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 🐝
Was trying to think of the word “ennui” but could only think to describe it as “umami of the spirit”
December 5, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Was trying to think of the word “ennui” but could only think to describe it as “umami of the spirit”
The minute I get that Taylor Swift Ophelia song out of my head, I come across another reel with it and the cycle starts all over again.
December 8, 2025 at 10:14 PM
The minute I get that Taylor Swift Ophelia song out of my head, I come across another reel with it and the cycle starts all over again.
Oh that? Yes, that is a sack of Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Filled Pretzel Nuggets snuggled next to me like a Teddy bear.
December 7, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Oh that? Yes, that is a sack of Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Filled Pretzel Nuggets snuggled next to me like a Teddy bear.
Betty Gilpin is the only person who should be on social media, and she's not.
December 7, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Betty Gilpin is the only person who should be on social media, and she's not.
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
My work week is almost done and tomorrow I head to a long-awaited writing retreat! It's my third annual writing weekend with the unmatched @rpmirabella.bsky.social! Hoping some of his genius seeps through the walls 🪄
December 4, 2025 at 9:23 PM
My work week is almost done and tomorrow I head to a long-awaited writing retreat! It's my third annual writing weekend with the unmatched @rpmirabella.bsky.social! Hoping some of his genius seeps through the walls 🪄
The "I know my characters, finally" realization. I just thought of a line, and wondered who in my novel would say such a thing. This person? No. This one? No. Vincent. That's who would say it. Only he could.
December 2, 2025 at 9:32 PM
The "I know my characters, finally" realization. I just thought of a line, and wondered who in my novel would say such a thing. This person? No. This one? No. Vincent. That's who would say it. Only he could.
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
I think this was the first piece of yours I read and it hit me right in the heart: then and now.
December 2, 2025 at 2:07 PM
I think this was the first piece of yours I read and it hit me right in the heart: then and now.
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
splitlipthemag.com/flash/1122/r...
A little late for World AIDS Day. A story about lost books and lost writers.
A little late for World AIDS Day. A story about lost books and lost writers.
The Book I Found in the $1 Bin — Split Lip Magazine
I liked the cover because there was a sexy man on it and I’m easy to manipulate, so I brought it to the register and paid a dollar. In the sun, I opened the book and found an inscription: To Russel, ...
splitlipthemag.com
December 2, 2025 at 4:15 AM
splitlipthemag.com/flash/1122/r...
A little late for World AIDS Day. A story about lost books and lost writers.
A little late for World AIDS Day. A story about lost books and lost writers.
splitlipthemag.com/flash/1122/r...
A little late for World AIDS Day. A story about lost books and lost writers.
A little late for World AIDS Day. A story about lost books and lost writers.
The Book I Found in the $1 Bin — Split Lip Magazine
I liked the cover because there was a sexy man on it and I’m easy to manipulate, so I brought it to the register and paid a dollar. In the sun, I opened the book and found an inscription: To Russel, ...
splitlipthemag.com
December 2, 2025 at 4:15 AM
splitlipthemag.com/flash/1122/r...
A little late for World AIDS Day. A story about lost books and lost writers.
A little late for World AIDS Day. A story about lost books and lost writers.
Reading Joy Williams is such a singular experience. Even if you leave a story puzzled, you have at least read something that feels new. Every small moment, no matter how mundane, is viewed through a distorted glass.
November 29, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Reading Joy Williams is such a singular experience. Even if you leave a story puzzled, you have at least read something that feels new. Every small moment, no matter how mundane, is viewed through a distorted glass.
Reposted by Richard Mirabella 🐝
Slop Evader is a tool from artist and researcher Tega Brain that lets you search the web for results exclusively before November 30, 2022—the day that ChatGPT was released to the public.
'Slop Evader' Lets You Surf the Web Like It’s 2022
Artist Tega Brain is fighting the internet’s enshittification by turning back the clock to before ChatGPT existed.
www.404media.co
November 26, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Slop Evader is a tool from artist and researcher Tega Brain that lets you search the web for results exclusively before November 30, 2022—the day that ChatGPT was released to the public.
When a man has leg tattoos, I can no longer be held responsible for my behavior.
November 25, 2025 at 5:35 PM
When a man has leg tattoos, I can no longer be held responsible for my behavior.
Some of you are so young and accomplished. It took me a long time to believe I could do things, but I'm glad I got there eventually. (Still a struggle.)
November 25, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Some of you are so young and accomplished. It took me a long time to believe I could do things, but I'm glad I got there eventually. (Still a struggle.)
Give me advice about going to the gym consistently. I start going, I enjoy it, and then I stop and it takes ages for me to go back. The gym is literally downstairs from my job. I don't even have to get in my car and I STILL can't get myself to go.
November 23, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Give me advice about going to the gym consistently. I start going, I enjoy it, and then I stop and it takes ages for me to go back. The gym is literally downstairs from my job. I don't even have to get in my car and I STILL can't get myself to go.
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.