Just, wow 🐛

Get your #christmas 75-word #flashfiction in!

"writing is a continual journey into learning and getting lost." @amylilwall.bsky.social on teaching, writing and the characters of The Water That May Come, in conversation with @judydarley.bsky.social ! #books💙📚

Following my #bookreview of @amylilwall.bsky.social's glorious The Water That May Come, you can now uncover the creativity behind the pages with Amy's #writinginsights. Plus, find out how Isabelle of @flyonthewallpress.bsky.social chose Amy's manuscript judydarley.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/i...

'The Water That May Come' by Amy Lilwall offers a warning, a threat and a thread of shining possibilities. Lilwall’s writing is exquisitely crafted, making this a beautiful dystopian novel, via @flyonthewallpress.bsky.social. Read my full review: judydarley.wordpress.com/2025/12/15/b...

I love this story by @bronwengriffiths.bsky.social. It's as satisfying as a hearty breakfast 😍

From our earliest years, books show us different ways to understand the world, and ourselves. 'Be Your Own Best Friend: A Teen’s Guide to Self-empowerment' by Nicola Lincoln, is a book full of warmth, wisdom and compassion. #BooksMakeGreatChristmasGifts judydarley.wordpress.com/2025/12/01/a...

Take the Paragraph Planet challenge: Write a story in just 75 words and submit to the site. One piece of #flashfiction has been published every day since 2008. Submit today! www.paragraphplanet.com/submission.php

Must be cold outside. Th Christmas cactus living in our kitchen has declared the start of the festive season! 🥳❄️♥️

Walking at the seafront I spied this oddity. A prehistoric omelette? A death mask from an unknown civilisation? No, a desiccated ray, complete with cavities where eyes once stared & a tail of spines. What a marvel of evolution, and a fabulous #writingprompt. judydarley.wordpress.com/2025/11/18/w...

"I feel like I'm trapped within a crystal box" by Barbara Schoeberl @BarbaraLS.bsky.social is today's 75-word #story on Paragraph Planet paragraphplanet.com #writingcommunity #amwriting

Wow, this is so poignant. Fierce imagery I’ll carry with me, like the river @stephieosaurus.bsky.social describes. And that last line… 😍

Some days we are the teddy bear in the cosy embrace of a loved one. Sometimes we are that same bear, lost and drenched, slumped on a park bench. Oh, I cannot think for the sound of rain 💧💧💧

Two gorgeous glimpses: stepped out of my house to the flap of a red admiral butterfly. What's it doing out in November? And from the Land Yeo riverbank a blur of emerald green – kingfisher!

#foundpoem each bird name a flick of a call or whisking wing 🪶

When I heard about Dorset's Wind Phone, I was instantly intrigued. The concept is of a phone box where we can have conversations with the people no longer with us. Have you ever thought, if only I could speak to them, just one more time…? Find out more here: judydarley.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/c...

Did you enter Clevedon LitFest's Flash Fiction Award? Or do you just love stories? The award ceremony is at the #CelebrationOfTheBook, Sat11Oct, 12pm, Prince's Hall, Clevedon. It's open to the public free of charge, beside a hall full of books and more! www.clevedonlitfest.org.uk/celebration-...

10 tips for writing winning poetry from Mslexia's editor Debbie Taylor. They work brilliantly for #flashfiction too 😉 Top tip: surprise your reader! mslexia.co.uk/magazine/blo...

My story Rib-stitch has found a home with the friendliest ear rat you could hope to meet! Thanks, ear rat team 😍👂🐀🧤

I have a new site! Got tired of Fasthost's escalating fees and ineptitude so it was time for a fresh start. You can take a peek here: judydarley.wordpress.com

Chuffed to have my story 'Dog Brother' featured in Querencia's Summer 2025 issue. TBH my twisted fairytale has more of an autumnal feel to it, making this the ideal time to read it! www.querenciapress.com

Weather changes fast at the coast – I heard the raindrops rumble over Poets' Walk as I strolled beneath the first trees, Moments later damp teens surrounded me, seeking shelter. A fraction earlier I was on that walkway surrounded by the Marine Lake's captured waves.

Seeking homes for some stories and doing a trawl of lit mag submission calls. I've found mags seeking flash from 500-1000 words and short stories from 2000-3000 words. What about the fiction that sits in between? Where does that fit??

Very happy to have my story 'A Haircut is a Poem' included in the first issue of dif writers' dif megazine. It's on sale for £12.50, which includes free UK shipping: www.bedif.org/product-page...

Look at this beautiful #bookpost from @troutiemcfish.bsky.social via @northodoxpress.bsky.social. What an enticing cover! Can't wait to dive into 'The Blue of You' 😀

Submissions open 1st October 2025 ... celebrating 15 years of Pure Slush publishing ... pureslush.com/submissions/...

I'm still buzzing from the amazingness that is @flashficfestuk.bsky.social & in the mood for reading lots of flash! As a judge for Clevedon LitFest's 2025 Flash Fiction Award, I'm sharing some story prompts. You can enter the competition & discover prompts 1 to 4 here: www.clevedonlitfest.org.uk

What a beautiful weekend at the @flashficfestuk.bsky.social, at Trinity College, Bristol, reuniting with old friends and making new ones, listening to the forest (and the karaoke!), and being inspired to write write write. Thanks to @judehiggins.bsky.social and the team ♥️

Ahead of a new story of mine on BBC radio four, you can listen (should you wish) to a couple of other pieces of mine. Together they'll make a loose folk horrorish trilogy. here's The Death of Wildflowers:

The perfect piece of #bookpost arrived for me ahead of my Fairy Tale Toolkit workshop at the @flashficfestuk.bsky.social next weekend. Thanks to @judehwriter2.bsky.social for inviting me to teach this session again. This year it's darker and may feature smooshed faeries 😀🧚❤️

Need a seed to get a story started? I'm sharing a series of writing prompts for Clevedon LitFest to help you write something wonderful for the #FlashFictionAward I'm co-judging with author Jackie Hales. Find them here: clevedonlitfest.org.uk

#Writers! Green Stories opens for entries to their Epiphanies Competition on 21st July! They're seeking #flashfiction (under 500 words) exploring 'moments of green transformation or revelation'. There are £1k worth of prizes. Deadline = 27 August. www.greenstories.org.uk/flash-fictio...

@judydarley.bsky.social newflashfiction.com/blue-naped-p...

Such an itchy beauty of a tale from @joycebingham.bsky.social via @templeinacity.bsky.social 😍

Honoured to be part of the first issue from this glorious new lit mag, Temple in a City. And in such great company too. @templeinacity.bsky.social templeinacity.com/fiction-joyc...

So happy my story is up! Thanks, @natflashfictionday.bsky.social for the prompt and saying yes 😊 thewrite-in.blogspot.com/2025/06/gowe...

I’m a co-judge with author Jackie Hales for Clevedon LitFest #FlashFictionAwards. If you live in the UK & write stories under 500 words, we want to read your entries! Top prize: £200 Closing date: 11.59pm 8 August 2025 Entry costs £5 Find the details here: www.clevedonlitfest.org.uk/flash-fictio...

My story splashing around in the @natflashfictionday.bsky.social #flashflood 😃

Less than 24 hours until @natflashfictionday.bsky.social's #FlashFlood begins! My flash 'Vinegar Tits' embarks at 15:10 (BST) on 14 June 2025. Please wave as it sails by!

Lovely to take part in the launch of the Poets' Walk book & app last night. I read my poem 'Low Tide at Poets' Walk.' A great start to Clevedon Lit Fest 😃 You can buy the book here: www.bristolbooks.org/shop/poets-w... Book for Clevedon Lit Fest events here: www.clevedonlitfest.org.uk

I'm running a session for @flashficfestuk.bsky.social all about harnessing the power of fairy tales in modern flash stories. Which flash fiction fairy tales have caught your attention recently? Please share links if you can! 😀📚

Happy writing news! I'm thrilled to have my story 'Blue-Naped Parrots See More Than They Say' chosen for the Best Small Fictions anthology 2024. Thanks to #NewFlashFictionReview for the nomination, & to @altcurrent.bsky.social editors for picking it. So pleased! altcurrentpress.com/best-small-f...

Pleased to have a CNF tale in the anthology 'To Lay Sun Into a Forest' from Sidhe Press. My piece, 'An Absence of Towering Leaves', is excerpted from my hybrid work-in-progress about loss & solace. 'Ash trees are daubed with paint splodges as vibrant as marigolds.' www.sidhe-press.eu/books/to-lay...

Happy to share that my story ‘Vinegar Tits' has been accepted to splash into ‪@natflashfictionday's #FlashFlood on Saturday 14 June. Submissions are open until 26 April, so send in your 300-word (and shorter) stories today! duotrope.com/duosuma/subm...

Today's joy has been a morning to write, mostly spent wrangling a flash that demanded to grow into a short story and then be reshuffled into a fresh shape. For the better? The submission spirits will decide...

Recent writing has featured a huge dog, an elderly cat called Stan (pictured) and sunlight as a pet. I think of this as 'comfort writing'.

Yesterday I met this beautiful beetle in a Somerset woodland. A bit of research told me it’s a rare violet oil beetle, and exudes poisonous oil from its joints when threatened. Now I’m thinking: folklore, fairytales and the mystery of nature. So many story prompts from one small creature!

Woke up confused but contented after hybrid dreams of sun-infused pollen-laden peonies and bees. I might have been one of the bees. Wonder if I can write that into something...

There’s still space in my Hybrid Writing start pack for writers, lit mags & publishers who leap over genre boundaries & out of boxes, ignoring traditional labels & definitions. Would you like to be added or do you know someone else who fits into this unboxed box?! #HybridWriting go.bsky.app/MswLLwc

Not overly enamoured with the whole ‘spring forward’ making it feel like 5am at 6am this morning but… at least I was treated to a beautiful slice of sunrise today 😍