We're here for ya!

One of my favorite collections of 2025 was Kathryn Morris-Aldridge's "Cold Toast." Here's a review of it in @smokelong.bsky.social !

KALX keeps me going!

"The month we are badgers, our mothers dig with us. Our two-inch claws are quicker, more precise than their trowels, shovels, and spades." And dig Claudia's newest bio! Gadzooks!

You want to know what evil is? This.

I am still getting over this. Have been a P&W reader for over 30 years! Anyway, long live flash fiction! @smokelong.bsky.social @fracturedlit.bsky.social @flashfrog.bsky.social @brettpribble.bsky.social @cowboyjamboree.bsky.social

I can't find the latest version of my story, and I am mad. That is all.

Claire Y. Guo, in the Issue 90 of @smokelong.bsky.social ! I hope you'll also read the author interview, which I was fortunate to conduct. www.smokelong.com/stories/pige...

@jacqdoyle.bsky.social in NUNUM!

I'm not a big Goodreads participant. Visited to see if Pardon Me for Moonwalking (Unsolicited Press) is there, and it is. With a single, no-holds-barred single-star review! Got something nice to say there? Hope you will! #writingcommunity #flashfiction #wingingit #allpublicityisgoodpublicity?

Another podcast I love is @shortstorytoday.bsky.social. Check out this episode with @ladiwoods.bsky.social, interviewed by @andrewbertaina.bsky.social!

How can I create momentum so I return to my writing each day with energy? What types of friction in my life are reducing my momentum? What is it that nourishes my momentum? Thought-provoking questions in @gfaulknerwriter.bsky.social's always provocative weekly missive.

So grateful to @awpwriter.org and @jamestatehill.bsky.social for the review and excerpts! #gettingthewordout @unsolicitedpress.bsky.social #writingcommunity #flashfiction

This is the third lit podcast I've started following and getting a lot of enjoyment from! Hosts Nathan Pensky and Mason Stockstill are two smart and funny writers living in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.

"I told myself that the tiles tasted of dark soil and I told myself the air smelled of cut grass, and I told myself the worm was here to teach me something about burrowing deep / so deep / no one would ever find me again..."

"You might think I have no need for a watch to be waterproof up to a thousand feet, but you’d be wrong. This grief has crushing depths and I am its diver."

"In all of her school photos, Ma is the shape of a rectangle, the tallest in her grade. She stands with her feet spread apart and her chest pulled outwards, proud of her early puberty, the nickel shine of her hair, how her lips are bowed like cupids in opposition, death centered at the philtrum."

I wish so much I could do this!! Visiting in-laws in L.A.

Delighted my book, Pardon Me for Moonwalking (Unsolicited Press) is featured, along with a writing prompt I was invited to put together. I'm grateful to @jamestatehill.bsky.social and AWP.

Another podcast I love is @shortstorytoday.bsky.social. Check out this episode with @ladiwoods.bsky.social, interviewed by @andrewbertaina.bsky.social!

I love this literary podcast, and this is my favorite interview yet! Seriously, it turned my whole day around. Can't wait to read Susan Straight's latest. Check it out!

What an issue!

Delighted my book, Pardon Me for Moonwalking (Unsolicited Press) is featured, along with a writing prompt I was invited to put together. I'm grateful to @jamestatehill.bsky.social and AWP.

Thank you, editors!

A too-rare and lovely reunion with all three of my siblings.

We must make the 2026 midterms a wave election of generational proportions. For too long, Democrats have sought office and governed from a place of fear... When we take over, we must pursue policies that are right and just, not merely expedient. Robert Hubbell @roberthubbell.skystack.xyz 1/2

I dig it!

Congratulations to all!!

"Following the dog down his piss-smelling path, his white form barely visible in the tiny desertscape yard." @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social in Ghost Parachute ⚡

Here's Episode 13: "Short Stories We Love, part 2". Short stories aren’t just for The New Yorker! www.thirdpersonlimited.com/episodes/epi...

Heaps of gratitude to @nathanpensky.bsky.social and @stockstill.bsky.social for my first ever podcast interview. www.thirdpersonlimited.com/episodes/epi... (and also to @allisonfieldbell.bsky.social for publishing my story)

My book, IN WISCONSIN!

Adding mine to the gallery of just-delivered pics… a beauty! Congratulations, @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social 🥰💫🎊

"He had trouble holding a job, so I brought food from home, raided the garage and closets for old lamps, rugs. Where did those blue towels go? my mother kept asking." And maybe the best last line I've ever seen. Kudos, @claudiamonpere.bsky.social!

"Leading the blind dog out the bedroom slider to his plasti-grass runway, then peeling off clothes, stiff with dried sweat. Reaching for a box marked “scarves.” Regarding instead a revolver" Stunning micro @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social @brettpribble.bsky.social ghostparachute.com/issue/decemb...

BOOK MAIL! 📚📬 Congrats, Patricia! Looks fantastic! And I already know how good this is going to be!! 🔥🔥 @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social @unsolicitedpress.bsky.social

Quiet powerhouses @claudiamonpere.bsky.social @tcboudreau.bsky.social and @jacqdoyle.bsky.social inspire me every day!

"Madeline expired, we secured the lid of the coffin, but then the winds began to rage, and at the height of the storm, Roderick heard the 'heavy and horrible beating of her heart' just as Madeline began to pound on the library door." Oh, that @jacqdoyle.bsky.social, that @bendinggenres.bsky.social!

This is a shingles vax promotion. Please get your shots.

Extra! Extra! Get your copy of @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social's "Pardon Me For Moonwalking" today. Seen here in chilly Providence but available in places far and near! 🍄 🎧 🦋 🐍

The Trump administration just announced they will refuse to release the October inflation report.

As of today, right this minute, we are all current with our responses! All acceptances and declines have been sent. If you're waiting to hear back, check your inbox! And we are VERY OPEN for more previously published submissions! We want to read your writing! 💡

Exactly what I needed this morning: Jo's help assessing the activities, challenges, and successes of 2025, then identifying deep, bona fide, and true-to-me ways to plan a creative 2026.

Some good news!

@smokelong.bsky.social Summer/Fitness is a fun community; a useful tool to generate new work; a downright phenomenon! But did you know if you join, you can also participate in their book club? Crazy, right? They'll feature my book (at a 25% discount) in late January, so there's plenty of time. (1/2)

Mood:

Loved it. I strongly recommend you get this collection!

Thank you, editors. I recommend this lit journal nonpareil! #writingcommunity #dirtyrealism #gritlit