern.bsky.social
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...
Reposted by Summer Brennan
Reading @elizmccrack.bsky.social’s craft book on fiction A LONG GAME—one of my favorite reads this year—and connected with everything but especially this through-line (which I might be enlarging) of articulable learnings against the intuitive and ineffable execution.
December 18, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Reading @elizmccrack.bsky.social’s craft book on fiction A LONG GAME—one of my favorite reads this year—and connected with everything but especially this through-line (which I might be enlarging) of articulable learnings against the intuitive and ineffable execution.
Reposted by Summer Brennan
Man answering his phone on the train: Yes? Correct, I’m not at work (pause) I’m not going to answer that because I am not at work today. No, you’re going to have to ask someone who is. Goodbye.
December 17, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Man answering his phone on the train: Yes? Correct, I’m not at work (pause) I’m not going to answer that because I am not at work today. No, you’re going to have to ask someone who is. Goodbye.
Reposted by Summer Brennan
When Rob Reiner was on his all-time epic run at the start of his career, he had an opportunity to read a script that was looking for a production partner, and he lost his mind for it. He decided Castle Rock had to have it, no matter what.
December 15, 2025 at 7:37 AM
When Rob Reiner was on his all-time epic run at the start of his career, he had an opportunity to read a script that was looking for a production partner, and he lost his mind for it. He decided Castle Rock had to have it, no matter what.
Once upon a time we learned how to drive cars. In rain, in snow, in fog. We looked at maps. We remembered routes. Think twice about technology that renders you dependent and helpless.
tesla owners admitting without shame they don’t know how to drive anymore
December 15, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Once upon a time we learned how to drive cars. In rain, in snow, in fog. We looked at maps. We remembered routes. Think twice about technology that renders you dependent and helpless.
Once again: generative AI create plausible-seeming lorem ipsum text. That's it.
December 15, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Once again: generative AI create plausible-seeming lorem ipsum text. That's it.
Reposted by Summer Brennan
A Few Good Men. Best in Show. A Mighty Wind. Miss Congeniality. Barcelona. All three movies in Linklater's "Before" trilogy. Music & Lyrics. Michael Clayton. All films that were able to be made because of the production company Reiner co-founded in order to give talented filmmakers creative freedom.
without Rob Reiner’s Castle Rock production company we wouldn’t have:
City Slickers, Honeymoon in Vegas, In the Line of Fire, The Shawshank Redemption, Before Sunrise, Dolores Claiborne, Lone Star, Waiting for Guffman, and more - in a six-year period alone
City Slickers, Honeymoon in Vegas, In the Line of Fire, The Shawshank Redemption, Before Sunrise, Dolores Claiborne, Lone Star, Waiting for Guffman, and more - in a six-year period alone
December 15, 2025 at 6:31 AM
A Few Good Men. Best in Show. A Mighty Wind. Miss Congeniality. Barcelona. All three movies in Linklater's "Before" trilogy. Music & Lyrics. Michael Clayton. All films that were able to be made because of the production company Reiner co-founded in order to give talented filmmakers creative freedom.
Reposted by Summer Brennan
I try not to know the sales numbers of my own books or others, but it appears that my book on writing has this week outsold Olivia Nuzzi's book on activities that she enjoys (including, I presume, writing). Not vastly outsold, so I have included a link.
www.harpercollins.com/products/a-l...
www.harpercollins.com/products/a-l...
A Long Game
From bestselling and award-winning author and professor Elizabeth McCracken comes an irresistible look at the art of writing.
Writing can feel like an endle...
www.harpercollins.com
December 12, 2025 at 9:46 PM
I try not to know the sales numbers of my own books or others, but it appears that my book on writing has this week outsold Olivia Nuzzi's book on activities that she enjoys (including, I presume, writing). Not vastly outsold, so I have included a link.
www.harpercollins.com/products/a-l...
www.harpercollins.com/products/a-l...
AI only produces lorem ipsum that sometimes sounds coherent on the surface. It does not "write."
“Machines can predict, remix, and regenerate. Only humans can report.” www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/in-2...
December 12, 2025 at 7:07 PM
AI only produces lorem ipsum that sometimes sounds coherent on the surface. It does not "write."
Reposted by Summer Brennan
Wow, I love the idea of an Anthony Jeselnik Book Club! www.vulture.com/article/anth...
Anthony Jeselnik’s 2026 Resolution Is to Make Guys Read
“I’d like to go a bit deeper than just holding up a book and saying, ‘This month we’re reading this,’ and then never mentioning it again.”
www.vulture.com
December 11, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Wow, I love the idea of an Anthony Jeselnik Book Club! www.vulture.com/article/anth...
Reposted by Summer Brennan
Rereading Hemingway’s The Garden of Eden, posthumously published in 1986, and was struck by this passage this morning—his novelist character is doing the math on his sales, earning out his advance after selling 5000 copies. A simpler time (likely setting for this is circa 1926).
December 11, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Rereading Hemingway’s The Garden of Eden, posthumously published in 1986, and was struck by this passage this morning—his novelist character is doing the math on his sales, earning out his advance after selling 5000 copies. A simpler time (likely setting for this is circa 1926).
Before AI, I never heard writers talk about "refining" our work. We edited, we polished. I don't recall "refining" being a thing until AI decided it was a good euphemism for "edit" so as not to hurt people's feelings. Nothing needs to be edited or improved in AI land, only "refined," like a jewel.
I've been seeing people say about their work lately, "I used AI in the edits & refining of this piece, but it's all my own words & ideas."
I think people don't quite understand what "my own words" means. If you're using AI, the words are not your own. They are an amalgam of other people's words.
I think people don't quite understand what "my own words" means. If you're using AI, the words are not your own. They are an amalgam of other people's words.
December 6, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Before AI, I never heard writers talk about "refining" our work. We edited, we polished. I don't recall "refining" being a thing until AI decided it was a good euphemism for "edit" so as not to hurt people's feelings. Nothing needs to be edited or improved in AI land, only "refined," like a jewel.
Reposted by Summer Brennan
They are betting AI will replace us. Make them lose the bet.
The markets are staying afloat right now on the hope that AI will destroy American workers. What a bleak thing.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/b...
November 30, 2025 at 3:07 AM
They are betting AI will replace us. Make them lose the bet.
Reposted by Summer Brennan
I Was Once a Broken Reader. I Found My Way Back to Books. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/o...
Love this essay by @jeffgiles.bsky.social
Love this essay by @jeffgiles.bsky.social
Opinion | I Was Once a Broken Reader. I Found My Way Back to Books.
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 3:17 PM
I Was Once a Broken Reader. I Found My Way Back to Books. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/o...
Love this essay by @jeffgiles.bsky.social
Love this essay by @jeffgiles.bsky.social
Reposted by Summer Brennan
At this point, our intro comp/first-year English course has been so heavily revised, it no longer includes a novel, or "extended reading" of any kind, no "specialized" or "historical" reading, mostly in-class assignments, no research essay...and we are still seeing a 40-50% rate of AI misconduct.
November 28, 2025 at 11:31 PM
At this point, our intro comp/first-year English course has been so heavily revised, it no longer includes a novel, or "extended reading" of any kind, no "specialized" or "historical" reading, mostly in-class assignments, no research essay...and we are still seeing a 40-50% rate of AI misconduct.
Reposted by Summer Brennan
It's only a matter of time before humanities departments will be forced to accept AI-authored assignments, as part of revised university policy to cooperate with these billionaires. It's already happening, and our response needs to be decisive. Because our students' ability to *think* is at stake.
November 28, 2025 at 10:37 PM
It's only a matter of time before humanities departments will be forced to accept AI-authored assignments, as part of revised university policy to cooperate with these billionaires. It's already happening, and our response needs to be decisive. Because our students' ability to *think* is at stake.
Reposted by Summer Brennan
This long, heartbreaking thread. Whew. Reason eleventy billion why I'm completely anti-AI.
Students unable to think.
"billionaires hurling addictive technology at us."
Whew.
Students unable to think.
"billionaires hurling addictive technology at us."
Whew.
An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.
November 29, 2025 at 2:28 PM
This long, heartbreaking thread. Whew. Reason eleventy billion why I'm completely anti-AI.
Students unable to think.
"billionaires hurling addictive technology at us."
Whew.
Students unable to think.
"billionaires hurling addictive technology at us."
Whew.
Reposted by Summer Brennan
Cancer drug Revlimid is one of the bestselling pharmaceutical products of all time, with total sales of over $100 billion.
It’s also extraordinarily expensive, costing nearly $1,000 for each pill, even though that pill costs just 25 cents to make.
By @davidarmstrongx.bsky.social
It’s also extraordinarily expensive, costing nearly $1,000 for each pill, even though that pill costs just 25 cents to make.
By @davidarmstrongx.bsky.social
The Price of Remission: This Cancer Drug Saves Lives — but Costs a Fortune. I Wanted to Know Why.
When I was diagnosed with cancer, I set out to understand why a single pill of Revlimid cost the same as a new iPhone. I’ve covered high drug prices as a reporter for years. What I discovered shocked ...
www.propublica.org
November 28, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Cancer drug Revlimid is one of the bestselling pharmaceutical products of all time, with total sales of over $100 billion.
It’s also extraordinarily expensive, costing nearly $1,000 for each pill, even though that pill costs just 25 cents to make.
By @davidarmstrongx.bsky.social
It’s also extraordinarily expensive, costing nearly $1,000 for each pill, even though that pill costs just 25 cents to make.
By @davidarmstrongx.bsky.social
Reposted by Summer Brennan
Get some rest tonight, everybody. I'll expect to see your offerings tomorrow. The devil hasn't yet made the villain who can spoil Secular Pie Thursday.
November 27, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Get some rest tonight, everybody. I'll expect to see your offerings tomorrow. The devil hasn't yet made the villain who can spoil Secular Pie Thursday.
Reposted by Summer Brennan
Looking for a gift? Edward Carey (my ball-&-chain) is selling original drawings of birds (grackle, barn, owl, even curlews) here:
edwardcarey.bigcartel.com?utm_source=i...
edwardcarey.bigcartel.com?utm_source=i...
EdwardCarey
Original art by Edward Carey, author of Little, The Swallowed Man, Iremonger Trilogy, Edith Holler and B: A Year in Plagues and Pencils.
edwardcarey.bigcartel.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Looking for a gift? Edward Carey (my ball-&-chain) is selling original drawings of birds (grackle, barn, owl, even curlews) here:
edwardcarey.bigcartel.com?utm_source=i...
edwardcarey.bigcartel.com?utm_source=i...
Reposted by Summer Brennan
My Xmas gift thank you Summer Brennan
This was originally written in summer, but for all of us facing empty chairs this Thanksgiving—the chairs that once were filled and now are not, and the chairs that may be filled one day, with people who’ve not yet been born, or whom we haven’t met yet 💜 www.awritersnotebook.org/p/going-thro...
Going Through Old Notebooks Part 13: Trees and Their Absence
I felt an affinity for that space, where a tree’s branches had swayed for over half a century, if not longer, and now did not
www.awritersnotebook.org
November 25, 2025 at 5:43 AM
My Xmas gift thank you Summer Brennan
Reposted by Summer Brennan
This was originally written in summer, but for all of us facing empty chairs this Thanksgiving—the chairs that once were filled and now are not, and the chairs that may be filled one day, with people who’ve not yet been born, or whom we haven’t met yet 💜 www.awritersnotebook.org/p/going-thro...
Going Through Old Notebooks Part 13: Trees and Their Absence
I felt an affinity for that space, where a tree’s branches had swayed for over half a century, if not longer, and now did not
www.awritersnotebook.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:51 AM
This was originally written in summer, but for all of us facing empty chairs this Thanksgiving—the chairs that once were filled and now are not, and the chairs that may be filled one day, with people who’ve not yet been born, or whom we haven’t met yet 💜 www.awritersnotebook.org/p/going-thro...
Reposted by Summer Brennan
The least you could do is tell me I look nice today.
November 21, 2025 at 1:10 PM
The least you could do is tell me I look nice today.
This was originally written in summer, but for all of us facing empty chairs this Thanksgiving—the chairs that once were filled and now are not, and the chairs that may be filled one day, with people who’ve not yet been born, or whom we haven’t met yet 💜 www.awritersnotebook.org/p/going-thro...
Going Through Old Notebooks Part 13: Trees and Their Absence
I felt an affinity for that space, where a tree’s branches had swayed for over half a century, if not longer, and now did not
www.awritersnotebook.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:51 AM
This was originally written in summer, but for all of us facing empty chairs this Thanksgiving—the chairs that once were filled and now are not, and the chairs that may be filled one day, with people who’ve not yet been born, or whom we haven’t met yet 💜 www.awritersnotebook.org/p/going-thro...