PS - if anyone is interested in this course, I'm probably going to run part 1 (editing is too big to fit into one single course, so I'm going to split it into two) for the first time in April next year. If you want to be on my priority list, please holler.

Currently in the foothills of writing a new course about editing / feedback skills, and I need a title. What should I go with? Initial thoughts: - Edit Like an Eagle - Edit Like a Pedant - The Editorial Lens What's your favourite? Any other suggestions?

ICYMI my #WritingCraftArticle for OCTOBER (not September as I've written below 😂) is all about feedback skillz (with a Z because that makes it kool {with a K} 🧐) 👇

Anyone have any suggestions? Polyphonic or head-hopping flash?

Does anyone have any good examples of polyphonic flash fiction / short stories (from several voices / perspectives) or flash that uses head-hopping / shifting perspective (like my piece in the link below)? Your own or others. Pieces that are freely available online. Thanks in advance!

I keep seeing this meme (is that the right word?) everywhere, so I made one for my workshop on story shapes which is coming up tomorrow or Saturday - a couple of spots left in both sessions: www.mattkendrick.co.uk/live-worksho...

This is where my afternoon has descended to. I blame it on @sugarpigblog.bsky.social. Introducing the IMPOSTROPHE, a punctuation mark for all the writers out there who need a way of representing their impostor syndrome on the page...

My #WritingCraftArticle for September is all about feedback and editing skills. It got quite lengthy so I had to split it into two. This is part one, focusing on my four feedback Es, writer intention, and stars, wishes & mirrors: 🏝️⭐🧞🪞 prattlefogandgravelrap.substack.com/p/no-writer-...

This is happening next week on Tuesday (7pm BST) or Saturday (9am BST) - still time to join 👇

Continuing my theme of doing pseudo work rather than actual work 😬 I've updated my big list of "best of" lists - all the links for Best Small Fictions, Best Microfiction and the Wigleaf Top 50 from 2020-2025: www.mattkendrick.co.uk/resources

Love this article from @kathyfish.bsky.social Aligns with so many of my own thoughts on flash as its own unique form

Had Covid jab yesterday. Today I'm death 💀 Apparently, my body neither wants to lie down, sit or stand 😂 So I'm trying to distract myself with pseudo work. Just updated my list of (mostly free) resources: prattlefogandgravelrap.substack.com/p/everything... (wow this got long) What should I do next?

"My friend loves deer and wants a tattoo of one on her shoulder. / We are talking about deer and we are also talking about my ex." The weaving together of elements in this extraordinary piece from @allisonfieldbell.bsky.social, so much buried beneath the surface, deserves multiple reads

"You type; this is a story about anxiety. A story about the time the wind screamed until the sky grew orange and the clouds choked on ash" Wow - this is a stunner from @karenc.bsky.social; the way this shifts and builds with every line. 🙌

"Olivia practices saying it, an-ses-ters, a funny word that slithers and squirms on her tongue like a rattlesnake and makes her laugh because that’s a lot of s-es." Love the perfect capturing of the child perspective in this gem from @kelliborges2.bsky.social

"In fall, he stretched / and plucked leaves of grenadine / or ochre, unveiling his height, / the span of solid shoulders" Wonderfully vivid writing from @skimperil.bsky.social in @rfpress.bsky.social www.roifaineantpress.com/post/tell-me...

This month's round-up of courses, workshops and events from your friendly neighbourhood freelancers: fromthecoursesmouth.substack.com/p/oct-nov-25... Includes stuff from @pleomorphic2.bsky.social @megpokrass.bsky.social @retreatwest.bsky.social @stillsquirrel.bsky.social

This will no doubt be brilliant. @devaneemily.bsky.social is a wonderful writer and a wonderful teacher 👇

Happening two weeks today (and a week on Tuesday). A chance to delve into all sorts of things like Vonnegut's story graphs and the golden ratio and how a story is like a fish, a spiral and a train track www.mattkendrick.co.uk/live-worksho...

"You punched a hole in the wall near my head, breath full and chewy as wine, dangerous words through drunk teeth" Love this beautiful micro @jennystalter.bsky.social Wonderful artwork from @amymarques.bsky.social as well: ghostparachute.com/issue/septem...

"Don’t stand there holding the pump like a mummy, Jane says. Kumar Walekar did that and bang, one shot to the heart." This one from @jamybond.bsky.social packs a punch, the way the tension hovers over it: ghostparachute.com/issue/septem...

"The list of things Mike could fix shrank. There was a time when Mike would fix computers. Hulking CPU towers with whirring fans" Wonderful piece from @maeganpoland.bsky.social about a character struggling in an ever-changing world ghostparachute.com/issue/septem...

"Most deaths, she knows, are contemptuously boring: hospice and heart attacks and cancer caught too late. She longs for a meteor, a sinkhole, a murder of passion" Ooft - a wonderfully emotionally-charged piece from @kara-c.bsky.social: ghostparachute.com/issue/septem...

An appropriate proverb for the European Day of Languages: "The more languages you can speak, the more times you are human" This makes me about 3.5 times human (with a combination of English, French, Italian, Spanish, German and Matt-ois)

"The thing I don’t remember is leaves. It’s been winter forever, branches bare, limbs naked. There’s ice on snow on ice" Always wonderful to discover a new-to-me writer. This is a micro gem from @miriamgershow.bsky.social in @lit-namjooning.bsky.social

"The clouds are no longer rushing by but have flocked together like the sheep and there is less sunlight than before" This piece from @bronwengriffiths.bsky.social pulled me in completely. Love the use of second person and the rich evocation of place ❤️

"Imagine you’re forty-something and you’re kinda okay about who you are these days and although you never thought you would be" Wow, a stunner of a one-sentence piece from @laurabesley.bsky.social - love the rhythm and use of reptetition and how it builds from beginning to end

"Feel the breeze sweep through its branches, how the leaves flutter like starling wings, murmurations quivering over your head" Brilliant use of the instructional in this gem from @mizukiyamagen.bsky.social, how this invites us to breathe and pause from the madness of the world

"Out here it’s either a corn year or a bean year and nothing about the flat-as-a-pancake terrain allows anything to sneak up on you" So much beauty in this brilliant piece, how that beauty is juxtaposed by societal hate and how the two live side by side ❤️

This is coming up in a couple of weeks. Should be a lot of fun. Sign up details below for anyone who wants to join 👇

In my next newsletter I'm going to be focusing on editing/feedback and as part of that I'd love to promote any books from writers I've worked with as editor/teacher (where you feel I've contributed in some way). If this applies to you and you'd like me to feature your book, please hit me with links!

ICYMI - this month's brilliant #Mondettes as picked by @kathrynsilverhajo.bsky.social

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!!!! Surely everyone's favourite day of the year?

This month's #Mondettes picked by @kathrynsilverhajo.bsky.social ⚡Ten wonderful flash fictions 🔍Ten splashes of analysis as to why Kathryn made these brilliant picks 🪴Three fantastic prompts to get you writing mondettes.substack.com/p/september-...

"Love and nature are indeed both pretty goshdarn large — often to the point where it feels impossible and overwhelming to try to describe them" Always a joy when a new @jmgatford.bsky.social newsletter lands in my inbox. Some great thoughts here on senses, specificity, and uniqueness of perspective

"Your reader’s brain will seek out story and poetry and if you trust in that and your own inimitable voice enough, they will likely find it" Wonderful wisdom and brilliant prompt as always from @kathyfish.bsky.social

New #Mondettes coming on Tuesday picked by @kathrynsilverhajo.bsky.social - an amazing selection this month. If you want Kathryn's choices sent straight to your inbox, sign up here: mondettes.substack.com

"Spring is in the small things today: the twitch of flowers peeping up from their boxes, yellow and purples, a brilliance of white chamomile" Wonderfully evocative writing from @jackiegoyette.bsky.social in @lit-namjooning.bsky.social literarynamjooning.wixsite.com/litnam/post/...

"Somewhere over an ocean, the sun is rising like a hard ball of jawbreaker candy, dusting its cinnamon heat over waves. Remember this." Love the progression towards hope in this beautiful piece from @tracieadams.bsky.social

"There’s a cat in the box. The box is closed and sealed and the air is running out. You look at the box and hear the cat moving inside" Brilliant exploration of emotional juxtaposition in this flash, such a depth of feeling here

"I am a gecko, and if a sampling of Indian grandmothers have anything to do with it, I am mythically endowed with the full spectrum of human desire" Wonderful sense of calm beauty in this @lit-namjooning.bsky.social @saipradhan.bsky.social piece: literarynamjooning.wixsite.com/litnam/post/...

Happy Cloud Appreciation Day, Happy Hug and High Five Day, and Happy #FeelGoodFriday!! What's been going well in your creative worlds over the past seven days? What were your creative wins, big or small?

"The Kübler-Ross model has denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and another emotion that I can’t recall" Wonderfully observed storytelling from @ruralunease.bsky.social in @havehashad.com; love how the title hangs over the story like a shadow

"They haven’t got nearly as many swords as I do. Just one apiece, where I’ve got three. At best the two of them could kill each other, the chumps" Love the voice in this @karenin.bsky.social @havehashad.com poem: www.havehashad.com/hadposts/sel...

"we thought we were funny when we suggested meeting at the laundromat because we bonded on the first date about putting it off so long we'd almost reached the bathing suits as underwear stage" Great exploration of relationships & humanity in this breathless flash from @anniejowrites.bsky.social

"Once your Horse is complete, please keep your Horse in a deep freezer or meat locker. Somewhere cold enough to die. Allow your Horse to die. Freeze to death. Turn to frost." Weird and wonderful writing from @neonpajamas.bsky.social in @havehashad.com www.havehashad.com/hadposts/how...

"a fresh start at 28 / $40 cash / a bandolier of freeze pops / a freezer filled with ammunition / a stranger’s subwoofer / bass that could drown me" Wonderful list piece from @romyewing.bsky.social - love the way this builds from beginning to end: www.havehashad.com/hadposts/gro...

Running a workshop, course, online gathering, open mic or other writing-related event in the next couple of months? Get in touch to get them included in the next #FromTheCoursesMouth round-up: fromthecoursesmouth.substack.com

"The three moons float in the night sky – they look down on us like the mothers we barely remember" Lovely connection between opening and ending in this piece from @iamagnat.bsky.social; such a unique and creative story

"At the end of that summer, my friends were all talking about Patrick Swazye on the dance floor, but it was the Bigfoot movie [...] that affected me the most" Great micro from @sclly21.bsky.social in @trashcatlit.bsky.social trashcatlit.com/sasquatch-in...