Book Launch with Two Kathryns!

Posted on by April 23, 2023

 

Join me and my fellow Kathryn, Kathryn Silver-Hajo, as we celebrate the release of our flash fiction books!

Date: Thursday, May 25

Time: 7 pm

Place: Riffraff Bookstore/Bar/Cafe, 60 Valley St #107A, Providence, RI 02909

Riffraff Reading

Upcoming Readings & Book Events:

Online Book Launch for Wolfsong by Kathryn Silver-Hajo, May 11 at 6 pm (online). I’m a guest reader. Zoom link to come.

Book Launch for Wolfsong by Kathryn Silver-Hajo and Cooking Tips for the Demon-Haunted by Kathryn Kulpa, May 25 at 7 pm, Riffraff Bookstore, Providence, RI.

Flash Bash Reading and Workshop with Kathryn Silver-Hajo and Kathryn Kulpa, June 28 at 6 pm, Barrington Public Library, Barrington, RI.

F-Bomb Zoom Flash Reading, guest reader, June 2023. More details and Zoom link to come.

F-Bomb Zoom Flash Reading, featured reader, July 2023. More details and Zoom link to come.

Ekphrastic Cats Flash Fiction Contest!

Posted on by March 31, 2022

I’ll be reading flash fiction entries for the Ekphrastic Review Ekphrastic Cats Flash Fiction and Poetry Contest. The deadline is May 5, 2022. One winner in flash and one in poetry will each receive $100CAD, to be paid via PayPal.

All contest submissions must be inspired by one of the artworks in the Ekphrastic Cats ebook, which is included in the $10CAD entry fee. Please do not include any identifying information on your manuscript. Entries will be read blind.

Please visit ekphrastic.net for complete guidelines. I’m looking forward to reading your work!

Painting of girl holding cat. Text: Ekphrastic Cats Flash Fiction and Poetry Contest

 

2021: By the Numbers

Posted on by December 16, 2021

Art by Amy Feldman, for "Telethon" by Kathryn Kulpa, from Flash FrogNew Publications

I was a slacker in 2021! Only 17 new stories published, compared to 20 in 2020.

But I have three pieces that were accepted but not yet published, so that evens things out. I was happy to make my debut in some journals, like Flash Frog, Ghost Parachute, Gone Lawn, and New World Writing, and also to revisit past favorites like Atticus Review, Monkeybicycle, 100 Word Story, and Pithead Chapel.

Reprints/Anthologies

“The Day the Women Walked Away from Alabama,” Stone Gathering, Fall 2021

“Road Runners,” Best Microfiction 2021

Awards/Nominations

Six this year! I think that’s my record.

“How I Learned to Read” won second prize in Flash Fiction Magazine‘s contest

“Devil’s Breath,” published in 100 Word Story, was included in the Wigleaf Top 50 Longlist

“Layover,” published in Gone Lawn, No. 41, nominated for Best of the Net

“Warm on the Vine,” published in Flash Boulevard, nominated for Best Microfiction

“Mother-Daughter,” published in Monkeybicycle, nominated for Best Microfiction and for the Pushcart Prize

“Telethon,” published in Flash Frog, nominated for Best Small Fictions, 2022

Workshops

It’s been another busy teaching year! I led eight writing workshops, including classes in flash fiction and revision for Cleaver magazine and microfiction workshops co-taught with Meg Pokrass. I also had the chance to be a student in an Ekphrastic Horror workshop taught by Aimee Parkison at Bending Genres.

If you asked me how I found time to do all that, while also working full time in a non-writing job and taking care of [NUMBER REDACTED] rescue cats, I would tell you I have no idea, and even thinking about it makes me tired. But I’m grateful that I’ve had the chance to connect with so many talented, generous people in the flash writing community this year.

Best Microfiction 2021

Posted on by January 25, 2021

I’m thrilled to say my story “Road Runners,” published in Milk Candy Review, has been chosen for Best Microfiction 2021. And also happy to see so many writing friends and students listed here!

The final judge for the 2021 anthology was Amber Sparks. Series editors are Meg Pokrass and Gary Fincke.

Tiny lights on a roof line, tree, sunset

End of Year Writing Roundup

Posted on by December 6, 2020

Publications in 2020Red berries on winter bush

It felt like 2020 wasn’t a very good year for writing.

Let’s face it: 2020 wasn’t a very good year for anything.

As the year began, I was at work on a novella-in-flash made up of linked stories about twin sisters caught up in (ironically enough) a climate crisis and global pandemic. Living through a real-life global pandemic caused me to put that project on the back burner. Instead, I wrote microfiction. Lots of microfiction: 13 out of 20 stories published this year were under 400 words.

I did a lot of online writing meetups and informal prompt workshops, and I credit these with nurturing my creative spirit and inspiring me to keep going. I also taught quite a few classes, and I’m really proud of the success my students have had with their writing.

Awards/Nominations

“Slip,” nominated for Pushcart Prize by MacQueen’s

“Road Runners,” nominated for Best Microfiction by Milk Candy Review

“Snow Day,” Runner-up, No Contact magazine’s No Contest

Microfiction (400 words or fewer)

“Road Runners,” Milk Candy Review, November 12, 2020

“Seeing the Sights,” The Ekphrastic Review, November 12, 2020

“Snow Day,” No Contact (Runner-up, No Contest), November 7, 2020

“Coffin Bell,” Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, August 25, 2020

“Slip” and “War Bride,” MacQueen’s Quinterly, July 2020

“Paul’s Room,” The Write-In (National Flash Fiction Day), June 7, 2020

“Church on the Hill,” The Write-In (National Flash Fiction Day), June 7, 2020

“Follow It Down,” Flash Flood, June 6, 2020

“Devil’s Breath,” 100 Word Story, May 24, 2020

“After Wings of Desire,” Milk Candy Review, April 23, 2020

“Attachment Theory,” trampset, March 31, 2020

“The Artist Poses his Muse Before a Goldfish Bowl,” New Flash Fiction Review, March 7, 2020

“Mary’s Dress Waves,” Large Hearted Boy, Flash Dancers/Ekphrastic Singles Series, No. 1, February 6, 2020

Flash Fiction

“Skywalkers,” The Phare, November 5, 2020

“El Rancho Divorce-o,” Wigleaf, September 16, 2020

“Knock,” Women’s Studies Quarterly, May 2020

“Upstairs, Downstairs,” Ilanot Review, Vol. 19: Home/Work, Winter 2020

“What the Selkies Know,” Atlas and Alice, February 24, 2020

“In the Time of Climate Change,” X–R-A-Y Literary Magazine, February 8, 2020

“In the Shadow of Their Wings,” Ligeia Magazine, Winter 2019

Workshops

International Women’s Writers Guild –  Flash Fiction Distillery (January-February, 2020)

Truro Center for the Arts – Flash Fiction: Prose Distilled (Summer 2020; forthcoming Summer 2021)

Cleaver Magazine – The Art of Flash (Spring, Summer, and Fall 2020; forthcoming Winter 2021)

Microfiction Masterclass with Meg Pokrass (forthcoming December 26-31, 2020)

“Snow Day” Published in No Contact Magazine

Posted on by November 8, 2020

Snow Day

“Snow Day” was a runner-up in the No Contact “No Contest” competition. You can read all the winning and commended stories in Issue Thirteen at No Contact magazine.

New Class, New Flash, New Micro

Posted on by July 29, 2020

This summer I’ve been busy teaching flash fiction workshops for Cleaver Magazine and Truro Center for the Arts, but also managing to get some writing done.

What’s next: I’m teaching Afterburn: the Art of Flash Revision for Cleaver starting the first week in August.

Two new stories were just published in MacQueen’s Quinterly: A new flash fiction piece, “Slip,” and a microfiction, “War Bride.”

Doe in woods

 

The first time he kissed her he asked permission; he hasn’t asked permission for anything since, as if saying yes once was a blanket permit.

Read “Slip” at MacQueen’s Quinterly.

 

 

 

Woman with vintage plane

 

Everything trembling and hopeful and uncertain is in her face, her nervously wide smile.

            Read “War Bride” at MacQueen’s Quinterly.

 

 

 

 

Where is fancy bred, in the heart or in the head?

Posted on by June 8, 2020

Where is fancy bred?

Stories Published This Spring

The pandemic spring, when time moved strangely and everyone swam through a dark dream, until reality shone a floodlight on us all.
It felt like I did nothing this spring. I often berated myself for doing so little. But I taught a few classes and I wrote a few stories.

“Paul’s Room,” The Write-In (National Flash Fiction Day), June 7, 2020
Since when do you have a ferret, I said, because not a boy in that family had ever been able to keep even a cactus plant alive.
What it is: Micro flash inspired by a Write-In acrostic prompt and three bonus words
Where it came from: I did this exercise with my May-June Art of Flash workshop students

“Church on the Hill,” The Write-In (National Flash Fiction Day), June 7, 2020
It makes me think of the news, back when there still was news, a constant crawl of panic. It was a relief when all the satellites went down, and nothing worked.
What it is: An excerpt from a work in progress, All I’ll Carry
Where it came from: A Meg Pokrass novella-in-flash workshop

“Follow It Down,” Flash Flood, June 6, 2020
He only likes me in the dark.
What it is: Dream-inspired flash fiction
Where it came from: Woke up with the first line in my head and worked on the rest in my writing group

“Devil’s Breath,” 100 Word Story, May 24, 2020
Some days there wasn’t enough starch in the world.
What it is: A photo story, inspired by a picture prompt in 100 Word Story and by my great-grandmother, Jessie Sharp Drake Walker Willis Ethier
Where it came from: We worked on this as a group in my winter 2020 flash fiction workshop for IWWG

“Knock,” Women’s Studies Quarterly, May 2020
You imagined that car, parked outside, startling the sensible black Fords and tan Studebakers of Tiogue Avenue with its pale-green  glamour, like a visiting luna moth. But he didn’t offer, yet, to take you for a ride. He knew the power of the pause.
What it is: Flash fiction piece with a mid-century gothic sensibility
Where it came from: Woke up with the first five lines in my head and worked on it in a Kathy Fish Fast Flash workshop

“After Wings of Desire,” Milk Candy Review, April 23, 2020
You belong to the past, like nips of peppermint schnapps at the vampire girl’s grave.
What it is: Ekphrastic flash inspired by the film Wings of Desire and the words past, future, and silence
Where it came from: A Meg Pokrass prompt workshop

Flash Fiction Boot Camp

Posted on by May 28, 2020

Do you sometimes need a push to get writing? I do, especially in this time of quarantine, when normal life structures have been lifted. I find it helpful to have deadlines, prompts, and someone to hold me accountable.

That’s why I often sign up for writing workshops, flashathons, silent writing sessions, and other creative classes–to challenge myself. Just immersing myself in a world of writing, where other people are creating new work, is energizing and motivating.

I also find inspiration from leading writing workshops, and I’m teaching several this summer.

Right now, I’m teaching a flash fiction workshop for Cleaver magazine. A second session will start on June 20. This four-week class has weekly readings and writing assignments.

I’m also teaching a one-week intensive flash workshop for Truro Center for the Arts, June 15-19. This class will meet for three two-hour Zoom sessions in which we’ll generate and share new work, along with reading and discussion. Sign up here!

And coming later in the summer? A revision workshop.

Sometimes we all need a little push.

Feet dangling over river

 

The Monday Prompt, #5

Posted on by April 20, 2020
Mix tape

The Mix Tape

Write a flash prose piece (fiction or nonfiction) that begins with a line from a pop song. Aim for not more than 400 words, and in the body of the story, use at least four other words that occur in the song lyrics (but no other complete line–just individual words).