I've been dipping a toe into the poetry pool. I especially love pantoums. So, you can imagine my excitement when I show up for @sagetyrtle.bsky.social's "Loop and Spiral" class last fall and she says we're going to do pantoums. (TY Sage!) Me + pantoums = ♥️ Huge thank you to Flash the Court, too.

My little story "Cast Offs" made the Honorable Mentions for Gooseberry Pie's Annual Writing Competition, judged by the amazing Dan Crawley. Drafted in Smokelong's March Micro Marathon. I'd love for you to check it out!

@gooseberrypie.bsky.social special issue of the winning stories from our annual writing comp, along with the short and longlist. 40 fabulous stories in this incredible issue. 1: Kathryn Silver-Hajo 2: Louella Lester 3: Kik Lodge Five Honorable Mentions gooseberry-pie.com/special-issu...

Honorable Mentions D E Hardy @dawnsteffler.bsky.social @vallielynnwatson.bsky.social @sudhab.bsky.social Guy Biederman

These pieces are fantastic

3 new stories from one of our finest writers, @dawnsteffler.bsky.social!

Read all of these! They, like Dawn, are amazing!

Metal legs scissor open with a shriek, and the board’s legs lock in place. My mother licks her index finger, taps the iron’s soleplate, and listens for the sizzle. @dawnwriter.bsky.social in @jmwwjournal.bsky.social

3 new stories in New World Writing Quarterly! Another bucket list for me. These stories are representative of how my work has been going recently, slightly off-kilter, and I love that. I hope you check them out! Esp "I'm a Decorative Throw Pillow..." which was inspired by my brilliant friend, Eric.

This is an incredible and terrifying story that had me racing through to the end.

These two powerhouses @emilyrinkema.bsky.social and @dawnsteffler.bsky.social??? Get out of town! This is 🔥🔥🔥 in Cutleaf

Don't miss this dynamite story from @dawnsteffler.bsky.social and @emilyrinkema.bsky.social! They're both great writers and when they collaborated, 🔥🔥🔥 happened. cutleafjournal.com/content/kill...

a car speeds around the corner, around her resting feet and her red-stained face. She feels the hot whoosh and the way it lifts her hair from her face. When it is gone, she wonders if it was real. @shiramusicant.bsky.social in Flash the Court

"The world as we know it is ending, and I am in a bathroom in Terminal 1 at Chicago O’Hare... hugging my sobbing, 17-year-old daughter, Jess... Her newly-exed boyfriend, Robby Jenkins, posted a sex video of them on Snapchat, which Jess saw 20 minutes ago when our plane from Vermont touched down." 👇👇

Stunning. Just stunning. (Need to have a lie-down now after reading it!)

a page-turner (scroller?) of a spec fic set at Chicago International (know it well 😳) with a mom trying to keep it together for her daughter (also been there!) such truth & beauty from the incomparable @emilyrinkema.bsky.social & @dawnsteffler.bsky.social bravo you two 👏👏👏

Absolutely fantastic story by Dawn and Emily! Raced through it. The pivot is *chef's kiss! Congrats!!

“Kevin and I laughed at our feral little animal, this creature who was loud and determined and afraid of nothing.” @emilyrinkema.bsky.social and @dawnsteffler.bsky.social with this total knockout of an apocalypse story in cutleaf 💔

Amazing collaboration between @dawnsteffler.bsky.social & @emilyrinkema.bsky.social. Didn't want this story to end!

Now two more years have passed, and my little girl is hurting again, and I want Robby Jenkins dead more than I’ve ever wanted anything. And if he’s already dead, I want him dead again. Don't miss this collaborative story from @emilyrinkema.bsky.social and @dawnsteffler.bsky.social at Cutleaf! 👏

A sex tape, wolves, the end of the world...check out what @dawnsteffler.bsky.social and I did! My first ever collaboration, "Killing Robby Jenkins," is at Cutleaf today! To write with Dawn was amazing--we laughed, we cried, we howled...Hope you'll give it a read: cutleafjournal.com/content/kill...

Wow. Love seeing two fiction wizards combining forces for such a fun, funny, fantastic story. Check it out! Thanks for the great read, @emilyrinkema.bsky.social @dawnsteffler.bsky.social. This story made my morning commute so much more entertaining!

cool new issue of Cutleaf, guest edited by @kimmagowan.bsky.social and Michelle Ross. The stories were collaboratively written by @emilyrinkema.bsky.social and @dawnsteffler.bsky.social, Amanda Ellard and Madison Porter, and @dianelp.bsky.social and Ania Payne. Check it out here: cutleafjournal.com

New story out in Cutleaf! Collaborating with the INIMITABLE @emilyrinkema.bsky.social on this story about being stranded in O'Hare while the world ends was a dream come true! Little Easter eggs throughout, btw, if you know either of us! 😜 We're so proud of this story, hope you'll give it a read!

So happy my decorative throw pillow story made the Highly Commended list for the 400 word contest. That story was recently published by @newworldwriting.bsky.social. I'd love it if you checked it out. newworldwriting.net/dawn-tasaka-...

My mother watches a lot of TV and she’s fond of conspiracy theories, and on the one hand, it’s really annoying, but on the other hand, I have to admire the way she makes her boring life interesting. I shared this w my nonwriter hub and he said, wow this writer is talented! 👍👍 @jacqdoyle.bsky.social

I’m all ears, she said. I’m all nose, he said, and it was true. She loved his big nose and gloomy dis­po­si­tion. He loved the way she lis­tened and her opti­mistic nature. Two years after they mar­ried, they had a daugh­ter who was all heart. Love these ruminations on life and aging.

Now that the @smokelong.bsky.social MMM contest results are announced, I feel like I can celebrate these 3 stories coming out with @newworldwriting.bsky.social ing.bsky.social, a journal I so admire! The first which was Highly Commended and inspired by something @ericscottryon.bsky.social wrote.

Love these stories by @dawnsteffler.bsky.social in @newworldwriting.bsky.social! Dentures! Geese! Hot flashes! newworldwriting.net/dawn-tasaka-...

So much talent in that elevator.

Seconding James' comment about the confidence in the storytelling; the ending wrapped up in the opening, you don't see it on first read thru, but it's there, staring you down. Terrific story! @marioaliberto3.bsky.social @bulbregion.bsky.social

In the kitchen, the lights over the island are turned low, and I lean forward and squint to make sense of what I’m looking at. There are three casserole dishes, each with a dish towel in the bottom, and inside, lined up like gnocchi, are babies. Dozens of tiny babies Emily doing what she does best!

“There are endless tomorrows. Until there aren’t.” A heart-warming story with an adorable pair of chickens that had me whispering “I’d choose that too” at the end. A beautiful and gentle story by @dawnsteffler.bsky.social in @riverteeth.bsky.social riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-th...

Love this gorgeous piece by @dawnsteffler.bsky.social ! #flash #flashlit

We are so here for the chicken years, Dawn--& thrilled to have published this beautiful thing!

“The last of her kind, as far as she knows. A gentle apocalypse.” @dawnsteffler.bsky.social in @riverteeth.bsky.social riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-th...

I've been spending time preparing for @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social's book launch and it's going to be a real treat! Her book, "Pardon Me For Moonwalking" is an absolute treasure! And I'm honored to share the table with Jacqueline Doyle and Lynn Mundell. Hope some of our Bay Area locals will join us!

Wow wow wow, this is some lineup! So honored to share the stage with these fabulous writers! Come listen if you're in Baltimore! And the venue... I was reading George Saunders' newsletter the other week and on his book tour he hit this library, it's absolutely gorgeous...

I share leftovers from my fridge: chow mein is a favorite. Then we all hobble around with our chronic bumblefoot, arthritis, and bum knees, me gardening, them scratching for bugs under the lemon tree. By @dawnsteffler.bsky.social in @riverteeth.bsky.social riverteethjournal.com?mailpoet_rou...

"For their service, I share leftovers from my fridge: chow mein is a favorite. Then we all hobble around with our chronic bumblefoot, arthritis, and bum knees, me gardening, them scratching for bugs under the lemon tree." Love this @dawnsteffler.bsky.social riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-th...

This is perfection, @dawnsteffler.bsky.social. You made me cry--such gorgeous writing and an oddly hopeful ending...a "gentle apocalypse". I'm not sure why this is what I need today, but thank you.

I have a very special essay up in Beautiful Things. For me, it's a shift in energy from all the despair. Also, a precious moment of my chicken years captured. Fun little anecdote: When I fed them this morning (chilly!) i gave them warm scrambled egg to celebrate, and I told them they’re famous now.

My first story of 2026 is up in Necessary Fiction! Thank you so much EIC @shimmer.bsky.social Himmer and guest editor @nicholas-claro.bsky.social for picking my story.

The Village is a place for the global flash community to gather. Stay tuned. #ittakesavillage

Grateful to @jmwwlitjournal for the Best Microfictions nomination! Thank you! Link to the story: jmwwblog.wordpress.com/2025/06/11/f...

So very excited to have made the finalist list for @fracturedlit.bsky.social Flash Fiction OPEN , judged by the incredible Gwen Kirby. Thank you so much! I'm looking forward to unveiling my crazy, tasteless tabloid show story sometime in the new year. This one was so much fun to write!

He looked at the dead dog, Cherry. She was off the road, on a pile of leaves that were composting against the fence. She was stretched out, mouth open. There was nothing wrong with her, except she was dead. Every story @glennorgias.bsky.social writes is a stunner... @necessaryfiction.com

had no idea what she was about to tell him or ask him and her decision frightened her like when how long someone could go on being ignorantly happy while the death of a loved one went unknown. That was an exaggeration of course The quiet on the edge of change David Guiotto in Flash the Court

These are a few of my favourite words …

www.identitytheory.com/about/micro-... @identitytheory.bsky.social