It’s me. Really tried to experiment with breaking a rule of fiction with this one. I wanted to try to show an epiphany that ultimately doesn’t provoke a change in the character. Bleak stuff. Enjoy!

I got a story in this issue along with a bunch of my favorite writers. Unreal issue!

Just took some Tylenol so I think this means I’m about to go ASD super Saiyan.

My followers on here skew literary instead of punk/metal, but I feel like it is still worth a little tribute to Tomas Lindberg, the vocalist for At the Gates and Disfear. Slaughter of the Soul was my first death metal listen and Live the Storm is the best dbeat lp ever. What a monster.

In the middle of a classic DND session where an insulted NPC kindly asks the party to leave his house, so the party had no choice but to escalate to a hostage situation which quickly turned to a kidnapping.

I had a reader point out that I overused “ever” and “just” in my manuscript, so I literally spent 2 hours with ctrl+f searching and changing wording. Can’t decide if this was my most productive or least productive writing session of 2025.

I just found out a picture of me as a child has been sold as a postcard for like 30 years. Where are my residuals?

I have made a grave and terrible error by committing to a show with doors at 9 and music at 10.

A close friend (and former editor of Gulf Coast and Black Warrior Review) was recently diagnosed with ALS. He’s lost most of his mobility and a lot of his medical care isn’t covered by insurance. He’s been a gift to the literary community and he could use your help. www.gofundme.com/f/support-ry...

The people who most baffle me are those that post online, “I hated this TV show with hundreds of hours of content on my first watch, but I really loved it by my third rewatch.”

Bianca hates my faculty headshot, but all I care about is my students knowing I was having a good hair day.

A note to all unpublished writers: please delete that Byron quote before submitting. Your piece doesn’t need an epigraph.

It’s nine in the morning and I’m trying to find box office projections for The Naked Gun because deep down I truly want it to be a blockbuster, and oh my god what have I become?

I’ve been editing out my beloved em dashes, and honestly, I’ll never forgive ChatGPT for making me use parentheses.

This is me after moving back to Texas.

I miss the early seasons of Chopped, before the chefs practiced and cracked the code on transforming ingredients. Those early episodes were so good cause chefs would make a Michelin star seaweed salad and then sprinkle gummy bears on top.

Boosting one of my oldest friends.

Great opportunity for flash writers who want to see behind the curtain of lit mags.

Excited to announce I accepted an assistant professor gig at West Texas A&M. Stoked to explore Amarillo and Palo Duro Canyon.

I’m at the stage of revision where I’m just circling passages and writing in the margin “Make this paragraph less bad.”

How are sports fans not considered more nerdy than every other fandom? They’ll see someone repoing the same team gear and start chanting in public. Like wouldn’t that be the same energy as two strangers in Pokémon shirts spotting each other and bursting into the theme song?

A hotel receptionist just said, “You have been upgraded to a bigger room due to… circumstances.” I’ve never received such good news that also seems sinister.

Museums are wild cause there will be a plaque that says, “Despite being famously short, this lord commissioned a painting as standing over 10 feet tall with the wives of his rivals depicted as his concubines. Also in the corner is his dresser.”

The other day, I was showing my Submittable to students. I was at 470 rejections and said, “I’d love to get to 500 rejections by the fall,” and I think my students thought I was joking.

Boom, roasted.

Woah. I got a fellowship for the Vermont Studio Center. January can’t come fast enough.

In an escalation in pet naming, @biancastephens.bsky.social has started calling me “The Ultimate Baby.” Send help.

So I’ve had an unofficial diagnosis as autistic for going on a decade, because I couldn’t afford the diagnostic. Literally met with a clinical psychologist last week for in-take in preparation for the diagnostic in a few weeks. (Pt 1)

Celebrated Easter by getting a tattoo covering up the cross I’d got on my 18th birthday. Still have a few more sessions ahead of me to completely go over my old Christian tattoos, but damn it feels great to not be wearing my religious trauma.

My talent that I have the most proud of is that I’m good at recognizing non-famous actors over multiple projects. Legit wish I could monetize being able to quickly, “She was the ex-girlfriend in that other show.”

I know most of my BlueSky followers and feed are writers and not into gnarly blackened screamo tunes. But Ostraca have a new album out today. I’m in awe and have to tell everyone how brilliant my friends are.

"I try not to let my personal life enter my fiction too much. However I find my fears usually overlapping with what the protagonist must overcome." Our featured author @ironbrewer.bsky.social interviewed by @bstephens.bsky.social here: www.smokelong.com/interviews/s...

I’m begging y’all don’t follow this. It was BS the first time, and it is literally just the Left’s version of Q Drops. Your time is precious and it shouldn’t be wasted on fan fiction of a Trump resistance in the White House.

My relationship with social media: When my timeline is politics I’m like, “My anxiety can’t take this. Can’t we just talk about books for a bit?” Then when my timeline is books I’m like, “How can we talk about books at a time like this? The world is crumbling!”

A student’s story just started with “The year is 2025” and my mind went, “Ah, the setting is the distant future…. Wait. Oh nooooooooo.”

If you were at AWP, please remember that you have a discount code for SmokeLong Fitness. If you've lost it, just let us know.

Best AWP yet because in the evenings I went to comedy clubs, Korean spas, improv shows, and ZERO READINGS.

I’ve started my literary bad boy phase because a member of the AWP board just asked me (very nicely) to please wear my conference nametag. #AWP25

This is one of my favorite pieces. I too am fascinated with the art murderers have made.

On my way to AWP. Hit me up if you want to check out vegan restaurants.

Reading a bestseller and came across the phrase, “He patted her vast rump.” Commercial fiction is WILD.

Who are the five writers that made you? (I’m answering with mentors) Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni David James Poissant Antonya Nelson Mat Johnson Barbara Hurd

Nothing turns me into a boomer faster than when the high school team wins state and then a police escort is given to a parade of honking trucks in celebration. I’m thinking about complaining in the newspaper about noise pollution.

I’m reading manuscripts, and it is almost 50/50 on whether the writer indents paragraphs. Kind of worried that indentation might go the way of adding extra space at the end of the sentence.

I entered a local art exhibit with some b/w photography. I got some major imposter syndrome when it comes to photography, but trying new things is pretty sick, right?

For the first time since Covid, I decided to stop marking up manuscripts digitally and instead to print them out. Y’all my handwriting has gotten unbelievably worse. Like no one told me that writing legibly was a skill I was supposed to practice.

Feeling proud of myself for two reasons: I’ve lost 25 pounds this year & this is the first time I posted about it.

Bianca just burst out laughing because in the thriller she is reading a rich woman made her money as an adjunct professor.

Someone needs to make a bingo card for watching movies from the early 2000s that you didn’t remember was problematic.

If you know, you know.