iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

✨ RELEASE DAY! ✨ The Second Draft is now available everywhere, including in Kindle Unlimited! Anne & Sadie are incredibly special to me, & I hope so much that their story resonates with you 🌵🌸 Purchase link below!

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Post-spay! The nurse said she behaved perfectly the entire time & that none of the staff wanted her to go home 🥹

A red miniature poodle-looking dog wearing a cone, in a dog car seat, looking absolutely done

A piece of paper that says “Francie was brave today! This is to certify that I showed extreme bravery throughout today’s medical procedure. Presented with pride, love, and cuddles.”

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

More incentive to come meet some amazing sapphic romance authors next month at Sapphyre: @writingroslyn.bsky.social & I are bringing Francie with us! How could you not want to meet this perfect sweet baby angel, I ask you? Event info here: www.eventbrite.com/e/sapphyre-a...

An adorable puppy with curly red-brown hair sitting on a gray couch with her feet on a teal blanket, looking at the camera.

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

For today’s #lesficfri theme “sleep,” a short excerpt from THE SECOND DRAFT, my forthcoming sapphic romance about an icy socialite who realizes she’s in love with her free-spirited best friend, catalyzing a journey of late-in-life self-discovery that changes everything. Out in 2026!

“Six,” she said. “I’ve been with six people.”

“All men, I assume.”

“Of course they were all men. What, do you think that I’ve been sleeping with other women this whole time? That I’ve spent my entire life as some sort of secret—” Anne stopped, her cheeks warm.

“You can say the word,” Sadie said gently. “Lesbian. It won’t hurt you. It’s not going to grab your purse in some gay alley and run off butchly into the night. And you don’t have to claim it for yourself either, you know. It’s just a word.”

No. Sadie was very wrong about that. It wasn’t just a word. Not at all.

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

To celebrate Day One of GCLS, @writingroslyn.bsky.social & I are doing a little cross-promo in-person giveaway 🥰 The first con attendee to find me and tell me their favorite supporting character in any of Roslyn's books will get a FREE signed copy of the bestselling THE WOMAN FROM THE WAVES! 🌊

A photo of a paperback copy of Roslyn Sinclair's sapphic romance novel THE WOMAN FROM THE WAVES, standing on a table, next to a postcard with art of the two main characters.

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

The perfect way to kick off June. Happy Pride from Philly! 🌈

Two people in flag decor at Philly Pride

A person dressed as a transformer in trans flag colors at Philly Pride

A little girl holding a sign that reads “More love, less hate” and “we are a rainbow family”

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

Want to read the new spicy short story prequel to Loser of the Year, but didn't sign up for my newsletter in time? You're in luck! New subscribers to The L Byrd automatically receive a download link & get 12,000 words of angst, steam, & inconvenient feelings absolutely FREE 🔥 shorturl.at/Pxig4

The cover of The Passion of Jillian Reed: A Loser of the Year Short Story, by Carrie Byrd, depicting the back and head of a woman with short brown hair, wearing a gray sports bra.

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

My next newsletter drops Thursday, with a 12k FREE short story that’ll have you turning up the AC 🥵 If you want to see inside Jillian's brain, or wondered what happened on that fateful night 18 years ago (no spoilers!) this one's for you. I’m so excited to share it. Sign up now at the link below!

“Tell me I’m wrong about you, then.”
Jillian immediately went rigid.
“What?” she said, mostly to buy herself time to think. The girl didn’t mean that. Jillian didn’t even know what “that” was.
Oh yes you do, her traitor brain murmured. You know exactly what she means.
“I try not to stereotype.” The girl cocked her head, and even through the dim light Jillian could make out the sharp look in her eyes. “Sometimes I get it wrong. But I really don’t think I got it wrong with you.”

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

🚨COMING NEXT WEEK🚨 College soccer star Jillian Reed only care about excellence. But when an unexpected encounter at a party results in a passionate one-night stand, Jillian faces a choice. Will she embrace her own desires? Or will she continue to deny the truth of who she is?

A cover for a short story by Carrie Byrd, titled The Passion of Jillian Reed: A Loser of the Year Short Story

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Final exam season has its little joys

A screen cap of a final exam question:

14. Two characters in a romance novel are sharing a hotel room, then discover there’s only one bed. What trope is this?

a. Friends to lovers
b. Grumpy/sunshine
c. Forced proximity
d. Marriage of convenience

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

🥳 AUDIOBOOK RELEASE! 🥳 Today’s the day! The audiobook version of Loser of the Year is now available on Audible and Audiobooks.com. I’m so thrilled with Krystal Hammond’s sizzling take on Mattie and Jillian, and I hope you will be too. Get it here: tinyurl.com/39mvx3n2

A screenshot of the first chapter of Loser of the Year by Carrie Byrd on audiobook

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Loser of the Year is a finalist for three @goldencrownls.bsky.social awards: Contemporary Romance: Long Novel, Debut Novel, and the Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award. I’m thrilled, grateful, and very, very overwhelmed.

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

🚨 The audiobook of Loser of the Year, read by the fantastic Krystal Hammond, drops April 22! 🚨 You can pre-order here from Audible or Audiobooks dot com: tantor.com/loser-of-the...

The cover of the Loser of the Year audioboook

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

I mean it didn’t NOT do that

A t-shirt with an image of Jesus and the words “Catholic School Made Me a Girl Kisser”

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

My book is for sale at the Leipzig Book Fair in Germany! 🥰

A table with books for sale, with Loser of the Year by Carrie Byrd front and center.

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

“Middle age isn’t some ditch at the dead end of Discovery Road, beloved.” My next book, The Second Draft, is out from @ylva-publishing.bsky.social in 2026! An ice queen, friends-to-lovers sapphic romance with two 50+ late bloomer MCs, TSD is about how it's never too late to become yourself 💛👠✍🏻🌵🔥

The Second Draft

Icy socialite Anne Lowell is perfectly fine. Now divorced from her husband of thirty years, she’s got her best friend and neighbor, the dazzling Sadie Rosenthal, to brighten her days. But when Anne is rocked by a sudden realization that her feelings for Sadie might be more than friendship, she comes face-to-face with a truth she’s spent her entire life trying not to see.

Sixty is far too late for an epiphany that changes everything. Isn’t it?

Out 2026 from Ylva Publishing

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

Repost with a photo of yours that would make a good album cover. 📸

A Southern California beach at sunset, with two very tall palm trees in the foreground and a seagull mid-flight between them.

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

Making a Kahoot quiz for our midterm review (it's seriously wild how much the students get into a middle school throwback + a chance to win candy). Anyone know or want to guess what the correct answer is, and why? I can't give you candy, but stickers are on the table...

A multiple-choice quiz question, asking "Which of these events is MOST responsible for the widespread pathologizing of queerness?" Possible answers: 1) The release of the Kinsey Reports in 1948 and 1952; 2) The frequency of same-sex sex in Victorian England; 3) The "invention" of homosexuality in 1870; 4) The conviction of Oscar Wilde in 1895

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

The cover of @anakwrenn.bsky.social’s forthcoming sapphic dystopia is one of the best covers ever made by @ylva-publishing.bsky.social, right up there with The Music and the Mirror and The Lily and the Crown. Just stunning. I’m so excited for the release in May!

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Absolutely, completely gobsmacked and so, so grateful for these bidders’ generosity. You better bet I’m creating the best annotations anyone’s ever annotated

A screenshot of the auction listing for Loser of the Year, showing 18 bids at $675.00

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

The best goddamn sports team in America

As per ‘The Sun’, a well-placed insider revealed that discussions between the Eagles’ players and the front office reached a conclusion that it would be a “massive no” to accept the White House visit invitation.

Further, an unnamed player reportedly stated that “pretty much everyone” was on the same page with regard to their refusal. “We represent a city and a state that is pushing for equal rights, respect, and values that respect every human being.”

“We won’t forget what happened and the criticism we received for taking a stand against racism, and we won’t back down from our values of respect, integrity, and equality.”

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

The wait is over! Loser of the Year's audiobook is coming to your ears in just two months, narrated by the supremely talented Krystal Hammond ⚽🎭

The cover of Carrie Byrd's Loser of the Year, with headphones around it, on a green blackboard background, with the words "Audiobook coming April 22!"

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

I screamed, I shouted, I yelled obscenities, I teared up, I briefly became a floor person in the best possible way after Smitty’s TD catch. It was the best night I’ve had in a long, long time. THE PHILADELPHIA FOOTBALL EAGLES ARE SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS. GO BIRDS FOREVER 💚🦅

A woman wearing a Jalen Hurts jersey on her stomach on the floor in front of a TV showing the Super Bowl, with a 33-0 score on the screen.

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Did I just order a miniature of my D&D character before we even play Session 1? MAYBE She's a cocky & charming butch with a stubborn streak a mile long, a high body count in both senses of the phrase, & emotional walls so immense even Reinhold Messner couldn't climb them. I love her so much

Screenshot of a Dungeons & Dragons miniature: a blonde woman with her fists raised in a fighting stance

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Spent the entire afternoon putting together a lecture on lesbian subcultures in the twentieth century. I have the best goddamn job in the world

Lecture slide showing photos of lesbians and sapphic women from the early twentieth century

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

My father continues to be the most wonderful 80-year-old white man in existence

A text message reading: I am so outraged by the piece of shit that is our president using this tragedy to espouse his racist ignorant ideology! Not good for my blood pressure

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

On this beautiful morning, the early sun glinting through the branches of the sycamore in my backyard, I'm thinking about the fact that in Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens refers consistently to one of his characters as "Master Bates"

his was explanatory, but not satisfactory. Master Bates felt it so; and again said, “What do you mean?”

The Dodger made no reply; but putting his hat on again, and gathering the skirts of his long-tailed coat under his arm, thrust his tongue into his cheek, slapped the bridge of his nose some half-dozen times in a familiar but expressive manner, and turning on his heel, slunk down the court. Master Bates followed, with a thoughtful countenance.

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

It’s entirely possible that I will never stop adding new decor to my campus office

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

I’m trying to numb my EMOTIONS not my EXTREMITIES

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

For today's #lesficfri word "breath," a snippet from my next book, an ice queen, friends-to-lovers sapphic romance about coming out in late middle age

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

A reminder that David Lynch gave us the perfect response to transphobia

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

We lost a giant today. No artist has ever understood better than David Lynch that great beauty and great darkness are always interlocked. "When a dark age comes, hold the light inside. That’s where it lives anyway.” Thank you for the light and for the dark.

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Putting together a playlist for this semester's Queer Lit class! The plan is to play a few songs from one artist before each class meeting as students come in and get settled. I've arranged it in rough chronological order. Anyone I'm missing who should absolutely be included?

Ma Rainey
Big Mama Thornton
Little Richard
Dusty Springfield
Janis Joplin
Queen
Wendy Carlos
Grace Jones
David Bowie
Bronski Beat
Tracy Chapman
Melissa Etheridge
k.d. lang
Queen Latifah
RuPaul

Tegan and Sara
Scissor Sisters
Sufjan Stevens
Rufus Wainwright
Against Me!
Janelle Monáe
Orville Peck
Chappell Roan
boygenius
Rina Sawayama
Frank Ocean
MNEK
Ethel Cain
Remi Wolf

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

A chapter of the WIP I'm currently revising takes place at one of my favorite restaurants in Malibu. It's gone now. Can't bring myself to change the name yet. Maybe I won't. Maybe this is now an AU where that gorgeous back patio still juts out over the sand and waves.

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Loser of the Year fits eight main categories and three micro-tropes for the 2025 Sapphic Book Bingo! If you haven't grabbed your copy yet, there's no better time 🎭⚽

2025 Sapphic Book Bingo categories for Carrie Byrd's Loser of the Year: witty banter
spicy or steamy romance
entertainment industry
characters are co-workers
new or new-to-you author
strong initial dislike
ice queen or grumpy character
includes an epilogue
flirting via text messages
unique nicknames
only one bed

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

2024 was the most eventful year of my life in almost every possible way. Entering the new year bruised, tender, softened, grateful, and as much myself as I’ve ever been 💛

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

Tonight’s Chrismukkah meal: salmon piccata, roasted broccoli, my granny’s kugel, and latkes made from scratch 🥰

A menorah on a side table with the shamash and one candle lit

A plate on a dining room table with salmon, kugel, latkes, sour cream, applesauce, and broccoli

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

Happy Hanukkah from Mattie, Jillian, and myself 💙💙💙

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

This is A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding’s literal actual cake-topper for a literal actual king & queen of a literal actual developed country, I just deeply need everyone to see this

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

This will never, ever, ever get old

A bookstore bookshelf with Carrie Byrd’s Loser of the Year

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Love to spend my afternoon filling out multiple forms for academic integrity violations instead of doing literally anything else

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Tore through this book in two days. A fast-paced, intense, & gripping ride that pulls no punches (a couple of scenes are truly upsetting) & rolls around in the delicious, provocative competence of its MCs. Loved reading an age gap with both women over 50! Gerri Kellman fans, this one is for you 🔥

A Kindle showing the cover of Lee Winter's book Number 6.

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Carrie Byrd @byrdwrites.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Thrilled that Loser of the Year was named one of @lesbrary.bsky.social's Best Sapphic Books of 2024, and even more thrilled to be listed alongside writers I deeply admire (& teach!). Thank you to the wonderful @jamiegeeksout.bsky.social for including Mattie & Jillian! lesbrary.com/best-sapphic...