When your day feels kinda crummy, and then you look outside to see a spunky little bird taking a bath in your pond, having a ball. Crumminess defeated!🌸🐦‍⬛

#flashinthefeed @smokelong.bsky.social Another Larry by Christopher Ramsey "Circus folk didn’t like to draw attention to themselves when they were wintering" ghostparachute.com/issue/februa...

A tale of two tomes... Almost done with book 9 of Outlander and then a big segue into Lonesome Dove! I'm in saga mode. #booksky #outlander #books

@smokelong.bsky.social #flashinthefeed Papaya betrayal! One of the most sensual stories I've read in a while. You won't look at produce the same, ever. fracturedlit.com/odd-biography/

#flashinthefeed @smokelong.bsky.social So good! "Mary Beth’s boyfriend popped the question, and because she truly loved the idea of love, and maybe even him, she said yes..."

"Jazz pushes boundaries. It has ambiguity. It makes people think. That’s why they hate it. And if you’re a jazz musician, this could be an issue. You never know when someone will have heard too many notes and become violent." www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/sel...

@smokelong.bsky.social #flashinthefeed "The world moves on like a polite machine." roifaineantarchive.wixsite.com/rf-arc-hive/...

@smokelong.bsky.social #flashinthefeed by J.R. Wilkerson, "Bloodworks" - Excellent use of Dirty Dancing soundtrack :) Great poetry! www.roifaineantpress.com/post/bloodwo...

@smokelong.bsky.social #flashinthefeed bendinggenres.com/4-tips-on-ho... by Joseph Gorodnitskiy. If you need an escape plan...

@smokelong.bsky.social #flashinthefeed "Angela, in the basement" by Kelly McElroy. The thin veil between life and death is a couple of floors. Beautifully rendered story! flash-frog.com/2026/03/02/a...

When you are afraid to leave your home office... because you suspect you are being hunted for food. #cats

I just scrolled through a Top 12 "Must Read" list on the NYT, literally judging books by their covers (didn't even bother to read the blurbs/didn't realize I was doing it). Are there any covers that make you automatically go, "Nuh uh"? 📚💙 #booksky #books

This is so worthwhile! A piece I drafted during the Micro Marathon that was published last year made the recent short list for the SmokeLong Quarterly Workshop prize! #flashfiction @smokelong.bsky.social #writing

Hard decisions. The SmokeLong Workshop Prize entries are all so good. Help us celebrate our shortlist! www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...

Very proud to be amongst these talented writers in The Long List! Thank you!! #flash #writing

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

I've come to realize that if I spend all my time worrying about how someone feels about me or is mad at me, I'm just wasting energy. Here's some truth: Hardly ANYONE is thinking about you. Ever. But this graphic was me for much of my 20s, that's for sure...

No truer statement has ever been written. 📚💙 #booksky #cats #books

It's been a long time, sadly, since I've read a page turner and I have TWO to recommend: 1. The God of the Woods - Liz Moore (halfway through). Thriller, mystery, character study. 2. Matterhorn - Karl Marlantes. GRIPPING Vietnam War drama, fiction. 📚💙 #booksky

This. Mark Hamill was my childhood crush/hero, Carrie Fisher was my space mom & writer I wished to be. Together, well, sparks fly in the universe from two incredible and amazing people. (PS - I actually met Mark Hamill, very briefly, when I was a coffee caterer. I almost passed out).

Tillamook, OR, mid-October, after the rain. #fall #barns #oregon

Truth!!!

It’s #bannedbooksweek. Let’s stand with booksellers and librarians. #bannedbooks @doubledaybooks.bsky.social

I just saw the trailer for the Bruce Springsteen biopic. Curious, anyone have strong (or not) objections to biopics when the subject is still alive? I feel like we might get a more creative story when someone isn't around and time has passed... Should this be a documentary instead? #filmsky #film

Woohoo! Very proud. I passed my Level 2 WSET Wine Studies course with distinction. #wine #education Getting to enjoy the spoils of my beautiful Oregon Willamette Valley Pinot Noir bounty.

Highlighting this fabulous visual history of the film La Bamba. It's gorgeous and insightful (really, the movie stands the test of time). Shout out to my friend Katherine Moore for her great editorial and creative production insights. #film #labamba #photography

Couple more days for @flashfrog.bsky.social’s ghost call! bsky.app/profile/flas...

Speaking of gorgeous book covers, I came across this beautiful one at the Sherwood Bookstore. The colors and the simplicity of the design are so intriguing and soothing. I love books that spark my reading interest, but also invite me to hold them because they are a pretty thing. #books

Sherman is expressing his feelings about the world. #cats

Thank you to @nffr.bsky.social for your fantastic canon of flash stories! During the #archivechallenge, I'm thrilled to have discovered new flash writers that I've become big fans of. Keep up the GREAT work! #flashfiction

All of this.

@smokelong.bsky.social - Since we've been talking about titles! #archivechallenge This title drew me in, and the story has a surprising emotional arc. I also love the use of "invulnerable" in the first sentence. Fantastic word choice! newflashfiction.com/used-hearse-...

@smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge Love this from @sarahillswrites.bsky.social and @nffr.bsky.social and all its specific details. Man, you can smell that diaper air! newflashfiction.com/trip-trappin... This great sentence will haunt me: "a swirling mist of urine and meatballs."

@smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge Prose poetry is tough for me, but this story resonates with my personal experience abroad. "Understanding the book was like trying to touch a whitecap on an ocean wave as it washed back out to sea." newflashfiction.com/kathleen-mcg... @nffr.bsky.social

@smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge Hurrah for Horo-Flashes! These are so fun, creative forays: newflashfiction.com/horo-flash-p... @nffr.bsky.social "I’m more fish than you are, I tell the goldfish. He keeps swimming."

@smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge A great example of a story working backwards to show the transformation of a character. Gorgeous use of language and imagery abounds here: newflashfiction.com/marissa-hoff... @nffr.bsky.social

@smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge A short flash that packs a punch. That title is EARNED. Proof that going short can astonish and astound: newflashfiction.com/melaniemarqu...

If you could revisit a book that took you by surprise and changed you the first time around? Just finished S2 of the Wolf Hall series adaptation that reinvigorated my love and joy for the books. The trilogy was my 1st intro to Hilary Mantel & I remember being so astonished by her writing! #books

@smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge A poignant flash. Rich in what it doesn't need to say. newflashfiction.com/steve-cushman/ and @nffr.bsky.social

@smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge What a delightful story that carries the right amount of backstory to showcase the relationship between these two women: newflashfiction.com/francine-wit... and @nffr.bsky.social

@smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge These 4 are all so different in tone and structure. Flash never ceases to amaze me with how you can tell a story. newflashfiction.com/robert-shapa... newflashfiction.com/doug-cornett/ newflashfiction.com/rupert-dastur/ newflashfiction.com/lou-beach/

Gorgeous work. Makes me wonder if I was a bookbinder in another life (possibly a French one)? www.nytimes.com/card/2025/06...

@smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge The ending of this story is an emotional highlight. You think you know what the story is about, and then you reach the end. It's a fierce flash from start to finish. @nffr.bsky.social newflashfiction.com/kathleen-nal...

@smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge I love this. An example of what I like to call 'when the story is about a thing without directly talking about the thing'. So much power in this short flash! @nffr.bsky.social newflashfiction.com/nin-andrews/

@smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge Great use of an existing fairy tale to tell a much darker story for modern times. newflashfiction.com/evelyn-n-alf... "And the wolves where she worked said, 'He didn’t intend to hurt anyone.'"

@smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge This story delights in imagery and setting. I keep coming back to it because it is so sprawling and sharp for such a short tale. newflashfiction.com/alicita-rodr... from @nffr.bsky.social Issue #4.

@smokelong.bsky.social #Archivechallenge This is one of my all time favorite flash stories newflashfiction.com/tiff-holland... from @nffr.bsky.social A touching and humorous meditation on grief and how we let go of a loved one. So much to learn from this story about the power of flash!

@smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge Highlighting the delightfully quirky, sneakily dark, newflashfiction.com/jane-ciabatt... from @nffr.bsky.social I love it when flash can transcend into the weird but still resonates and surprises!

@smokelong.bsky.social #Archivechallenge Highlighting newflashfiction.com/steve-adams/ and @nffr.bsky.social Not just '80s nostalgia, but a desire to connect with a city. 2nd person POV perfection. "Because you’re more afraid of sleeping through your life than you are afraid of New York."