Sage Tyrtle
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sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Sage Tyrtle
@sagetyrtle.bsky.social
2.6K followers 540 following 2.1K posts
Award-winning storyteller, writer, and workshop wizard. Moth GrandSLAM champ. NPR/CBC/PBS contributor. Taught 150+ workshops for Second City, Clarion West, and more. Work in Apex Mag, The Offing. Helps writers dig up stories that stick. www.tyrtle.com
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sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Sushi Rejection Project Update: 5 / 100, and one of those was a delightful personal rejection. I can't help but think of how sad I was last year around this time, genuinely questioning if I could write at all, and this year I have 4 nominations (Best American Short Stories (1/??)
Mirror reflection of a person, very wobbly. Person is in black and white striped pants and black and white check coat, which makes it an even stranger photo. There is a wobbly Saturn drawing on the wall and a wobbly chair.
November 27, 2025 at 3:23 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
I've got 5 #WritingWorkshops coming up - Child POV, True Stories, Micros, Horror Without Blood, and Lyrical Sentences -- sound like fun? Find out more here:

tyrtle.com/writing-work...

#WritingCommunity #Writing #SpeculativeFiction #FlashFic #FlashLit #MicroFiction #POV
Simple black and white image of an adult and child, the child has a speech bubble with a blue exclamation mark inside.
November 24, 2025 at 4:35 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
My cotton twill #HelensCloset #ArdenPants are done! This is my first pattern alteration, I used the June pants wide leg and then the top is all Arden. I'm VERY pleased, next time I make these I'll make two changes (1/2)

#SewAndTell #SewSky #Sewing #Sewer #Sew #MeMade #FatSewingClub #GarmentSewing
Person wearing brown pants with a simple white flower pattern. They have a shaved head, blue bangs, glasses, shoelaces and scarf. The person has a black long sleeved shirt and is standing in a hallway next to a closed door in front of an ink drawing of two people playing a game. Close up of the pants pocket, showing a yellow and white flower pattern identical to the brown and white flower pattern.
November 23, 2025 at 5:44 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Here's the fabric on the left (I don't like flowers, but I do like this design and am preeeeetty sure I owned very similar pants when I was a kid in the 70s) and the stamp on the right. Still learning how to create my stamp designs, but pleased with my progress. (end)
On the left, brown fabric with a cream coloured simple 70s inspired flower pattern. On the right, a plastic stamp with a stopwatch carved into it and the same stopwatch stamped on a piece of paper.
November 15, 2025 at 2:42 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
How To Share With A Cat: use only half your desk. The other half is for him to get up into the windowsill. (NOT sharing results in half of your belongings on the floor, and really, you should have known better.)

#Cat #Cats #CatsOfBluesky
Tabby cat looks at the blue sky out a window. Underneath the window, a desk that's only being half used.
November 13, 2025 at 1:36 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
I'm usually good with understanding UK books published in the 1930s but this one befuddled me. I had to ask a British friend, who explained that the richies are so bored and so exhausted from spending money that they are placing bets on who is going to come downstairs next. GOOD LORD.
Text from a book: The usual clatter of the breakfast table was in full progress. Everybody was already down except Freddie and Henry Kentisbeare, and Annette was trying to get up a hasty sweepstake on which of them would be the last. Stephen, helping himself to bacon and eggs, took a shilling ticket and was promptly informed that he had drawn a blank.
November 11, 2025 at 5:53 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
to my Ergodox EZ keyboard, which is 2 split keyboards and EVERY key can be changed, so I've taken full advantage of that. As a result, I'm the only person on the planet who can use it but I've also lost my ability to use anyone else's keyboard *laughing*
5. Wrote to 3/4 mark on haunted short story.
Keyboard key for my Ergodox EZ keyboard.
November 9, 2025 at 1:14 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Two day #WritingWorkshop coming up! Craft #FlashFiction using the repetition-driven frameworks of a pantoum and a sestina, pushing their prose toward unexpected resonance:

writingworkshops.com/en-ca/produc...

#AmWriting #Writer #Writing
Blue sky with dark clouds at dusk. A black telephone pole with many wires leading to and from and silhouetted trees.
October 27, 2025 at 5:00 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
I stopped using Amazon about a year ago, and LOVE these little notes which often come in my Canadian online orders. They give small businesses a face, and make me smile every time. (Bonus: high quality products, and paying shipping means in the end I spend much less than I (1/2)

#BuyCanadian
Small note which says "Sage - Thank you so much for your order and for your patience while we were on vacation! Enjoy your new stamp - it is one of my favourite products!"
October 25, 2025 at 2:39 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
This morning @gooutsidetoday.com called cat treats "An offering to the god of the house" and if THAT was religion, I'd be first in line to join. (Wait, did I already join? IS IT A CULT? A CAT CULT?)

#cat #CatsOfBlueSky

(Yes, he's a weirdo who loves blankets.)
Tabby cat asleep under a yellow blanket.
October 22, 2025 at 1:21 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
May you sleep tonight as peacefully and deeply as my silly cat Squishy.

#Cat #CatsOfBluesky
Tabby cat sleeping on top of a yellow blanket with the edge turned up over him.
October 16, 2025 at 2:16 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Join me for this #WritingWorkshop with @smokelong.bsky.social -- let's work together to use the impossible to talk about the deeply real. Leave with a fresh, impactful piece of flash #SpeculativeFiction.

www.smokelong.com/product/spec...

#WritingCommunity #Writing #AmWriting
Alien in a spaceship, black and white headshot of a person with a shaved head and bangs wearing black and white glasses. Text reads: Speculative Fiction as Metaphor with Sage Tyrtle, 2 hour webinar, Oct. 25 11 AM NYC, using the impossible to talk about the deeply real. Leave with a fresh, impactful piece of flash fiction.
October 16, 2025 at 1:54 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Sushi Rejection Project Update: I'm at 33 out of 100, and feeling a little like this photo of Squishy the cat. (Well, to be fair, I love a cold room and so he's really just trying to stay warm.) This is once again the highest I've ever gotten, but I do have a piece pending with a fancy pants (1/??)
Cat under a yellow blanket, just his nose and muzzle visible.
October 15, 2025 at 2:10 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Aw, thank you! (This is the first time I've looked like anyone in media since I was ten years old)
Cover of Harriet the Spy. Ink drawing of a child with glasses, a red sweatshirt, blue jeans, black shoes. Carrying a notebook.
October 10, 2025 at 8:49 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
I always wanted a twin. (This character appeared on the screen in Dead End Paranormal Park and my whole family went SQUEEEEEE!) This made me super happy.

#NonBinary
Character from the animated show Dead End Animated Park and real person. Both have shaved head, blue bangs, a backpack, a purple shirt, and an orange overshirt.
October 10, 2025 at 7:58 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Squish the Cat says there are #WritingWorkshops galore coming up! Whether it's #SpeculativeFiction, #ProsePoetry, #CNF, or POV you're into, I can give you tools to create fabulous new pieces:

tyrtle.com/writing-work...

#WritingCommunity #Writing #Writers #AmWriting
Tabby cat lying on a desk being cuddled.
October 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Love #FlashFiction? Love #SpeculativeFiction? Join me for this @smokelong.bsky.social #WritingWorkshop and I'll give you the tools to write speculative fiction as metaphor, one of my FAVOURITE THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE:

www.smokelong.com/product/spec...

#Writing #WritingCommunity
Spaceship with an alien inside. Headshot of a person with black and white glasses, shaved head, and bangs. Text says "Speculative Fiction as Metaphor with Sage Tyrtle, 2 Hour Webinar, Oct. 25, 11 AM NYC".
October 7, 2025 at 1:42 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
I made my own shoelaces! On the right, my old shoelaces, and on the left, the shoelaces I just finished making. You can get fancy metal aglets or heat shrink tubing but I used good old scotch tape (see: Going To High School (1/??)

#SewSky #Sewing #Sewer #Sew #MeMade #FatSewingClub #GarmentSewing
Two black sneakers. One has round black laces and the other has homemade flat blue laces.
October 6, 2025 at 12:40 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Pumpkin pie is pretty great, but you know what's MORE fun? #WritingWorkshops. Join me in November for Loop and Spiral: Flash Fiction Through Poetic Forms, where we'll combine ancient poetry forms and prose to create AMAZING new pieces:

writingworkshops.com/en-ca/produc...

#WritingCommunity #Write
Person with blue bangs, shaved head, black glasses and black t-shirt above a pumpkin pie about to be baked. (Pro-tip: if it says you can use heavy cream instead of evaporated milk, don't believe them! IT TAKES LITERALLY HOURS TO BAKE.)
October 3, 2025 at 12:01 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Meanwhile, I am marking off my tasks in my task book.

#Cats #CatsOfBluesky #GettingThingsDone
Tabby cat is lying full length on top of an open task list. There are small coloured wooden blocks on top of the cat in a neat row. Next to the task desk is a sewing table, and a shelf with files on it.
October 2, 2025 at 12:59 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
I'm ready to try a zip fly again, this time with the wonderful Helen's Closet, whose instructions make lovely sense and patterns fit so well. I'm going to try cotton twill with the #FalconerPants and while I'm pretty (1/??)

#SewSky #Sewing #Sewer #Sew #MeMade #FatSewingClub #GarmentSewing
Monochrome drawing of wide legged zipper pants with side pockets.
September 28, 2025 at 10:13 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Sushi Rejection Project update! I'm at 22 rejections in a row, which is the highest number I've ever gotten and is weirdly kind of a relief. I've already gotten to the highest number, what's the worst that can (1/??)

#WritersOfBluesky #WritingCommunity #Writing #AmWriting #Litmags #LitFic
Person in headphones, a black t-shirt and black leather jacket with blue hair and blue glasses. Text says: If you're submitting your writing to lit mags, remember that someone, somewhere, is going to love what you have to say.
September 24, 2025 at 2:48 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Thriving in the uncomfortable moments - my partner @gooutsidetoday.com wrote an awesome essay about thinking he likes to be comfortable and being reminded over and over that he loves to be uncomfortable:

gooutsidetoday.com/blog/2025/09...
Just before dawn, a small grassy hill and stars in the lightening sky.
September 22, 2025 at 11:24 AM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Well, on the bright side I have a lot of polka dot scrap fabric, should I need it in the future. (Also I know how to do godets now.) I am REALLY spoiled by the fantastic instructions from Helen's Closet. This Skirt of Doom (1/2)

#SewSky #Sewing #Sewer #Sew #MeMade #FatSewingClub #GarmentSewing
Person holding a black and white polka dot skirt up to show black godets.
September 16, 2025 at 9:15 PM
sagetyrtle.bsky.social
Reading UK books, growing up in California, I was BEWILDERED by torches. My mental image was of modern British children in jeans and t-shirts wandering around dark basements holding this and somehow not setting each other or the house on fire:
Child in the dark holding a stick on fire.
September 14, 2025 at 11:49 PM