a new micro in atticus review, collaboration-in-progress with kathryn kulpa

Back after a week in a cozy Airbnb at Cape Cod, where I worked with the flash writer Kathryn Kulpa on a possible book-length collaborative flash collection. We got a lot done, mostly holed up in the condo, but we did make it to the beach one day (see picture), and also to the Brewster Ladies' Library, where we used their conference room to spread out the flash we'd chosen and organize our sections. Also made it to Edward Gorey's house. 

While I was away:

"Leftovers" came out in the great journal ATTICUS REVIEW, and generated a surprising amount of buzz on Twitter, from my virtual flash friends but also strangers who loved it. Micros, of course, are the perfect Twitter reading.

I did a Skype (actually Zoom) interview with a Jenny Ferguson's wonderful creative writing class at Hobart and William Smith college. My first such experience and I really enjoyed it. Loved to hear that a college class was reading my chapbook. A few days later, also out of the blue, the writer Chelsea Biondolillo wrote to me that she was including excerpts from chapbook in her summer writing class as well.

And yet, I'm feeling depressed about my flash today. Working with Kathryn, it appeared that she had a lot more flash for our project than I do. Despite having published a lot, many of mine weren't relevant to our focus, many also seemed ephemeral to me.

Then Christopher James, the editor at JELLYFISH REVIEW, published a list of his 30+ favorite flash writers (which didn't include me). He's created such a family feeling of community at his magazine (where I've published three times) and it was depressing not to be on his list.

And WIGLEAF just published their list of the TOP 50 (VERY SHORT) FICTIONS, an annual list assembled by a different guest editor each year of the best flash of the previous year. There's also a Long List of about 150 more. I was thrilled to have two Finalist flash at BEST SHORT FICTIONS 2018, and disappointed to have nothing on these lists (Kathryn, I'm pleased to say, is long-listed, and there are tons of writers I love on both lists). Jet-lagged and tired after a long trip yesterday (twelve hours door to door, even with a direct flight), I'm feeling down today, like everyone's celebrating a party I wasn't invited to.

Wondering also how often I've made others depressed by celebrating my achievements on social media. Writers have been so generous about celebrating with me.

Brewster Ladies' Library (est. 1852)