Well, as you can see from the above photo taken from my front lawn Tuesday night, and as you’ve likely seen in the news, it’s been a pretty devastating week in the Pasadena area where I’m based (particularly Altadena đź’”) and broader Los Angeles. My partner Alyce and I evacuated Tuesday night, but are safe and home now. We’re crushed for our surrounding community, which has experienced untold loss.
If you’re wanting to help, here are a few places to consider donating:
- The Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation is seeking donations to better-equip firefighters battling the wildfires.
- As of this writing, Octavia’s Bookshelf in Pasadena, which thankfully survived the fire, is operating as a mutual aid center and accepting donations of needed items.
- Pasadena Humane Society has been sheltering many of the pets and animals affected by the fires, and they’re seeking donations and foster families. (This is also the place where Alyce adopted our intrepid chiweenie Nebula, who was a champ during the evacuation.)
- JosĂ© AndrĂ©s’ World Central Kitchen set up several food centers very quickly in Altadena after the fires and is providing meals to those in need.
- The Watch Duty app provides an indispensable resource for wildfire news and evacuation maps. It’s run by a nonprofit and puts our increasingly ludicrous and useless for-profit tech world to shame.
- Los Angeles Times has a full roundup of places to donate, and as of this writing they’ve dropped their paywall.
Make sure your emergency supplies and go-bags are packed and ready! People like to be smug about Los Angeles being uniquely disaster-prone, but the effects of climate change are coming for us all. Prepare as best you can.
Also, don’t believe the ridiculous propaganda that Los Angeles and California as a whole are mismanaged wastelands. The vast majority of the city is completely fine, our civic institutions have been serving us well, and it’s a community-minded place that pulls together in really inspiring ways. I remain immensely thankful to live here and to call myself a Californian.
Meanwhile, I’m back at work and very open for editing projects, so please don’t feel like you’re burdening me by reaching out! I feel lucky to be able to immerse myself in the world of books when times are stressful. Contact me freely.
As you can imagine, I’m a tad fatigued and am catching up on work, so the links this week will be in list form:
News:
Storehouse Voices, a New Imprint at Crown, Aims to Empower Black Authors – Sophia Stewart, Publishers Weekly
Diversity Syndrome: On Publishing’s Relentless Pigeonholing of Black Writers – Naomi Day, LitHub
Karma’s a Bitch: The Law Catches Up With PageTurner Press and Media – Victoria Strauss, Writer Beware
How a Scrappy New Publisher Landed 25 Books on the Best-Seller List in a Year – Alexandra Alter, New York Times
The Hottest Trend in Publishing: Books You Can Judge by Their Cover – Alexandra Alter, New York Times
Did a Best-Selling Romantasy Novelist Steal Another Writer’s Story? – Katy Waldman, The New Yorker
Are men’s reading habits truly a national crisis? – Constance Grady, Vox
Want to Earn Six Figures as a Writer? Try Ghostwriting – Jacqui Shine, Wall Street Journal
Writing and publishing advice:
The Key Book Publishing Paths: 2025–2026 – Jane Friedman
Art in the Age of Slop – Lincoln Michel, Counter Craft
The Mirror and the Arrow – Donald Maass, Writer Unboxed
Are Misconceptions and Old Ideas Burdening Your Writing Life? – Anne R. Allen
Envy, ego, pride and pain: what I learned from publishing my first book – Hamilton Nolan, The Guardian
What AI Teaches Us About Good Writing – Laura Hartenberger, Noema
This week in bestsellers
Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):
Adult print and e-book fiction:
- James by Percival Everett
- All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
- The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
- The Women by Kristin Hannah
Adult print and e-book nonfiction:
- The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
- The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
- Cher: The Memoir, Part One by Cher
- Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
- The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Young adult hardcover:
- If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin
- Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter
- A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid
- Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao
- Heir by Sabaa Tahir
Middle grade hardcover:
- Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
- The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen Kids
- The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen
- Wings of Fire: A Guide to the Dragon World by Tui T. Sutherland
- Wonder by R.J. Palacio
This week on the blog
In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:
- I was a little preoccupied this week!
And keep up with the discussion in all the places!
- Follow me on Bluesky and Threads
- Follow my page on Facebook
- Join the Facebook Group
- Check out the Bransforums
And finally:
When Whales and Humans Talk – Krista Langlois, Hakai Magazine
Have a safe weekend!
Need help with your book? I’m available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and coaching!
For my best advice, check out my online classes, my guide to writing a novel and my guide to publishing a book.
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I have a widowed cousin who has lived in SoCal all her life and currently resides in Simi Valley. She has assured me she is fine and feels secure, although some of her friends live in Pasadena and feel threatened.
I also have a good friend who’s lived in Anaheim her whole life. She was my late wife’s friend, who lived in Pasadena for 45 years before her first husband passed away in 2001. She has assured me she feels safe but is really stressed about all the destruction and loss of life.
I am so sorry you and so many others are facing facing the threat of fire. I hope the best for you.
So glad you’re safe! And thank you for sharing links to all the kind people and organizations bringing comfort to those affected by the fires.
I live about a mile from the southernmost reach of the Eaton fire. We were never under evacuation orders but we were under the warning for days, and we evacuated Wednesday night just for peace of mind. The wind and the explosions (propane tanks, apparently—did you hear them?) really scared me.
And yes, our pitbull, Juice, was a champ.
We are so fortunate to have our home. I’ve lost count of how many of my friends have lost everything. I’ve lived in the area nearly 20 years and there is so much lost, it’s devastating.
But the support has been tremendous. Our state and local officials have been tireless and stellar. Other states have sent help. Store clerks and strangers have hugged me while we cried together. I’m so proud of our community.
Glad you’re okay! I did hear explosions and saw flashes. I thought they were transformers, didn’t realize they were propane tanks. Yikes. But the community really is pulling together in an inspiring way.
Glad you’re okay too!
The explosions were probably transformers as well. Everything went boom.
Your photo reminds me of how shocking it was to see the fire from our yards. Brush fires happen here, but until now they remained mostly in the hills.
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