Get ready!

all i'm saying is that there were better options

I'll add my list/s of "best books of 2025"! (Pictured: a random sample of some of the books I mention throughout.) www.workinprogressinprogress.com/2025/12/best...

I loved this book...so funny and I learned a lot about native plants (but not in a learn-y way).

The Department of English at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro invites applications for an assistant professor position in creative writing (poetry), to begin August 1, 2026. For more information and to apply, visit buff.ly/YXi1Y4L, click on “Faculty,” and select position #1460

If you're not in the lit journal editing biz, you probably don't know that making these noms takes a fair amount of time & energy & love...and we at South 85 sure love & believe in our writers!

So proud of the reading & editing teams and their work to get this amazing issue put together! (Okay, also a bit proud of myself, too!! 😊)

ALL RIGHT 4-ever!

Read these (and other) fine writers at www.south85journal.com

Okay, we'd all rather be in front of the book, but seeing my story listed in the Special Mention section of the newest edition of The Pushcart Prize is still a thrill! I'll link to the story in the comments if you missed it back when it was first published.

Excited to announce our Long List for the Editor's Choice Award! Winner announced in November. In the mean time, enjoy these pieces (and ALL the excellent writing!) in our deluge | drought issue!! south85journal.com/fall-winter-...

Look at these writers!!! Very proud of this new issue and hope you'll take a minute to read some (all??) of our featured work. www.south85journal.com/fall-winter-...

Two rejections within 15 minutes, including one "very close/final round" from a fancy place. 0/10, do not recommend for a Monday or any other morning of the week.

Gotta share my latest spam-bot assessment of my literary career: You built a cathedral… and it’s echoing in an empty desert. 🌵

Thanks to @lesliepwriter.bsky.social for letting me share some thoughts on my new collection. #poetry #ecopoetry #BookSky www.workinprogressinprogress.com/2025/09/tbr-...

Happy to help promote the good work we're doing over at the Converse low-res MFA journal, @south85journal.bsky.social! Thanks for the interview, Becky Tuch & Lit Mag News!

A reminder! @hubcitypress.bsky.social is looking for one nonfiction title for (probably fall) 2027. By a southerner and/or related to the South. I had lots of interesting responses to the call below, but mostly unfinished manuscripts. Agents or unagented writers welcome. My DMs are open for q's!

"You have to have confidence amounting to arrogance, because particularly at the beginning, you're making something that nobody has asked you to make." Elaine de Kooning, qtd in NINTH STREET WOMEN by Mary Gabriel #SundaySentence

PAINFUL.

YAY!

Reynolda Garden in Winston-Salem, NC. Whatever the season, there's something gorgeous to see.

Starting to write a novel is "like trying to keep everyone alive, forever. Even the ones who must die in the end. They're the most important to keep alive." -THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, John Irving #SundaySentence

Deadline = TODAY!! www.south85journal.com/submissions/

YOU HAVE UNTIL FRIDAY!!!!!!!

Our summer issue is now online! Featuring 3rd-prize winner of our short story contest Annie Zaidi; poetry by Grace Schulman, Ted Kooser & Rachel Hadas; reviews on James Baldwin biographies & Sylvia Plath's prose; our new dance reviewer Marina Harss's essay on Baryshnikov, & more! hudsonreview.com

Gonna agree!!

from "Berryman" by W.S. Merwin I asked how can you ever be sure that what you write is really any good at all and he said you can't you can't you can never be sure you die without knowing whether anything you wrote was any good if you have to be sure don't write

Hope you'll read my (<300 word) story! Also hope you'll take a moment to appreciate journals & editors who do the extra work to make sure the pieces they publish are presented beautifully & to support the writers they publish w/ social media posts. TY Ghost Parachute & @brettpribble.bsky.social!

🚨~TWO WEEKS LEFT~🚨 Make the kitty happy & send us your work for our deluge | drought issue...$100 to best piece...dedicated readers...all work comes from the queue Deadline: 8/15 south85journal.com/submissions/

VERY PLEASED to have a short story up in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social's newest issue! <Someday, possibly, they’ll regret the quantity of ultra-processed food they consume, but not me, not even now, and I’m an adult. On my deathbed I’ll request broccoli? Doubtful.> pitheadchapel.com/lucky-enough/

VERY PLEASED to have a super-short piece up in Ghost Parachute's newest issue! (Isn't this artwork fabulous?!)

Yes, even a name like mine! I NOTICE.

So proud of the work we publish and the writers we support! Read their work: south85journal.com Send us YOUR work (by 8/15): south85journal.com/submissions/

Don't be shy! Give us a try! We're looking for poetry/fiction/flash/CNF on the open-ended theme of drought | deluge. 8/15 deadline! www.south85journal.com/submissions/

Still open for pitches for short NF books!

We're looking for your best...deadline is 8/15! ~$100 prize to one published piece ~we proudly nominate for Best of the Net & Pushcart ~all work comes from the queue ~all work is read by > 1 reader ~we ♥️♥️♥️out writers!! Info: south85journal.com/submissions/

Less than a month!

Whatcha doing this weekend? Sending some work our way, perhaps? ~Best published piece gets $100 ~We nominate for Pushcart & Best of the Net ~Everything read by > 1 reader ~Responses in late Sept-ish Details: www.south85journal.com

Why are computer printers so malevolently evil?

Wowwee @hubcitypress.bsky.social is OPEN this weekend for single-narrative nonfiction! This is my time, my favorite stuff! Can be personal, reportage, memoir, cultural criticism, history, or a blend of the above. Ends at midnight on Sunday. Drop any questions below. hubcity.submittable.com/submit

Last chance to sign up for this class, happening tomorrow (Saturday). It's online, so you can do it from anywhere! A 4-hour generative workshop to help you bust through writer’s block and kickstart new speculative stories—without building a whole new world first.

Thanks to our social media manager @rkalagayanpoet.bsky.social for getting @south85journal.bsky.social into the meme game. And be assured that our enthusiastic team would love to read your work!

Excited to have this new story in Southern Humanities Review. It takes place in the 1970s and features Iowa City's famous Talking Christmas Tree, which is exactly as weird as it sounds. IYKYK

We'd love to read your work!

I'm the editor!

We're open for subs through 8/15! Want to read a sample? Start w/ the Editor's Choice Award-winners from the last 2 issues: www.south85journal.com/thieves-of-t... fiction by Ramona Reeves & www.south85journal.com/the-white-ho... flash by Alexandria Valentine www.south85journal.com/submissions/

This thunderstorm came from nowhere, alerted by the fact that both I and my husband paid to wash our cars AND we're supposed to go to a baseball game tonight. So much for my new weather app THAT TOLD ME TODAY WAS GOING TO BE CLEAR! (Thanks for firing everyone, DOGE.)

I'm the editor, and I know we would love to consider your work.

Please share this call for submissions from South 85, the Converse University MFA journal I edit. We accept work only from the queue (no secret soliciting) & ONE piece gets $100 for the Editor's Choice Award. www.south85journal.com/submissions/