iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Thank you, @writersdigest.bsky.social, for this honor and opportunity! Congrats to all the winners!

Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Properly getting into All Time Low for the first time. Delighted to hear they rhymed "backseat serenade" with "little hand grenade."

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Cried a little today when I realized I could still read sheet music. I played for a decade, then quit cold turkey after graduation. Great friends have since helped me identify many of my high school band experiences as trauma. Facing it 20 years later, I'm moved to know that the good parts stuck.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

For the #WIPSnips word for September 29th, "Well." This was one of the most recent additions in my final round of revisions for the dystopian #speculative novel I've been querying on and off for forever. Felt very good to write. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #amquerying

I change into my boots to go to the privy, lingering outside to admire the night sky. A whisper of light dusts the far distance, the same red-tinged ochre of the earth. Ponder explained to us that the Big Daddy bombsite still effuses radioactive particles when the wind picks up, creating soft, bright storms that can be seen for hundreds of miles. Manmade refulgence, he says, unimpressed. It's fake, and it's fatal. But I enjoy the color from afar, the way it bleeds through the darkness. Naive and human of me, maybe, to overlook danger in favor of beauty, like the toxic white flowers of jimsonweed, or a well-shined gun. These glowing evenings are the same style of hazard, hurting you so prettily that the pain feels worth it.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Darn, that's what I figured, but my manuscript's got a kind of Ship of Theseus thing going that I wish I could query again. Thanks so much for the well wishes! <3

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

What do you do when you've already sent a weak query letter & a rougher, years-old draft to a huge list of agents? Can one query again w/ stronger, heavily revised material? I burned a lot of bridges early on through inexperience. Wondering if there are second chances. #amquerying #WritingCommunity

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I won 2nd place in the 2025 Writer's Digest Writing Contest for genre fiction! There were 3,300+ submissions representing 40 countries. Hope the story finds a home somewhere soon, as only the 1st place winner is published. Anyone want a dystopian story about grief, love, sewing, & plotting revenge?

Graphic of gold medallion with black and white text that reads, "2026 Writer's Digest Writing Competition Award Winner."

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Didn't actually paint this specifically for #RyanRoss' 40th birthday, but am deep into #Panic!AtTheDisco nostalgia these days, and finished this #watercolor coincidentally last week. 2006 was a hard year for 17-year-old me, full of distress that Panic! alleviated. The power of music. #patd

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Recently got some exciting news! Can't wait to share it when the timing is right! Wishing all you writers well. Please also look at this picture of my cats, Soufflé and Eggy.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

So many incidences of "horizon" in the book that I'm querying, which takes place in a library surrounded by a treeless wasteland, so there's not much else in the way of scenery. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #Writing #WIPSnips #amquerying

The slow wind's twenty degrees too hot, weighted with attempted murder. West is only so much more gray dust on the baked line of the horizon; I can already feel sweat gathering at my temples. I rarely travel through the barrens. I don't know how Kaput does it so often. He, Stomp, and Feelfree don their packs and mirrored aviators. Kaput is unarmed and Feelfree's only got his shiv, but I trust Stomp's aim with her six-shooter.

Goodbyes are bad luck, but Feelfree sneaks a kiss on my forehead as he passes me. We watch them walk away until the hazy heat blurs them out, then retreat back into the shade of the library. Still hot in here, but nothing like being under that stark, greedy sky.

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Reposted by Marilyn Hope (she/her)

Reactor Magazine @reactorsff.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

"Today is August 4, 2026". Happy "There Will Come Soft Rains" Day!

"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury

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Reposted by Marilyn Hope (she/her)

Holly Lyn Walrath @hollylynwalrath.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

We are once again voting to have a permanent speculative poetry Hugo. If you're a worldcon member, please consider supporting this goal. It means a great deal to many poets who have been marginalized by SFFH for years. poetryhugo.com

poetryhugo.com

Speculative Poetry Initiative

What Works Are Available for Nomination in the 2026 Awards?

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Today's #WIPSnips is "dash," which is tucked in a compound word at the end of my opening chapter. Is that cheating? Loved writing this character's introduction. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

I know beauty. I do. I know Clocks' square jawline and Hardly's rare smile, the way Feelfree laughs with his whole body. And I know the young man with Stomp is an anomaly in our world of slapdash survivalism, where you rarely find boys with such symmetry; boys with dangerous deportment and high cheekbones. He doesn't look at me, but after a long, loaded moment, he takes the hand Clocks offers him. Their grip is stiff and cagey. Clocks smiles, guarded.

"I'm John Clocks," he says. "Guess you're our recon."

The boy nods. "Yeah," he says, voice taut. "I'm Jary Jupital."

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Was skeptical paying for a fiction evaluation on The Black List, but I can't believe how valuable the feedback was. I've never had a way to gauge the efficacy of my manuscript (aside from my parents' encouragement). The concrit has already revolutionized my vision for my book. I feel reignited. 🔥

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

A million years ago, I was the winner of the 2019 CRAFT Short Fiction Prize, which was my first publication (aside from a letter I sent to Spider Magazine when I was 8). Please feel free to read my short story here: www.craftliterary.com/2019/09/27/w...

craftliterary.com

Winters by Marilyn Hope - CRAFT

“You’re a spring now,” says Hee-Bon, wintering Soo-Na’s complexion with a chilly setting powder. “Pink undertones, freckles—lot of sun in you. And I love your hair. Mom’s going to hate it. Why’d you d...

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

An agent I queried early on told me that first person present tense is "tiring," especially in speculative fiction. I'm no Margaret Atwood, but I'm glad I didn't rush to rewrite the whole novel in third person past with the belief that this was a hard rule.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Recently finished a story that felt so incredibly good to write. Like, "This is where it's at; this is exactly what I want my life to be" good. Now I feel both thrilled and bereft, and am having difficulty grappling with all the emotion. Everything feels so bittersweet.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Thank you so much for the kind words and welcome! <3

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

"Oak," my first #WIPSnips post! This is on the second page of my completed 73k manuscript, "The Dustery," which I've been querying on and off. Excited to meet other writers here! #Writesky

Together, the three of us navigate the tangle of catwalks in the rafters. This vast, far-flung building throbs like a heart in the wasteland, oak scaffolding stretching along the paths in circulatory systems that branch out into bare studs and trusses. Though I've never asked, I think it used to be a church. Parts of it were still gutted when Feelfree and I arrived, hallways hollow as bird bones. It took us days to get the foyer clean enough for the new shelving, then another week before we trusted the books out in the open air with all the sand, sun, and gunmen.

Now we just let the spines fade. It's a slow process anyway, and we've decided that they earn their scars, same as we do.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

That's so exciting to hear! I hope to get in touch with the community here; seems like an amazing bunch. Happy to meet you!

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

I'm blessed with incredible friends and family, but I'm a lonely writer. I feel like I revise, submit, query, fail, and celebrate in almost complete isolation. Writing is my favorite endeavor, but it's also the most emotionally taxing and lonesome process of my life. I feel so much grief around it.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Thought my stairs made weird, popcorn-like crackling noises before I walked up the stairs at someone else's house and heard the same sound. It's my knees. Damn.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Sego Lily bulbs and #bloodweave. Hunger and hubris. Love these two. #astarion #gale #bg3 #fanart #watercolor ##limitedpalette

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

The vet says my baby has about a month and a half left. Anyone have any advice regarding the loss of a pet, logistic or emotional or otherwise? I'm giving him tons of love, but it doesn't feel like enough.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

I finally pinpointed that this affectionately reminds me of the Jenny Saville and Glen Luchford "Closed Contact" installation.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

I unfollowed an artist on Instagram who drew a memorial portrait of CK and commented that it was disappointing. Guy thought he had a gotcha moment by saying, "Were you following for the art, or for the politics?" as if one doesn't inform the other. Lot of people showing their true colors these days.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

@pronounced-ing.bsky.social Eggy is enjoying your book almost as much as I am! Thank you so much for writing it.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

Yes, I deserve the McDonald's Ninja Turtles x Hello Kitty toys. The kids ordering Happy Meals haven't even spent a decade on earth, but TMNT and Hello Kitty are literally my entire/only personality. Let me have this.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

A technician stopped by my house for an evaluation yesterday and said, "Whoa. Your cat looks like he's been through a lot" when he saw Eggy. Rude. Eggy is perfect. Eighteen years old, and perfect.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

I misspelled the title of my book in my last query letter, if you want to know how things are going here.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Isn't it surreal? I've created so many profiles over the years that I delete within the week. It always feels so impersonal and overwhelming and fruitless. Glad someone else articulated this.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

A short story I've been trying to place for over a decade was rejected from the Intergalactic Rejects anthology in December with some of the most generous feedback I've ever received. Still holding out hope that it finds a home someday, and very grateful for the kind words and concrit.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Reminiscing today. This was a super fun one to write.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Thank you for the kind words! I didn't think about it that way! <3 I do feel like being more consistent will do me some good. Will you keep me updated on your journey?

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

I've been querying on and off for years, but I'm trying to really double down these days to be more diligent/persistent. I'd send one or two, then slack off for months. Definitely not the way to get published.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Not silly at all. You ARE an author, by all definitions!

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

The full request is such a great sign!! I'd use that as a morale booster as you keep checking out your options. No one can take away that victory from you, even if the waters get choppy. Rooting for you!

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

I hope it's affirming, too. Your hard work is paying off! Thank you so much for the well wishes. It can be tough out there.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Jess, that's amazing!! I'm so happy for you! Sending good vibes to you for the most suitable and fruitful representation possible. It'll sure be an exciting few weeks.

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Sent out another round of queries last week. Terrifying, thrilling process. Any writers here have any updates on their progress, whether you're drafting, revising, querying, or just vibing right now? Wishing you all the best!

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

You're not what a hero looks like / Pretty little flower, won't you sit back down and go play nice? 🌹 #Jayvik #Viktor #JayceTalis #graphite #sketch #arcane

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Marilyn Hope (she/her) @marilynhope.bsky.social · 05/11/2023

I haven't been able to promote this properly because I've been on vacation, but Scott's edits for my story were extensive and invaluable, and it was an absolute privilege being a part of his phenomenal publication. Please give this a read or listen!

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Reposted by Marilyn Hope (she/her)

Beneath Ceaseless Skies Magazine @bcsmagazine.bsky.social · 25/10/2023

BCS #394 ebook is out early today at @weightlessbooks.bsky.social & Kindle Store and for subscribers, featuring lyrical stories of sacrifice for love by @rkduncan.bsky.social and @marilynhope.bsky.social, behind cover art by Roberto Nieto: www.amazon.com/Beneath-Ceas...

weightlessbooks.com

Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #394 « Weightless Books

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