My publication resume has crossed the pond! I have a micro-fiction in the brand new issue of The Nottingham Review, in the company of some wonderful writers like Christina Dalcher and Meg Pokrass. You can read all the stories and poems for free online or download a PDF copy of the whole issue. Here’s a direct link to my story!

I got a very nice email from River Styx on Thursday saying that I had made it into the final round of judging for the Schlafly Micro-Brew Micro-Fiction Contest. It’s always nice to know when you are close as a writer even if you don’t win, so I’ll take finalist any day over all-out rejection. That said, I do think rejection is an important part of the submission process, and something we all have to face. On Facebook, I made a post celebrating my 210th rejection, and I really meant it.

Anyway, I wanted to say congratulations to the winner and runners-up for this contest. I’m looking forward to reading their work in River Styx!

Good news! I found out last night that I am the Runner-Up for Split Lip Press’s Turnbuckle Chapbook Contest. Split Lip has published a lot of impressive work lately, so I feel really honored. You can read the announcement here.

I wrote some nonfiction! Gay Degani was nice enough to ask me to do a post for her blog, Words in Place. My short essay is part of a series called Journey to Planet Write, and is about Sylvia Plath, James Baldwin, my other early favorite authors, and their role in my own path as a writer. Check it out, and stay awhile to read all the great work over at Degani’s site.

 

I returned home Wednesday from a ten day residency at beautiful Taleamor Park in Laporte, Indiana. I revised, walked, napped, read, brainstormed, and created twenty-five new pages of prose. I’m incredibly grateful for the time away to focus on my writing. I’m also looking at this residency as a kind of reset, and hope that the clarity and sense of attention I gained there will continue into my daily life. Forward ho.

I launched the new flash-focused literary journal Lost Balloon last Wednesday with an original short-short by Gay Degani. Tomorrow we’ll publish a piece by the wonderful Molia Dumbleton. I’m so happy and proud to be showcasing these fantastic authors. I hope you’ll enjoy the site.

Times are feeling dark right now, but I have an announcement that will hopefully bring a small amount of light into this bleak end of January.

I’m editing a new literary journal called Lost Balloon that launches on Wednesday, February 1st. We will focus on work under 1,000 words (fiction, nonfiction, and prose poetry). A new story will go up every Wednesday for the first six weeks, and will include work by Gay Degani, Molia Dumbleton, Steve Trumpeter, Michele Finn Johnson, Ashley Perez, and Kathy Fish! Submissions will also open on Wednesday. I’m very excited about this new endeavor, and I hope everyone will join me this week.

I have two exciting announcements!

1. I have decided to start an online flash fiction journal. The planned launch date is February 1st, and I will provide more information about the project closer to that date.
2. I’ve been accepted for a ten-day artist residency at one of the Alliance of Artists Communities emerging members in early March. I’m looking forward to focused time to spend on my work!

Midwestern Gothic is good to their writers. They send out proofs, they tweet about you when your issue comes out, and they feature a “contributor spotlight” where they ask questions about your writing process as well as your experience of the Midwest. My interview is up on their website today, and I’m once again feeling grateful I was included in their wonderful journal. So go see me gush over Han Kang and Merritt Tierce, and explain why Ohio back roads are the best.

I’ve been a fan of the online journal Cheap Pop for some time now. They published this devastating Lauren Becker flash in February and this wonderful experimental piece by Caitlin Horrocks last year, so I felt so incredibly stoked and honored when they accepted a story of mine. Please go read “All Three Sixteen” and celebrate with me.