More good news. We went on a week-long vacation in Washington State, first at an Airbnb on a farm in Anacortes, and then to San Juan Island, where we visited the poet Gary Thompson and his wife Linda. A very nice getaway. While we were there, Steve learned that he was one of thirteen finalists for the Clay Reynolds Novella Prize at the Texas Review Press. Very encouraging, even though he didn't win.

The Flash Fiction Institute is now officially launched, a new enterprise  founded by Grant Faulkner, Meg Pokrass, and Tavia Stewart. They offer: *Virtual classes with accomplished authors
*Craft articles and coaching support
*Curated calls for submission and literary journal listings
*Monthly newsletters with famous prompts from Meg to stir the imagination

And they invited me to teach one of the virtual classes! They asked if I'd do a six-week class and I asked to do a weekend workshop instead. Still worried about mastering the technology involved (Canvas, not unlike Blackboard, but it's been a while since I've used online teaching tools). But I enjoyed teaching with Bending Genres, and this should be similar: a small group of good flash writers. 

Here's my class: "Creative Constraints: Invitations to New Flash with Jacqueline Doyle." 
In a Rose Metal Press panel at the 2025 AWP, four writers of book-length flash projects discussed how “creative constraints” (or “invitations” or “experiments”) allowed them to approach risky material, structure what had been unmanageable material, and generate new material they hadn’t anticipated. Flash itself, with its word count limits, acts as a creative constraint. Self-devised creative constraints in flash may include repetition, poetic forms in prose, hermit crabs, abecedarians, lists, one-sentence forms, braiding, and many others. You’ll come away from this online, asynchronous weekend workshop with at least three flash for further revision and ideas for more. This workshop is appropriate for both beginning and experienced writers. All writing prompts will be usable for both nonfiction and fiction.

October 18 – October 20
Asynchronous

After an interesting R&R suggestion from a good magazine that I wasn't sure what to do with, my flash "Ella's Going Places" was just accepted by GHOST PARACHUTE, a flash journal I love. Out in September.

Working on a longer project, I'd forgotten what placing flash is like. Rejections are far outnumbering acceptances, of course, but there haven't been all that many. It just feels that way! Maybe I'll retire a couple of the flash I have out on submission right now but it's very early days to decide that. When I told someone that I wasn't sure I had the stamina for sending things out anymore, they suggested that what's needed is patience, not stamina. So I need to cultivate patience.