I used a thesaurus to find a word other than "honoured" or "delighted" (yes, I energetically use a thesaurus). I landed upon the following. I am exultant to be published in JMWW. What a journal. Some of the best lit fic. And now I'm there. Thank you @jmwwjournal.bsky.social

"I Watch Whales Fall", by me, Michael Diaz, now published and available to purchase via the wonderful @indianareview Gold Whale Fall. Troubled Siblings. Mummy/Daddy Issues. Deep Sea Stations. #writingcommunity #authors #writers #litfic #queerwriters #lgbtq #promosky #booksky

"Billy Birch" by me. To be published 11 Feb 26 in the outstanding @jmwwjournal.bsky.social Fire. Memory. Pain. Bodies changed. In a journal that’s carried work by George Saunders, Roxane Gay, Denis Johnson & Joy Williams #writingcommunity #authors #writers #litfic #queerwriters #promosky #booksky

Read my latest short story in the Indiana Review, and find gold whales and fractured siblings: "An agent of inaction, an observer of the slow-falling rot. That is what I do; I watch whales fall." Buy it here: tinyurl.com/2c4v5n24 #writingcommunity #authors #writers #litfic #promosky #booksky

Waiting for the physical print to arrive, here's me, and here's the apt cover of the @indianareview. My story, I Watch Whales Fall, is the first in the magazine. In it, you'll find sisters, mothers, and gold whales. #writingcommunity #authors #writers #litfic #queerwriters #lgbtq #promosky #booksky

Here I am, published in Moonday Mag, the wonderfully raw LA based art & lit magazine. In this short story: heads in buckets, hangovers, and slugs (in no particular order). Hands together, because @moondaymag was just awarded an Annual Best Lit Mag Award via @chillsubs.bsky.social #writingcommunity

1st draft down of my literary speculative fiction novel - now I’m rethinking the titles. Thoughts. Single word titles, or multi-word titles?! #writingcommunity #horrorwriterschat #authors #writers #litfic #queerwriters #lgbtq #promosky #booksky📚💙

The door sliced her in half. He couldn’t speak, trembling deeply. Her face, the waxing half, caught every inimical shadow. Even the pores across her nose looked moon-like. And her lace front dress, yellowed frayed edges, reaching. “You look well, Mum,” he said. #WriteCBC @cbcreative.bsky.social

The Oxford Flash Fiction Prize 2025 is now open! One story. 1,000 words. One shot at glory. This year, we’re going big: one annual competition to celebrate the best in flash fiction. Enter now! 👉 oxfordflashfictionprize.com #FlashFiction #WritingCommunity #OxfordFlashFictionPrize

The publishing world has been kind. You can find my latest/upcoming publications, awards/accolades, and there might even be a novel on the way. Get ready, the absurd is coming: michaelediaz.com #writingcommunity #horrorwriterschat #authors #writers #litfic #queerwriters #lgbtq #promosky #booksky📚💙

I've been absent (sue me). I've been a busy bunny- novel course with @cbcreative.bsky.social, shortlisted by @flashfictiononline.bsky.social, confidentially a finalist at a lit mag in New York & a publication forthcoming in Indiana. Social media? Pa! #authors #writers #litfic #booksky #promosky

MISSION SUBMIT UPDATE-to the Krouse/Brecht top 200 in 2025. 57 rejections, 41 currently submitted, 5 placed (shortlist/accolades), 3 published & 1 positive-pending. Publish + Place rate of 1 in 7.13, & Publish Rate of 1 in 19, predicted 9 more pubs- all in top 118 #writingcommunity #litfic 📚💙

@eliarieh.bsky.social wanted to say hi! I think you must have read my first chapter as part of the Retreat West competition a while back, my (now very different book) Splinters From Boxes. Thanks for taking the time to do that.

Submissions update: Mission submit to the Krouse/Brecht top 200 in 2024. So far, 50 rejections, 31 currently submitted, 5 placed (shortlist/accolades), 2 published & 2 positive-pending. Publish + Place rate of 1 in 7.14, and a publish rate of 1 in 25, all in top 120 #writingcommunity #litfic 📚💙

My short story Dog Toothed is a quarterfinalist in the ghastly Killer Shorts competition. Let's all howl in celebration. Careful, it bites. #writingcommunity #horrorwriterschat #authors #writers #litfic #queerwriters #lgbtq #promosky #booksky📚💙michaelediaz.com

I should say this more, but to all the parents with F/T jobs, kids, and trying to manage a writing career at the same time, it is not easy I KNOW, so WELL DONE to us all #writingcommunity #horrorwriterschat #authors #writers #litfic #queerwriters #lgbtq #promosky #booksky📚💙

The smell of sour bodies hit Christie like a tepid slap. Their breathing hidden, moved only by the gasping door, signalled the scarce greeting. Placing her bag down, it stuck to the flytrap floor that had claimed magazines, pizza boxes and a buzzing Nokia 3310. @cbcreative.bsky.social #WriteCBC

Mission submission: targeting the top 100 lit mags this year, top to bottom. So far 12 rejections, 2 from the top 20, giving praise & requesting more work. 8 standard rejections, & 2 top-tier rejections. #writingcommunity #authors #writers #litfic #queerwriters #lgbtq #promosky #booksky📚💙

The wonderfully indie & beautifully crafted @moondaymag will be publishing one of my short stories based on a recurring nightmare I had as a child. The image is a hint. You'll see. #writersofinstagram #writer #writerscommunity #author #authorsofinstagram #authorlife #authorscommunity #queer #lgbtq

Some of the literary journals I'm submitting to soon @TheSunMagazine @EmergeJournal @2hawksquarterly @SummersetReview @americanshortfic American Short Fiction @HistoryEpoch @fictionmag (most on X) #writingcommunity #authors #writers #litfic #queerwriters #lgbtq #promosky #booksky

"He suckled with the immunity of a chick upon his mother’s gifts, tiptoeing against the metal fencing that contained us unwillingly in homogeneity." From my current WIP. Can I read a line from yours? Post below #writingcommunity #queerwriters #lgbtq #promosky #booksky

Thoroughly recommend registering to Authors Publish. Fantastic source of information for submissions

"On the last day I saw Marcus, I remember the painful scrapes of stool against scarred resin and crowds of Bunsen burners lining the desks like torch-bearing mobs. Lino print art spilled over from next door, their half-formed depictions like old scars." My short story FREE here: shorturl.at/0EHLX

En route to a writing retreat, a privileged opportunity to develop my post-PhD thinking around human-wildlife interactions in #reintroductions. And it's off to a beautiful start, with views of my local estuary from the train window

This really is fantastic advice #writingcommunity

Publishing news: I'll have a piece published with the wonderfully indie Moonday Magazine (it's beautiful, take a look). It'll be a while, so I'll hold you in suspense until then: moondaymag.com #writingcommunity #horrorwriterschat #authors #writers #litfic #queerwriters #lgbtq #promosky #booksky

Hey, you. Say hi. If you don't know who I am, look at my website. It's like a big, yellow resume. A wasp even. But cooler than that. Find my weird, and my mug, here: michaelediaz.com #writingcommunity 📚💙 #horrorwriterschat #authors #writers #litfic #queerwriters #lgbtq #promosky #booksky

For the fact it taught me ‘ekphrastic’ just from the title, check out this poetry collection

"Even people who don't generally enjoy fantasy novels absolutely love these books!" Servants of the Moon and Sun, an epic fantasy reimagining of Sleeping Beauty. What if Maleficent was Aurora's mother and what if she wasn't really evil? www.amazon.com/dp/B08HLVPF7D

Thanks @jamespenha.bsky.social for the beautiful summary, in better words than I could of chosen, of my short story And Only I Remain

Heartbreaking work by @michaelediaz.bsky.social in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social pitheadchapel.com/and-only-i-r...

@becomingkrys made a list of them: docs.google.com/document/d/1... Also, here it's #WritingCommunity

A dark, introspective, quantum-mechanics-filled short story about the repression of sexuality. You might cry. Read now, free, with @pitheadchapel.bsky.social - and let me know what you think! #WritingCommmunity #LGBTQ #queerwriters #litfic #promosky #authors #writers

So, #writingcommunity, do you have pitch events over here on Bluesky? Help me out.

This story emanates atmosphere, like the pink neon lights that flit across the MCs hand in the tattoo parlour. Read it now #writingcommunity #litfic

Please get my award winning dark speculative #litfic piece OUT THERE #writingcommunity! There's not enough #lgbtq+ dark fiction. Let's give it what it deserves. How about it @stephenking.bsky.social ?! Help a twisted gay author out.

Check out my new (free) article on Substack about writing with reason: open.substack.com/pub/lukedeck... #WritingSky #Substack

AUTHORS I NEED YOU! I'm after some testimonials for my award winning #lgbtq short story And Only I Remain, for my website - established authors would be wonderful, #queerwriters also. #WritingCommunity #writers #authors do your thing! pitheadchapel.com/and-only-i-r...

Finished my first short story of the year. At least, the first draft. I've placed a date in the calendar for revision in one month. Related: do you write an explicit 'The End'? I do. I know it's not de rigueur, but I get so much closure/pleasure out of writing it. Superfluous? Maybe. 🤷🏾

It's been a long, weird road for my speculative story "Four Words" about a society sliding into silence. I'm delighted that it has found a home, with excellent company, in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social Read it here --> pitheadchapel.com/four-words/

My Short Story, And Only I Remain, is now FREE to read as part of it's winning placement with @pitheadchapel.bsky.social's Larry Brown Award. Find it here, and prepare to cry - pitheadchapel.com/volume-13-is... #WritingCommmunity #LGBTQ #queerwriters #litfic

7.3k into the Project:Freqs script and we meet Dae! I love my stiff lizard man. I can't wait to put him in a jar with a bunch of crazies and shake it. ngl this third person present tense is fucking with my brain and I'm not sure if I'm gonna keep it lmao #Writing #WritingCommunity #AmWriting

Happy new year all! Keep on writing

#writercommunty #writingcommunity I would GENUINELY love to hear your best writing tips, let’s share them (apart from show don’t tell, please for the love of life). I love the “ticking bomb”, ensuring your story has some sort of count down to something, in order to build tension. What have you got?

If your chopping board looks like this, please throw it away. Otherwise I’ll feature it in my next horror story #writingcommunity (send pics!)

I'm now systematically targeting submissions at the Krouse 500 (thanks @ErikaKrouse), working my way top down, particularly to avoid large submission fees & to get my name out there more. Interested? Get in touch. I'll keep you posted on how it goes #WritingCommunity

Don't forget to take a look at my award winning piece in January, And Only I Remain - #writercommunity #writerscommunity #litfic #fictionauthor #author

I spoke to a host of brilliant Booker Prize-nominated authors, and judges, and they revealed the books they'll be gifting this Christmas. See them here.