Still open for the 2025 New Flash Fiction Prize - deadline 15 Oct so 2 weeks to polish and shine! Loving the entries so far 😍 500 words Winner $250 Two runners-up $100 each Entry fee $10 We read anonymously Check out the interview with judge @gfaulknerwriter.bsky.social and good luck!

An engaging elegy to Art Deco (And right up @alinaetc.bsky.social’s alley)

A sousaphonist busks on a street corner. A sun red man mutters to himself at the outdoor cafe table. A fall day made to order.

Book mail! (With congrats to @jocelynjanecox.bsky.social on the new release!)

Cnf blurbers wanted 👇

If obituaries & a eulogy count as writing, I’ve been super productive this week. Today I celebrate my one & only Papa Bear. SKOL!

Never forget

Thin skin is looking for readers 👇

And now I am a fatherless daughter 💔

Last week I said it with lemon bars. This week, I’m using the last peaches of the season to tell my dad I love him. 💙

In the midst of peak sandwich-gen living, I have next to no bandwidth to generate new words, but I carved out thirty minutes to submit work & ensure my writing life still has a pulse. This is self-care.

“Best Friend reaches for a burp cloth. God help me, she says, we will eat pancakes together again one day. And they will be glorious.” Well-placed clues telegraphed the subtext, but nothing prepared me for the ending in this @pamschmid.bsky.social flash.

My most viral tweet gets resurrected every so often, and I never tire of reading the replies.

My dad was given 4-6 weeks. I am gutted.

I’m honored to be judging the Fall Flash Fiction Contest at the fabulous @thesunlightpress.bsky.social! There are super generous cash prizes (the winner receives $600, second place winner $250, and third place winner $150). Link with info below. I can’t wait to read your work! ☀️

Hospital, Day 2. Finally some urgency.

“John and I were like that. Riffing on each other. It was fun, I think, or not. Maybe the truth is that we never respected each other.” Come for the pop culture, stay for the voice. A new short story by @stephanieaustin.bsky.social

“He shows me the Bat Boy in the Weekly World News. This is what happens to boys who don’t listen to their fathers….” Love how these two standalone micros by @lumchanmfa.bsky.social create an interesting tension together.

The box has been opened & fuck cancer.

Bowie & I say hi

“I don’t order the hot and sour soup because that was your thing, but I order extra of the chicken egg rolls we both craved along with some veggie lo mein.” What a transcendent ending to this piece by @tracieadams.bsky.social

Fellow fans of The Cure won’t want to miss this:

Submissions guidelines thebelfastreview.wixsite.com/home/submiss...

We need a few good folks! jmwwblog.wordpress.com/2025/08/17/w...

My dad is currently trapped in Schrödinger’s box where he both does/does not have cancer. Hope to have answers in a week after much-anticipated scans. This being human really bites sometimes.

Great use of location to provide all the subtext in this micro

Five whole hours, bbs!

“Sometimes I imagine her—your wife. Her body gone small under the machines.” Such an intriguing setup & quiet, gorgeous voice in this @mizukiyamagen.bsky.social flash.

👇👇

My baby is growing up too fast, but I sure love watching Stranger Things with her.

The world is appalling right now, but I dipped my toes in sand & read a book & wrote & it is keeping me whole.

Aaaaand we're officially back! And even better: we're open for submissions.✨ We can't wait to dive back into your work!

How can fourteen years have passed?! Happy birthday to my baby.

“On the train, we shared the treats while best friends, Amma and your mother―so close they borrowed each other’s saris, blouses, sandals, purses and jewelry―chattered.” What a good, slow burn to that explosive ending. “If You Weren’t Such a Good Boy, You’d Remember” by @sudhab.bsky.social.

Currently listening to the most off-key karaoke rendition of “Blister in the Sun” & my ears may never be the same.

For those interested, cool things in the works ahead and only two more days to apply!

“‘When we die, do we cease to exist, period? Or do we continue to exist somehow somewhere?’” A heady flash over at @freeflashfiction

Welp

This WPR interview w Anthony Bukoski is where I learn my grandfather followed the Catholic Legion of Decency, which explains why he thought Elvis, with his gyrating hips, was the “spawn of Satan.” My uncle’s stories taught me the value of place, perhaps especially in flyover country.

The perfect day to beach

Attended my high school reunion last night & work up wanting to read Proust.

“Now texting her husband, even a brief few words, is like sending her thoughts to an abandoned storage unit. A place for forgotten things.” Such a stunner in @havehashad.com by @anniejowrites.bsky.social

Nearly 20 years ago, I took a photograph of poet Roseann Lloyd sprawled on the ground in old city of Tecpán, Guatemala. Yesterday her husband asked if I would read her poem “Lying Down in Public Places” at her memorial service. 🥺

Billy Joel has always been in the background of my life, but the documentary And So It Goes has turned me into an overnight fan.

Our annual contest opens for submissions August 1st! This year's guest judge is Andrew Porter. Keep an eye out for our Q&A with Andrew soon. Find more details about our contest here: pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown/

My baby just graduated from Level 1 Obedience

In addition to breaking news, art & humor, Twitter clued me in to so many writing opportunities & writers to admire as I started to submit my own work. Got together w one Twitter writing friend last week & am meeting up w another this week & will be headed to CA this fall to stay w another. RIP.

My Autumn series of workshops open for bookings!! Hope there's something in here that catches your eye 🧐

Trapped indoors due to Canadian wildfire smoke, too restless to keep writing, now culling bookshelves to make room for new books.