iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 1h

I don't know what's happening on bluesky today but I've been blocking bot replies right and left.

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Drafting the Past @draftingthepast.bsky.social · 5h

We're sharing 12 October new releases in history that we can't wait to read! And boy, was it tough to stop at twelve: www.draftingthepast.com/12-new-books... 🗃️ #booksky #skystorians What are you looking forward to reading?

draftingthepast.com

12 New Books We Want to Read This October

A few of the new histories that caught our eye this month...

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Civics & Coffee: A History Podcast @civicspod.bsky.social · 6h

Happy International Podcast Day! Do you have a podcast you ADORE? Today is the day to let them know! Best ways you can help out your favorite show? ⭐️ Rate on your favorite platform 🎧 Listen to their episodes 📣 Tell your friends ✅ Subscribe And are the history pods that I have on heavy rotation

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Drafting the Past @draftingthepast.bsky.social · 17h

Pssst...our first book reviews drop two weeks from today. Are you subscribed yet? www.draftingthepast.com

draftingthepast.com

Drafting the Past

Reviews, craft essays, news and more for readers and writers of history.

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Remember when you could just buy concert tickets instead of signing up for three different accounts to try to access a presale and then lose out to bots anyway?

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Drafting the Past @draftingthepast.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Ever wondered what it's like to write popular histories? Kate hosted Eric Jay Dolin, author of the WRECK OF THE MENTOR (and 16 other books!), to find out. They talked about how Eric writes so much, how he thinks about structure, and gossip a little about book advances and more. buff.ly/tk7DZ4i 🗃️

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Eric Jay Dolin Never Wants to Be Bored

In Episode 115 of the Drafting the Past podcast, Kate talks with the bestselling author about making a career as a popular historian.

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

When your podcast guest (and listener) gently points out that you really need to finish your dissertation. 😬

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Extremely exciting publishing news!

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Ray E. Boomhower @rboomhower.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Another excellent interview. Lots of great stuff for anyone wanting to be a writer. Caution: It isn't easy, as Mr. Dolin notes.

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Aside from, you know, everything else that's wrong with it, your pitch is the first writing sample an editor reads. Why would you have AI write it? It's not a formality or busy work!

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I am in Delaware! A state I was not convinced was real until I arrived yesterday.

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I'm actively brainstorming and researching ways to promote and grow an online publication without relying on Meta heavily. If other things have worked for you, please share them!

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I'm never not thinking about the Kurt Vonnegut dancing animals quote, but Today in Tabs @rusty.todayintabs.com made me think about it all over again.

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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

If we are enslaved by a machine god in the 2030s, let the record show that this all could’ve been prevented by putting academics, including graduate students, on 12-month contracts. open.substack.com/pub/bloodint...

"I invented the term artificial intelligence," the Stanford computer scientist John McCarthy said in 1973, "and I invented it because we had to do something when we were trying to get money for a summer study in 1956." A more pedestrian, jargon-filled proposal had previously failed to get traction; "artificial intelligence" turned committee heads and got the funding. Now, angling for some summer study funding is on a much smaller scale than the trillion-dollar value-inflating proclamations of our AI companies today, but the anecdote shows the extent to which "AI" has always been a cultural construct and has served as a useful narrative device.

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Wanna hear something fun? Hats and totes (gifts for member-plus and founding member subscribers to @draftingthepast.bsky.social) went into production today!

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I do not want to leave a review. Please stop emailing me to leave a review.

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Megan Kate Nelson 📚 @mkn.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

My, how I love a great book cover! Here are a few of our nonfiction history favorites, at @draftingthepast.bsky.social. What are yours?

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

This one is really great. Go listen!

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I'm tired of seeing people repeat pangram's claims that its AI checker is infallible. It's clearly not. Try a piece of your own writing in it and see. Using AI to police AI use makes absolutely no sense.

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The closest I come to gambling is bidding on a lot of stuff in the charity silent auction to try to drive the prices up.

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I really miss living in the west these days.

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Free idea: someone should be pitching a review essay on Soyica Diggs Colbert's Freedom's Gate and Marcia Chatelain's How Bright the Path Grows (not to us, we're covering them in other ways!)

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Austin McCoy @austinmccoy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Sort of (re)launching my Substack! I posted a few notes since last year, but I'm planning to post more thoughts about history, culture, and politics there. Please subscribe! Starting with updated book tour information and a media roundup. austincmccoy.substack.com/p/finally-la...

austincmccoy.substack.com

Finally launching my Substack: Living in a DAISY Age Fall Tour

Book and tour updates!

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Very annoying to have such brilliant and hard-working grad school colleagues.

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Josh Cook @joshthelibromancer.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I know it won't fix anything, but you could do a lot worse than going to your local indie bookstore and buying a recommendation or going to your local library and checking one out.

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Every single time someone becomes a Drafting the Past founding member I become the human embodiment of this emoji: 🥹

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Four weeks until book reviews (and more!) launch--help us reach new subscribers before then!

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Survived the dentist, only barely survived the dentist's small talk.

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I have to go have a cracked tooth and cavity filled, and it would be really nice to come back and fine that 100 more people have subscribed to Drafting the Past. Just sayin'. www.draftingthepast.com

draftingthepast.com

Drafting the Past

Reviews, craft essays, news and more for readers and writers of history.

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Zeb Larson @zeblarson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Few things are nearer to my heart than the Federal Writers Project, not least because it went beyond just giving writers a paycheck (though we need it). More fundamentally, it demonstrated the whole value of the pluralistic multicultural project not least by building beautiful things.

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Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 14/09/2026

"Our illiberal enemies have made it very clear that they don’t want to ignore the arts: they want to weaponize them… But we have a historical model for how to respond to this, one that we can both draw on and improve upon." www.liberalcurrents.com/we-need-a-ne...

We Need a New Federal Writers Project

Drawing on and improving the model pioneered during the New Deal.

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Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

And if you're interested in how I wrangled a multi-tentacled project spanning everything from ancient gods to E.T., and from the age of European exploration to modern biology, check out my convo with @katecarp.bsky.social on @draftingthepast.bsky.social! www.draftingthepast.com/podcast-epis...

draftingthepast.com

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Just sent @mkn.bsky.social a spreadsheet so you know things are getting serious...

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Oh hey, iLands is where the agent who pitched me to be on the podcast came from.

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Megan Kate Nelson 📚 @mkn.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Come join us as Founding Members of @draftingthepast.bsky.social, Blueskis! There are SO. MANY. PERKS.

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

File under: make the merch you wish to wear in the world.

Mock up image of an olive green baseball cap with the words "archive rat" in white serif font on the front

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I just got an episode pitch from an AI agent, suggesting that I interview it on the podcast. 🤮

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The Star was already a shell of a newspaper, and this is a death knell. Democracy cannot survive, especially in an era of gross financial inequality, without a functioning press.

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Drafting the Past @draftingthepast.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

These are a bit cheeky, but in all seriousness we invite you to become a Founding Member of Drafting the Past, if you're in the position to do so. If you believe in our mission to bring more attention to history books, joining this limited time special group is an amazing way to invest. 1/

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Currently trying to decide if moving my office to our basement will feel like a cozy writing cave or a dungeon of despair. Probably depends on how many crickets there are.

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Dorian J. Burnette @djburnette.com · 10/09/2026

An important contribution to the literature on extreme heat expanding into the shoulder seasons (spring/fall). See quoted 🧵 below from the lead-author. Paper is open access. 🧪

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Claire E. Aubin @ceaubin.com · 10/09/2026

Today on @thisguysucked.com! The wonderful @laurenworking.bsky.social and I chat about Martin Frobisher, who proved how easy it was to fail upwards in the early modern period if you convinced people you knew where to get gold.

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Anna Reser @annareser.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

we’re being brave together! send me a story even if you’re scared because you gotta get those words out into the world

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