beautiful new Natalie Warther today! "Perhaps each household is allotted a finite amount of joy, as if the wizard’s hands are tied, this is simply the rule of beginnings: Should you acquire giggle and coo, you must forfeit fetch and wag." https://www.havehashad.com/8e7il

"fifteen and doing a star float in the twilight, ears underwater, the world muted except for the hiss of waves pushing pebbles up the beach, the swishing of my heart pumping blood, a V of geese crossing the sky" Gorgeous joy @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social www.claudineliterary.net/kleopatraoly...

What a shit way to talk about submittions - publicly, as if in some way scolding. Reading subs requires patience and respect. Try that next time. “I wasn’t sure if they were good only in comparison to the many disorderly efforts at storytelling that my editorial helpers and I had dutifully read”

Gave me goosebumps. Great CNF piece by @delgeo14.bsky.social, go read it!!!

My prose poem “Leaves” is now out in the latest issue of MudRoom magazine🎋❤️

"Astronaut jam!" This is brilliant

Holy crap! Congrats everyone and so incredible to be on this list!!

Congrats, everyone!

Today's highlight from our amazing Feline Flash issue is from @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social 🦝 We loved how relatable this MCs misery is - and how she chooses to rebel against it. Imaginative, fun and accurately catty 🐈 trashcatlit.com/down-goes-th...

Matt does so much for the literary community, please check out all the resources he offers on his website or check out his editing offers!

One thing I love to do is buy extra copies of my friends' books and give them to this little free library. Love imaging the lucky reader who discovers their next new fave author. @lumchanmfa.bsky.social @travisflatt.bsky.social @fionamckay.bsky.social

"I got so mad one day at work, I began to knock things off the desk.To-do list, down. Pen, down. Half-full coffee cup, down." I want to be in this glorious cat world that knows what to knock down-- and what to revel in @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social trashcatlit.com/down-goes-th...

Honoured to be part of this phenomenal new issue of @trashcatlit.bsky.social, thank you @therelphian.bsky.social! My story Down Goes the Plant was inspired by @rebeccavl.bsky.social amazing memoir CAT, out with Bloomsbury Academic. Do read it, fellow cat people!!!! bookshop.org/p/books/cat-...

@kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social love this!!! who among us has not wanted to be this person. or cat. 😸 bravo!!! trashcatlit.com/down-goes-th...

Help us celebrate the more than 60 publications reported to us by our workshop participants in December! Onward, trousers! www.smokelong.com/december-wor...

A new year and we've a new issue of fabulous feline flash for you. So, go outside and come in again. Demand snacks. Scratch the carpet. Then get your paws on this link: trashcatlit.com/feline-flash... Devour, savour, ask for more. Trash Cat let the cats in the bin and it's smashing 🦝

In 2024 I made 83 submissions and got 2 acceptances. April to December 2024 was just rejection after rejection after rejection. But I found the @smokelong.bsky.social community and that gave me hope and inspiration and drive. (cont)

FAVORITE STORIES OF 2025 The Mattress by @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social in Swamp Pink (also not over here? C'mon guys!) swamp-pink.charleston.edu/featured/the...

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

@kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social finally got to read your piece in this collection & mon Dieu such beauty in grief 🥹 necessaryfiction.com/stories/poin...

Another constellation of lights to brighten these short days.

I've got a micro, "If You Were Here," in @necessaryfiction.com's second group of solstice/end-of-year stories which was just published today! Thrilled to be in such excellent company ☺️ necessaryfiction.com/stories/poin...

Day 2 of our solstice gathering features writing by @mizuki-yama.bsky.social, Catherine Reedy, Kendra Cardin, @garetherees.bsky.social, @nonabiding.bsky.social, @erinkeane.bsky.social, @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social, Lleyton Michael Kane, and Warren Stoddard II. necessaryfiction.com/stories/poin...

Coming 2nd January 🦝 Rebecca gives us the life of a rescue cat with authenticity and emotional resonance @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social's MC channels all things cat to survive her mundane life @lorifontanes.bsky.social brings us a cat determined to make his owner happy, even after death

Day One of our solstice gathering features writing by @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social, @travisflatt.bsky.social, @raymondbrunell.bsky.social, @eileentomarchio.bsky.social, @janewords.bsky.social, Talya Byrd, Carol M. Quinn, Tanya Kornilovich, and Joe Kalovac. necessaryfiction.com/stories/poin...

Happy solstice!

I've had a great time selecting some pieces to mark the solstice and year's end at @necessaryfiction.com, and am grateful to the writers who shared their work. Here is the first gathering of lights, with three more to follow in the days ahead.

We're excited to share the amazing lineup for our cat-themed Pop-Up Issue. This 20-story issue will go live on January 2nd 🦝 It's a fabulous mix of feline flash and we can't wait to shove it through your digital catflaps💜 1/3

so so happy to be part of this amazing line up for Trash Cat Lit's cat-themed issue! thank you @therelphian.bsky.social for including my work, can't wait to read all of these cat stories :)

And how do we deal with all of this? The only ways we can. Love. Music. Poetry. Nature.

There Isn’t Much Left by Kleopatra Olympiou @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social rawlit.weebly.com/6_3.html

So many writers I love and admire on this list, and so many new to me I'm excited to discover! Very grateful for all the time and effort to put this together @mattkendrick.bsky.social, looking forward to these! There's always so many stories I feel I've missed, a list is a godsend

Omg, feeling the Raw Lit love ❤️ thank you thank you thank you @delgeo14.bsky.social -- I got my Raw Lit acceptance last Jan after many months of rejections and it gave me so much hope. Never dreamed of being nominated for stuff! Congrats Nina, Jen and Sumitra, what a group to be part of!

We encourage you to read this cracking interview by Trash Fam member @quickasaflash.bsky.social. Her first return-to-writing pub was in our inaugural issue. Since she's blazed a trail through Bath, Oxford, Smokelong and many more. If you're new, or returning, to fiction - this is a must-read. 1/2

As my pick for Saturday I've drawn @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social @anniejowrites.bsky.social @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social @gessicasakamoto.bsky.social Also, the @splitlipthemag.bsky.social team Message me your email address & your choice of recording. Will pick a final set of names tomorrow!

I need to read this another 10 times to process every little detail -- wow, @ambersparks.bsky.social

Girls flag football, shitty coaches, and a moment the team will never forget in my latest flash inside of @vestalreview.bsky.social #67. www.vestalreview.net/last-play-of...

This story is just a masterclass in momentum, wow @marioaliberto3.bsky.social!

tagging @anniejowrites.bsky.social who gave me my first ever lit mag acceptance via HAD, @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social who continues to be the most encouraging and supportive person since we met last year, and @gessicasakamoto.bsky.social who makes talking to near-strangers so easy! thank you all!

A bit late to this haunting story but so glad this was on my feed! "We had forgotten to even consider the possibility that he’d been out in the world living a whole layered life, as specific as it was mundane, and bearing no resemblance to the ones we’d idly imagined and invented for him."

I have a new story in Short Story Long today! it’s about the mystery of people you come across often but can’t truly know. many thanks to wonderful editor @aaronburch.bsky.social, Zoë Petersen for the lovely art, & any of you who read it ♡

Omgomgomg look at this wonderful review from @publisherswkly.bsky.social for Bitter Over Sweet!! I am so grateful ❤️❤️❤️ @sfwp.bsky.social

"And you say you’ll chance the gangways, so light of foot you are, my child of the sun-swept skies" What an eerie, heartbreaking piece, @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social!

www.peatsmokejournal.com/fall-2025-fl... Gorgeous and devastating words by @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social 😭

We are excited to announce our new author, Ani King! Ani's debut book, FAMILY NIGHT, a collection of flash fiction filled with magical realism, will be released in Fall 2026. Join us in welcoming Ani to MJP! @aniking.bsky.social @smokelong.bsky.social #flashfiction #debutauthor #magicalrealism

SO excited for this!!!

Your monthly reminder: Keep writing. When no one cares, persist. When things appear to be crumbling, keep at it. When it's difficult, push through. When you feel alone, listen to the stories in your blood. Just write. The world needs your stories.

What a lovely piece of meditation and expansion in @claudineliterary.bsky.social by the wonderful @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social 🌊

✨ICYMI✨ “the instructor says to breathe deep and let go, and my mind peels back the pastry folds of time and brings me to the beach on the northwest side of the island, fifteen and doing a star float in the twilight” @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social www.claudineliterary.net/kleopatraoly...