I'm revising a longer story I want to include in my new collection and am overwhelmed with gratitude as I reread notes from the amazing people who gave feedback: Erika Krouse, Sara Lippmann, Lori Sambol Brody, and more. Just unbelievable.

Just booked a hotel for AWP!

Library haul I’ll be bringing to a writing retreat next week.

Maudlin House 2027: small-town horror, zombies, rogue AI abominations, emotional collapse, and other bad decisions.

Turned grades in! What is this life??!

Tonight I teach my last class of the semester (experimental forms in flash fiction). I'm flabbergasted by 1) how much work it was to do it right and 2) how satisfying this work is. It'll be a weekend of grading, some gardening & shopping, then packing for a writing retreat next week by the sea.

I cannot WAIT!!! This book is—whew!—🔥🌊💚 Grab a copy and join us on June 4th!!

Canvas just went down when I was writing a letter to a student about her story. Thank goodness I copied and pasted the text into a Word doc at the first sign of the site stalling. Hope it's resolved very soon! www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...

Had a wonderful class last night talking to students about first and last lines of flash. The discussion was so great, I ended up switching up the in-class revision exercise to pair their opening and closing lines to see how they relate to one another. It was eye-opening!

Salt City Runaway, 50 tiny stories of working class & weird Western Australian girls is available in hard copy AND in e-book from May 9th Here are some links! www.barnesandnoble.com/w/salt-city-...

"It was important to maintain both generational integrity and cultural complicity while not erasing desire or complex feelings around agency." Read @rachellayown.bsky.social's interview w/ @saralippmann.bsky.social on "Hidden River" (@tortoisebooks.bsky.social). chireviewofbooks.com/2026/05/05/d...

Same energy:

Newton, Mass.

This month's From the Bookshelf writing prompt is up. Inspired by Sebald's The Rings of Saturn. cherylpappas.substack.com/p/from-the-b...

🧵

"Secret Shadows" Egg Tempera Created 2015 By Scottish Painter Colin Fraser (b. 1956) #art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

So happy to receive my copy of the Ghost Parachute anthology! It’s gorgeous and I think I know almost all of the wonderful writers in here!

Y’all! The White Cat Black Dog ebook is currently 1.99 on all platforms. If you buy from bookshop.org, you can pick which indie bookstore you want your money to go to. 🖤🐈🖤

Palm Springs peeps! I'm doing an event on Tuesday April 14 from 10:30am-12:00pm at the Welwood Murray Memorial Library in downtown PS. I'll be sharing some stories, reading from The Island of Last Things, and signing books. Come and say hi! #booksky 💙📚 www.palmspringsca.gov/Home/Compone...

Things that help calm the nervous system, quickly: - Box breathing (in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4, repeat) - Immerse your face in cold water (activates mammalian dive reflex) - Humming (stimulates vagus nerve) - Exercise (anything helps, outside even better) - Impeachment and removal

Thank you, @claudineliterary.bsky.social, for this thoughtful review of The Clarity of Hunger!

I have a new story up in @claudineliterary.bsky.social! Thanks to @dehardy.bsky.social and her crew for publishing this piece in their fab new issue! www.claudineliterary.com/michaelczyzn...

So, say you're a writer, and you've been writing and revising for *years*, what might you say to that newish writer who is afraid to revise because they do not want to "ruin" the magic of that good first draft? I have techniques already, but I'm looking for inspiring words!

I have found this to be true: AI cannot give context to a story. writershelpingwriters.net/2025/09/how-...

This

Come join Tommy, Myna and me at Uncharted! Nothing compares to how much you learn about your own writing while reading stories from the submission queue.

Great timely thread on writing by @rpmirabella.bsky.social!

Here's an info sheet for the new MFA program in Creative Writing at Missouri State University! Drop us a line if you have questions, but we are looking for students for THIS FALL for a fully funded program!

Why am I tearing up? This is everything.

The March installment of From the Bookshelf is now live! This month's writing prompt is inspired by Shirley Jackson's "Of Course." cherylpappas.substack.com/p/from-the-b...

The Trump administration has scrapped plans to convert a warehouse in Merrimack, N.H., into an immigration detention facility, according to Governor Kelly Ayotte.

Spotted this morning while walking the dog. What is the story here?

"On the road towards the ocean…" Ooh, I love this choose-your-adventure fairy tale by @amadolaila.bsky.social!

Next time somebody tries to get me to justify the existence of the humanities, I’ll just point out how for the past two Super Bowls we’ve all jumped online and engaged in collective semiotics and hermeneutics of the half-time show as text.

It's February! Here is this month's writing prompt, inspired by Nikolai Gogol (by way of George Saunders). substack.com/home/post/p-...

My sanctuary.

A little sketch I made while students wrote to a prompt.

GOOD NEWS. My novel--a retelling of Hansel & Gretel in which the parents are addicted to opioids--originally titled Abandon & now titled A THOUSAND WAYS TO DISAPPEAR, will be published by Cornerstone Press (Univ. of Wisconsin) in February 2028.

Good morning from Massachusetts!

This is not a door.

Phone home... And tell everybody to pick up a copy of this extraterrestrial friendly book

I will have very good news to share soon. That's all I can say for now!

⚡️Fast Flash Review: Cheryl Pappas sparkling and surreal 2021 debut, A Clarity of Hunger published by Word West Press. @cherylpappas.bsky.social

Happy New Year! This month's writing prompt is up on From the Bookshelf. substack.com/home/post/p-...

thanks to Myna Chang @mynachang.bsky.social for featuring Cheryl Pappas's @cherylpappas.bsky.social "Innocence" in her December roundup !

OKD is open again for free subs until we reach our cap! Learn more about us and submit your best poetry or flash fiction: buff.ly/chQ4jpz Okay Donkey is always open for tip jar ($2.50) or expedited ($4.00) subs! Your contribution helps us pay our contributors and cover other mag-related expenses.

December Speculative Flash Roundup! Some truly phenomenal stories this month, and a bonus craft article!

I’d love one day to read The Great Gatsby on its slippery first-person POV only. These sentences would not make it through a workshop today, given he’s talking about Gatsby’s past here. I’m all for it, though. I’m in the dream of the novel and I just don’t care how he knows.

Love this creepy, sinuous flash by @cherylpappas.bsky.social in @hexliterary.bsky.social !!!

Thank you to editors Kate, Daniel, and Joe @hexliterary.bsky.social for publishing my flash "Innocence."